We have had a fair few announced quittings at Valiant Entertainment since Chinese investment firm DMG bought the company lock, stock and two smoking Bloodshots. On Friday, Bleeding Cool announced the news that EIC Warren Simons was the latest. But how long will it be until we see their names in comics again?

Well, I am told that before the Chinese investment firm DMG increased their stake in Valiant to total ownership, a number of Valiant employees who could feel the wind was changing, negotiated a change to their contracts so that the non-compete clause which would have stopped them quitting and jumping to a rival publisher straight away was shortened to what I have been told is 'a laughably short period'. And a supportive executive structure who were already discussing the nature of that changing wind and exploring their options said, basically, fair enough.

Which means a) we could see the likes of Dinesh, Hunter and Warren elsewhere, a lot sooner than we might have thought and b) other current staffers are a lot more vulnerable to being headhunted than maybe CMG – and its representative at Valiant, Eric Sullivan, might have previously thought.