Comics’ Summer of Disruption continues as up and comer Mad Cave Studios just announced they have acquired pioneering kids comics imprint Papercutz. Rob Salkowitz at Forbes had the exclusive.
Today, an unexpected player made a big power move, as Florida-based publisher Mad Cave Studios announced it has acquired Papercutz, one of the earliest and best-regarded companies specializing in the kids’ market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Papercutz was founded by Terry Nantier, who also runs the international comics and graphic novel publisher NBM, and editor Jim Salicrup, who developed Marvel’s first early reader title Spidey’s Super Stories in the 1970s. It’s been around since 2005, long before the kids comics boom was on anyone’s radar.
Publishing veteran Rex Ogle will come on as Head of Editorial for Papercutz, however both Terry Nanier and Jim Salicrup will stay on board to help with the transition.
As mentioned by Forbes, Papercutz has been around in the kids comics space for a long time, forging strong bonds with European publishers, and acquiring right to such key licenses as The Smurfs, The Hardy Boys, Loud House, Geronimo Stilton, Casagrandes, and more.
Crucially, they already have access to Scholastic Book Fairs, a huge driver of sales volume for kid oriented comics material. Papercutz is distributed via Macmillan in the book channel and Diamond in comics shops.
Via BookScan Mad Cave has 2021 sales of all of 850 copies total. Papercutz shows 86,497 — so I would strongly think that its way more than “just” a doubling of size.
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