Broken Frontier

Industry leader Wizard Magazine has named newly formed comic book publisher Boom! Studios “Best New Publisher.”

Launching with great commercial success in June of 2005 with ZOMBIE TALES #1, Boom! Studios garnered critical attention as well, getting 17 out of 17 favorable website reviews for its initial launch title.  Since then, Boom! has moved to the forefront of comic book publishing for the direct market.

Wizard wrote:  “Utilizing a stacked talent roster that includes Keith Giffen (10, Jeremiah Harm), J.M. DeMatteis (Hero Squared with Giffen), Mike Mignola (Jenny Finn), Steve Niles (Giant Monster, Fused Tales), Mark Waid (Zombie Tales), and more, Boom delivered more awesome comics in 2005 than some indie publishers release in a lifetime!”

“It's an honor to work with talent of this caliber, and an even greater honor to see recognized industry legends like this trust my upstart outfit with their creations,” Boom! Studios publisher Ross Richie said.  “It's really encouraging to see that there's still room for new, original ideas in a franchise-choked marketplace.”

Boom! Studios shipped its first book halfway into 2005 – all the more impressive that Wizard Magazine picked it out of the pack when Boom only had half the year to publish.    “I'm really excited, and frankly a little surprised to get the attention so soon,” Richie said.   “We've only been doing this about six months, and if I knew this was coming, it would've been nice to have an entire year to really show Wizard what we can do!  It was a tough year.  There were a lot of great projects launched in 2005, and a lot of well-funded companies.  I have a great deal of respect for the other publishers that launched this year – they did a lot of great work – so I was pretty blown away that Wizard picked us.”

Boom! Studios launched in 2005 with an eye to becoming a boutique publisher, focused on doing a small number of projects well.  In a marketplace that often sees companies launch entire new imprints and large new lines, Boom crawled before trying to walk.

Boom Studios is also the home to some impressive talent that's new to comic book publishing, like Keith Giffen's Blue Beetle writing partner, John Rogers – the Zombie Tales writer might be best-known as the screenwriter for Warren Ellis' Global Frequency, the upcoming Transformers movie, and Rush Hour III.  Moving into 2006, Rogers will continue to work with Boom on various projects, including the upcoming Cthulhu Tales.  Creator of the original Sci-Fi Network TV show “Eureka” Andrew Cosby has also thrown his hat into the Boom ring with work on Zombie Tales and Zombie Tales: Death Valley.  Cosby's adapting Doug TenNapel's graphic novel “Creature Tech” for 20th Century Fox and will be launching a large number of series with Boom this year.

“We started by shipping just two books a month, and managed to get some decent attention.  We'll be branching out more, but it will be a slow, gradual, organic process.”  Richie went on, “Last year was a banner year for us, but the stuff we've got planned for the near future's really going to turn some heads.”