Posted in: Boom, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News | Tagged: comicspro, michael kelly

Boom Studios Talks About Publishing Fewer Comics In 2025 At ComicsPRO

Michael Kelly, Publisher of Boom Studios, talks about publishing fewer comics in 2025 at ComicsPRO, with a fake beard.

I thought Boom Studios's solicits for May were looking a little on the anaemic side. Turns out there's a reason for that, as Boom Studios Publisher Michael Kelly took to the stage at this week's ComicsPRO event at Glendale, California, to address hundreds of comic book store owners. You can catch up with all our ComicsPRO coverage using this link if you want… he began by saying "I'm Michael Kelly, I'm the new publisher here at Boom Studios. I probably don't know you, but we'll get to know each other. You know when I started this and they asked me to come out here, the first thing everybody told me was, you're never gonna live up to Filip Sablik. Everybody loves Filib Sablik."

And he's right, they do. But Filip Sablik left to found Ignition Press, who were also at ComicsPRO. And Michael Kelly had a solution.

"They tell me I'm a problem solver, so I thought about it, and I said I'll do whatever self-respecting executive does. I'll delegate. So I got Josh Hayes to come up here and do the presentation for y'all. Everybody loves Josh Hayes, right?"

Also true, everyone loves Josh Hayes, Boom's Vice President of Sales and formerly of Diamond. But there's a problem.

"Yeah, problem is Josh Hayes got the flu. Hayes isn't here now. Josh Hayes he wrote this amazing deck here. It's really personal, talks about his relationship with all of you guys, about his years and comics, and I was like nobody but Josh can give this presentation. And if I rewrite it, it's gonna be, oh you know, it's gonna be corporate and boring, and you guys are gonna be like, wow, that guy is definitely is no Filip Sablik. So it's really got be Josh Hayes, so if you'll bear with me."

Were we going to get a live video feed? No, we were going to get cosplay.

"Like I said, I'm a problem solver. Good morning, everybody. I'm Josh Hayes; it's so great to be here to see you all here. I've always loved coming toComicsPRO each year because of all of you and how, for a few days, our industry comes together in the ecosystem of creators, publishers, distributors and retailers, able to work on making our industry a better place. It's also nice to have a few days away from the chaos, destruction, sadness, confusion and struggle that the real world has been experiencing this year and instead focus on the chaos, destruction, sadness, confusion and struggle that our industry is having at the moment."

And so this mixture of Michael Kelly, Josh Hayes and Filip Sablik continued, bouncing up and down in a Josh Hayes fashion. And continued his entire presentation with a skullcap and beard on.

"Essentially, this is a vacation in February to Glendale, which, as someone that calls Florida home, is a huge upgrade from Pittsburgh in February. But to go on vacation, you have to do a little prep. One of the things that always comes up as we prep for our little time on the stage, Michael Kelly, decided that I would give the 25-minute talk. And let me tell you that the news was exciting and exhilarating, my chance to shine, and I reacted exactly as one would expect. So yeah, I'm just so jazzed, but once I was able to wrap my head around what was needed, I realised that the same thing that was causing me panic and to figure out what to talk about for 25 minutes was the same thing that got me so excited to be up here. It was the double-edged sword itself, which is time, and that got me thinking about these past five years. For me, five years is a little under the 10th of my life, but for our industry, these past five years have been like nothing before. Like decades crushed down into five years. In February 2020, those of you who were at ComicsPRO in Portland had no idea what was going to come and how fast it was gonna come at us. So, for decades, our world revolved around one central distributor, one catalogue, and one day of shipments of new products. In the months to come after that, the pandemic took centre stage. And besides being a disruptor for all of our personal lives, it became a great disruptor for comics. Retailers are pushed to the brink, and distribution became at first a challenge. But within months, it became an opportunity. Growth, expansion, new players, old players that were now kind of new players but with a fancy new name, so you didn't think of them as the old players. The industry was shifting and, in some ways, it felt like changes were happening almost every day. It became a daunting task just to keep up.

