IDW Publishing’s license to publish new Marvel middle-grade comic material will end after its December releases, the company told ICv2. “While it’s been a great pleasure crafting new tales of beloved Marvel heroes for middle grade readers, IDW Publishing will not be continuing with the Marvel Action line of comics and trade paperbacks beyond our solicited December 2021 releases, ” the company said in a statement on the topic. “We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Marvel on other projects, including our award-winning Artist’s Editions and Artist Selects.”
The expected new Marvel Action: Avengers Series is cancelled outright, the company said.
IDW’s license began in 2018, and it kicked things off with four Marvel Action comic series launched in late 2018 and early 2019 (see “Kids Comics Round-Up“). Over the following three years, IDW published numerous miniseries, one-shots, and collections in its Marvel Action line.
No reason was given for the move, but we note that Marvel signed a licensing agreement with Scholastic, the top children’s graphic novel publisher in the U.S., for original graphic novels last year (see “Marvel Entertainment and Scholastic Announced OGN Program“), and may want to clear the decks for the Scholastic line. Marvel may also have decided that the format for the IDW line, periodical comics followed by collections, wasn’t the best fit for the kids market.
Source: ICv2
