1990s Idea and Design Works (IDW) was formed in 1999 by a group of comic book managers and artists (Ted Adams, Robbie Robbins, Alex Garner, and
Kris Oprisko) that first met while working at
Wildstorm Productions. Each of the four was equal partners, owning 25%. When Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to
DC Comics in 1999, Lee turned that company's creative service department, previously run by Adams, over to IDW, allowing IDW to be profitable in its first year. With these profits, the firm decided to fund a new venture every year. In 2007,
IDT Corporation purchased a 53% majority interest in IDW from the company's founders, removing Garner & Oprisko, while reducing Adams & Robbins to minority owners collectively at 47%. Then, in 2009, IDT proceeded to increase its interest to the current 76%, reducing Adams & Robbins's interest once again to the current 24%. Then, shortly afterwards, IDT created CTM Media Holdings via a tax-free spin-off. This new company consisted of the majority interest in IDW and CTM Media Group. Eight years later, on April 3, 2015, CTM Media Holdings announced it would continue operations under a new name, becoming IDW Media Holdings, which would continue to consist of the majority interest in IDW and CTM Media Group. The company's first traditional comic series,
30 Days of Night, created by
Steve Niles and
Ben Templesmith started a seven-figure bidding war between
DreamWorks,
MGM, and
Senator International, with Senator winning and
Sam Raimi attached to produce. IDW Publishing's second title,
Popbot, won two Gold
Spectrum Awards. IDW Publishing also publishes comics based on the TV franchises
Star Trek and
CSI. The company's other licensed comics include
Topps'
Mars Attacks,
Sony's
Underworld,
FX's
The Shield,
Fox's
24 and
Angel;
Universal’s
Land of the Dead and
Shaun of the Dead; and
Konami’s
Silent Hill,
Castlevania,
Metal Gear Solid, and
Speed Racer. The company has also had success with comic license from toy company
Hasbro brands:
The Transformers (with
Takara),
G.I. Joe,
My Little Pony, and
Jem. Transformers has had as many as five different titles running concurrently. Beginning in 2008, the company licensed the
Doctor Who series from the BBC, launching two concurrent titles:
Doctor Who Classics, which reprints colorized
comic strips featuring the past Doctors such as the
Fourth Doctor and
Fifth Doctor originally published in the late 1970s-early 1980s by
Doctor Who Magazine, and
Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur, an original six-part
limited series featuring the
Tenth Doctor and overseen and written by
TV series script editor
Gary Russell. An additional six-part limited series titled
Doctor Who: The Forgotten started in mid-2008 by
Tony Lee and
Pia Guerra, as well as a series of monthly
one-shot, self-contained stories. July 2009 saw the beginning of
Doctor Who, an ongoing series featuring the
Tenth Doctor, written by
Tony Lee and illustrated by a rotating art team. IDW Publishing acquired the
G.I. Joe comics license in May 2008 (previously held by
Devil's Due Publishing) and released three new series under editor
Andy Schmidt, from writers such as
Chuck Dixon,
Larry Hama, and
Christos Gage. Other comics were released in time to tie-in with the
summer 2009 G.I. Joe film. In March 2009, IDW Publishing forged an agreement with Mike Gold's
Comicmix.com to publish print versions of Comicmix's online comic books. The agreement stipulates Comicmix must provide two comic books a month to IDW Publishing to publish, as well as graphic novels and trade paperbacks as demanded by the market. The books are published with both the IDW Publishing and Comicmix.com logos on the covers. As of the end of 2009, the agreement has produced print versions of the
Grimjack series
The Manx Cat; the
Jon Sable series
Ashes of Eden;
Mark Wheatley and
Robert Tinnell's pulp hero series
Lone Justice; the graphic novel
Demons of Sherwood by Tinnell and
Bo Hampton; and a graphic novel collecting
Trevor Von Eeden's
The Original Johnson. A collection of ''Munden's Bar'' stories original to Comicmix's website is also forthcoming. In late 2009, IDW acquired independent publisher
Desperado Publishing. In 2004, 2005, and 2006 IDW Publishing was named Publisher of the Year by
Diamond Comic Distributors.
2010s . From left to right: writers Sidney Friedfertig, Gary Gerani, Adadsam Knave, Dan Goldman, M. Zachary Sherman,
Jeff Kline, and Jason Enright. At the podium is IDW Vice President of Marketing Dirk Wood. In 2010, IDW Publishing released the sequel to Michael San Giacomo's "Phantom Jack" Image Comics series with "Phantom Jack: The Nowhere Man Agenda." The graphic novel is notable because it features the death of the main character, a reporter who can turn invisible. IDW Publishing formed an imprint with
EA Games in late 2009, called EA Comics, to focus on adaptations of the latter's video games, with initial titles including
Army of Two and
Dragon Age. In January 2011, IDW Publishing announced a new
Dungeons & Dragons comic series, under license from
Hasbro and
Wizards of the Coast. Set in the
D&D 4th Edition core setting, the new ongoing series ''Dungeons & Dragons (Fell's Five)
ran for 16 issues. Several mini-series were also published including The Legend of Drizzt: Neverwinter Tales
written by R.A. Salvatore. Since 2014, five five-issue mini-series have been published in the D&D 5th Edition core setting. A sixth five-issue mini-series, Infernal Tide'', is set to be published in November 2019. In April 2011, IDW Publishing acquired the license to publish new collections of older
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, as well as
a new ongoing series beginning in August of that year. In August 2017 issue #73 of the main ongoing series was published, making it the longest running comic series in the franchise's history. September 6, 2011, for the 10th anniversary of
9/11, IDW Publishing teamed up Charlie Foxtrot Entertainment and released the graphic novel
Code Word: Geronimo, written by retired Marine Corps Captain
Dale Dye and Julia Dye, drawn by
Gerry Kissell with inker Amin Amat.
