RIP IDW TMNT

Tatoruzu

IDW plans to publish superhero, Bible, and crime comics that they own, moving away from licensed properties.
CEO Davidi Jonas aims to create value by developing wholly-owned IP like Marvel and DC.
New comic lines will include modernized Biblical stories and crime-themed narratives.
Expect these new titles from IDW to start rolling out within the next 12 to 16 months.

TMNT is not mentioned specifically, but the license is undoubtedly getting too expensive for IDW.

Tatoruzu

The reason why it's safe to assume this will impact TMNT is because if IDW is indeed moving away from licensed properties, their most expensive license (which required them to tank their stock price via a PPO) is probably on the chopping block

Tatoruzu

Wait... what's this?

modernized Biblical stories

Modernized... as in... for the "modern audience"?

No way they're going to put DEI into Bible stories. They're going to turn Jesus into a black womyn or something LMAO

Gort

i've heard IDW is pivoting to horror comics which is a market that has a bit of a vacuum right now. apart from ice cream man i cant think of a long ongoing horror anthology rn but maybe im just uneducated. as ive said if the tmnt move publishers and reboot im out. theyll probably melinate april and make the turtles more teenagers than ninjas for parity with the current movie and cartoon and honestly fuck all of that.

honestly as much as i love the mainline IDW continuity i also have a great affinity for quick one and done anthology stories so if IDW could start their own turtle soup book id eat that up.

this does look really dire
IDW coverage starts at like 2:50
why did tom waltz every stop scripting tmnt anyways its not as if he was done with it i mean he kept doing side books hell he has a book coming out tomorrow

helljumper

So that pretty much all but confirms IDW TMNT is on borrowed time. Given that it's likely they lose the license now, who do you guys think will most likely will start publishing new TMNT comics afterwards? I'm iffy about a reboot for the reasons Gort stated above, but if they absolutely had to start from square one under a new publisher, I wouldn't mind Skybound getting the license; I personally think their work for Transformers and GI Joe (Ironically, both of which were licenses they took from IDW) has been a pleasant surprise.

Tatoruzu

I have to just drop this here...

@helljumper

who do you guys think will most likely will start publishing new TMNT comics afterwards

I don't think anybody has the money to do it. And those who do have the money (like Warner Bros) are looking to get out of comics.

The only big company that seems to be actively investing in comics is Penguin Random House, which distributes comics (including IDW) and owns Boom. So I could see Boom picking it up. Do I think they'd do it justice? No.

Skybound is doing well with Transformers, or so I've heard, but they don't have the money for TMNT.

Image or Dark Horse wouldn't do TMNT justice, and I'd hate to see it with either of them.

After IDW is done with TMNT, the franchise is probably doomed unless Penguin picks up the license or Paramount partners with or purchases a publishing company.

Now... in the ideal fantasy land of "never gonna happen," Peter would open Mirage up again and get Kevin and the boys involved. I think Mirage originally negotiated a deal where they would be allowed to publish 18 issues per year or something like that? They wouldn't even need to work out a licensing agreement as far as I'm aware.

Gort

Tatoruzu boom studios would make sophie campbells run look like high art. remember what they did to buffy the vampire slayer? there arent many things that are more disappointing than that.

Tatoruzu

Gort I think it would be hard to be much worse than Sophie's run, but I know they'd try

Gort

Tatoruzu it would take a titan comics conan tier quality relaunch for me to care about a new tmnt book from another publisher and honestly the likelyhood of boom studios doing that are basically zero. my hope is that at bare minimum IDW will be able to finish out the hardcover IDW collections out to 150 for a complete volume 1 in hardcover. my pipe dream is that they somehow turn this around or this continuity would continue at another publisher.

would a new publisher be allowed to use IDW characters or will hob be officially doomed to be forgotten?

Tatoruzu

Gort

would a new publisher be allowed to use IDW characters

My guess is that they would, but I don't see a new publisher doing that.

it would take a titan comics conan tier quality relaunch for me to care about a new tmnt book from another publisher

Honestly, I would be fine with even a mediocre comic as long as it still feels like TMNT. For years, up until just recently, IDW TMNT hasn't felt like TMNT. The bar is pretty low.

That said, yeah, I'm not hopeful or anything.

my hope is that at bare minimum IDW will be able to finish out the hardcover IDW collections out to 150 for a complete volume 1 in hardcover

They probably have the license for another year. The 17th hardcover is coming out in April 2025, which will go up to issue #137. And I think that would just leave one more hardcover to go up to #150.

So I wouldn't really too much there... unless IDW disappears and randomly ceases to exist between now and then... which could happen, I suppose.

Mr_Toitle

After IDW is done with TMNT, the franchise is probably doomed unless Penguin picks up the license or Paramount partners with or purchases a publishing company.

I say this with all due respect to the boys, but it probably should at this point. Let TMNT rest for a good while until something or someone shows potential in the property again.

CodeXAhex

Glad this company going under

Tatoruzu

More information:

Earlier this week, IDW CEO Davidi Jonas outright said that the TMNT and Sonic licenses are "not guaranteed" to renew.

IDW CFO Andrew DeBaker said that they hope their partner, Scholastic, will move beyond TMNT and Sonic

CodeXAhex

Tatoruzu good idw doesn't need them anyway. company now will be known for ruining transformers , gi joe, sonic ,tmnt. I will would rather not even have these liscences have said comics if tthey turned out like this lol.

VCRVinnie

Tatoruzu excuse me sir. If IDW cannot hold onto TMNT for much longer, a possibility of your few positives countdown of idw TMNT in a new video?

Tatoruzu

VCRVinnie After some strange behavior from an IDW artist recently, I don't think I could bring myself to make a video praising the IDW run in any manner at this time. However, there are a lot of things I did indeed like about the run. So I'll do that video eventually, and especially if IDW officially loses/drops the license.

VCRVinnie

Tatoruzu ah, makes sense and a passage of time to cool down first?