Eisner Award-winning publisher Magnetic Press, known for bringing some of the best European comics on the market to the U.S., just celebrated its 10th anniversary—a feat for any indie, especially in the wake of industry-wide shakeups impacting distribution, publicity, and sales. In March, Magnetic announced a new partnership with sister company Oni Press under the Polarity banner for additional marketing, sales, and manufacturing support, as well as distribution starting in fall 2025. This is big news that points toward longevity for both brands, whose team-up could be one for the ages.
The Beat caught up with Magnetic Press founder and publisher Mike Kennedy via e-mail to talk about the company’s growth, plans for the future, and obstacles it’s faced over the last decade.
The Beat: Congratulations on 10 years of Magnetic Press! How have you grown as a creator since founding the brand?
Mike Kennedy: Thank you! This past decade has been an adventure, to say the least. Who knew that graduating from fanboy to published writer in the early 2000s would lead to this… A lot of people may discount the process of publishing comics as easy, but it is certainly not easy. Quality content may be subjective, but curating a collection that consistently resonates with a discerning community of fans is tough. Making sure that content is produced with equal quality production value takes attention, too, not to mention the meat-and-potatoes tasks of manufacturing, marketing, and distributing those books to an appreciative audience… It seems like so much time is spent making the sausage that I’ve nearly forgotten what it’s like to just be a writer…
How has the company weathered many of the changes in the comics and publishing industries in the last decade?
Kennedy: It has been a fun rollercoaster. We started pretty early in the crowdfunding age, which was a real game-changer at the time. Our first title was Kickstarted, as were a few other of our earliest titles. Being acquired by Lion Forge in 2017 was a major operational change—I call that our 2.0 phase—and it gave us a chance to explore different genres and formats, including single-issue comics. When Lion Forge’s parent company, Polarity, acquired Oni Press, they fortuitously chose to carve Magnetic Press out of the Lion Forge-Oni merger to stand on its own as a publishing entity. We took that opportunity to grow our own brand identity again (we call this our 3.0 phase).
Unfortunately, that was right before the pandemic changed everything forever. Retail and trade distribution took a backseat to direct-to-consumer and online sales, and we jumped into that movement with both feet. We’ve since run over 40 successful crowdfunding campaigns to date. We’ve been fortunate to have the support of our fans and Polarity to stay nimble in the face of some pretty radical industry shifts, and that support will be important in 2025.
How does Magnetic Press continue to stand out in the industry today?
Kennedy: We’ve done a pretty good job of crystalizing what makes a Magnetic book these past five years: high-quality material by fantastic talent, mostly from abroad, presented as if brand new to the American market. While some people may think of Magnetic as “that foreign translation house,” we try not to present ourselves as such. Our books are selected by their merit and “American” appeal—a visual style or story that belies that certain “foreign eccentricity” that some folks prescribe to European comics. We want to break that stigma, encouraging readers to think of these as cool books regardless of where they came from.
How have you adapted to changing trends and reader wants/needs?
Kennedy: We’ve definitely reacted to the change in where people buy their comics. We love bookstores and comic shops, and we’ll be doing even more to support them in the coming year, but we’ve also recognized the appeal and benefit of engaging with a homegrown community directly through crowdfunding and exclusive offerings. It allows us to hear from the fans directly and to gauge what they like, dislike, want, and wish for. When reviewing submissions or acquisition candidates, I’m overwhelmed by the number of titles I’d personally love to publish, but knowing what the fans are looking for helps that curation filter.
Can you speak to the launch of Magnetic Press Play and how the imprint has grown?
Kennedy: I began my career in the video game industry (30 years ago), and I’ve always been a gamer going back to first edition Dungeons & Dragons. After 20 years of developing interactive storylines and designing narrative systems for companies like EA, Namco, and Activision, I was chomping at the bit to get back to some interactive storytelling and game designs at Magnetic. We tiptoed into that pool with some early tabletop hybrids like Hugo Broyler and The World of Cassyno, but the pandemic finally provided an opportunity to really dive in.
We launched our first role-playing game, Carbon Grey, in 2021, built on an updated variation of the classic D6 System by West End Games. With that, we introduced Magnetic Press Play as our gaming imprint. That success led to new, bigger developments, including the Official Role-Playing Game of Planet of the Apes, which we Kickstarted last summer for release this year. That momentum has opened up several other opportunities that we’ll be announcing in the months ahead. Gaming and interactive fiction will be a notable piece of our development slate this year forward. But alongside the graphic novels—that’s still the heart of what we do.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, you revealed lots of new titles for 2025 as part of your 10-year celebration. How did you go about determining the publishing slate for this banner year?