Code Word: Geronimo reached #22 on
Diamond Comics top 100 list its first month after release. During that same year, the company has published its first crossover series
Infestation. In March 2012 IDW Publishing announced it would release new comics based on
Judge Dredd and
The Crow. Also in 2012,
Hasbro licensed the use of
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic for an
IDW comic book series. The company also published
Infestation 2. In February 2013, IDW Publishing announced a partnership with
Cartoon Network to publish comics based on the network's television series and reprint older Cartoon Network comics. On January 6, 2015, IDW Publishing announced it had acquired
Top Shelf Productions. In February 2015, it was announced that IDW Publishing made a deal with
Disney to continue the publication of the following comic books:
Uncle Scrooge,
Donald Duck,
Mickey Mouse, and ''
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories''. In 2016, IDW launched the
Hasbro Reconstruction initiative to present a shared universe of Hasbro brands, which was later known as the
Hasbro Comic Book Universe. The first event was
Revolution, followed by
First Strike on 2017 and concluding with
Transformers: Unicron in 2018. In April 2017, IDW Publishing acquired a license from
Lucasfilm to produce a range of all-ages Star Wars comics. In July 2017, Sega announced a partnership with IDW to publish
comics based on
Sonic the Hedgehog beginning in 2018, following the conclusion/cancellation of the
previous series by
Archie Comics. IDW has also launched new imprint called Black Crown, handling creator-owned comics. In April 2018, publishers IDW Publishing and Oni Press announced a crossover between the
Rick and Morty comic book and
Dungeons & Dragons co-written by
Jim Zub and
Patrick Rothfuss with art by
Troy Little. The four issue mini-series,
Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, was first published in August 2018. In May 2019, a sequel mini-series was announced:
Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape. It will be written by Jim Zub and Sarah Stern with art by Troy Little. In 2019, the company went under financial difficulties and got help from
JPMorgan Chase evaluating strategies to be profitable. In May 2019, IDW offered itself as an investor in
Clover Press, a new independent publisher founded by Ted Adams (cofounder and former CEO of IDW) and Robbie Robbins (cofounder, executive vice president, and art director at IDW). In July 2019, it was announced that IDW Publishing had acquired the classic Sunday strip publisher
Sunday Press Books.
2020s Between April and May 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, IDW was forced to furlough and then lay off several employees, including Managing Editor Denton Tipton, Associate Publisher David Hedgecock, Senior Graphic Artist Gilberto Lazcano, Senior Graphic Designer Christa Miesner, and Brand & Marketing Manager Spencer Reeve. In July 2020, Chris Ryall announced that he would step down from his position of President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer to launch a new imprint named Syzygy Publishing, but he is still editor of future
Locke & Key projects. Jerry Bennington was promoted to President, Nachie Marsham was promoted to Publisher, and Rebekah Cahalin was promoted to General Manager and Executive Vice President of Operations covering IDW Publishing, and Veronica Brooks was promoted to Vice President of Creative Affairs. Around 2021, IDW announced that the comic book license for Disney properties would pass to
Marvel Comics, while the license for Lucasfilm's
Star Wars passed back to
Dark Horse Comics. In September 2021, IDW announced that its partnership with
Diamond Comic Distributors would switch to
Penguin Random House. In December 2021, The Library of American Comics announced that they would be moving to Clover Press. That same month, John Barber announced that he would step away from the role of Editor-in-Chief. In January 2022, IDW announced that they would lose the comic book licenses for Hasbro's
Transformers and
G.I. Joe by the end of the year, but would continue publishing other Hasbro licenses, including
My Little Pony and Wizards of the Coast's
Dungeons & Dragons; those licenses would later leave to
Boom! Studios and
Dark Horse Comics respectively. On April 27, 2023, IDW cut 39% of their staff and became privately held by delisting from the
New York Stock Exchange; the company also restructured its
C-suite and experienced an almost 50% drop in its share price. On October 16, 2024, IDW announced a rebranding with a new logo. In March 2025, IDW announced a partnership with
Alien Books. On June 16, 2025, according to
Bleeding Cool, IDW stated that it would continue its operations for at least one more year. In January 2026, IDW announced a new imprint named IDW Crime, which features comic books focused on
crime fiction. == Logo ==