"Hero Complex" reporter Geoff Boucher not leaving journalism

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Geoff Boucher, the 21-year Los Angeles Times reporter and "Hero Complex" creator who announced Monday he is leaving the newspaper, told TheWrap exclusively that he plans to stay in journalism and hopes to partner with the newspaper in the future.

Boucher, who founded the Times' fanboy blog in 2008, also said he "didn't see eye-to-eye" with assistant managing editor for arts and entertainment John Corrigan, though that did not influence his decision to leave the paper.

"Corrigan and I didn't see eye-to-eye on a number of things, and that's okay," Boucher said. "He's here, and I'm going to go on somewhere else. He's not the reason I'm leaving. You don't leave a place after 21 years because of one person."

Corrigan did not immediately respond to calls and an email from TheWrap requesting comment.

On Tuesday, Times editor-in-chief Davan Maharaj told the staff in a memo that Boucher was leaving the paper and would be moving on to a career "outside of journalism."

Boucher told TheWrap that Maharaj "made a mistake," and the writer said he alerted him to it and received an apology.

"I think he just misstated the fact that I'm leaving journalism. I'm not leaving journalism - I'm leaving the Times and leaving newspaper journalism," Boucher said. "But I'm very much staying in journalism. I'm looking at a handful of different projects."

He said he has not decided what he will do next, as he was being approached with new and interesting offers as recently as Tuesday afternoon. He declined to comment on the offers but said he planned to make an announcement sometime next month.

Hero Complex, the comic book-centric blog he named and launched for the Times in 2008, has been a sweeping success as its traffic multiplied tremendously each year. Now, in its fourth year, he said, it's on pace to draw 50 million page views annually.

"I was so lucky with this success that now I can move onto a thing where I can do that but I have more stake in it, more than I do here," Boucher said. "I can be my own boss, which is a very, very attractive offer to me since the departure of (former editor) Sallie Hofmeister."

Boucher said he hopes to collaborate with the Times - where his wife, Tracy, remains on staff - sometime in the future.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hero-complex-reporter-geoff-boucher-not-leaving-journalism-185552121.html

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