IDW May update (lots of stuff)

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Denyer
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IDW May update (lots of stuff)

Post by Denyer »

Looks like I'm not alone in things getting hectic... thanks to Besters, who's keeping track like a good webmaster...

http://idwpublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1154
I'd been planning to do another Q&A soon, but just can't get to it right now. It's been really hectic lately and those things tend to consume my life while they're open. So instead, let me give you all updates on the general state of things, just so everyone is up to date.

First, the movie projects. They're done (finally!) and about to come out. The Prequel TPB and the Movie Adaptation TPB are going to be pretty prevalent, since there will be copies sold outside of just the direct comic book market. You'll be able to find copies at Target (including an exclusive Target edition of the Prequel with a lenticular cover), J.C. Penny, and some other places. There will be a videogame booklet-sized copy of Prequel #1 in the Activision videogame. A special something in the Bumblebee Unleashed toy (cover art by Klaus Scherwinski). There are special plans being made for the eventual DVD release (one written by me and art by Andrew, among other things) and even the movie soundtrack CD (not finalized just yet). And there will even be an exclusive, all-new 10-page comic (by Simon, me, and Andrew Wildman, with a new cover by Don and Josh) given out at a particular theater chain (courtesy of Target, too). Details on which theater to come, but that will be the only place that comic will be found (other than eBay). There will be 1.5 million copies of these given out. So there will be an amazing amount of Transformers movie comics out in the world as of June 5 and beyond. We'll talk formally about all these plans soon, but there's the advance word on what's been going on. Somehow, Simon and I will have more comics in circulation than anyone else has had in years...

Megatron: The first issue has been really delayed, mostly due to Alex Milne being pretty ill for a while. he's on the mend now, but between the crazy schedule for the Adaptation and this book just being labor-intensive beyond what we thought, it's moved slowly. But it's on now. Half the book is in, with the rest due this week, and it'll be sent to print next week. It'll be in stores in mid-June (possibly early June, but we can't confirm that with the printer until the book's finished and ready to go). We'll be back on track after that, but I wanted everyone to know that it's coming, albeit a couple weeks late. I ran some color preview pages here:
http://www.idwpublishing.com/phpBB2/vie ... 6839#16839

Best of Don and Best of Simon HCs: Late books drive me (and you, I know) crazy, and I apologize that some of these projects are hitting a couple weeks after they're due. These books are both off to print now. The problems that face big books like these is, finding clean files of the older books so they look good when reproduced in fancy volumes, production time, and approval time. Really, the movie and all the projects around it have thrown everyone's schedule into whack--ours, Hasbro's, everyone's. But these books are coming, too.

Devastation: Progressing nicely. EJ's turned in half of issue 1 already, and the pages look amazing. I know that the wait between Escalation and the start of this can be long, but between the movie and a couple of relevant Spotlights filling in space in between, hopefully you understand. There's just no way for EJ to do what he does in a month's time per issue, so we try to give as much space as we can up front so the book can then ship regularly each month. Nick Roche is doing variant covers for this entire run.

The Spotlight issues: Galvatron is pretty amazing, and I think it's going to go over really well. Guido's work is amazing on it, and Simon's really done good things to make the character vibrant in our universe. Following that, Don has completed his work on the Optimus Prime book, and now that one's in Josh's hands. A more depressing word on that one, though--I got the Don Perlin cover for that book done and colored (also by Perlin), and it was set to be an incentive cover. Sort of a "best of the old" alongside Don's "best of the new" (and Gabriel Rodriguez's great cover, too)... and it didn't pass muster in Hasbro's eyes. We tried different things, and I could not get it approved. So I'll no doubt show it here at some point, but for now, just know that we gave it a shot. Hasbro wants to look forward not back, and that one will just not fly. Maybe I can talk them into running it inside the issue itself, if not as a cover.

Beast Wars: The Ascending: Now that Don's clear from Optimus, he can get onto this book, too. His first cover is really amazing, and Roche is once again nailing variant covers on this book, too. And yes, the Sourcebooks are actually coming. Both issue 1s will be out in September. No, really.

Transformers: New Avengers: This crossover has gone really well, too. Stuart Moore has just immersed himself in our TF world, so the book has nice echoes to our "Infiltration" universe for anyone who wants this one to fit into the continuity, although it works fine as a standalone story. A Spotlight issue might even spin out of this one, too.

As far as reprints go, I've enjoyed getting some U.K. stories back out there, so we're going to do some U.K. Dinobots tales after Target: 2006 ends (with Nick on covers).

We're also mulling over some Essentials-style reprints of the older material, although that would have to be a "best of" thing since my attempts to get clearance to run every single issue of the Marvel series haven't met with success. Ah, well. There's still so much else to do.

BotCon: Looking forward to this show, too, assuming I can find time to steal away to get to it. I really want to be there to see the movie for the first time with everyone who's going to that show, though.

So anyway, that's the current state of things. For now. It wouldn't feel right if I didn't drop one vague hint, though, and say that beyond all this, there are huge plans being made that have nothing to do with any of this stuff I mentioned. Plans that should surface in 2008. HUGE (in scope, not like huge in size like a Unicron appearance) plans.
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