Earlier today Comixology Originals announced its 2025 line, with five new titles, 17 projects in the works, and a med print deal with Mad Cave Studios. It’s a lot to take in and Comixology head Jeff DiBartolomeo took time to answer some questions about the program, how it fits in with Amazon, and why they’re doing all this.
HEIDI MACDONALD: Jeff, I feel like Comixology Originals has been flying under the radar for a while, since the standalone Comixology site merged with Kindle. But obviously, with these announcements, the program is alive and well and growing. Can you talk just a little bit about how the program fits into Comixology’s overall business and why now was a good time to expand?
JEFF DIBARTOLOMEO: Going back to Comixology’s founding, we’ve always felt that our business is built on three things – serving comics customers, comics publishers, and comics creators – and that’s still how we feel today. While selling comics, graphic novels, and manga is a big part of our business, it’s not everything. Being able to help creators create is part of who we are.
I’ve been in my current role for a little over a year. We’ve had our hands full with all the in-flight projects and it wasn’t until earlier this year that we felt we were ready to start signing more. Once we quietly put out the word that we were open to new pitches, we were stunned by how many submissions we received, so it then took time to go through all the pitches and decide on which to pursue.
MACDONALD: You have an incredible array of talents in this line-up, how did you go about finding projects for this program? Is there any particular quality that makes a title a Comixology Original?
DIBARTOLOMEO: Our newly signed slate has a number of established and critically acclaimed Comixology Originals creators – like Scott Snyder, Alex Segura, and Kim-Joy. We like to think of Comixology Originals as a family of creative people and we’re thrilled to have so many returning faces. But we also have a number of new faces. Some of them are industry veterans and some are newcomers.
What they all have in common is that they made their way to us via word of mouth. Our pipeline is entirely organic. Creators who’ve experienced Comixology Originals know that we have a good thing happening here and they spread the word, vouch for us, and refer new writers and artists.
As far as a particular quality, we really run the gamut. From day one, the Comixology Originals program was built to be a place for creators to take risks. Some stories just touch us, some we think are quirky, some have us on the edge of our seats. For some, it’s the art that pushes it over the top; others it’s the story. For some, we don’t even know what the story will be but we put together an amazing writer/artist pairing and let them go for it. But we’re trying not to be too regimented about what we’re signing because we don’t want to be pigeonholed. For instance, you’ll see some Young Adult titles in this next round that are just great fun even though they have nothing to do with Book of Evil.
MACDONALD: A slate this big suggests a robust editorial team. Who helped put it together?
DIBARTOLOMEO: The Comixology Originals team is lean and mean. A small group of us, who have a combined tenure of 32 years at Comixology, reads through all the incoming pitches along with Pamela Mullin Horvath from Superfan Promotions, who is a key part of the CO team. We have a process where we vote, argue, debate, cry, and ultimately decide on the books we want to pursue.
MACDONALD: Previously, Dark Horse was CO’s print partner, but you’ve expanded to Ablaze and now Mad Cave. What made these partnerships a good fit?
DIBARTOLOMEO: We’re still working closely with Dark Horse. They are on track to print 20 Comixology Originals in 2024. We have more titles coming to print with Dark Horse in 2025 and are open to more in the future. We maintain a strong ongoing relationship with Dark Horse. They’ve been great to work with, but we’ve always been open to the idea of working with other print publishers. We’re producing so many titles that we’ve found ourselves in a situation where no one publisher can commit to printing them all while still delivering on their own slate of releases.
Ablaze reached out to us and we hit it off pretty quickly. They’re passionate about what they do and they selected their first three titles really wisely – Harvey Kurtman’s Marley’s Ghost was already an Eisner Award winner, but they also picked Parliament of Rooks and Grammaton Punch before they were each nominated for 2024 Eisners (PoR for Best Digital Comic and part of Richard Starkings’s nomination for Best Lettering, and GP as part of Lee Loughridge’s nomination for Best Coloring). I’d say that’s a great eye for quality! And they have been just great to work with, the first books now coming to print look amazing, and we’re thrilled to do more with Ablaze. In fact, we just extended our deal with Ablaze for six more titles!
Mad Cave is a publisher who we’ve admired for a long time. They’re doing great stuff. And when we started chatting about working together, it wasn’t long before they had selected a slate of 10 titles to print. That’s a bold step out of the gate. We like bold.
The key to both Ablaze and Mad Cave is that, like Dark Horse, they’re easy to work with, they care about the creators and want to collaborate with them on releases, and they care about the quality of the products they produce. So do we.
MACDONALD: Obviously, Comixology Originals has one of the biggest companies on the planet behind it, as part of Amazon, and some of Amazon’s biggest streaming hits have been comics-based (The Boys, Invincible). I guess maybe the most obvious question is: what does putting out original creator-owned comics bring to Amazon? And how does Amazon support them?
DIBARTOLOMEO: When Amazon first acquired Comixology in 2014, one of the things they appreciated was our relationship with and respect for comics creators. We work very closely with Amazon MGM Studios who review every Comixology Original at various points from initial pitch to release. Studios have optioned several CO titles that are in various stages of development – and the creators are part of the process. Being part of a diverse company like Amazon opens up exciting possibilities.
But that’s not what drives Amazon’s commitment to the Comixology Originals program. The way we see it, the more great comics there are each year, the better it is for the marketplace and the long-term health of the comics industry. Our goal is to curate a list with titles that appeal to both lifelong fans of the comics medium and someone reading their very first comic.
MACDONALD: I know that numbers are a closely guarded secret, but do you have any readership trends that you can share? For instance, romantasy has been the hottest genre in publishing, do you see that reflected at Comixology at all? Also, have there been any CO titles that have been breakouts?
DIBARTOLOMEO: Publishers always talk about creating comics with the new reader in mind. Again, it’s about the long-term health of the business. Our data showed that nearly a third of our customers bought their very first comic book, graphic novel, or manga with us in the last year. That’s really exciting to see, especially because sales and borrows remain so strong with our core, long-tenured comic reader. There’s a lot of doom and gloom online when it comes to the state of the comics industry, but the actual data at Comixology is very positive.
When we think about our breakout hits, we’re thinking about those comics that resonate with diehard fans and can also attract the casual reader. The unifying factor for success isn’t driven by genre. We have seen success with horror, crime, sci-fi, and romance, all of which resonate with different audiences. Our goal is to give great writers and artists a platform and get out of their way so they can do their best work. Our history of Eisner award nominations and wins tells us that we’re doing something right.
MACDONALD: Not really a question, but you’ve been telling us that Comixology Originals is alive and well for a while – it must be a good feeling to be able to show that with a great line-up of titles like this.
We’ve had a great line-up all along! In 2024, we’ll deliver 94 different Comixology Originals digital releases (a combination of single issues, collections, and original graphic novels) and 23 print releases. And six of our CO titles were tied to four Eisner nominations this year, so the future looks bright. It’s tremendously exciting to announce 17 new deals with some really amazing writers and artists, and it’s a thrill to have multiple paths to print distribution. It gives us options for the future.
One of our goals is to continue to give new readers a path to discovering comics. Whether digital or print; singles, collections or graphic novels; Young Adult or adult – we want to meet new readers where they’re at and connect them with outstanding storytellers and artists. Comixology’s mission statement for many years has been to “Make everyone on the planet a lifelong comics, graphic novel or manga fan.” Comixology Originals is one of the ways we accomplish that mission.
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