Posted in: Boom, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: page rate, Paul Levitz

That IDW $200 Page Rate Gossip From A Week-And-A-Half Ago

A number of folks have posted Bleeding Cool highlighted screencaps, taking one aspect of the IDW article out of context without follow-ups.

There are so many screencaps and so few links back… but to recap. over a week ago, Bleeding Cool ran a bunch of gossip about comic book publisher IDW Publishing, which followed a number of waves of redundancy, resignation upon resignation, and new hires, so that that amount of tittle-tattle I heard about IDW's internal practices quadrupled. That included former staffers who told me that CEO and now Publisher of IDW, Davidi Jonas, was planning on pushing down page rates on licensed titles alongside a new but unspecified backend royalty deal. I heard this from multiple involved sources, and IDW did not choose to comment. But a) it was a planned policy rather than something put into effect, and he was likely to get pushback from editorial. Indeed, sine I published that piece I have heard more about pushback.

But in the last couple of days, a number of folks have posted highlighted screencaps, taking just that aspect of the original article out of context without follow-ups. Because we have reported a lot on IDW in recent weeks, there has been a lot to talk about. Including a relaunch and refresh at New York Comic-Con, the financial status of IDW, the publication of their own IP, the launch of a new horror line, and a George Takei graphic novel sequel. But the page rate posts and reactions took the conversation into strange new tangents, including page rates at DC Comics in the seventies and page rates at Boom Studios now. Here's how that went down…

IDW page rate social media posts

Comic Tropes: "BleedingCool has an article about IDW and said they've heard the company is looking to lower costs. But $200/page for everyone to split? I find that pretty hard to believe. That can't be accurate, right?"

Len O'Grady: "The beatings shall continue until morale improves" IDW was the second US company that gave me a break when I came here, and they've consistently stuck with me until last year. It's sad to see what pass the comic publisher has come to. This isn't a race to the bottom, it's throwing oneself into an abyss and expecting the zephyrs of hungry young freelancers will waft you up to airy heights."

Zac Thompson: "This will only work with newer/less established creators. It's a terrible deal and if you're presented with something like this you should walk away. You're better off self publishing. "

Neil Kleid: "This is insulting and ridiculous Y'all, go crowdfund your books. You're going to have to do most of the work anyway, you might as well keep all the rights and get paid as much as you can on your own steam"

Steve Bissette: "COMICS 2024: Comikaze move from IDW. Discuss."

Ryan Kelly: "People are focusing on $200/page, when it's the part about Working for Hire on your own creation that is a little wacky to me. But even that's not out of the ordinary. In conclusion, the comic business is hard."

Richard Pace: "So, it's now clear IDW is no longer a serious publisher. 200/page covering all creative as well as editorial and production. You're better off just web publishing on your own Patreon or other platform than deal with shitty business people like this. I feel real sorrow for all the creatives and staff trapped in this situation."

Mark Stafford: "Jesus christ. I think a fair few creators will be incentivised to tell Davidi Jonas what they think of that plan…"

Kevin Maguire: "if creators are paid less, they will be incentivized to promote the books" Yeah. Good luck with that."

Jimmy Palmiotti: "No one can make a living at that page rate."

Sebastián Píriz: "yeahh, this is not a good move. If you accept an art gig for, 70 a page? you can't work full time on it. you either do it bad, or deliver late."

Will Robson: "Oh yes, I will be SO incentivised to be an unpaid member of the marketing team!"

JG Williams: "I hope this isn't true. It basically would result in paying less than minimum wage, and probably bad comics."

Chris Chiang: "How do you say you're going to use AI for your artwork without saying you're going to use AI?"

Michael Pickard: "I'm aware of several companies opting to pay less on marketing, and putting that responsibility on the creative staff instead to promote work. But the fact that they're also deliberately cutting page rates seems unnecessarily cruel…"

Augie De Blieck Jr: "Also from their fearless leader: "We've retained top talent, and we are investing in our talent…" Investments of up to $200 per page! Split amongst the top talent and their letterer and colorist."

Andy Kuhn: "I hope this is not true. Unfortunately, it's comics, so….."

Aaron Sparrow: "But it'll incentivize the creators to promote the books more, to maybe get sales to a nebulous point where they can earn royalties! What a great deal, right?"

Mcody Wiley: "IDW cutting comic page rates this low to cover ALL roles is insane. Comics work already pays poverty wages and then to try and justify it by saying this would incentivize artists to promo their work more? I'm sorry, but shouldn't that be the publisher's job?"

Henry Barajas: "If you think people are subtweeting about you when it comes to poor representation and page rates lower than minimum wage then you need to take a good look in the mirror. It's not hard to give a hand up or mention the disparities."

