Geoff Boucher, who took his brand of fanboy-friendly journalism from the Los Angeles Times to Entertainment Weekly less than a year ago, is leaving the magazine, he announced Tuesday on Twitter. Boucher is moving on to pursue books and produce live events, EW told TheWrap.
Boucher has been a staple at fan events like Comic-Con, where he's put together and hosted A-list panels, and is known for his personal relationships with industry heavyweights like Christopher Nolan and J.J. Abrams.
"It's [sic] never feels like the 'right time' to take a leap of faith but today is the day," he tweeted. "So wish me luck … or point out any soft landing spots."
Also read: 'Hero Complex' Founder Geoff Boucher to Head to Entertainment Weekly
Boucher, who spent 21 years at the Times, created the widely-read — and lucrative — Hero Complex blog that focused on comic book culture and film. The blog later spawned a film festival, a glossy magazine, an entertainment news program and a screening series.
Boucher took his time weighing several offers after leaving the Times in September 2012, including a project with Legendary Pictures that came very close to materializing. But EW's offer was too strong, and Boucher took his nerd following to the weekly.
There, he headed up the CapeTown blog and its associated festival, whose inaugural event featured Kurt Russell and director Edgar Wright. But CapeTown never enjoyed the same kind of traction and influence as Hero Complex, which stayed at the Times — though lost much of its cache with the departure of its founder and patriarch.
Update: The Times points out that the blog has had 127 percent growth in traffic year over year since Boucher's departure.
Here's the full text of the email Boucher sent to publicists to inform them that he was leaving EW:
My last last day at EW is Aug 30 and my email may not work after today. I've decided to take the leap into leap into starting a live events company and trying to shape my own media empire. My cell should continue working [redacted] but there may be an outage at some point. My email is [redacted]
EW has been GREAT and Jess Cagle and I are in a good place about this and we spoke yesterday about my hope that I can participate in the planning and booking of an amazing CapeTown festival next year. I will also be talking to EW about selected freelance pieces. But from the aerial view there was no way to chase new ventures while also living up to the EW investment in my senior writer post; also the company's business code practices would have made it impossible to talk to studios and other media outlets as partners/sponsors for the live events, one of which is coming together very quickly.
GB.