Boom! Studios
Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Founded
June 1, 2005.[1]
United States
Simon & Schuster (US)[3]
HarperCollins Canada (Canada)[4]
Titan Books (United Kingdom)[5]
Diamond Book Distributors (rest of world)[6]
Paul Levitz – Board of Directors[7]
Matt Gagnon – Editor-in-Chief[8]
Filip Sablik – President of Publishing and Marketing[9]
Stephen Christy – President of Development (Film and TV)[10]
Lance Kreiter – Vice President of Licensing and Merchandising[11]
Hunter Gorinson – Vice President of Business Development[12]
History[edit]
2000s[edit]
In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Hollywood, helping to option comic book projects as producers and working to develop them into films with the studios, but were getting increasingly frustrated with what they felt was the "tights and capes" focus of most mainstream comics companies.[13] They went on to found Boom! together in 2005.[14]
Before Boom!, Richie and Cosby worked briefly with Dave Elliott and Garry Leach in 2004 to revive 1980s comic book publishing house Atomeka Press.[15] While working with Atomeka, Richie cut a deal with Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis to publish their series Hero Squared, with the Hero Squared X-Tra Sized Special one-shot.[16] When Giffen was featured as a guest at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention,[17] he grabbed a drink with Richie after the show and persuaded him to start his own outfit, Boom!.[18][19] Boom!'s first publication was Zombie Tales #1, a horror zombie anthology, released under the Boom! and Atomeka Press logos on June 29, 2005.[1][20][21] The issue was originally solicited by Atomeka but released after Richie had left the company to start Boom! Studios. Giffen and DeMatteis imported their Hero Squared series from Atomeka to Boom! and Hero Squared became the very first Boom! comic book sold solely under the Boom! logo.[1][22] shipping July 27, 2005.[23]
During this time in its history, Boom! focused on publishing an array of original series created by a slew of industry veterans: Giffen worked on Hero Squared, Planetary Brigade, 10, Jeremiah Harm, and the Tales titles like Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales.[24] DeMatteis collaborated with Giffen on Hero Squared and Planetary Brigade and brought his own series, The Stardust Kid, with Mike Ploog, over from Image Comics.[25] Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey's Oni Press series Jenny Finn migrated to Boom! and finally completed its story. Eisner Award winner Dave Johnson created covers for Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales. Joe Casey created The Black Plague while Rafael Albuquerque's first American work debuted in The Savage Brothers.
2006 saw Boom! move into licensing for the first time with the debut of Games Workshop series Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade, based on the popular miniatures game of the same name.[26] In 2007, Boom! published Steven Grant's crime/action comic 2 Guns which Cosby and Ritchie co-produced for Universal Studios in 2013.[27]
At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, Boom! announced plans to launch its first imprint, a new line of comics for children originally announced with the name Zoom!,[28] but when the imprint launched in 2009, the imprint debuted as Boom! Kids.[29] Boom! also signed a deal with Pixar to produce comic books based on their properties and secured newsstand distribution.[30][31] The first included The Muppet Show by Roger Langridge and The Incredibles: Family Matters by Mark Waid and artist Marcio Takara. In February 2011, Boom! re-branded Boom! Kids as KaBOOM!,[32] re-focusing the imprint to be appealing to all ages rather than only children.[33]
Also, during the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, Boom! announced the appointment of Mark Waid as Editor-in-Chief.[34] This role would eventually grow to Chief Creative Officer in August 2010 before his eventual return to freelance work in December of that year.[35] While in these leadership roles, Waid also created multiple successful titles, including Irredeemable in 2009, which became Boom!'s longest-running series at that time, lasting 37 issues, and a sister book Incorruptible.[36]
2010s[edit]
Former Managing Editor Matt Gagnon was promoted to Editor-in-Chief in July 2010.[37]
At the beginning of 2013, the company launched its #WeAreBoom! campaign, spotlighting a philosophy that Boom! isn't just composed of its writers, artists, and staff but also of the fans that read its comics and the retailers that sell them.[38] In June 2013, Boom! acquired Archaia Studios Press,[39] merging it into Boom! and retaining it as a stand-alone imprint. In October 2013, Boom! signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox giving Fox the right of first refusal to develop any Boom! comic properties into a film or TV series, and Boom! would get first-dollar gross on any profits. As a publisher of creator-owned works, that share would be split between Boom! and the creator(s) of the adapted work.[40]
In January 2015, Boom! launched "Push Comics Forward", a public relations campaign aimed at generating a discussion about how comic book publishing can become more inclusive and diverse.[41]
In June 2017, 20th Century Fox purchased a minority stake in Boom! Studios, valued at $10 million.[42][43] The Walt Disney Company inherited Fox's stake in Boom! Studios after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets on March 20, 2019.[44][45]
2020s[edit]
In April 2020, Boom! Studios established a first-look television deal with Netflix, while its first-look deal with 20th Century Studios/The Walt Disney Company remains in effect for film projects through 2021.[46] Ex-Marvel Television employee Mark Ambrose joined the studio as head of television in August 2020.[47]
Distribution[edit]
All of Boom! Studios' single-issue comic books and graphic novels have been distributed to the Direct Market exclusively by Diamond Comics Distributors since 2018.[110]
Boom!'s graphic novels have been distributed to the book trade via Simon & Schuster in the United States since 2009,[111][112] HarperCollins in Canada,[4] Titan Books in the United Kingdom,[5] and Diamond Book Distributors internationally.[6]