Boom! Studios
Boom! Studios, is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher. They are headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. As of September 2024, the company is a subsidiary division of Penguin Random House.
History
2000s
and Andrew Cosby had been working in Hollywood with Dave Elliott and Garry Leach in 2004 to revive 1980s comic book publishing house Atomeka Press. While working with Atomeka, Richie cut a deal with Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis to publish their series Hero Squared, with the Hero Squared X-Tra Sized Special one-shot.They went on to found Boom! together in 2005. They had been helping to option comic book projects as producers, and working to develop them into films with the studios, but became increasingly frustrated with what they felt was the "tights and capes" focus of most mainstream comics companies. When Giffen was featured as a guest at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention, he persuaded Richie to start his own outfit, Boom!.
Boom!'s first publication was Zombie Tales #1, a horror zombie anthology, released under the Boom! and Atomeka Press logos on June 29, 2005. The first edition was published by Atomeka, but released after Richie had left the company to start Boom! Studios. Giffen and DeMatteis imported their Hero Squared series from Atomeka to Boom! and Hero Squared became the very first Boom! comic book sold solely under the Boom! logo. shipping July 27, 2005.
During this time in its history, Boom! focused on publishing an array of original series created by a slew of industry veterans: Giffen worked on Hero Squared, Planetary Brigade, 10, Jeremiah Harm, and the Tales titles like Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales. DeMatteis collaborated with Giffen on Hero Squared and Planetary Brigade and brought his own series, The Stardust Kid, with Mike Ploog, over from Image Comics. Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey's Oni Press series Jenny Finn migrated to Boom! and finally completed its story. Eisner Award winner Dave Johnson created covers for Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales. Joe Casey created The Black Plague while Rafael Albuquerque's first American work debuted in The Savage Brothers.
In 2006, Boom! moved into licensing for the first time with the debut of Games Workshop series Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade, based on the popular miniatures game of the same name. In 2007, Boom! published Steven Grant's crime/action comic 2 Guns which Cosby and Ritchie co-produced for Universal Studios in 2013.
At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, Boom! announced plans to launch its first imprint, a new line of comics for children originally announced with the name Zoom!, but when the imprint launched in 2009, the imprint debuted as Boom! Kids. Boom! also signed a deal with Pixar to produce comic books based on their properties and secured newsstand distribution. The first included The Muppet Show by Roger Langridge and The Incredibles: Family Matters by Mark Waid and artist Marcio Takara. In February 2011, Boom! re-branded Boom! Kids as KaBOOM!, re-focusing the imprint to be appealing to all ages rather than only children.
Also, during the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, Boom! announced the appointment of Mark Waid as Editor-in-Chief. This role would eventually grow to Chief Creative Officer in August 2010 before his eventual return to freelance work in December of that year. While in these leadership roles, Waid also created multiple successful titles, including Irredeemable in 2009, which became Boom!'s longest-running series at that time, lasting 37 issues, and a sister book Incorruptible.
2010s
Former Managing Editor Matt Gagnon was promoted to Editor-in-Chief in July 2010.At the beginning of 2013, the company launched its #WeAreBoom! campaign, spotlighting a philosophy that Boom! isn't just composed of its writers, artists, and staff but also of the fans that read its comics and the retailers that sell them. In June 2013, Boom! acquired Archaia Studios Press, merging it into Boom! and retaining it as a stand-alone imprint. In October 2013, Boom! signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox giving Fox the right of first refusal to develop any Boom! comic properties into a film or TV series, and Boom! would get first-dollar gross on any profits. As a publisher of creator-owned works, that share would be split between Boom! and the creator of the adapted work.
In January 2015, Boom! launched "Push Comics Forward", a public relations campaign aimed at generating a discussion about how comic book publishing can become more inclusive and diverse.
In June 2017, 20th Century Fox purchased a minority stake in Boom! Studios, valued at $10 million. The Walt Disney Company inherited Fox's stake in Boom! Studios after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets on March 20, 2019.
