Congratulations to Jim Demonakos!

Jim Demonakos is the head of the Emerald City Con here in Seattle, and Jim and I think he is a nice and clever guys so the following news is no surprise! To borrow from Newsarama:

With B. Clay Moore's departure from Image Comics as PR and Marketing guru, a void was left. Nature, and the comic book industry abhor those kinds of things, and thus, Image has confirmed to Newsarama that Jim Demonakos, co-owner of The Comic Stop in Lynnwood, WA and founder of the Emerald City Comicon has joined the company as its Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator.

"I think the thing that made Jim most attractive to us was his experience as a retailer," Image Executive Director Eric Stephenson told Newsarama. "It's important to see things through retailers' eyes and while it would be ridiculous to assume all retailers think or run their stores exactly the same, having someone who has worked that side of things seems like a good idea. Jim's going to have a perspective Erik [Larsen, publisher] or myself might not. Along the same lines, Jim's been running the Emerald City Comicon for the past three years and not only does he put on a fantastic show, but he does an excellent job of promoting the show within the Seattle. He nails down TV, radio and newspaper coverage every year and the results speak for themselves: attendance for the show is up year after year. So, on one level, Jim has a lot of experience with con organization, and on another, his marketing efforts in support of the shows he's put on are pretty impressive. Beyond that, Jim has experience as a Web designer, which is going to allow him to be hands-on with the Image website in a way neither Clay nor myself could have been. He's also one of the most patient and nicest guys you could hope to meet, which I think goes a long way in any job that requires dealing with the public."

As Demonakos sees it, the move to Image is the next rung on a ladder he's been on since he read his first comic (a Fantastic Four #1 reprint) at age 7. "After reading for years, there came a point where I wanted to get more involved than just on the fan-level, so I helped open a store in the Seattle-area called The Comic Stop," Demonakos said. "After about three years, it was going pretty swell, so we opened a second one.

"On top of that, having traveled out to other conventions like the WonderCon and San Diego, I knew that Seattle could really use and support a top-notch show. So, we started up the Emerald City ComiCon, which drew over 6,300 people in its third year, which was the best-ever attendance for a Seattle show.

"The offer from Image is another way for me to get involved in this industry and it's somewhere I hope to be able to make an even more positive impact.

"Plus, I was offered unlimited supplies of Home Run Pies"

Congratulations Jim!!