IDW Adds Kickstarter Imprint “It’s Alive!”

It's Alive logo

Drew Ford, most recently acquisitions editor with Dover Publications rescuing forgotten comic graphic novels (such as Wandering Star and Private Beach), has now created a new imprint at IDW for similar reprint efforts.

It’s Alive! was announced with “plans to publish 5-6 titles in 2017 with each title raising its money for publication via Kickstarter.” Which brings up the now-perennial question “if it’s not providing funds, what does a publisher do?” In this case, IDW will provide premier space in Previews and assist with distribution.

It’s Alive! will fit nicely next to other IDW reprint imprints Yoe! Books and the Library of American Comics, which preserves early newspaper strips. Ford’s goal is cited as “saving the history of comics, one collection at a time.” Nothing like ambition! The first book is Red Range by Joe R. Lansdale and Sam Glanzman, which funded last month with plans to deliver in November. A bookstore edition will come from IDW in January.

Dope by Trina Robbins Kickstarter

The next is Dope, an adaptation of a 1919 novel by Sax Rohmer (creator of Dr. Fu Manchu). It’s illustrated by Trina Robbins and originally ran in Eclipse Magazine in 1981. It’s Kickstarting now with plans to release next January. There will be a foreword by C. Spike Trotman and afterword by Colleen Doran. Early bird rewards for the campaign are still available, and the effort is nearly halfway to its $10,000 goal.



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