IDW up for sale

[neatoman]

So here's a bit of news that might have an impact on the TMNT comics. IDW is currently looking for investors.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/03...n-open-letter/

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Huh. That's foreboding.

Whether it's good for IDW's business or not, it will still have some form of impact on TMNT comics, and I don't see how that impact could be good.

[Redeemer]

well..... crap.......

I hope TMNT is not affected too much by this..... I hope the IDW team at least can tie up all the loose ends

[Mike Lowrey]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Whether it's good for IDW's business or not, it will still have some form of impact on TMNT comics, and I don't see how that impact could be good.

I’m more worried about IDW’s sales numbers each month of the TMNT comics. This will have a far greater impact on IDW’s TMNT run.

[CyberCubed]

It's interesting this came at a time where Marvel is letting IDW publish Star Wars comics and a new reboot of Spiderman and Avengers comics. Feels really weird for IDW to be up for sale when they made this huge deal with Marvel.

Most of IDW's comics are licensed comics so obviously they don't get the full sales of each book and most of them haven't been selling anything spectacular although better than Dark Horse at least.

[snake]

Oh, they are so f*cked. Hopefully we can at least get to #100 before anything major happens.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by neatoman

So here's a bit of news that might have an impact on the TMNT comics. IDW is currently looking for investors.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/03...n-open-letter/

Spectacular Spider-Man. That is all.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

Spectacular Spider-Man. That is all.

Can you elaborate? I don't read Spiderman, so I've no idea what you mean by this...

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Can you elaborate? I don't read Spiderman, so I've no idea what you mean by this...

I meant the cartoon, which was hands down the best adaptation of Spider-Man ever, not just animated, but ended up cancelled in its prime when (IIRC) the television rights reverted back to Marvel.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I meant the cartoon, which was hands down the best adaptation of Spider-Man ever, not just animated, but ended up cancelled in its prime when (IIRC) the television rights reverted back to Marvel.

Ah, okay.

Yeah, rights changing hands has often fvcked up good stories, be they comics, TV shows (Netflix Marvel, RIP), or what not.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Ah, okay.

Yeah, rights changing hands has often fvcked up good stories, be they comics, TV shows (Netflix Marvel, RIP), or what not.

Exactly. I know it's not the same thing per se in this case, but seeing the show cancelled with such promise for the future made me weary of these situations.

(Funny how Marvel is so often embroiled in this kind of affairs...)

[CyberCubed]

So how does Marvel feel about this? I don't think TMNT will be affected unless everyone jumps ship.

[Weapons@theready]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I meant the cartoon, which was hands down the best adaptation of Spider-Man ever, not just animated, but ended up cancelled in its prime when (IIRC) the television rights reverted back to Marvel.

I still can’t talk about this subject without getting angry about the cancellation

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Weapons@theready

I still can’t talk about this subject without getting angry about the cancellation

If only there could've been some sort of follow-up to the show in comic form or something, like what's been done with Buffy the Vampire Slayer... I ran my eyes over the names of the villains slated to appear in season 3 while I was checking the Wikipedia entry to see if the reasons I mentioned for the cancellation were accurate, and had a hard time not feeling angry myself. I'm right there with you.

[Toxin45]

Man idw and dark horse are struggling this year.

[Roseangelo]

I'm pretty sure all this is saying is that they would like to see IDW go from being a publicly traded company to being a privately owned company. This kind of thing happens pretty regularly in business and doesn't really indicate anything bad in general. The only thing is that once a sale is made, the new owners usually like to change or rearrange the furniture, so to say. The company I used to work for was bought out in Sept. 2017. After a few changes and rearranges, I was shown the door in a round of layoffs March 2018. So that sucked. But the company is still around and is more or less the same as it was before the sale.

[pferreira]

Neatoman you're in trouble now. I guess you'll have to watch episodes of the Fred Wolf cartoon series from now on which we all know you love.

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I meant the cartoon, which was hands down the best adaptation of Spider-Man ever, not just animated, but ended up cancelled in its prime when (IIRC) the television rights reverted back to Marvel.

Nah it wasn't the best Spider-Man by a long shot.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I meant the cartoon, which was hands down the best adaptation of Spider-Man ever, not just animated, but ended up cancelled in its prime when (IIRC) the television rights reverted back to Marvel.

