Penguin Random House has announced plans for its Random House Publishing Group divison to acquire BOOM! Studios, the publisher of BRZRKR, Something is Killing the Children, Power Rangers comics and many more titles over the course of its almost 20-year history.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but PRH expects to close the sale this summer.
BOOM! will join the Random House Worlds portfolio of imprints, which includes genre piublisher Del Rey, manga publisher Inklore and more. According to the press release, BOOM! will retain their editorial and publishing independence as they report into Scott Shannon, President of Random House Worlds.
“Over the past several years Random House Worlds has partnered with BOOM! Studios on various projects and had the benefit of seeing first-hand their best-in-class comic publishing. Ross and his team have built a dynamic, imaginative home for a diverse and talented roster of creators. We are thrilled to welcome BOOM! Studios to our house, and now work side-by-side with this imaginative team,” said Shannon. “The acquisition of BOOM! Studios is a major step in Penguin Random House’s expansion of support to the direct comics market and a key part of our commitment to being the best publisher for creators across all categories. We are excited to continue that tradition with BOOM! as part of the Random House Publishing Group.”
As to who will run things on the BOOM! side, that remains to be seen, as founder Ross Richie is leaving and Filip Sablik, their president of publishing, recently left.
“It’s every entrepreneur’s dream to launch a company, build it and sell it to the best,” Richie said in the press release. “I’m excited to hand the reins of BOOM! over to the best and largest publisher in the world. Their focus on readers and retail partnerships will build upon our work and help our creators achieve even more success. Personally, it’s time for me to take some much-needed time off with my family and explore what’s next.”
Richie shared more about the sale on Facebook. Richie and Andrew Cosby founded BOOM! Studios in 2004, from Richie’s apartment, as he notes in the post. They started with Zombie Tales, an anthology horror title, and also published Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis’ Hero Squared, which reunited the beloved writing team from Justice League International.
Over the years they’ve published original titles like Irredeemable, Left on Mission and 2 Guns, as well as licensed titles from Disney, Warhammer, Planet of the Apes and Power Rangers, among others. They also launched several imprints, including their kids line Kaboom, their experimental line BOOM! Box and Archaia, which they acquired in 2013. BOOM! Box in particular has published a number of great titles, like Lumberjanes, Fence and Giant Days.
Best of luck to all the BOOM! staff as they go through this transition. They have a number of great people still on board, including a great editor-in-chief in Matt Gagnon, so I hope it all goes smoothly for them.