Is Bad Idea Planning A New Comics Industry Shake-Up?

For months, there's been rumours – and some not so subtle teasing – that former Valiant Comics executives Dinesh Shamdasani, Warren Simons, Hunter Gorinson and Josh Johns have been building something new and disruptive to mount their return to comics publishing.

It looks like they're calling that something Bad Idea – a new comic book publishing house that's already racked up an impressive roster of talent (if social media is to be believed).

And now we know when Bad Idea's official announcement will finally be arriving… In Bleeding Cool's inbox this morning, we have received the first Bad Idea communique from Hunter Gorinson himself – a teaser image indicating that the company will be revealing complete details about its impending 2020 launch tomorrow afternoon.

Said teaser includes some pretty, pretty artwork by none other than Doug Braithwaite (Justice, Journey into Mystery), Tomas Giorello (X-O Manowar), Lewis LaRosa (Punisher MAX, Bloodshot Reborn) and Adam Pollina (X-Force):

With the following caption:

Former Valiant CEO Dinesh Shamdasani has also confirmed the date with a corresponding set of images earlier this week:

Whatever shape Bad Idea takes, it's likely to be a formidable addition to the current comics marketplace. Shamdasani, Simons, and Gorinson were the chief architects of Valiant's hugely influential and bestselling relaunch, where they created the playbook that every indie comics start-up, from Aftershock to Vault to AWA, has run for the past decade, and certified their spot as one of the leading comics success stories of the 21st century.

With Shamdasani as CEO & Chief Creative Officer, Simons as Editor-in-Chief, and Gorinson as Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Valiant rehabilitated the company's library of superhero characters into the third-largest comics universe behind Marvel and DC. After nearly a decade at the helm, all three – along with many other Valiant staffers – departed following DMG's controversial full-acquisition of the publisher in 2018… But not before putting Sony Pictures' upcoming Bloodshot feature film starring Vin Diesel and Guy Pearce into motion and shepherding the project through production in South Africa and Montreal.

Part and parcel with their work on Bloodshot, Shamdasani and Gorinson have both gone onto to take principal roles in Hivemind, the LA-based production company behind Netflix's The Witcher and Amazon's The Expanse. With multiple comics and genre-based projects lined up for them to produce under the Hivemind umbrella, including adaptations of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's Gideon Falls and the seminal sci-fi cult novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Shamdasani and Gorinson have emerged as two of the most well-connected comic book publishing veterans in Hollywood anywhere outside of Marvel Studios.

(Hivemind is wholly unrelated to Bad Idea, we're told, save for Shamdasani and Gorinson's participation in both.)

Meanwhile, we understand that Simons has been secretly accruing a war chest of talent from his days as both Valiant EIC and as a decorated Marvel Executive Editor, where he edited titles including Fraction & Aja's Immortal Iron Fist, Brubaker & Lark's Daredevil, and JMS & Coipel's Thor. There's a big reason he made it onto the Bleeding Cool Power List this year.

Get ready because, starting today, we're likely to be hearing a lot more about Bad Idea for the foreseeable future…