2020s
In April 2020, Boom! Studios established a first-look deal with Netflix. In July 2024, it was reported that Penguin Random House had agreed to acquire Boom! Studios from The Walt Disney Company under its Random House division. The acquisition was completed on September 17, 2024.Imprints
Boom! is composed of four main imprints: the core Boom! brand, the All-Ages focused KaBOOM!, Archaia, and Boom! Box.Boom! Studios
The Boom! Studios imprint publishes action-oriented fare which most appropriate for teens or older readers.Originals
Originals under the Boom! banner explore a wide variety of genres from YA science fiction, like in The Woods by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas, to horror/action like in the thriller Day Men, which racked up "Best Inker" and "Best Cover Artist" Harvey Awards nominations for series artist Brian Stelfreeze and sold to Universal Pictures as a movie. Crime noir period piece Hit garnered Harvey Awards nominations for "Best Continuing or Limited Series" and "Best Inker" for artist Vanesa R. Del Rey and George Pérez's series for Boom!, Sirens, is a multi-genre action piece that goes from fantasy to western to science fiction. Pulp science fiction mini-series Six Gun Gorilla, written by Si Spurrier and drawn by Jeff Stokely, was nominated for multiple Harvey Awards including "Best Artist" and "Most Promising New Talent" and "Best New Series". Boom! also published an original series from Clive Barker entitled Next Testament.Boom! generally does not focus on superhero material but has published some titles, including Grace Randolph's Supurbia. Two of its original series, Irredeemable and Suicide Risk, have gathered accolades. Mark Waid's series Irredeemable ran for 37 issues, received several Harvey and Eisner award nominations, and spawned a sister series called Incorruptible which ran 30 issues. Mike Carey's series Suicide Risk received nominations for "Best New Series" and "Best Single Issue or Story".
In 2013, Boom! also teamed up with Say Anything singer Max Bemis to publish his first limited mini-series about a bipolar hero called Polarity. Fox optioned the right to create this story into a TV series. In 2014, they announced an ongoing series written by Bemis called Evil Empire, which ended after 12 issues.
In October 2020, Boom! published BRZRKR, a comic book series created and written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt and drawn by Ron Garney. The comic follows an immortal warrior, known as Berzerker, as he fights his way through the ages.
Licenses
Boom!'s published many adaptations of popular films. Its Planet of the Apes series of comics is the longest-running adaptation of the series. Boom!'s series include: Planet of the Apes, Betrayal on the Planet of the Apes, Exile on Planet of the Apes, and Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm. Just before the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes Boom! serialized a one-shot prelude to the movie online as a free webcomic. At San Diego Comic-Con in 2014, they published a one shot Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Contagion bridging Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. They followed this with a six-issue limited series called Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, in the modern movie continuity. The original Planet of the Apes movie continuity crossed over with Star Trek: The Original Series in a co-publishing deal with IDW Publishing.Other film adaptations include an ongoing series based on Big Trouble In Little China written by Eric Powell and John Carpenter, an Escape from New York comic book, an ongoing series with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, an eight-issue series based on RoboCop and 28 Days Later, bridging the story between 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, a 12 issue series based on Clive Barker's Nightbreed, new Hellraiser comics, eight issues of Die Hard: Year One focusing on John McClane's first year as a beat cop in New York City, and a film tie-in for Jennifer's Body.
Boom! has published a number of series that are based on television shows like Sleepy Hollow and Sons of Anarchy and Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock. New stories with Farscape began in 2009 and ran for 6 subsequent mini-series and a 24-issue ongoing series. All of Boom!’s Farscape series were co-written by show creator Rockne S. O’Bannon and take place in official show continuity immediately after the Peacekeeper Wars. Boom! also published a tie-in to SyFy's show Eureka and well as new stories featuring TV's The Avengers, also known as Steed and Mrs. Peel so as not to be confused with the Marvel Comics characters of the same name. On January 28, 2012, Boom! released a reprint of the Steed and Mrs. Peel mini-series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Ian Gibson and previously-published by Eclipse Comics. Boom! acquired the license for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in June 2015 and released a monthly comic starting in January 2016. Soon after its launch they announced a spinoff limited series, MMPR: Pink, which launched in June 2016.
Boom! has adapted popular authors like Philip K. Dick, and Michael Moorcock: a series based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? retained all the original text to the novel and was nominated for a "Best New Series" 2010 Eisner Awards. A prequel series followed subtitled Dust to Dust. In 2011, Boom! launched Elric: The Balance Lost a new original series starring Michael Moorcock's character Elric of Melniboné and guest-starring the Eternal Champions Corum and Dorian Hawkmoon.
Boom! has licensed games as well. In 2006 they launched Games Workshop properties ultimately publishing 42 comic books collected into 9 graphic novels. 5 mini-series featured Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade, Blood and Thunder, Exterminatus, Fire and Honour, and Defenders of Ultramar. Warhammer Fantasy series included Forge of War, Condemned by Fire, and Crown of Destruction by Kieron Gillen depicting The Empire fighting Skaven. Boom! also produced a Blood Bowl mini entitled Killer Contract. The last Boom!/Games Workshop comics series shipped in 2009.
Boom! also publishes tie-ins with famous bands, adapting Rush's Clockwork Angels to comics. Boom! publishes The Amory Wars comic books based on the Coheed and Cambria mythology.
In July 2018, Boom! announced that they had acquired the comic book and graphic novel publishing license to Joss Whedon's Firefly with plans to release new monthly comic book series, limited series, original graphic novels and more.
In May 2020, Boom! was announced to have acquired the comic book and graphic novel rights to the 1999 prequel novel Dune: House Atreides with plans to adapt it into a 12-issue adaptation written by the original authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.