Comics Lowdown | Jud Meyers placed on administrative leave at IDW

Plus: News on SDCC, DC’s writing workshop and the winner of the 2020 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

Publishers: Jud Meyers, who was named publisher at IDW last week, has already been placed on administrative leave, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Jerry Bennington, who was named president of IDW last week, will assume Meyer’s duties in the interim. No reason was given for why Meyers was placed on leave. The Beat has more background, including information on a past lawsuit against Meyers by his former business partner, comics retailer Carr D’Angelo.

Conventions: The local San Diego news station KUSI looks at the loss of revenue to the city of San Diego due to the cancellation of the San Diego Comic Con. Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, the president and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center, says the cancellation of the event meant a potential loss of $166 million to the local San Diego economy across restaurants, retail and taxes. He notes the convention center has had to cancel about 100 shows this year so far due to COVID-19.

Speaking of Comic-Con, Variety is calling the virtual convention “a bust,” based on the amount of activity on Twitter about the convention being down compared to last year, as well as the YouTube views of panels. The Beat points out that from a comic perspective, the YouTube numbers for “comics-based panels are way way above what they would have reached in person.” Also, almost a week later, those panels are still available for people who want to view them.

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IDW announces ‘Marvel Action: Chillers’ for October

The miniseries written by Jeremy Whitley will feature Ironheart, Doctor Strange and more.

IDW’s Marvel Action line, which stars Marvel characters in comics aimed at younger readers, will launch a biweekly Halloween-themed miniseries in October.

Written by former Unstoppable Wasp writer Jeremy Whitley, each issue will feature a framing story starring Doctor Strange and Ironheart, with a second “spooky adventures” tale starring Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Elsa Bloodstone and more.

“Marvel characters have an incredibly long and colorful history in horror stories, from the traditional Marvel Monsters, to Werewolf By Night, to Tomb of Dracula. Those were all titles that I loved growing up, and getting to introduce young readers to the world of spooky Marvel characters is an honor and a privilege. I can’t wait for everyone to see what we’re cooking up,” Whitley said.

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Transformers head ‘Back to the Future’ in a new crossover miniseries

IDW will debut the first issue in October.

Great Scott! Marty and Doc Brown will meet the Transformers in an upcoming crossover miniseries from IDW Publishing.

“When I was asked to write the official crossover comic, I could only shout ‘Great Scott’ and dive in,” said writer Cavan Scott. “It’s the perfect fit. Both Transformers and Back to the Future are packed with adventure, humor, and (most importantly) heart. Plus, it gave me a chance to play with multiple Transformers timelines, harkening back to some of my favorite Transformers storylines of the ‘80s, while also bringing in elements of all three Back to the Future movies. Look out for classic characters, both human and Cybertronian, and a few surprises along the way!”

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IDW promotes three following Ryall’s departure

Jerry Bennington, Jud Meyers and Rebekah Cahalin all move into new roles at the company.

In the wake of yesterday’s announcement that Chris Ryall is leaving IDW to pursue a new publishing venture, IDW has announced a new president and a new publisher, as well as one more promotion.

Ryall served as president, publisher and chief creative officer of IDW up until yesterday, but today’s announcement notes that the president and publisher roles will no longer fall under one person.

Jerry Bennington, who currently serves as IDW Publishing’s EVP of product management, has been named president of IDW. Jud Meyers, who is currently IDW Publishing’s sales director, will move into the publisher position. A new chief creative officer has not been named.

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Chris Ryall to step down at IDW and start a new publishing venture

Ryall will leave to start World of Syzygy with Ashley Wood as IDW restructures.

Chris Ryall and IDW have jointly announced that Ryall will step down from his role as president, publisher and chief creative officer in order to launch “a new storytelling venture focused on the disparate worlds and characters that he brought to life at IDW Publishing.”

The new venture will be called World of Syzygy and is a partnership with Ashley Wood, who Ryall worked with on Zombies vs Robots, and other creators he has worked with at IDW.

“Change is often hard, and I will miss this extended family I have worked with for more than 15 years,” said Ryall. “In the past year alone, we brought on some amazing hires, expanded the scope of many of the departments, and re-focused the foundation of the business to best support the integrated multi-media company that IDW has become. Our collective success with the entertainment team on ‘Locke & Key’ has been a crowning moment for the entire company.  I’m so proud of this special place and the incredible people who work here. I know that I leave IDW perfectly poised for continued success.”

