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Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: artists edition, scott dunbier
Artist's Editions Creator Scott Dunbier Quits IDW Publishing
Bleeding Cool has learnt over the WonderCon weekend that Scott Dunbier is to quit IDW Publishing. A move that will have serious consequences.
Article Summary
- Scott Dunbier is set to leave IDW Publishing, stirring the comic book world.
- Pioneered the Artist's Edition format at IDW, boosting its profits.
- Previously created the Absolute edition at DC, a widely emulated format.
- Speculation mounts on Dunbier’s next move and potential industry impact.
Bleeding Cool has learnt over the WonderCon weekend that Scott Dunbier is to quit IDW Publishing. A move that will have serious consequences for the comic book industry.
Scott Dunbier was an art dealer, who turned to publishing comics with Wildstorm, where he was appointed Editor-In-Chief, before Wildstorm was bought by DC Comics, making Dunbier a Vice President there. He was in charge of keeping Alan Moore separate from the rest of DC Comics, editing the America's Best Comics line. He also pioneered the Absolute oversized slipcased hardcover format at DC Comics to much success, now copied across the industry, before he was fired by Paul Levitz over the controversy concerning League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier.
So he got a new job at IDW as Special Projects Editor where he pioneered another new format, the Artist's Edition, replicating original artwork on the page as close as possible to the original. Licensing rights to some of the most important comics in American publishing history, and at the size closest to the original artwork. It is considered one of the major reasons IDW Publishing stayed in profit. Again, everyone tried to copy it. But few had the original art contacts that Scott Dunbier did. And so publishers came to IDW, including Marvel and DC. But now Scott Dunbier is choosing to leave of his own volition.
I heard that his WonderCon panel went very well indeed. Scott is still at IDW, and it is unclear what his final day will be. IT might be worth noting that his very first day at IDW was the first of April, 2008. What future for Scott Dunbier, and where he will end up, will be another one of those comic book industry shoes that have been dropping all day. Scott Dunbier has already upended how American comic book publishers make money, and service the collectors and archival market, any chance he might do it again for a third time? If I was a betting man, I'd say yes.
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