Posted in: Comics, IDW, Image | Tagged: gi joe, hasbro, image comics, transformers

Image Comics, The New Publishers Of Transformers And GI Joe?

Last week, spinning out of San Diego Comic-Con, Bleeding Cool reported that Hasbro was pulling both their Transformers and GI Joe licenses from IDW in 2022 – and presumably My Little Pony, Action Force, Dungeons & Dragons, Jem And The Holograms, and ROM as well, though we had no clarification on those. We also reported that John Barber, editor-in-chief of IDW Publishing was leaving the company – and John Barber was a former IDW Hasbro Group Editor at IDW, as well as a former Marvel editor. Shoes seemed to be falling everywhere.

We have now learned that the most likely place to find new Transformers and GI Joe comic books later into 2022, will be Image Comics. Image was a previous publisher of GI Joe comic books when Devil's Due Press published through them, and they published Dreamwave Comics titles before Dreamwave split to publish Transformers comic before going bankrupt, owing Hasbro millions. Presumably, there will be some added protections this time. Image Comics is best known these days as a publisher of solely creator-owned comic books but with the various studios, that is not always the case. I don't know whether the production will be through an existing Partner studio that publish through Image such as Top Cow, Todd McFarlane Studios, Silverline, Highbrow or Skybound. It may be set up like an independent studio through Image Comics such as the Netflix-owned Millarworld, or these new creator imprints such as that from former IDW EIC Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood. Or something else entirely.

As for whether that will also include titles such as My Little Pony or Dungeons & Dragons, as well as Transformers and GI Joe that is still unknown. But it might make for something to grab attention by Image Comics during their 30th Anniversary. Something more, that is. Image Comics did not respond to inquiries made earlier today, and IDW has not responded to any inquiries regarding this made by Bleeding Cool over the last week.

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