Several IDW Publishing Employees Laid Off

How can one major comic book publisher continue to be financially miserable as IDW?IDW's statement given to source:>In April, IDW made the difficult decision to furlough several valued staff members, and two weeks ago, IDW welcomed several of those staffers back full-time. However, as we continue to adapt and deal with these challenging times, we have been forced to lay-off some of our longtime co-workers and friends. Although tough decisions like this are an unfortunate business reality and there is never a good time for them, these changes are necessary to ensure the long-term health of the company.Notable names reported:>David Hedgecock (associate publisher)>Denton Tipton (managing editor)>Spencer Reeve (brand and marketing manager)That article does not mention the existence of LinkedIn accounts for the laid-off. There's no reason not to archive them as well as their Twitter accounts (if any).archive.md/WRm0R

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>>115110482>How can one major comic book publisher continue to be financially miserable as IDW?Hmmm, what could possibly be happening to cause thisA real mystery OP

>>115110482IDW is not a major publisher

>>115110482IDW is a publicly traded without a major corporate backer, which basically makes them a dinghy in a hurricane. They've had three major rounds of fundraising in the last 5 or so years, which means more money but it also means more shareholders wanting returns on their shares.Compare that to Darkhorse, which is privately held by Mike Richardson. They haven't announced any lay offs so far, because they don't have people banging in the door demanding quarterly profit updates.

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>>115112443And that was the wrong image.

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Why does IDW have such low sales projections?

>>115110482Get used to this news. IDW is a massive failure and there will be plenty of more layoffs in the comic industry in the coming months.

>>115112646because disney comic is a curseDell Comics (died)Gold Key Comics (died)Disney Comics (died but revived and vanished again)Gladstone Publishing (died)Gemstone Publishing (died)Boom Kids! (Boom! Studios) (barely escaped)IDW Publishing (die soon)

>>115110482>Denton TiptonHe also wrote.

>>115112711Hope the industry goes bankrupt

>>115112646Because their offerings are a but slim and not a lot of their titles have built up a loyal following like Image or Darkhorse, with the crunch on direct market they're dropping to the bottom of everyone's pull list.

>>115110482>Not making own property that stay>Not building your entertainment company into an IP that people know what you stand for>just being the company that publish Hasbro propertyIt is no wonder after their mishandling of the Hasbro property they dont have enough security or maybe investors faith.What does IDW stand for? IDK?

>>115113929>What does IDW stand for? IDK?Idea and Design Works

The market is mine, mutts.

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Without My Little Pony, IDW would have died years ago.

>>115110482>David HedgeCOCKAmusing.

>>115110482>IDW welcomed several of those staffers back full-timewow many came back and how many are gone now in total?

>>115110482Rip

Christ I just want transformers to be free of idws faggottry already

>>115114952Nobody's confirming any numbers. According to last reported information IDW had about 375 employees, so we'll have to see how that number changes the next time they file a quarterly report. I remember back in 2011 the nerd news sites caught wind of a Dark Horse lay off and tried to spin it into "Dark Horse Teetering on the Edge!" story until Richardson came forward and confirmed that they had laid off a grand total of seven people, mostly junior administrative staff.

>>115110482they should stop making sjw comics and Focus on White, male and straight costumers.

>>115115198Do costumers buy a lot of comics these days?

>>115114885You think Sonic will be their new life support?

>How can one major comic book publisher continue to be financially miserable as IDW?I wonder.>>115115232Hard to sayit's the best-selling name they've got, but the comic itself is crap.

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>>115114101So were are the ideas and designs? At this point they are merely an appendix of Hasbro.

>>115115198>they should focus on a customer base that stopped buying comics 15 years ago

>>115110482How long til Disney buys them out?

>>115115330Top Shelf, their arthouse "indie" imprint.

>>115115333As opposed to consoomers that don’t buy comics now and never will?

>>115115346They don't own anything Disney wants.

Meh, they'll be fine.

>>115115346>>115115383If anything, Hasbro would be the one to buy them out.

>>115115412I don't think Hasbro even cares to buy them at this point. If anyone buys them it'll probably be some private equity firm or vulture investor who just wants to cut up the carcass.

