Throughout the many interviews I had the pleasure of doing at Ignition Pavilion during San Diego Comic-Con, there were a few names that nearly every creator credited for their successes this past year–Jamie S. Rich. Ignition Press Editor-in-Chief/writer Rich is juggling a lot but seems to be enjoying every moment of it, including guiding the top-tier talent in their projects while also producing his own creative work with The Dogsitter, illustrated by Megan Levens and colored by Nick Filardi.
Rich sat down with me at SDCC ’26 to chat about the publisher and his series.
DEANNA DESTITO: So let’s talk about Ignition Press, this Pavilion, and SDCC.
JAMIE S. RICH: It’s been phenomenal and absolutely crazy. Just this constant flow of people is fascinating. I even worked a lot of the time in the downstairs area where people were coming in and noting how quickly they were coming in. There were lookie-loos, there were people trying to find bathrooms, but for the most part it was people who just wanted to see what was in here. Guiding them through that was fun.
DESTITO: We are getting such great feedback from everybody. One of the biggest things we’re hearing about Ignition is it’s such a welcoming company, giving creative freedom and things like that. When you decided to work with Ignition, why was that vibe important?
RICH: Well, part of it was that our boss Eric Gitter, when he brought myself, Filip [Sablik], and Jeremy [Haun] together and said, “I want to have a company and I want it to make comic books,” partially because he’s produced all kinds of comic adaptations and he’s like, “Why am I dealing with other publishers? Why don’t we just do this?” He said to us, “You guys always complain about the same things about this industry, and nobody ever changes it. This is your opportunity.”
I’ve worked with a lot of different companies, and I’ve also been freelance. I’ve seen a lot of things, and I’ve seen what’s been wrong on both sides. I have felt it as an editor, and I have felt it as a creator. So wanting to sort of solve those problems and not have everything be under the gun–bad schedules that don’t make sense because you didn’t plan for Christmas–just trying to look into how we can make that stuff better. And conversely, we have a strict no jerks policy.
RICH: Because it’s like, life’s too short, as we say, when we’re debating that this person we know can sometimes be a problem. I’ve been in places where staff are allowed to be treated poorly because you’re bookselling, and it’s like, that’s not gonna happen here. So, you know, trying just to create a two-way street where it’s a real collaboration.
DESTITO: How do you decide which creators you’re going to work with?
RICH: Initially, the three of us sat down, and we made lists. We even made individual lists of like, these are people I like and that I want to work with. And then we saw how the Venn diagram went, and if someone was on all three lists, we immediately reached out. It’s really just like, whose work do we like? Who do we think has a vibe that fits here? And who we believe will have ideas that will excite us, because when you’re this small, there’s nowhere to hide. So if you’re like, I’m just doing this book out of some kind of obligation, everyone’s gonna know it. If their work excited us before they brought us ideas, then hopefully they’d bring us something that would also make us really want to do it and excite us to do their project as well.
DESTITO: Are you doing any creative stuff, or are you focusing mostly on the editorial/business side?
RICH: I’m editing at least half the books. Currently I have a staff of three. Maggie Howell was my first hire as my senior editor. She just went on maternity leave, so we brought in Ian Shaughnessy as an editor to cover the next couple of months, and then we’ll transition him into his own stuff. And then Nora Ornstein, our assistant editor.
We’re publishing two to three things a week, so it’s a lot. It’s because we just can’t seem to do anything small, as you can see. But yeah, I’m heavily involved in everything. I’m guiding the line, helping shape where it should go, scheduling where it should go, what books go together, and then part of me having left DC was to pursue more creative interests and get back to writing, so part of my deal here was I would be able to write for the company. My first endeavor, The Dogsitter, launched at the beginning of July. First issue’s out, romantic comedy.
RICH: And I’ve written that already, and it’s almost completely drawn, so I’m midway into the next thing that I’ll be doing for Ignition. So one or two books a year, most likely.
DESTITO: Okay. Do you have a favorite project right now?
RICH: It’s tough.
DESTITO: That’s like picking your kid, I know.
RICH: Yeah, there’s nothing here, even the ones I’m not editing; there’s nothing here that I didn’t say yes to, which is an incredible opportunity. Just Brutal with Dennis Hopeless and Brahm Revel is kind of one of my babies because Dennis first pitched it to me like 10 years ago. Being able to come back around–we were both very frustrated it didn’t happen, so that’s been great.
I’ve made all kinds of new friends from people I haven’t worked with in the past. So like Stephanie Williams, Leah Williams, Tini Howard, and I only did a very short thing in the back of Shade, the Changing Girl. So those have been exciting. I guess I can say I’m not editing Prima Apparata, so it’s easy to then be able to say, well, that one’s my favorite, but that is a truly special book. Olivia Dufault is, I think, going to be the next superstar writer. Her stuff is just so phenomenal. And then having Rebekah Isaacs sort of pick this as her project to get back into comics after a break. It’s a book like nothing I’ve ever read. And from pitch to final product, it’s just always been a joy to see how it’s coming alive. If I had to pick one, I can go with that.
DESTITO: Anything you want to share about what’s coming up for the company?
RICH: We’re just continuing to try to build out the line. We’ve got books in production that will be published all throughout next year. We’re working really far ahead and on many, many things at once. What you’re seeing coming out is just the tip of the iceberg.
From the jump, we wanted to show that we were going to be able to provide a variety of material and not be pigeonholed. We wanted to do all kinds of things. For instance, Showdown by Dave Wielgosz and Tadd Galusha- when I picked that, I pitched that as something we should do. Part of it was like, this is so grounded. This kind of crime story I really love anyway; it reminds me of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. But showing right from the jump that we’re gonna do something grounded and, no horror, no supernatural, nothing but two people and their emotions and their fists would show we can do anything we want. Same with doing romantic comedies. So you’re going to see more and more growing out of there.
You’ve got Dinner Date with Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph, which is a romantic comedy with vampires. East Side Saints was just announced, which is a little younger adult skewing, but in the sort of Hunger Games style–everyone’s gonna love it. It’s Aimee Garcia, Ildy Modrovich, and AJ Mendez. Then there’s stuff that’s not even announced that is so different and cool and weird. Expect to, one, get more of the quality you’ve come to expect, and then two, hopefully continue to be surprised by the things we dig up.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from SDCC ’26.
