Would you please say what you think is the most likely time is?
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Does anyone have any idea of when it is most likely we will find out who the new Transformers comic publisher and why it has not happened yet?
- Thread starter Soundwave2.0
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I am quite surprised that nobody was announced before IDW lost theirs, just for the sake of having someone to sell the old books if nothing else.
But given that didn't happen all bets are off, we might not know for a while.
But given that didn't happen all bets are off, we might not know for a while.
My guess it will be on a Transformers Tuesday or a investors call or something, they'll make a show and dance about it, but we'll see
Do you have any idea why it has not happened yet?
Is it common to announce it before the previously publisher is done?
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What do you mean by investors call?
If I had to make a guess, I'd say that Hasbro would want to make an announcement at as major a venue as possible. Either a Transformers Tuesday on the Hasbro Pulse Youtube channel...or the next San Diego Comic-Con. Though given the latter has declined slightly in the wake of the pandemic, I'd put more money on the former.
Frankly, I'm currently with Chris McFeely on the sentiment of being okay if Transformers comics went and took a break for a little while. We got SO MUCH from IDW during their tenure (on top of everything that Fun Pub put out during that same era), so it's not like we're short of content to go back to and re-experience at our leisure. And I'm sure not everyone got to read everything back during their initial release.
As the saying goes, "You can't miss something if it's never gone."
As the saying goes, "You can't miss something if it's never gone."
There's no way Hasbro hasn't been trying to find another publisher. They're too proud not to. It may just be hard to find someone that wants it.
I imagine Hasbro was just waiting until the IDW contract to expire before talking about what's next, so I'm expecting to hear about it sometime in the next few months. That said, the rumors say they were talking with Skybound, who had a pitch Hasbro was interested in, but we haven't really heard any rumors beyond that, which is odd. You'd think even a "the deal is signed" rumor would have leaked.
My crazy conspiracy theory (totally pulled out of my butt) is that Hasbro, who has been on a money-grubbing tear lately, jacked up the price of the Transformers and GI Joe licenses, and IDW, already in bad financial shape, couldn't make the numbers work. Hasbro started shopping around to multiple places, including Skybound, but ultimately nobody was willing to pay enough to satisfy Hasbro, and the executives aren't letting the Transformers people lower the price, so they're kind of stuck.
I have zero evidence or even scuttlebutt to back that up though, so just take it as the mad ravings of an internet loony.
My crazy conspiracy theory (totally pulled out of my butt) is that Hasbro, who has been on a money-grubbing tear lately, jacked up the price of the Transformers and GI Joe licenses, and IDW, already in bad financial shape, couldn't make the numbers work. Hasbro started shopping around to multiple places, including Skybound, but ultimately nobody was willing to pay enough to satisfy Hasbro, and the executives aren't letting the Transformers people lower the price, so they're kind of stuck.
I have zero evidence or even scuttlebutt to back that up though, so just take it as the mad ravings of an internet loony.
There is the Transmissions podcast episode 160 that has a interview with the writer Brandon Easton explaining why at least some of the things in it.
Why wait for the IDW contract to end?
The Phazer is surprised they did not announced it before it did end.
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Comics are solicited 3 months out in Previews and elsewhere. So at this point April is probably the earliest you could expect a new book... which makes me feel like waiting for a summer launch is a real possibility.
-ZacWilliam, without knowing more there could be a million reasons there hasn't been an announcement, from whatever publishers schedule waiting for an opening to no one being interested enough to buy in right now...
-ZacWilliam, without knowing more there could be a million reasons there hasn't been an announcement, from whatever publishers schedule waiting for an opening to no one being interested enough to buy in right now...
Professional courtesy, maybe. Announcing the new publisher while the old publisher is still releasing material would have been a little rude. IDW had the license for so long. They deserved the spotlight while they finished their run.