>>115115299My favorite was when they picked a communist who hates guns, called the us military imperialists, and put him on GI JOE...and he started fighting with active duty combat vets online, his sales were shit, his attempt to make gi joe even gayer failed, he got into beef with Larry hama and they REHIRED HIM.

>>115115299Sales are dipping for Sonic constantly. It is now selling consistently below 10K.

>>115115362Ok, forgot they bought them. My bad. Does Top Shelf comics sell well or is it artistic but not mainstream enough?

>>115115603They sell well for what they are, but they're not enough to sustain a larger company. Their entertainment division also isn't working enough. They've developed a handful of shows for Netflix but none of them have been all that successful.

>>115115412Why would Hasbro buy a comic publisher with a business model based entirely upon licensing other properties?They would be better served, if they are mad enough to believe kids want comics, to hire a team of independent contractors to produce work for hire comics to package with the toys - which have better distribution worldwide. As they did with G.I.Joe comics and toys in the past.Comic books only matter to old farts at this point. The kids want the fortnite and whatever cheap/free app is scraping data from their use and location on their smartphones.

>>115115491Meh, that happened with MLP. As long as it's above 5k an issue, they see it as worth it.>>115115768>to hire a team of independent contractors to produce work for hire comics to package with the toysFunny you mention that, because Hasbro actually came out with a line of toys and said "they will have mini comics in them!" without even telling IDW. What ended up happening was that there was so much back and forth between IDW and Hasbro about what looked right that Hasbro just gave up on packing them in with toys and just released the whole thing as a special issue separately.

>>115115807>just released the whole thing as a special issue separately.Which issue?

>>115115807Hasbro now has a separate MLP comic series with the MLP manga which is made outside of Asia.How the fuck did IDW not secure exclusive rights? Or are they dumb enough to think that manga are something different from comics entirely.

>>115115822Guardians of Harmony.

>>115115847Different country, different license. Thats been a thing for decades, user.>>115115854Interesting.

>>115115768Hasbro's only interest in comics is IP maintenance. They know there's no correlation between toy sales and comics anymore but they take a comprehensive approach to their trademarks. So if/when IDW goes under they'll just farm the license out to some other small, hungry media company.

>>115115870The manga is made in English and distributed in the US.

>>115115847IDW has no capacity to produce or distribute material on a significantly international scale.

>>115115847I'm not sure if you noticed this, but the guys running IDW aren't very good at businessing.

>>115115916The company that makes it is in LA.

>>115110482>no Artist Editions of any of my favorite artists, everwtf

Also,>Denton Tipton (managing editor)Good.

>>115115948That doesn't change IDW's resource capacity.

>>115116110Doesn't that mean that IDW has zero exclusivity on MLP comics?

>>115115299There was a joke in that mr show reboot on netflix from years ago that was making fun of something like this, its hilarious to see its now real

>>115115412If IDW dies Hasbro would probably just license there shit out to someone else. Probably Boom since they already have Power Rangers.

>>115116144Yes, all though Hasbro probably has it spelled out in each of their licenses what products both IDW and Seven Seas are allowed to produce. Hasbro wanted to make an MLP manga and Seven Seas has connections to Asian distributors that IDW doesn't.

>>115115299

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>>115116336What a travesty. The entire book is ruined, no one can ever enjoy it again.

>>115116310This lack of love signals to me that Hasbro has no investment in IDWs continued existence beyond being the only ones currently using their license

>>115116274>>115115412Hasbro has no interest in owning a comic book company because they already own all of their IPs, as opposed to Disney and WB who bought their comic companies specifically for the valuable IPs. It's cheaper and easier for Hasbro to just issue licenses instead of taking on the financial burden of owning another company.

>>115116392That is 100% true, IDW has nothing Hasbro wants. They're just a means for Hasbro to maintain their trademarks.

>>115116392Hasbro made several Transformers toys based on IDW designs.

>>115116418They're awesome, too.

>>115115406Is "meh" your attempt at coping with the inevitable? Why would you want this publisher to persist after all the bullshit they pulled?

