Via CBR, publisher Bad Idea have announced they announced they are shutting down operations by the end of the year. “We regret to inform you that despite our best efforts and all of your wonderful support, Bad Idea as we know it must end,” they said. “Our sincerest thanks for the incredible journey. We will be announcing and releasing books through the end of the year. Beyond that, Bad Idea is over.”
Bad Idea was founded by former Valiant executives Hunter Gorinson, Dinesh Shamdasani and Warren Simons, and only published their titles in a select number of comic book stores, forgoing Diamond, digital, and bookstore distribution. Shamdasani said in an interview that the model was meant to allow them to focus on publishing the best new books possible, admitting “there’s likely to be scarcity, but it’s not purposeful. It’s a consequence of us trying to build a system that allows us to focus purely on how to make the best comic books, and every element that you attach, you attach with a compromise.”
They quietly released their first comic, “The Hero Trade,” in September last year, and begin publishing their first wave proper beginning in March. One of their titles, “Hank Howard, Pizza Detective in Caligula’s Safe,” was released only in stores on May 12, with Bad Idea cutting off any retailers who did not return the title after those 24 hours.
At the time of writing, only Marguerite Bennett and Renato Guedes’s “The Lot,” and Zeb Wells and David Lafuente’s one-shot “Slay Bells,” are set to debut in July.
