IDW: Publishing sales down 2.3%, but revenue is up in 2016
IDW is the only publicly held comics publishing company whose financials can be directly read. (DC and Marvel are buried deep in their corporate...
Bombshell Confirmed: Comics will no longer have NY Times Bestseller Lists
Like the death of a warrant canary, sometimes the most notable news stories stem from absence rather than presence. Such was the case last night when...
Why Did Marvel Drop Free Digital Download Codes? An Intruiging Theory
We should probably talk about Marvel’s decision to drop the free digital copy they’ve been bundling with their print comics.
If you go back a...
Why Are The Comics Retailers Worried About Mass Store Closings?
Hey, gang. We need to talk to about the looming problem with the Direct Market.
You’ve seen the articles about comic shop owners being worried...
2017 may be a rough year for comics retail and the industry–or not
Are comics sales slipping or stagnating as we enter 2017? Some signs point to yes, as you can see from the November sales figures released earlier today. While the sales decline earlier in the year has been reversed to a net positive thanks to the Rebirth surge, as retailers Joe Field of Flying Colors tweeted earlier this week, there is a sense of worry out there.
Last Gasp Distribution shuts down, publishing to continue
In a note sent to customers and posted on FB, Last Gasp publisher Ron Turner revealed the 47 year old company is shutting down its...
Wizard World chairman Kessler sinks $2.5 million into the company as “mom and pop”...
Thing have been looking pretty turbulent over at convention company Wizard World, with cash flow problems and office shut downs, but chairman Paul Kessler,...
Tilting at Windmills #256: The death of retail?
By Brian Hibbs
Despite now being in retail for over thirty years now, I have to admit that there are times that I worry about...
Comics publisher Double Take is shutting down at the end of the month
The boom in comics periodical publishers over the last few years has a first casualty: Double Take. The division of video game company Take Two Interactive, which was headed by former Marvel publisher Bill Jemas will shut down at the end of the month. The news was first reported at Bleeding Cool and independently confirmed by The Beat.
AT&T to buy Time Warner for $80 Billion
The fast developing deal for AT&T to buy Time Warner is about to be announced, according to the Wall Street Journal. It's the largest media deal since Comcast purchased Universal in 2011 and represents another key moment in an era of vast media conglomeration.
The state of the industry UPDATED AND CORRECTED
Those who think comics need to ditch the direct market right this minute had better not read the latest news about Barnes and Noble....
IDW moves to Penguin Random House for book distribution
Well now, this is interesting. IDW has moved its book distribution to Penguin Random House effective April 2017. ICv2 has all the enthusiastic quotes from executives at both companies, including a sad quote from Steve Geppi who owns Diamond Book Distribution, which formerly repped IDW to the book trade. DBD will continues to sell IDW products to the mass market in the UK. But this really makes PRHPS, which also distributes DC, a powerhouse player in the GN field.
