In 1999, four comic book professionals who had met while working at Wildstorm Productions decided to bet their careers on a new venture called Idea and Design Works, LLC. Ted Adams, Robbie Robbins, Alex Garner, and Kris Oprisko each held an equal 25% stake, creating a partnership that would eventually become the fifth-largest comic book publisher in the United States. Their timing was impeccable. When Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to DC Comics that same year, he transferred the creative service department, previously managed by Adams, to the fledgling company. This acquisition allowed IDW to generate profits in its very first year, a rare feat for a startup in the volatile comic book industry. With these initial earnings, the partners committed to funding a new venture every single year, setting a pace of expansion that would define the company's aggressive growth strategy for the next two decades.
From Art Books to Horror
The company's first true foray into comic books began not with a superhero, but with an art book. In 2001, Ashley Wood, a partner in the venture, suggested publishing an art book, which led to the launch of Una Fanta in March 2002. The pivot to narrative comics came when Steve Niles sent Adams a stack of rejected screenplays. Adams selected one titled 30 Days of Night and paired Niles with artist Ben Templesmith to create a three-issue series that debuted in August 2002. Pre-orders were low, prompting Adams to personally push the title to distributors and major comic book stores. The gamble paid off; back issues became hot commodities, and the title spawned a sequel, Popbot, which went on to win two Gold Spectrum Awards. This success launched a seven-figure bidding war between DreamWorks, MGM, and Senator International, with Senator International eventually winning the rights to produce a film adaptation directed by Sam Raimi.The License King
IDW distinguished itself from competitors by securing licenses for major franchises that other publishers had ignored or failed to capitalize on. The company began publishing comics based on Star Trek and CSI, but their most significant wins came from the toy and entertainment giant Hasbro. They acquired licenses for The Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and Jem, with Transformers sometimes running as many as five different titles concurrently. In 2008, they licensed the Doctor Who series from the BBC, launching Doctor Who Classics to reprint colorized strips from the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside original limited series like Agent Provocateur. By May 2008, they had also acquired the G.I. Joe comics license from Devil's Due Publishing, releasing three new series under editor Andy Schmidt that tied in with the summer 2009 film. This strategy of turning licensed properties into long-running, high-quality comic universes became the company's signature.