There was a bit of a wait between the end of IDW 1.0 and the announcement of Ruckley's book, too. That continuity's last issue, Optimus Prime #25, came out November 21 2018. And, according to Wikipedia, IDW didn't announce Ruckley's book until December 18 2018. And the book didn't start coming out until March 13 2019. And that's just the same publisher, moving to a different company might take more time.
I feel like SOMEONE would have bought the rights to Transformers and GI Joe. I feel like they're still pretty well-known brands, with fairly steady sales, usually. You can probably expect a steady income from these books, still. And the ending to Hama's GI Joe at least seems to indicate that they know SOMETHING is coming...eventually.
There could be a number of reasons why we haven't heard anything.
There might be some sort of "cooling off" period written into IDW's contracts, so IDW can sell off any comic and trades they still have in stock still in any warehouses. That way the new stuff doesn't completely overshadow the old stuff, quite yet, and they don't have a ton of unsold copies rotting away unsold.
And whoever the new publisher may be might want to get a little ahead of things before they announce anything. Comics don't get made overnight. They might want to build up a few months worth of a buffer, just so they can prevent any delays. Just to try and make sure things go as smoothly as possible.
And, if the rumors are true, and Skybound/Image is the new publisher...I could see maybe Kirkman having a little bit of friction with Hasbro. Kirkman's kind of the "face" of Skybound and a pretty big name in the industry, responsible for books like the Walking Dead and Invincible. He's kind of used to getting his way...and "his way" tends to be...very violent at times. And while Transformers is a war book, I feel like Hasbro has been trying to "soften" the war aspect of the franchise, lately. Kind of trying to make it more kid-friendly, in most of their media. (This might be completely off-base, it's only my impression of things). There might be some creative differences between what Kirkman wants to do, and what Hasbro wants to do. Maybe Hasbro wants a comic that will tie into Earthspark and Kirkman wants to do his own thing? Which might be why things are taking longer than most people expect.
Also, while Kirkman DOES have some experience with kid-friendly books, like Super Dinosaur, I don't think Skybound's ever done licensed books before. (Skybound is...distributed by, but not directly owned by Image Comics, from my understanding. They're basically their own company within Image Comics.) They might be thinking of starting ANOTHER sub-brand...and I don't know what goes into all that. Maybe they need to file a few forms, legally speaking, before they can start up a new wing of their publishing house?
Also...I have to wonder if the war in Ukraine has anything to do with it. For example, the Advance Wars Collection for Switch has been "paused" by Nintendo because they don't want to appear insensitive. It's possible that Hasbro doesn't want a "war" comic to come out...right in the middle of a actual war that might make people uneasy. Again, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I feel like it's possible.
Or maybe whoever the new publisher is simply is waiting until summer for a big, splashy reveal, like others have said. I...would think they'd try to do something for Free Comic Book Day, if that were the case, but it doesn't appear anyone's doing anything "classified" from what I can tell. I know Free Comic Book Day isn't as big as it once was, but it's still pretty easy marketing. So, it's probably going to be AFTER May, whenever it does drop. Maybe they'll announce something at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20-23? That tends to be a big day to reveal new series.
I feel like it's almost inevitable that we hear SOMETHING from SOMEONE. But, it has been awhile with nothing but radio silence. It feels a little odd, but maybe only because we've had a nearly constant stream of Transformers comics for nearly two decades.
I feel like SOMEONE would have bought the rights to Transformers and GI Joe. I feel like they're still pretty well-known brands, with fairly steady sales, usually. You can probably expect a steady income from these books, still. And the ending to Hama's GI Joe at least seems to indicate that they know SOMETHING is coming...eventually.
There could be a number of reasons why we haven't heard anything.
There might be some sort of "cooling off" period written into IDW's contracts, so IDW can sell off any comic and trades they still have in stock still in any warehouses. That way the new stuff doesn't completely overshadow the old stuff, quite yet, and they don't have a ton of unsold copies rotting away unsold.
And whoever the new publisher may be might want to get a little ahead of things before they announce anything. Comics don't get made overnight. They might want to build up a few months worth of a buffer, just so they can prevent any delays. Just to try and make sure things go as smoothly as possible.
