Comic-Con is in San Diego this week and award-winning comic book publisher IDW Publishing, which is based in Liberty Station and owns and operates the San Diego Comic Art Gallery there, is an enthusiastic participant at the annual event.
“We have a very large booth at the Comic-Con,” said Ted Adams, IDW’s CEO/publisher. “This is our 17th year in business, and 12 of those years we’ve attended the event.”
Comic-Con is an unparalleled opportunity to reach out to comic fans young and old and teach them something about the process by which comics are made and distributed, noted Adams.
“One of the big things that is fun about this show is we’re able to bring in comic creators to meet with their fans and sign books,” he said, noting this year IDW will have a living legend, Congressman John Lewis, at its booth signing autographs.
A legislator for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, Lewis is the only living member of the original Big Six leaders of the U.S. Civil Rights movement. Lewis has a trio of books about his ’60s experiences, including Civil Rights marches, published by IDW.
Adams noted that Berkeley Breathed, of the comic strip Bloom County, as well as Kevin Eastman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ creator, will be joining IDW’s booth.
Comic-Con serves other purposes for IDW Publishing as well.
“It’s also a chance for us to sell exclusively produced things you can only buy at Comic-Con,” Adams said. “For example, single-edition copies of “Wynonna Earp,” an action-packed TV hit series featuring smoking-hot, bad-ass demon killer Wynonna Earp.
“It’s really a chance for our fans to meet with our comic creators, and it’s the main reason we go to the show,” said Adams.
Founded in 1999, IDW Publishing sells comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks. During the last 15 years, IDW has grown into a fully staffed publishing company, including 50-plus full-time employees and more than 300 freelancers.
Recognized as the No. 4 comic book publisher in the United States, more than 80 IDW titles have appeared on The New York Times Best-Seller list. In 2014 alone, IDW published more than 500 unique comic book titles, and more than 200 unique graphic novels.
Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry including: Hasbro’s The Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and Jem and then Holograms; Paramount/CBS’s Star Trek; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Files; Temple Street Productions’ Orphan Black; Disney comics; Ragnarök from Eisner Award-winner Walter Simonson; and Zombies vs Robots from Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood.
IDW Publishing relocated their headquarters and creative team, as well as opening a groundbreaking new San Diego Comic Art Gallery, to Liberty Station on June 1, 2015. The company’s offices and gallery are located in 18,300 square feet in two renovated former barracks buildings. IDW is now the largest tenant in the Liberty Station Arts District.
Adams noted the comic industry is “bigger, better and with more gender and racial diversity” than ever before.
“There really is a comic for just about anybody when, for a long time, it was really mostly superheroes,” he said. “Those days are long gone.”
The comic book publisher sees bright days ahead.
“As long as comic books keep being successful – we’ll keep making more,” concluded Adams.
Comic-Con continues to offer the complete convention experience: a giant Exhibit Hall (topping over 460,000 square feet in its current incarnation); a massive programming schedule including several hundred special events featuring comics and all aspects of the popular arts, including hands-on workshops and educational and academic programming such as the Comics Arts Conference; anime and film screenings (including a separate film festival); games; the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the “Oscars” of the comics industry; a Masquerade costume competition with prizes and trophies; an Autograph Area; an Art Show; and Portfolio Reviews, bringing together aspiring artists with major companies.
For more information, visit www.comic-con.org and www.idpublishing.com.