Michael Kelly, VP, Publisher of BOOM! Studios will be leaving that position next month, it was announced today by Keith Clayton, SVP Publisher of Random House Worlds Group, the division where Boom! is located in the Penguin Random House structure. Andy Schmidt, VP, Editor-in-Chief of BOOM!, will now report directly to Clayton. Kelly will depart in mid-June to pursue other opportunities.
Kelly came to Boom! after a distinguished period leading Hasbro’s publishing efforts, and Clayton praised his efforts in helping Boom transition to from an independent house to a PRH imprint.
Since joining BOOM! following its acquisition by PRH, Michael has helped lead the imprint through a crucial period of transition as the business became fully integrated into Random House Worlds. He has been a thoughtful and essential partner throughout this process, helping establish the foundation for BOOM!’s next phase within the broader RH Worlds portfolio. Though we are sad to see him depart, we are grateful for his leadership and contributions during this time.
“It’s been a great pleasure working with the teams at BOOM! & Random House Worlds. BOOM! has amazing opportunities ahead, and I’m excited to see what the team does next!,” adds Kelly.
Boom was acquired by PRH back in 2024 and hired Kelly soon after. However, the imprint was reorganized just this March, with personnel being integrated more with other departments under Random House Worlds. At that time it was announced that Kelly would be joining the Random House Worlds leadership team. It was also announced that Julie Leung, VP, Deputy Publisher, Random House Worlds, would take Boom into her portfolio, “connecting publishing, operations, and business planning across the RHW portfolio.” It seems reasonable to deduce that she will continue in this capacity to pick up some of Kelly’s duties.
Random House Worlds is the home for a number of comics and licensed publishing imprints, including Del Rey and Inklore.
With the departure of Dan Buckley from Marvel earlier in the week, this is the extremely rare “two publishers leave in one week” bingo square for those watching at home.
