IDW: Small Publisher With Big Sellers

Already the #1 selling graphic novel at Barnes & Noble, 30 Days of Night is the chilling story of a vampire on the loose in an Alaskan town where the sun has just gone down—for 30 days. It's written by horror author Steve Niles and illustrated by Australian artist Ben Templesmith, and film director Sam Raimi is developing it for the screen.

30 Days is the best known product of San Diego, Calif.– based publisher IDW. Founder Ted Adams started publishing as a spinoff from his design company, Idea & Design Works. Adams himself has worked in comics in every position from marketing to editorial, and his goal is to offer a diverse line of comics and art books that range from quirky tales to major licensed properties.

One of the latter is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a comics adaptation of the popular TV series written by novelist Max Allan Collins, author of Road to Perdition, the graphic novel that spawned the hit film starring Tom Hanks. Adams got the license because of the strong relationship he had with CBS from working with them through his design arm. The key was bringing on board Collins, who had already written several novelizations of the show. "I wouldn't have done it unless I had someone who would write a good crime comic," Adams said. The five-issue miniseries has sold well in comics specialty stores, and a collected edition is due in August.

IDW also publishes art books by notable cartoonists, including the upcoming The Art of Sam Keith, a career-spanning restrospective of the creator of The Maxx cartoon show. Several children's books are also on the slate, including Frankie Stein! by Steven T. Seagle and animator Marco Cinello. To keep up with the increased schedule, Adams recently hired an editor-in-chief, Jeff Mariotte, who formerly worked at DC's Wildstorm imprint, and also has a background in book publishing, from retail to his own published novels.

30 Days of Night remains the company's biggest success story, however. The first printing sold out in 48 hours, and Adams has gone back to press twice. "I keep thinking we've reached saturation, and nobody else needs a copy, but we never reach it." Niles and Templesmith will be producing a sequel, Dark Days, this summer; it will be serialized first, with a trade paperback anticipated later in the year. A collection of prose stories by Niles is also on tap.

For Adams, the key to success is quality: "I think 30 Days of Night proves that quality trumps everything else. It's a great idea that's well written and beautifully drawn. It proves that you don't have to be a big publisher to have a bestselling book."