"For Boom Studios, we've always taken very calculated approaches to everything. We might not be the quickest to make changes, but that's because we like to take time to make sure that what we're doing serves all of our partners. The creators, of course, but also you, the retail partners, in these past five years. That's exactly what we've done, even if there have been our own disruptions along the way. This time last year, we were looking at the distribution landscape, and it was unfolding, and we were evaluating what changes we could make. Just a few months later, we were acquired by PRH, and that set out courese. We had plenty of time. We were moving our business in July, tons of time, but there it is, time again, messing around with things; almost exactly one month later, the event that shook our industry, and just five years ago would've seemed utterly impossible, happened. Diamond had filed for bankruptcy. We found ourselves with less time, and that meant our time to make the change was going to be much faster than expected. In fact, our first PRH FOC item is coming this Monday. But in our fashion, we're only FOC-ing one item this first week because we want to take the time to make sure everything is working. We're also very aware of how the time needed to run a shop has changed. You have multiple distributors and multiple FOCs to manage, so we know that you need to be very thoughtful about three things. What are you buying, how much are you buying it, Most importantly, why are you buying it? We are asking ourselves the same questions every day to set up both Boom and you, the retailer, for success."

"These questions are where our acquisition by PRH is incredibly helpful. They've been overwhelmingly supportive at Boom Studios and what we try to do and what we publish and have encouraged us to make sure that we're in the best position to do so, and that comes into play with those questions. What are we publishing? Boom is still Boom? We're working with the most talented creators in the industry, keep bringing you the books that your customers will want, horror, action, licenses that you love, books for all ages and spectrums. Those are still going to be our bread and butter. Our launch lineup for this year features bold stories from names you know and love, and some you don't know yet. We're adding to our legacy of incredible Power Rangers crossovers with a new chapter and launching the VR Troopers in their first-ever solo series. One area that we were able to change, as part of PRH, is our focus and what that means is, how much we were publishing. We're going to be publishing fewer new series in 2025, because we are committed to presenting you with books that have all of the ingredients you need to make them a success. Think quality over quantity."

I go straight to an episode of the BBC's W1A sitcom, "The fact is this is about establishing what we do most of best and finding fewer ways of doing more of it less".

"Thanks to a more concise list, we'll be able to focus and amplify our marketing and sales efforts by not spreading them across as many titles. We want to come to market armed and ready to tell you who each book is for and why you and your customers need to buy it, and seed the market with compelling and thoughtful marketing that helps bring customers into your shop. We want to save you some time in your hectic stores with fewer solicits, easier launches, and the ability to trust us that we're going to deliver quality books each and every time. And we've got your back, we're making it even easier these days. In the past five years, we've also embraced something that would've seemed impossible years ago: returnability on single-issue comics, but we didn't stop there. We've grown the program and are now leading edge on a simple-to-understand, effective, and balanced return policy for our single issues. We offer it where it makes sense, at least one cover, if not more, and at least on issue number one, if not more. We know how hard it is to get readers to latch on, so we can add returnability that gives you the retailer time to find your ceiling and know that you're what you're supporting along the way, and that's something we're more than happy to do if you've been paying attention. The third question is why? Let me tell you, why is one of my favourite questions. You can learn an infinite amount about something, just by asking why. And as publishers we should be able to answer those questions, and we aim to answer that. We think every book should come to market with a clear sense of its place and its audience. We're going to do everything we can to give you that information but, more importantly, incorporated into our marketing and sales efforts, with how busy the market is, and how busy all of you are, we owe it to you to be able to not just answer that question, but use the answer developed the strongest position in the market that we can."

"20 years. This is Boom Studios' 20th Anniversary anniversary year. That's a lot of time and a lot of comics. To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we're setting you up with artist focus 20th anniversary cover programs. and we're giving you 20 different complete collections. Wach a full and complete story. and anywhere from 8 to 15 issues of content offer, all for just $20 each. It's been a blast to look back and curate some of those projects but don't take my word for it…"

As well as showing off a video trailer for Mouse Guard and The Last Boy… being signed by Dan Panosian at the show. ComicsPRO is a trade association for comic book retailers, a volunteer non-profit organization that states it is dedicated to improving the comic book specialty market. Since the decline of Diamond, ComicsPRO Summit has become the central annual comic book retailer meet-up occasion.

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