New Comic Publisher TKO Launches With Big Name Creators and Revolutionary Ambitions

Posted on | by Jude Terror | Comments

A brand new comic book publisher, TKO Studios, launched this month, with plans to reinvent the comics industry, and to do it, they've assembled a lineup of legitimate superstar creators, including writers like Garth Ennis, Jeff Lemire, Joshua Dysart,  Mike Weiss, Natalie Chaidez, Roxane Gay, Salvatore Simeone, Steven Simeone, and Tze Chun, artists like Alberto Ponticelli, Andy Belanger, Artyom Trakhanov, Dan McDaid, Gabriel Walta, Ming Doyle, Nik Virella, and Steve Epting, colorists such as Daniela Miwa, Elizabeth Breitweiser, Giulia Brusco, Jordan Boyd, and Ruth Redmond, and letterers Ariana Maher, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Steen, and Steve Wands.

New Comic Publisher TKO Launches With Big Name Creators and Revolutionary Ambitions

And to prove that TKO Studios ain't your grandpa's comic book publisher, all of this went down not through press releases and arranged EX-X-XCLUSIVEs with the usual comic book news sites, but on social media:

In addition to the four first wave books above, TKO plans to launch a second wave of comics next Summer, including:

THE BANKS
BY ROXANE GAY & MING DOYLE

SENTIENT
BY JEFF LEMIRE & GABRIEL WALTA

POUND FOR POUND
BY NATALIE CHAIDEZ & ANDY BELANGER

EVE OF EXTINCTION
BY SALVATORE SIMEONE, STEVEN SIMEONE & NIK VIRELLA

One of the ways TKO plans to innovate is by giving the entire creative team, including editors, cover credit:

Following a simple business model:

Expanded on their website:

TKO Studios seeks to redefine the comic book industry creatively and commercially.

TKO Studios was founded by award-winning comic book, entertainment, business and tech professionals. We create unique takes on established genres, promoting diverse and exciting voices that reflect the modern audience.

Our aim is to publish high quality books and expand the comic book audience using modern methods of marketing, distribution, and audience engagement. We proudly offer the premier issue of each new miniseries available for free digital download.

And introducing an ambitious new publishing and distribution scheme aimed directly at readers, not retailers:

And including an idea taken from Bill Jemas's Double Take (Bill really was ahead of his time):

You can head to TKOPresents.com, enter the password "vipaccess," and purchase the books right now.

New Comic Publisher TKO Launches With Big Name Creators and Revolutionary Ambitions

So what are you waiting for? What are we waiting for, for that matter? This article is over… we've got comics to buy!

About Jude Terror

A prophecy once said that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero would come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.

Sadly, that prophecy was wrong. Oh, Jude Terror was right. For ten years. About everything. But nobody listened. And so, Jude Terror has moved on to a more important mission: turning Bleeding Cool into a pro wrestling dirt sheet!

twitter   envelope   globe