Kennedy: It was another year of having more great candidate titles than available publishing slots. Magnetic is still a lean operation, so the number of titles we can comfortably release per month/year is limited… We had 2025 filled fairly early, and we’re already building our slate for 2026.
One thing we are thrilled to have announced recently is our first-look relationship with French production studio Label 619. That relationship will bring a ton of excellent material to the U.S. through Magnetic, which alone will make a significant portion of our year’s offerings moving forward. We’re also introducing a few more manga-formatted titles, which we think will be very exciting. Last year’s Tezucomi manga, based on the works of Osamu Tezuka, was a nice success that we hope to follow up with more, and we have three new series in the works for that line.
Can you give us more details on what to expect in 2025 and possibly beyond?
Kennedy: In addition to the Label 619 relationship and manga titles that will be revealed in more detail soon, we’re also excited to reveal the details of an operational partnership we’ve been working towards with our sister company, Oni Press. They’ve been having a banner year, with a string of fabulously successful projects elevating their already-notable profile even further. With shared parent company Polarity’s blessing and encouragement, we’ve outlined various ways Magnetic could benefit from some operational synergy. So, we are excited by the recent announcement of our new distribution partnership with Oni. Not only will they help elevate our presence at retail, but we will welcome their production and editorial support so that we can hopefully bring even more awesome products to market.
What are some of the biggest obstacles Magnetic Press has faced since its launch?
Kennedy: Other than the aforementioned market shift during the pandemic, the biggest challenge has been maintaining a growing slate of high-quality releases with such a lean team. Magnetic started out as a one-man (plus wife) operation out of our kitchen, and in three years, that grew more than we could handle alone. God bless Lion Forge for stepping in—those years as an imprint were easier to weather, but with its own challenges maintaining the brand identity. When Magnetic was set up independently again in 2020, a lot of that operational pressure landed back on my plate. Polarity helped ease the burden a great deal, but it has still been a lot of spinning plates for one man to handle. Fortunately, we’ve left surprisingly few broken plates on the floor.
What are some of Magnetic Press’s biggest achievements from its first 10 years?
Kennedy: Simply still being around is a big one! But I’m proud of the mark our brand has made and the fanbase that continues to grow behind us. We’ve been lucky enough to have been nominated for a whopping 31 Eisner Awards since we launched—in every year of our eligibility—and last year, we won our first trophy for Best Publication Design for our Dracula/Frankenstein set by Georges Bess. Getting up on that stage and accepting a trophy from Mike Mignola will be a highlight I remember on my deathbed. We’ve run 44 crowdfunding campaigns, generating nearly $4.5 million in total revenue. We’re well respected among our licensing partners and the creative community. Those are some nice points of pride.
What have you learned that you will apply going into the next 10 years?
Kennedy: Certainly a lot of little lessons best left in the kitchen. On a broader scale, however, knowing who you are, what you do well, and being true to that is key to longevity. Our brand has crystallized a lot in the last five years, having tried a lot of different things, and that refined identity will help us maintain our creative focus for the next 10 years. Not only will we continue to bring the most watch-worthy material from across the shores, but we’ll also hopefully open a floodgate of imagination with our interactive narrative and gaming initiatives. Being a passive reader is great, but if we can inspire more creativity in this age when content can be generated with the thoughtless push of a button, we’ll have done something to preserve humanity’s interest in the arts.
How do you hope to see the company grow in its second decade?
Kennedy: These next few years should bring a few more familiar properties and licenses, drawing people to our shelves. Having worked with bigger licensors, such as Disney/20th Century Studios on Planet of the Apes, our profile has been growing in the industry, and we already have several other exciting licenses signed, to be revealed later this year. That licensed work won’t distract us from other title development, but if they can help draw attention to Magnetic as a whole, all products will benefit. It’s a very exciting time, with lots of cool things on the near horizon. We can’t wait to reveal all of those details in the coming months!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Kennedy: Just that it has been a very fulfilling ride so far, and I’m humbled to tears by the support of our fans. We’re not perfect, merely human, but we put a lot of passion into these books, and we do what we can to satisfy the readers to the best of our ability. Life is too short for stress and conflict, and there’s nothing more rejuvenating than a brisk escape into a good book. And our mission will continue to provide imaginative destinations for as long as we can.
For more from Magnetic Press, visit magnetic-press.com.
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