Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:30PM18 comments ›
Thu Mar 26, 2009 — by Mike Gold
IDW and ComicMix Join Forces
Renowned comics publisher to distribute online comics in print form
Well, we've been hinting at this for about six months now. Some of you traditionalists have been asking when and how and where and when you can buy printed versions of the ComicMix comics. I'm proud to announce that we have partnered up with our friends at IDW (where GrimJack and Jon Sable Freelance and Mars last appeared) to produce one graphic novel and two comic books each month, starting this fall. Plus hardcovers and omnibuses and such, as the market demands.
O.K., I'm one of those traditionalists as well, and while I love reading this stuff online (particularly on my iPhone), I'm looking forward to seeing them in print. And I'm looking forward to running my typical long-winded introductions in the trades and letter columns -- yet, genuine letter columns! -- in the comics.
So if you'd like to email us a letter for publication, just post 'em as comments to the comics. Oh, yeah, we're starting off with GrimJack: The Manx Cat and Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden in mini-series format. As if we should start somewhere else? IDW's press release, for the record:
SAN DIEGO, CA (March 25, 2009) – IDW Publishing, a leading publisher of comic books and graphic novels, has begun an innovative partnership with ComicMix.com, a free website offering new and classic comics. Through this multi-year agreement, IDW will publish graphic novels, books and comics for ComicMix.com properties, enabling both companies to expand their offerings to customers and retailers, and combine their audience reach.
“ComicMix has a great line up of original and classic brands that are currently only available online, and despite the shift to the virtual world, there is still something unmistakable about reading a real-life book” said Greg Goldstein, chief operating officer of IDW. “IDW is known for producing some of the highest quality books in our industry, and we are looking forward to offering this to fans of ComicMix properties.”
Beginning in the fall of 2009, IDW will release trade paperbacks of ComicMix comics, as well as monthly comics, including many new stories that have previously been only available online at ComicMix.com. Initial titles will include GrimJack: The Manx Cat by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden by Mike Grell, and Hammer of the Gods by Mark Wheatley and Mike Avon Oeming, among others.
“This is a bit of a homecoming for many of us at ComicMix, because we have had a professional relationship with IDW Publishing over the past several years,” ComicMix Editor-In-Chief Mike Gold noted. “We’re honored to be among such first-rate comics and graphic novels. Quite frankly, I don’t think the ComicMix properties could find a better publishing home than IDW.”
The partnership with ComicMix allows IDW to distribute comics via mobile devices, increasing the company's growing digital, downloadable publishing program, which already includes several major titles such as Star Trek: Countdown and Ghostbusters.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including television's #1 prime time series, CBS' “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;” Paramount's “Star Trek;” Fox's “Angel;” Hasbro's “The Transformers;” and the BBC's “Doctor Who.” IDW's original horror series, "30 Days of Night," was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released "Michael Recycle," the first title from its new children's book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
About ComicMix.com
Organized in 2007, ComicMix.com is the free website for brand-new comics, news, opinion and historical research. Organized by comics veteran Mike Gold (DC Comics, First Comics, Image Comics), Internet pioneer Brian Alvey (WebLogs Inc., Blogsmith, AOL, Netscape) and print and online publishing vet Glenn Hauman (Random House, Simon & Schuster, BiblioBytes, DC Comics), ComicMix has been leading the comics industry in the production and online distribution of new comic book stories by major talent.
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Comments (18)
Lord Snooty (12:38 PM on Thu Mar 26, 2009)
GREAT NEWS !!! Does this mean that Grimjack volumes will start again ? I live in hope !!
Glenn Hauman (1:44 PM on Thu Mar 26, 2009)
There will be GrimJack volumes, yes. Formats, dates, etc. have yet to be determined. The Manx Cat will be out as single issues first, I believe.
Mark Behar (1:10 PM on Thu Mar 26, 2009)
Congratulations! I can't wait to see the combined output of these two great companies.
Marc Alan Fishman (2:24 PM on Thu Mar 26, 2009)
Congratulations Comicmix! This is a fantastic bit of news. Can't wait to see these babies on the shelf.
Richard Pachter (5:12 PM on Thu Mar 26, 2009)
Halle-fuckin-lujah!
Paul1963 (3:21 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
That's great news. I'll definitely be ordering the Manx Cat mini as I always enjoyed Grimjack and missed great big chunks of Manx online.
Not as certain about Ashes of Eden, though. I enjoy Sable, but I feel like I've already read the origin a couple of times over. That said, if there's a substantial portion of AoE that covers new ground, I'll reconsider.
Glenn Hauman (4:54 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
You didn't miss any of Manx Cat, they're all right there for the reading online. Tell your friends.
Anonymous (4:45 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
Any chance of seeing Truman's Black Lamb collected as well?
Glenn Hauman (4:55 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
Possibly. We don't have the original film to work with, as far as I know, so printing will be trickier.
MARK WHEATLEY (10:23 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
Y'know Insight Studios did the production on that. I know we had the line art for the series until 5 years ago when we dumped huge masses of stuff. I don't think we still have it - but if I come across it I'll let you know.
Glenn Hauman (11:11 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
Really? Hmm.
One of these days, I should just get a giant inventory from you of all the books you've got backups of, for just this sort of reason.
MARK WHEATLEY (11:16 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
I do have the Grell BOND issues, I know. When we moved the Studios about 5 years ago we dumped all the art in a warehouse and I've been avoiding looking at it ever since.
Kyle Gnepper (7:43 PM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)
Sweet. I was wondering if something like this might ever happen. Congrads Comicmix.
Russ Rogers (12:06 AM on Sun Mar 29, 2009)
Great news! Yeah! GrimJack and Jon Sable are obvious choices for IDW to start publishing. Demons of Sherwood and EZ Street also deserve to be printed in "Real Time."
Does the IDW partnership run both directions? Will we be seeing IDW properties show up on ComicMix? Or would that open up a whole other can of worms, since many of their published titles are licensed properties?
Glenn Hauman (2:00 AM on Sun Mar 29, 2009)
The licensing from IDW to ComicMix is trickier, because of licensing and other fun issues. That said, there are a few possibilities with some of their titles...
More to the point, and I want to make this perfectly clear, we aren't just open to IDW putting things online with us. We're happy to talk with other publishers as well, and have been doing so. It's mainly an issue of time and in-house "bandwidth" -- there are only so many hours in the day to produce the comics we have and run a blog and all the other stuff of running a business-- it just takes a lot of time to do the deals right.
But I'll say it right now: creators and publishers, if you want us to put your stuff online and we haven't called you yet, call us and let's see what we can work out. But we apologize in advance if we don't get back to you as quickly as we might like.
James (1:34 PM on Tue Mar 31, 2009)
I hope this new deal includes White Viper. I've been waiting for months for issue #2 any ETA?
Mike Gold (1:50 PM on Tue Mar 31, 2009)
White Viper shall see the light of ink next year, James. We've been talking about doing a sequel -- Frank and Erin have a plot pretty well worked out -- and we'll see about scheduling and all that.
James (6:16 PM on Tue Mar 31, 2009)
Great news. White Viper has a huge following where I am. We can't wait to see what happens. We have also had a hard time opening White Viper in your archived material.