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What’s scarier: demons or parenthood? IDW announces ‘Scarenthood’

Nick Roche, Chris O’Halleran and Shawn Lee kick off a new horror title in October.

Writer and artist Nick Roche is teaming up with colorist Chris O’Halloran and letterer Shawn Lee to bring some bumps in the night to the local neighborhood in Scarenthood, a four-issue miniseries debuting from IDW in October.

“My generation grew up in what seemed like a haunted Ireland: superstition still abounded, and everyone had seen moving holy statues, or lived near a stately home that had been burnt to the ground in a Satanic visitation, or knew someone who chopped down a Faerie bush and lived to regret it,” Roche said in the press release. “Scarenthood is about realizing that some of those horrors from childhood are real, but nothing is more terrifying than ruining your own kid’s life. Also: there are funny bits.”

On Twitter, Roche added: “… it’s about some parents who go ghosthunting while their kids are in preschool, but have to be back by lunchtime to collect them. It’s The Goonies, grown-up and with mortgages. Or: Catastrophe meets Stranger Things. In Ireland.”

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Mail Call | Grifter coming to ‘Batman’ following the Joker War

Rounding up news from DC, IDW, Humble Bundle and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from comics publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Trick or treat: DC Comics will release not one but two Halloween specials this October, the equivalent of getting a full-sized candy bar instead of those fun-sized ones.

The first one features Swamp Thing with stories by James Tynion IV, Tom King, Tradd Moore, Emma Rios and more. The second, titled DC: The Doomed and the Damned, will feature stories by Marv Wolfman, Ken Porter, John Arcudi, Saladin Ahmed, Riley Rossmo, Travis Moore and more. It’ll feature short stories starring Batman, Madame Xanadu, Man-Bat, Green Lantern, Etrigan and more.

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The Mandalorian is coming to comics

We have spoken.

Starwars.com has shared a new publishing program centered on the Disney+ show The Mandalorian, and while it mostly centers on books and novels, it does confirm that the popular bounty hunter and The Child — aka Baby Yoda — are coming to comics.

According to the post, “The Mandalorian-inspired comics are coming from Marvel and IDW Publishing,” both of whom have licenses to create comics based on the Star Wars properties.

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Mail Call | ‘Lumberjanes’ reach the end of summer, new D&D and more

Catch up on news from Marvel, DC, BOOM!, IDW and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we’ve received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Former WWE superstar turned author AJ Mendez and Lucifer actress Aimee Garcia will write a new Dungeons & Dragons series for IDW. Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World will be set in the property’s Icewind Dale world with new characters and artwork by Martín Cóccolo.

Here are some of the character designs, by Max Davenport and Katrina Mae Hao:

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Natural 20: ‘Stranger Things’ to cross over with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’

Jim Zub, Jody Houser, Diego Galindo, Michele Assarasakorn and Nate Piekos will descend into the depths of licensed comics.

Writer Jim Zub shares the news that he’s working with Jody Houser on Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons, a new four-issue mini-series being co-published by Dark Horse Comics and IDW, who have the respective comics licenses for the two properties.

They’ll be working with the art team of Diego Galindo, Michele Assarasakorn and Nate Piekos. The announcement was made during Wizards of the Coast’s D&D Live 2020 online event.

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Mail Call | Fantagraphics 40% off sale, Batman, Pearl Jam and more

Rounding up news from IDW, DC, Image and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Fantagraphics is holding a 40% off clearance sale on their website right now, which ends this Saturday. There’s a lot of good stuff to choose from, including volumes of the Mome anthology, Dungeon Quest, some Michael Kupperman books, Roger Langridge’s Fred the Clown and more.

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Diamond, others respond to DC’s direct market decision

Retailers, publishers and industry react to DC dropping Diamond as a distributor.

DC’s announcement that they’ve ended their relationship with Diamond Comics Distributors in favor of working with Lunar and UCS, the two distributors that sprung into being during the coronavirus pandemic, sent shockwaves through the industry yesterday.

Diamond founder Steve Geppi responded to the news with a message of his own to retailers:

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