IDW Goes Junior

Perhaps taking a leaf from UK Publishers such as Titan and Panini, US comics house IDW, best known as a publisher of horror, action, and SF comic books including Star Trek and Doctor Who, is launching a kid's division titled Jonas Publishing and an imprint called Worthwhile Books.

In launching the new imprint IDW (owned by mobile group IDT) has inked deals with Hollywood writers and producers to pen kid's books, in addition to entering into a first-look agreement with Meadowside Books, the UK kid's publisher of titles such as Dig the Dog and DC Thomson-licensed titles utlising Dennis the Menace and The Bash Street Kids.

US writers on board include David N. Weiss, (Shrek 2, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and both Rugrats movies) and David Sacks, a writer/producer on The Simpsons, producer on Malcolm in the Middle, and writer on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Worthwhile will be the exclusive US publisher of select Meadowside titles and will retain domestic film and TV rights to those properties. The first Meadowside title, of the 10 or-so books a year Worthwhile intends to publish, is Michael Recycle, written by Ellie Bethel and drawn by Alexandro Columbo, about an environmental hero will be published in March. More details here on the IDW web site.