Spider-Man:The Animated Series is the best Spider-Man adaptation ever! Its amazing, its spectacular, it starts and stays in the college age does its own things yet stays loyal to the stories up to that time. I forgive it for the Electro botch and Roderick not yet being revealed. I believe the TMNT sale to Nick killing the 2003 cartoon is a better example.

Its hard to think half cup full in this era of comics,I mean the movies have taken off so,but we are entering another mid 90s' crisis in the comic book medium.

So is the Technodrome up to become an investor as a collective group?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Neatoman you're in trouble now. I guess you'll have to watch episodes of the Fred Wolf cartoon series from now on which we all know you love.

I know you're stupid but that was just pathetically weak. Do you seriously think Fred Wolf episodes still make up the bulk of TMNT material? Or that I don't find any other TMNT material enjoyable outside of the IDW series? Or that the 200+ issues of IDW TMNT published isn't more than enough to re-read as is?

Hell, bringing it back to the idea Fred Wolf being the bulk of TMNT, it isn't even true if we're talking about the kids' shows. There's 156 4kids episodes, 124 Nick episodes and 52 confirmed full episodes of Rise. There's more than enough alternatives to Fred Wolf out there.

Or you know, if for some reason I didn't want to re-experience anything, I can just go outside of TMNT. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of movies and TV shows coming out every year. Not to mention novels, comics, video games and whatever else under the sun. I could find a new piece of entertainment every single waking hour and never run out.

So no, I don't need IDW TMNT to keep going (even if I'd like it to).

[Utrommaniac]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

I'm pretty sure all this is saying is that they would like to see IDW go from being a publicly traded company to being a privately owned company. This kind of thing happens pretty regularly in business and doesn't really indicate anything bad in general. The only thing is that once a sale is made, the new owners usually like to change or rearrange the furniture, so to say. The company I used to work for was bought out in Sept. 2017. After a few changes and rearranges, I was shown the door in a round of layoffs March 2018. So that sucked. But the company is still around and is more or less the same as it was before the sale.

And would any new investor really want to mess around with the top sellers? Especially with one of the properties that is doing pretty well, all things considered? And with anything the "Big Boys" are giving IDW licence to publish like Marvel/Disney and DC?

But there is something I think is getting lost in translation.

Just because a hedge fund investor with 9% of stock is "calling" for a sale, doesn't mean a sale is going to happen.
What do the other stockholders think? What does IDW management itself think? This seems more like an "this guy made a suggestion to the company" than the company itself making the decision. All that the article is showing is a review of events and sharing the open letter. As far as my reading comprehension can tell, nothing seems to be happening really, except for the change of hands that's presently going through at the top. Which they're probably too busy getting settled with to even bother with any decision making about selling.

Hell, Bobby doesn't even seem that worried

Originally Posted by Bobby Curnow

Ok, just read that article. Some things to keep in mind, if i'm reading it correctly:


-This is one guy who represents a 10% controlling interest in the company. A long way to go from anything resembling a majority.

-He's talking about IDW Entertainment partnering with (or yes, being bought by) a larger entertainment company to better leverage IDW's existing IP into more money.

So, in short, this is one guy amongst many, he's not speaking for everyone, or even the majority, on the board of investors. And what he's describing doesn't have anything to do with the publishing branch, especially the side of it dealing with licenses. The profits from our licensed books enable us to take chances on more unknown/risky original IP books, and this guy's goal is to have more original IP, so i'm not seeing any reason to suspect a book like TMNT would in any way be affected.

Now, companies get bought and sold all the time and new owners can have new ways of doing things. But from my understanding, there is zero reason to think any of that is happening. This is one guy stating publicly the direction he thinks the company should go in and that's it.

It should be stated that I got into comics to get away from big business type stuff, so my comprehension of the ins and outs of business is lacking. Maybe i'm missing something. But that's my take on it!

The sky's not falling for the TMNT publication. They probably get suggestions like this all the time; they just don't get shared online.


Basically: A guy from a hedge fund with no majority power is making suggestion too big for its britches, and won't even affect the way current publications are going to run anyway.