Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: los angeles, san diego, work from home

IDW Publishing Not Closing Offices In San Diego For Good?

Bleeding Cool gets the word that IDW Entertainment/Publishing shut their San Diego offices last week. And that it came as quite a surprise.

Bleeding Cool gets the word that IDW Entertainment/Publishing shut their San Diego offices last week. And that it came as quite a surprise to both staffers and executives. While Bleeding Cool hasn't had any official word about the move, I understand that this is as a result of a number of issues. Cost-cutting is obviously an issue, but it's one of a number of considerations. It is in favour of IDW's existing Sherman Oaks/Los Angeles offices. It recognised that many of the San Diego staffers are working from home now, post-pandemic, often leaving the office empty. That new IDW hires after the redundancies earlier in the year are more likely to have been Los Angeles-based than San Diego-based. But that there have been no additional redundancies as a result of this closure.

Schrödinger's Offices

UPDATE: After not hearing from IDW for a couple of days, and getting multiple confirmation pieces, BC ran the article above. After publication, IDW issued the following statement, which flies in the face of what IDW staffers have told us. Is it all down to the language? IDW states "Thank you for reaching out. IDW has not closed the San Diego office. What you've been told about the office being shut down is simply false." I have reached out for further clarification because something is definitely going down here.

UPDATE x2: IDW are back in touch again with a new explanation. "Regarding the office: There was an internal misunderstanding over the company looking to potentially relocate its office space in San Diego, a move that has not happened yet and may not even happen at all. The office remains open."

We will see, I guess, I hope all staff know. The original article continues as before.

However, it is a big psychological change. IDW was formed by Wildstorm ex-staffers, who worked in Wildstorm's La Jolla offices, twenty minutes away by car. It was the local comic book publisher to San Diego Comic-Con, which led to much socialising in and around the convention and IDW for the entire comic book industry, which was excellent for schmoozing. It was also home to the San Diego Cartoon Art Gallery, part of the IDW offices, which may have been superseded by the San Diego Comic-Con Museum.

I took a tour of the IDW San Diego Offices with former Bleeding Cool EIC Hannah Means-Shannon back in 2017, which included the Gallery, which was exhibiting the work of Kevin Eastman at the time, including recreating his working environment. Which seemed fitting considering it was attached to an actual working environment. Take a look at what once was. And, yes, I would love to know where all the stuff ended up. Photos by Hannah Means-Shannon and, yes, that is me taking part in a little drawing, and peering at some of the exhibits.

IDW Publishing was a San Diego-based publisher, now an LA-based publisher, of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC and is known for its licensed comic book adaptations of films, television shows, video games, and cartoons.

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