Tony Nacho: "All I know is that in the last couple of weeks, me, a nobody with not a lot of money making their first comic, paid every artist I'm working with their asking cover/page rate or more. Proud of that and even happier to pay artists for their hard work!"

David Macho: "In case this is true: – Licensed titles are or should be the ones with the best page rates, if they try to reduce costs on those, what's really the incentive, since you're not get any decent back-end?"

Putting this all into context

But some folk were, naturally, wondering where all this was coming from. Especially as they were being posted without links or provenance.

Dean Haspiel: "What is the origin of that article snippet?"

Gail Simone: "Has anyone verified this IDW page rate rumor? It seems like something easy to prove or disprove, but I just see the rumor over and over."

Charlie Kirchoff: "There's a certain screenshot about the publisher IDW that's making its rounds now about them drastically slashing rates to an amount that would alienate any pro. I've had several well-meaning randos send me this screenshot today since I do a lot of work for IDW. Now I'm seeing an increasing amount of industry pros spreading this screenshot and giving it credence it does not deserve. I was trying to ignore it, but since I can't seem to avoid seeing it I wanted to point out a few salient facts that no one is mentioning.
1) The screenshot is from a Bleeding Cool article published on September 10 entitled "From Publishers To Ponies To Late Night Parties – All The IDW Gossip". Notice that it says it's GOSSIP not facts https://bleedingcool.com/comics/publishers-ponies-late-night-parties-idw-gossip/
2) A week later Bleeding Cool posted another article about IDW's CEO and Publisher, Davidi Jonas, making an investment call from his car about turning their financial problems around. About being profitable in the third quarter, and about promising expectations in 2025
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/idw-yacht/
3) In the same article, Davidi Jonas explains that the publishing has always been profitable for IDW and he states "We've retained top talent, and we are investing in our talent, we believe that the future of our company is the people and their ability to deliver, to create, and to collaborate, and that's where we're investing our resources."
4) His statement matches my own personal experience with working with IDW as a freelancer in recent years. I have worked for publishers while they were failing in the past and I know the warning signs. I've seen none of those with IDW.
Trust me, if a publisher screws me over or tries to cut my rate or anything like that, I'll be the first to alert my colleagues. That's not happening at IDW, so PLEASE stop sending me that screenshot."

Tom Walz: "I'm not saying it was never brought up internally at IDW at some point as a cost-cutting possibility (I didn't ask and I'm no longer privy to to those types of discussions at the company) but I was assured earlier today that it is not true that the page rate cuts are being implemented as a policy now or in the near future. Like any company, IDW is seeking ways to cut costs in today's erratic economy…but not at the expense of their creators."

But the conversation was spreading wider into page rates in comics as a whole.

Paul Levitz: "A post about the current pressure on comic book page rates (at least in the periodical side) got me playing with an inflation calculator. The top rates at DC and Marvel when I came into the business in the early '70s are very roughly equivalent to $700 per page now(script, art, lettering and coloring inclusive) with starting rates about half that. No royalties of course. And I'm not adjusting for the technological changes that make lettering and coloring so different."
Just an interesting factoid.

Alé Garza: "That's why I do solely covers now… my rate at dc and marvel hasn't changed in 20 years, in fact for both the last times I worked for them I was asked to take a pay cut… interiors def must have something drawing me to them other than money:)"

Frank Gogol: "Not surprised at all regarding the reports that IDW wants to pay artists, writers, inkers, letters, etc. a combine rate of $200/page.
It's not just IDW, though.
I can't speak to what others on the team received, but I received $40/page* from BOOM to write Power Rangers: Edge of Darkness (40 pages) and to write the bonus story (15 pages) I wrote for the Power Rangers: Necessary Evil, Part I Deluxe hardcover.
Two other Top 5 publishers have offered the same or less to write for properties of similar renown.
As much as we all love comics, we need to recognize that comics publishers are for-profit businesses. If they can reduce production costs without impacting profits, or improve profits by doing so, they have every incentive low those production costs. If those reductions come at the cost of the creatives (i.e. the labor), that's just business to them.
Believing anything else is true is a level of cognitive dissonance that will not serve you if you are a creative.
*Updated with a screenshot from my bank statement, because at least one person has messaged me to call me a liar. Ironically, the line item is right next to a payment to my LCS. Also, I've added a good bit of related commentary throughout the comments. I encourage everyone to check that out."

"A quick addendum to the above – I signed the BOOM contracts. No on held a gun to my head. If you know me, you know Power Rangers was my literal dream property. I am not complaining. The experience working on Edge of Darkness was wonderful too. I am simply noting the realities of how comic publishers pay and highlighting how the industry operates."

I expect that last one to get a little play going forward as well. And I feel a Boom Studios gossip piece coming on as well.

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