Posted in: Comics, IDW | Tagged: coronavirus comics, idw, idw publishing

IDW Publishing Former Employees Speak About Redundancies

Published Thu, 21 May 2020 05:40:11 -0500

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool reported on IDW Publishing letting a number of employees go, permanently. After Bleeding Cool posted the article, two former employees who we had named took to social media, to elaborate on their current position.

Former IDW Managing Editor, Denton Tipton tweeted

Hope this finds you and your family healthy and safe. As some of you may know, I've been on furlough for the past month. Since word has begun to leak, I'm making it public that I will not return to IDW Publishing. Ted Adams hired me at IDW in 2008 as one of the first dozen or so employees. I'm proud of the accomplishments we achieved together, but most of all I cherish the friendships made with my collaborators, whether co-worker, creator, studio head, brand manager, or anyone in-between. After 12 years of making comics, I'm not about to stop. I've kept very busy over the past several weeks and am very excited for the opportunities that continue to present themselves. In the meantime, how can I help you? Need advice? Need a referral? Need a reference checked? Looking for collaborators? DM me. I'll help in any way possible. Stay safe!

Former Senior Graphic Artist, Gilberto Lazcano tweeted

About a month ago, I along with several of my colleagues were suddenly furloughed from IDW Publishing. It deeply saddens me to say that I am one of the many impacted by last week's layoffs. I would be lying if I said I was not shaken up, anxious, and stressed, though I am eager for new opportunities and optimistic for the future. I was originally hired in 2008 as the first hire to a fledgling digital department and grew with the company, transitioned to print as a Sr. Graphic Artist under the guidance of @CloverRobbie and finally ended my time there working almost exclusively with @chrisstaros and @leighwalton on Top Shelf Productions. During my years at IDW, I worked with some of the most talented and passionate professionals in the industry, lived out my childhood dream of working on licenses like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with @kevineastman86 , and came off an award-winning year with @GeorgeTakei's New York Times Best Selling graphic memoir, "They Called Us Enemy." As for the future, I have a few personal projects that I am currently focusing on, as well as working on updating my design portfolio, so stay tuned! In the meantime, if you have any freelance or collaborative projects that you would like to work on, feel free to reach out.

Yesterday, confirming the news, IDW Publishing told us,

In April, IDW made the difficult decision to furlough several valued staff members, and two weeks ago, IDW welcomed several of those staffers back full-time. However, as we continue to adapt and deal with these challenging times, we have been forced to lay-off some of our longtime co-workers and friends. Although tough decisions like this are an unfortunate business reality and there is never a good time for them, these changes are necessary to ensure the long-term health of the company.

We wish everyone who finds themselves in a precarious position right now as a result of the current global situation the best, and echo Denton's words to stay safe.