One of crowdfunding’s most successful indie comics lines is heading to comic shops. IDW Publishing is launching a White Ash Comics imprint and has announced its first three co-branded titles, as ICv2 reports.
White Ash Comics was created by writer Charlie Stickney, artist Conor Hughes and colorist Fin Cramb, and it has raised more than $1 million across 28 Kickstarter campaigns. Until now, its books have not been sold in stores.
Stickney will lead the imprint as publisher and CEO, with Hughes as chief creative officer. Nicole D’Andria heads editorial, Tango leads design and Travis Escarfullery runs production, according to Comics Beat.
The White Ash universe is set in the struggling coal-mining town of White Ash, Pennsylvania, and mixes epic fantasy with romance. It has been pitched as Supernatural meets Saga. At IDW, the stories will be remastered from their Kickstarter versions, with new bonus material added, and released in the format the creators originally intended.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be partnering with IDW, a company with a long lineage of championing independent comics like Locke & Key, Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Stickney said. “Through our White Ash Comics imprint at IDW, we look forward to bringing our stories to comic shops and bookstores for the first time in the format they were always intended to be read in.”
IDW CEO Davidi Jonas said the line “will feel right at home under the IDW umbrella,” adding that new readers can enter the universe for the first time while longtime fans see it expand.
The schedule starts with White Ash #1, an ongoing series, in April, followed by The Game #1 in June. Limited series will follow from September, starting with Glarien: Short and Deadly, starring the world’s most dangerous elf. An ashcan will be available at the ComicsPRO retailer meeting in February, and IDW is planning retailer cover and collections programs.
The move follows IDW’s recent launches of IDW Dark and IDW Crime, and it mirrors a wider trend of crowdfunded hits moving into the direct market, much like Vault’s Dungeon Crawler Carl ongoing comic.