>>115116462Boco actually likes IDW Sonic.

>>115116502Eh, its alright. A means to an end, really.I love IDW for creating a universe where the Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, and Transformers all co-exist. Plus they've done alot of other good licensed comics, like Godzilla, Dick Tracy, Duke Nukem, and Dinosaurs Attack.

>>115114952Bleeding Cool reports "about a dozen" employees have been permanently laid off, so that means about 360 are still going back to work.

>>115116564The problem is their boo-boos are more notable than their successes. And their boo-boos are far too frequent.

>>115116595Yeah, no. Only because you keep obsessing over the boo boos. They're no better or worse than the Big Two.

>>115116640I don't believe a lot of their franchises would be as badly handled under Marvel.

>>115116672Oh they probably would. You guys bitch and moan about tranny TFs, but Marvel went and made characters named 'Safe Space' and 'Snowflake'. You don't have the high ground here.

>>115116725Even then IDW has such low quality standards that I would be surprised if it still wasn't better.After seeing what they did with Transformers, MLP, and Sonic, I have no love for them.

>>115110482I have no idea how these companies with no path to profitability even exist. How do you get a return?

>>115116779Well, different strokes for different folks.

>>115115333gee I wonder why they stopped buying comics, almost as if some outside force changed comics to no longer feature stories that might interest that group of people

>>115116640>They're no better or worse than the Big Two.I agree. All three need to go.

>>115116878Yeah, comics were so chock full of trannies and feminists 15 years ago.

>>115116336>>115116381if the tranny stuff was replaced with 4 panels of a transformer saying that Hitler was right about the jews would you still be comfortable with buying it anyways?because like it or not for many people trying to normalize a mental disorder that makes kids cut their dicks of is just as bad then that.

>>115116958Did a Decepticon say it? Some of them would say that proudly.

>>115116958If they published 4 panels of of a transformer saying Hitler was right about Jews the people who come on to this board to complain about trannies and feminists would be shouting "Based!"

>>115117037stop dodging the question tranny>>115117020no in my situation one of the good guys would say it just like how the tranny line was also said by an member of the autobos

>>115117611Well, ideally people would realize its just words on paper and not give a fuck.Crazy idea, I know.

>>115111835The last shot they had was when the MLP books launched and garnered surprise success, the first issue had over 80K in sales and it looked like it was going to hover at the low 40's hi 30's for months after the hype died down.I genuinely don't know what happened but sometime around their 10th issue or something the sales tanked to low low 20's and never recovered, so I'm assuming they crammed in more woke stuff like they did with everything else but I'm not discounting the idea that they just plain fucked up a story or something so bad people turned off it.

>>115110482lol mutt comics are over. manga ftw

>>115117695>surprise successIf it's a surprise when they're successful, then they're not major

>>115117747Hence "The last shot they had", if they'd just not fucked up and continued that success, it would have been normal. MLP at one point had 3 different comic lines running at IDW and gave them a whole percent of market share on its own.

>>115117724based

>>115117695>so I'm assuming they crammed in more woke stuff lSurprisingly no, the cause of it was twofold, the first was a storyline called "Reflections" where a major character got an OC love interest and potentiall doomed her universe for the writer's OC because he was just so great and perfect in every way(Yes, the writer was a woman), and then that same writer fucked up another storyline where the Main Character of the show watched her friend get punched into an outhouse by a much bigger villain but didn't fight them because if she used her magic it would be "Unfair". Comic book writers are fucking stupid.

>>115116958Maybe you should try not being a bigot

>>115110482Maybe they shouldn't sacrifice their most successful run for a reboot next time. Honestly, who thought that was a good idea?

>>115118272get better opinions

>>115114885I thought it was me buying anything Godzilla related was what helped it live!

>>115112934>Gladstone Publishing (died)I forgot about those.

>>115117611I'm not a tranny, I'm a Jew.

>Marvel and DC dying>Most indie publishers are dying>Comicsgate is a burning failure>Highest selling comics are from Scholastic or American branches of Japanese publishers

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>>115116392I blame the G.I. Joe debacle for that.