Comic book publisher IDW has 'breakout year'
By Anonymous Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 04:57 AM EDT
A BREAKOUT YEAR
Ted Adams, who started IDW with three friends in 1999, had already worked in the comic publishing world and vowed to avoid it. Instead, San Diego-based IDW was going to be a creative-services firm, doing graphic design and production work for other companies.
"We swore we wouldn't be a comic producer. We were all sort of burned out on it," said Adams, the company's president and publisher.
But with many contacts still in the comic book industry, IDW eventually was lured into the world of comic books.
Good thing, too, as that foray has worked out well.
While still a relatively small player dwarfed by industry giants Marvel and DC, IDW generated about $5 million in revenue last year. The company has made a name for itself by churning out original comic series such as the underground hit "30 Days of Night," and producing comics based on such TV shows as "CSI" and "Angel."
This year has been particularly strong for IDW, as it secured a licensing agreement for "Transformers" and produced a variety of comic books to accompany the hit summer movie.
"We've had a really breakout year," Adams said. "We've shipped a ton of product - literally a ton of product."
Since May, the company has shipped more than 4 million issues of its comics and expects its revenue for the year to be as high as $7 million. IDW has about 13 full-time employees, and it works with about 150 freelance writers and artists. Adams said the company has gross margins of about 45 percent.
COMIC BOOK POPULARITY
"If it's anything like the big success we've seen with '300' (another movie based on a comic book), it has the potential to propel IDW to the next level," said Jim Kuhoric, purchasing director for Diamond Comic Distributors, one of the largest distributors in the business.
The horror series about vampires in Alaska has already played a crucial role in the company's fortunes. In 2002, IDW published "30 Days of Night" despite a dearth of horror comics. It went on to become a cult hit and started a bidding war in Hollywood that ended with a seven-figure option.
Jonah Weiland, executive producer of Comic Book Resources, an online magazine about the industry, said IDW took a big risk with "30 Days of Night."
"The thinking was that people don't want horror in their comics, they want superheroes," Weiland said. "But it turned out there was a market for it."
Adams said the "30 Days of Night" movie deal helped create interest in IDW from comic book fans and the entertainment industry, making it easier to sign high-profile licensing deals, in which IDW pays a fee to create comics for TV shows like "CSI" or toy brands like Transformers.
About three-fourths of IDW's comics are based on licensed content, with the rest being original content.
Relying on high-profile licensed material like "Transformers," the TV show "24" and the "Star Trek" franchise helps dilute some of the risk in comic publishing, said Rob Felton, vice president and associate publisher of Wizard Entertainment, which has a magazine that chronicles the comic book business.
"It's really hard to make money as a comic book publisher by just publishing your own comics because there are so many established brands out there," Felton said.
Adams said IDW doesn't have the budget to promote its products, so releasing licensed material makes it easier to sell comic books. "For us it's great; we can ride the coattails of their expensive marketing campaign."
Despite the risks, the comic book business is growing while other printed products are struggling in the Internet age. Kuhoric said comic book sales have increased about 5 percent each year for the past five years, while the sales of graphic novels and collected editions of comics are increasing by as much as 25 percent each year. More bookstores are devoting larger shelf space to graphic novels, which have been a boon to IDW and other publishers.
Industry watchers point to the success of "300" and the increasing popularity of manga, a Japanese form of comics, as reasons for the rise of graphic novels.
"The public has figured out what comic fans have known for a long time: that comics rock when it comes to telling a story, Wieland said."
But while demand is growing, the Internet is beginning to affect comic publishers. Adams said IDW comics are being unlawfully scanned and posted on the Web.
Stopping that type of infringement is difficult, so Adams spends much of his time trying to envision how comics will be delivered digitally in the future. Industry leaders such as DC and Marvel have yet to come up with a strategy, he said.
"My hope is that we figure out this digital distribution soon," Adams said.
