IDW Publishing is a comic book publishing company founded in 1999 and incorporated as Idea + Design Works, LLC. IDW started off with original horror comics but is perhaps best known today for its vast array of licensed comics. That is to say, while IDW does have a few original titles, of which the best known are 30 Days of Night and Locke & Key, the majority of its best-selling comics are based on franchises owned by other companies. This is an arrangement that IDW has used to great effect, as many of these titles have been extremely well-received by long-time fans of their respective properties.
As well as the newly-published comics, IDW has also published reprints of many well-known Newspaper Comics under the "Library of American Comics" subbrand, and a number of "Artist Editions" of oversize editions of the raw pencil art for famous earlier comics series.
In 2015, IDW took over the art-comics publisher Top Shelf, although Top Shelf will continue as an imprint and will retain a separate editorial department.
2016 saw IDW establishing a Shared Universe between many of their Hasbro-based titles with a crossover event termed Revolution; in addition to the existent G.I. Joe and Transformers titles being linked, it'll also include newly-launched ROM, Action Man and Micronauts, as well as a M.A.S.K. comic. (Hasbro had tried a similar idea themselves back in 2011 as Unit:E, but that didn't take—primarily because it was supposed to jump off the end of Transformers: Prime, and that show had a ton of behind-the-scenes issues.) The page for it can be found here.
On January 20, 2022, it was announced that IDW would lose the licenses to the Transformer and G.I. Joe names by the end of 2022, marking an end to more than a decade of memorable stories. That said, the publishers decided that if they're going to lose the Transformer name, they're going out with one last hurrah and story.
Original titles published by IDW include:
- 30 Days of Night
- All-Ghouls School
- The Badger
- Billy Majestic's Humpty Dumpty
- The Cape
- Danger Girl
- Diablo House
- Dominatrix (2007)
- Dying Is Easy
- Fallen Angel (Volume 2: Volume 1 was published by DC)
- Judas: The Last Days
- The Kill Lock
- Kill Shakespeare
- The Life and Times of Savior 28
- Locke & Key
- Love and Capes
- The Maze Agency
- Next Men
- Night Moves
- Saucer State (Wrap It Up miniseries for Saucer Country after its cancellation by Vertigo Comics)
- Starstruck
- Welcome to Hoxford
- Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse
- Wynonna Earp
- Zombies vs. Robots
Licensed media tie-in comics include.
- 24
- Angel (From the immediate post-TV-show comics until the license returned to Dark Horse in 2011. They also published Spike and Illyria miniseries centering on other characters from the show)
- American McGee's Grimm
- Angry Birds
- Atomic Robo (beginning in September)
- Back to the Future
- Battleship Galaxies (48-page graphic novel bundled with Battleship Galaxies: The Saturn Offensive)
- Big Hero 6 (based on the Disney film and TV series; not to be confused with the original Marvel Comics)
- Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War
- Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy
- Clue (not part of the Hasbro Comic Universe, launched in June 2017)
- CSI
- Dexter's Laboratory
- Disney comics
- Donald Duck
- Mickey Mouse
- Uncle Scrooge
- Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
- Duck Avenger
- The Haunted Mansion: Frights of Fancy
- Doctor Who (2007-2013, until the comics licence was transferred to Titan)
- Dragon Age
- Duck Tales 2017
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – The Feast of the Moon
- The Fly: Outbreak
- Ghostbusters
- Ghost Whisperer
- GoBots
- Godzilla (IDW Publishing)
- Goosebumps
- The Hasbro Comic Universe, consisting of:
- Action Man
- G.I. Joe (since 2008)
- G.I. Joe (IDW)
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (IDW) - A continuation of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel) that picks up where the original series left off and ignores the Devil's Due continuity.
- G.I. Joe (2016)
- G.I. Joe (2019) - A reboot unrelated to the continuity established in the initial Hasbro Comic Universe.
- ROM
- Jem and the Holograms (IDW)
- M.A.S.K.
- Micronauts (IDW)
- Transformers (since 2005) - Most of IDW's Transformers comics are based on G1, though they also do tie-ins to the current cartoons and video games. As of 2016, it forms the nucleus of the HCU.
- The Transformers Megaseries
- The Transformers - Megatron: Origins
- The Transformers: All Hail Megatron
- The Transformers: Drift
- The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers
- The Transformers (IDW) - A G1 comic following the events of All Hail Megatron, lasted from 2009-2011, splitting into...
