Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: American Girl, hasbro, mattel, my little pony

IDW – Losing American Girl and My Little Pony Licences?

Are IDW Publishing Losing the American Girl and the My Little Pony Licences? Listings suggest that something is up for both.

Published Mon, 02 Sep 2024 07:59:22 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

IDW’s American Girl mystery graphic novel series potentially ends after just one release.
Cancelled or delayed American Girl titles hint at a possible license loss for IDW Publishing.
My Little Pony comic titles from IDW are suddenly double sized and priced higher, suggesting a rushed series conclusion.
Speculations arise about IDW’s overall licensing issues in the competitive young girl comic market.

American Girl dolls were launched in 1986 as a series of dolls each set in a different historical period. Earlier this year, it was announced by IDW that they were working on a line of American Girl mystery graphic novels, based on the Mattel chapterbooks and toyline, beginning with Julie and the Blue Guitar, published this past June.

But it seems that Julie and the Blue Guitar: An American Girl Mystery, by Casey Gilly and Felia Hanakata, may be the first and last of the series. Next up would have been Meet Josefina, by Alexis Castellanos intended to update the 1997 series about a girl growing up on a New Mexico ranch in 1824 and was due out in February 2025. The listing on Amazon has been knocked into 2079, which is what usually happens when a book is kicked into touch. While the listing for Isabel and Nicki Versus the Bigfoot Bandit: American Girl Mysteries Across Time, slated for July 2025, has been completely scrubbed.

And it also looks like IDW might have lost their final Hasbro license in My Little Pony, from recent solicits and solicitations. My Little Pony: The Storm of Zephyr Heights #1, out in September, the only MLP title for that month, was a standard-size comic priced $3.99. But My Little Pony: The Storm of Zephyr Heights #2 and #3 for October and November are double-sized for $6.99, with multiple and changing pencillers, suggesting that IDW is trying to finish the series and get it out of the door before the end of the year. As well as publishing oversized My Little Pony: Classics Reimagined – The Odyssey, and My Little Pony: Best of Discord in October and My Little Pony: Best of Princess and My Little Pony: Kenbucky Roller Derby in November.

What's going on here? The young girl market for comic books has been booming of late. Is IDW having difficulty keeping the licenses to access it?

Does this mean Skybound will get My Little Pony too and it may enter the Energon Universe? Or is it more that Hasbro is bringing the current My Little Pony TV series to an end?

The other thing is that some folk reported as fact that IDW was losing the Star Trek license this year, only for Paramount to re-up the deal and IDW to announce a big Star Trek comic book event for 2025. So let's see how things go, shall we?

IDW representatives did not reply to email inquiries made over the weekend.

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