IDW Goes Junior

By John Freeman on January 13, 2008

Perhaps taking a leaf from UK Publishers such as Titan and Panini, US comics house IDW, best known as a publisher of horror, action, and SF comic books including Star Trek and Doctor Who, is launching a kid’s division titled Jonas Publishing and an imprint called Worthwhile Books.

In launching the new imprint IDW (owned by mobile group IDT) has inked deals with Hollywood writers and producers to pen kid’s books, in addition to entering into a first-look agreement with Meadowside Books, the UK kid’s publisher of titles such as Dig the Dog and DC Thomson-licensed titles utlising Dennis the Menace and The Bash Street Kids.

US writers on board include David N. Weiss, (Shrek 2, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and both Rugrats movies) and David Sacks, a writer/producer on The Simpsons, producer on Malcolm in the Middle, and writer on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Worthwhile will be the exclusive US publisher of select Meadowside titles and will retain domestic film and TV rights to those properties. The first Meadowside title, of the 10 or-so books a year Worthwhile intends to publish, is Michael Recycle, written by Ellie Bethel and drawn by Alexandro Columbo, about an environmental hero will be published in March. More details here on the IDW web site.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.