IDW had a pretty big convention this year, though you might not realize how at first. While a slew of press releases were sent out detailing new events in their “GI Joe” line or new books completely (and some that I will link to throughout this piece), it’s only when you look at them as a whole that you see the much bigger picture of how IDW is becoming rather intensely entwined with Marvel and Disney.
The announcements, as IDW made pretty plainly clear in a NYCC Recap e-mail sent out to outlets such as ourselves, are split into two parts.
On the one hand, IDW now has a much bigger collaboration with Disney. While most of us suspected that Marvel’s ownership under Disney would eventually see Disney characters get comics from Marvel, it’s apparently not the case as IDW announced that they would be releasing a ton of Disney comics. This includes “multiple monthly series” with characters like Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Minnie, Goofy and more that will apparently be both re-prints of older comics and feature newer ones as well. IDW will also start producing Artist Edition’s of the incredible work done by Carl Barks and Don Rosa in the “Donald Duck” and “Uncle Scrooge” books, alongside multiple special collector books for their IDW Limited Line, though what is not yet detailed. IDW will also collect more Disney comics than ever in their Library of American Comics line and Micro Comic Fun Packs, which come with mini-comics, stickers, posters and more that are geared to put comics into the hands of a different (younger) audience.
Meanwhile, IDW’s relationship with Marvel has also expanded. IDW has published a few Marvel-related Artist Edition books in the past, for certain, but now there are more plans for new Artist Edition books (though what new books aren’t mentioned yet), as well as plans to re-print Marvel’s “Spider-Man” newspaper strips, a new line of Artist Select IDW Limited books for Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk and Iron Man comics and upcoming curated Avengers Micro Comic Fun Packs.
All of this is pretty interesting to me. Marvel’s partnership with Disney was for sure a notable one, as the House of Ideas became a duplex with the House of Mouse, and while IDW is not owned by Disney their relationship here is an interesting one indeed. As mentioned, you would almost expect to see more Disney-related things coming from Marvel (such as when Disney acquired “Star Wars” and subsequently moved it over to the publisher away from the home that gave it longevity and life in comics, Dark Horse). But IDW’s focus, aside from the properties that they publish, is so intensely art-focused that it’s interesting to see their collaboration with Marvel/Disney seemingly continue that trend while helping to produce comics for kids — something that many malign the lack of existence in comics, and which — lets be honest — Marvel could stand to have more of.
IDW putting out all these books is a rather epic win for them, and quite a noteworthy collaboration between the publishers. It’s a very interesting one to step back and look at in its entirety, and is also one I imagine we’ll see more expansion of next year as more announcements start rolling out. That, and those Artist Editions for the Don Rosa and Carl Barks are going to beyond amazing, because holy moly what an opportunity it will be to see those books stripped down to the bare bones.
And as long as we’re talking about it, I should note that all of this has of course nothing do with Fantagraphics’ publishing of the Carl Barks and Dona Rosa collections, for those worried (like I’ve seen reported elsewhere). We reached out to and confirmed with Fantagraphics about this, who told us, “there is no overlap with our reprints, and we anticipate that their publications will nicely complement our library series as well as continue to fuel interest in both artists.”
Look for more between IDW, Marvel and Disney throughout next year, as well as a few Artist Edition’s soon such as John Buscema’s “Silver Surfer” in November and the third volume of “The Amazing Spider-Man: Artifact Edition” from John Romita early next year.
