Wordless Wednesday: Chainsaw Sculpture

Photo by Gene’O

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Worth a Look — IDW Publishing

Good day, everyone! For this entry in my newly revamped season two here at Sourcerer, I want to take a step back and have a look at one of the larger comics publishers that isn’t one of the big boys, and isn’t quite indie, but has a lot of potential—IDW. The company originally arose in 1999 as a ploy to capitalize on popular merchandising, but it has grown into a fairly strong competitor in the comics market in the years since. True, it doesn’t have a lot of its own unique properties currently, but as I said, it has a lot of potential.

Image taken from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/IDW_Publishing_logo.svg

IDW’s first unique comic series was 30 Days of Night in 2002, which many of you probably remember foremost as that vampire movie set in Alaska that starred Josh Hartnett. Aside from this, most of IDW’s most recognizable properties have all been older licensed intellectual properties including Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Ghostbusters, and even (shudder) My Little Pony. They’ll also be launching a new Jem and the Holograms series this year.

30 Days of Night cover image by Ben Templesmith

Among those licensed properties, the Star Trek line has some of the most interesting stories currently running. The ongoing Star Trek series launched shortly after the 2009 reboot film and actually operates with some input from the movies’ writers. Further, some of its material has even influenced the direction the movies take, making it an intriguing (and canonical) print foray into this newer growing Star Trek universe. One storyline I must read and review one day for Sourcerer is the one currently running—the crew of Kirk’s Enterprise encounter Q (of Next Generation infamy), who, aware of the changes in the timeline brought on at the beginning of the 2009 film, actually sends the Enterprise into the future of the old timeline to Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War. If you can’t see how awesome this concept potentially is, there’s no help for you.

Image taken from http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/articles/st-movie-II1.jpg

IDW has also been stepping it up with its imported line of comics, particularly its European forays. Most notable is a series that begins its US publication in April called The Infinite Loop, a French science fiction comic book about time travel and same-sex love. It looks pretty interesting and I’ll definitely be checking it out when I’m able.

Image taken from http://www.idwpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/b4770b89-7509-4dba-974e-907de90a8fd4.jpg

That’s about it for this week. As a reading recommendation, I’d suggest digging something up that’s been published by IDW and giving it a shot, especially given its recent (and promising) move to San Diego. Given the span of IDW’s licenses, you stand a good chance of finding something you’ll like. See you all again soon. Go out and support your local comic shops!