idwiphone
Innovative IDW head Ted Adams is interviewed at ICv2:Part 1 -Part 2, Part 3

On the comic book front, we’ve got in development literary projects with beloved, best-selling writers like James Patterson, Peter S. Beagle, Robert Bloch, and Mario Acevedo, as well as a second Richard Stark project by Darwyn Cooke. We’re working on a relaunch of a couple classic movie franchises, a big crossover with 30 Days of Night; we have a couple of huge announcements in the works for some spring comic conventions, and are even putting together the very first IDW ‘event’ for later this year, too. And rounding out what we feel is a very well-rounded slate of things that we’re able to talk about now, we’re helping re-launch Famous Monsters of Filmland in July, which has us as excited as all the other fans of that magazine.


Adams talks about the dominance of event-driven comics, how to combat that, growth in bookstores and Amazon and the expanding digital world. His thoughts there show that he’s answering questions no other comics publisher is asking yet:

Who’s buying comics digitally?
I think it depends on the market.  The PSP market is clearly a gamer.  The device itself is designed in large measure just to play games.  I think you’re talking about probably an audience that’s male, mid-to-late teens would be my guess.  Sony has a lot of interesting demographic information although it doesn’t filter down all the way to who’s buying the comics.  The PSP is a device that’s not just U.S.-based.  We’re seeing some nice sales not just in the U.S. but also in the U.K. and Europe.  

When you talk about the iPhone, I think it’s probably a little broader as far as the demographic goes.  

1 COMMENT

  1. Wow… looks like they’ll be reprinting the origin of Dagwood Bumstead!

    As for their comic strip reprints, they chart monthly on the Diamond Comics Top 300 graphic novels list. Last month:
    #87 Complete Chester Goulds Dick Tracy, Volume 09 $39.99 946 copies
    #173 Bringing Up Father, Volume 01: From Sea to Shining Sea $49.99 618
    (12 titles total, sixth in dollar share)

    Not bad for somewhat obscure comic strip reprints, at a high price point, sold in comic book shops.

  2. “putting together the very first IDW ‘event’ for later this year, too”

    NOOOOOOOO! The last thing we need is for indie companies to start with this stupid event crap too. Ugh.