And, if the rumors are true, and Skybound/Image is the new publisher...I could see maybe Kirkman having a little bit of friction with Hasbro. Kirkman's kind of the "face" of Skybound and a pretty big name in the industry, responsible for books like the Walking Dead and Invincible. He's kind of used to getting his way...and "his way" tends to be...very violent at times. And while Transformers is a war book, I feel like Hasbro has been trying to "soften" the war aspect of the franchise, lately. Kind of trying to make it more kid-friendly, in most of their media. (This might be completely off-base, it's only my impression of things). There might be some creative differences between what Kirkman wants to do, and what Hasbro wants to do. Maybe Hasbro wants a comic that will tie into Earthspark and Kirkman wants to do his own thing? Which might be why things are taking longer than most people expect.
Also, while Kirkman DOES have some experience with kid-friendly books, like Super Dinosaur, I don't think Skybound's ever done licensed books before. (Skybound is...distributed by, but not directly owned by Image Comics, from my understanding. They're basically their own company within Image Comics.) They might be thinking of starting ANOTHER sub-brand...and I don't know what goes into all that. Maybe they need to file a few forms, legally speaking, before they can start up a new wing of their publishing house?
Also...I have to wonder if the war in Ukraine has anything to do with it. For example, the Advance Wars Collection for Switch has been "paused" by Nintendo because they don't want to appear insensitive. It's possible that Hasbro doesn't want a "war" comic to come out...right in the middle of a actual war that might make people uneasy. Again, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I feel like it's possible.
Or maybe whoever the new publisher is simply is waiting until summer for a big, splashy reveal, like others have said. I...would think they'd try to do something for Free Comic Book Day, if that were the case, but it doesn't appear anyone's doing anything "classified" from what I can tell. I know Free Comic Book Day isn't as big as it once was, but it's still pretty easy marketing. So, it's probably going to be AFTER May, whenever it does drop. Maybe they'll announce something at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20-23? That tends to be a big day to reveal new series.
I feel like it's almost inevitable that we hear SOMETHING from SOMEONE. But, it has been awhile with nothing but radio silence. It feels a little odd, but maybe only because we've had a nearly constant stream of Transformers comics for nearly two decades.
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I still need to read IDW 2.0, so that works fine by me.
Incidentally, going back and doing that is going to be considerably more difficult for anyone who didn't already buy them in anticipation of this.
FWIW it's not either of these, IDW and distributors had a hard stop on ordering Transformers trades on the 31st Dec and anything remaining will have been pulped by now, and the signing of a deal is of sufficient market import that Hasbro (and the publisher if they're traded) will have to announce it more or less the day it is done because of the insider trading risk. There will be a press release the second a deal is signed, and IDW did one months before they announced a book when they got the license for exactly this reason.
IDW also delisted their books from Amazon/Comixology for digital sales already (indeed, they did it a few days early which... annoyed a few people who had been waiting until the last minute).
It seems almost certain that a contract for a new license is not signed yet, and Hasbro charge by time period (as well as a royalty) for the license, so they are currently not getting paid for it. We don't know why, but I suspect there is interest, and one possible explanation is that Hasbro hiked the price to the extent that whomever was negotiating a license pulled out quite late on. But there are others.
I would note that things from the publishing and licensing arms of Hasbro are... a bit on fire at the moment from what I understand. I know Paramount are extremely unhappy about the D&D situation this week.
Pretty much my thought on the matter.
You don't talk about your new business partners while your still working with the old one. There's plenty of time to talk about that stuff after the contract expires.
The new company likely couldn't even officially start work until after the IDW contract expired either, so there's every possibility that they only started work on this last week and it'll be time before there's an actual comic to show off.
If they did start work on it last week when is the likely time we will find more out about the new comic?
Was there not a interview about the license in august that were not ready to reveal who the new publisher was?
Also what is going on with the publishing and licensing arms of Hasbro?