- The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
- The Transformers: Robots in Disguise
- The Transformers: Autocracy
- The Transformers: Monstrosity
- The Transformers: Primacy
- The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots
- The Transformers: Dark Cybertron
- The Transformers: Windblade
- The Transformers: Punishment
- The Transformers: Combiner Wars
- The Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers
- The Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers
- The Transformers: Till All Are One
- The Transformers: Titans Return
- Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
- The Transformers: Unicron
- Revolution (2016) (the crossover event that brought everyone together)
- Revolutionaries
- Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor
- First Strike
- Transformers vs. Visionaries
- Transformers (2019) - A reboot unrelated to the continuity established in the initial Hasbro Comic Universe
- Transformers: Shattered Glass (2021) Shards - A reboot of the fan-favourite Shattered Glass universe that began with Fun Publications in 2008.
- Transformers: Shattered Glass II - 2022 sequel to the above mini.
- Transformers: Beast Wars (2021) - An alternate continuity reboot of the fan-favorite Beast Wars series which began on the original show's 25th anniversary.
- Transformers: Deviations - A What If? story telling a version of The Transformers: The Movie where Optimus Prime did not die.
- The Transformers: Regeneration One - A continuation of the original Marvel 80s Transformer comic.
- Transformers '84 - A prequel to the Marvel Transformers comic.
- Transformers: Last Bot Standing - The final chapter of the Transformers story commemorating the end of IDW's hold on the Transformers license.
- Judge Dredd (US version since 2012)
- Judge Dredd: Year One
- KISS
- Littlest Pet Shop (2012)
- Magic: the Gathering (IDW)
- Mars Attacks!
- Marvel Action
- Marvel Action: Avengers
- Marvel Action: Black Panther
- Marvel Action: Captain Marvel
- Marvel Action: Spider-Man
- My Little Pony (since 2012)
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) - A series based on the popular animated series.
- My Little Pony Micro Series - A spin-off of the main comic with each issue focusing on a single character.
- My Little Pony: Friends Forever - A sequel series to the Micro one that features stories focusing on pairings of various characters.
- My Little Pony: FIENDship Is Magic - A spin-off limited series that explores the origins of the show's villains.
- My Little Pony: Legends of Magic - Single issue stories that "explore the secret history of Equestria".
- My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel - A four-issue IDW series set before the events of The Movie that introduces several of the film's new characters.
- My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise! - A four-issue miniseries that crosses over with Hasbro's other flagship franchise Transformers.
- My Little Pony Generations - A five issue series between Generation 1 and Generation 4 of the My Little Pony franchise.
- My Little Pony (2022) - A series based on the movie My Little Pony: A New Generation.
- My Little Pony Classics Reimagined: Little Fillies - A series based on the classic novel Little Women.
- Orphan Black
- Popeye
- The Rocketeer
- Samurai Jack - A continuation of the original cartoon that lasted 20 issues. In light of the show's renewal for a fifth season on [adult swim], the comic is considered Canon Discontinuity.
- Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack - A five-issue miniseries consisting of an Alternate Continuity that started publication shortly after the fifth season ended its run.
- Silent Hill
- Sonic the Hedgehog (starting April 4th, 2018)
- Tangle and Whisper: Mini-series starring the two new named heroic characters of the comic.
- Bad Guys: Mini-series that focuses on several villains of the comic,
- Impostor Syndrome: Mini-series that once more focus on the villains, in this case, two new ones named Surge and Kit.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Official Movie Pre-Quill: Movie tie-in for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022).
- Star Trek: Mission's End
- Star Trek (IDW)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation²
- Star Wars Adventures
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Tangled: The Series
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - IDW is the current home for TMNT comics, excepting the up to 18 new issues a year of the original series that Mirage Studios retains the rights to publish.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) - A comic series in a separate continuity from the original. Has been considered by some to be an "Ultimate TMNT" series.
- Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles A crossover published in collaboration with DC Comics.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro Series - a spin-off of main comic with each issue focusing on an individual character, inspired by the original series Micro-Series issues.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures - A series of comics set in the continuity of the Nick cartoon.
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - A crossover miniseries with Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Boom! Studios), published jointly with Boom! Studios.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) - A comic series in a separate continuity from the original. Has been considered by some to be an "Ultimate TMNT" series.
- True Blood
- Weekly World News
- Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland
- The X-Files Season 10
Reprint publications include:
- Blondie
- Bloom County
- Corto Maltese
- Dick Tracy
- Doctor Who Magazine comic strips, under the title Doctor Who Classics.
- The Family Circus
- Li'l Abner
- Little Orphan Annie
- The Powerpuff Girls (DC Comics reprints)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage)
- Terry and the Pirates
- The Transformers (Marvel) (Marvel Comics Reprints)
- Transformers: Generation One (Dreamwave Productions reprints)
- Wonder Woman (mid-1940s newspaper strip reprints)
