Brand-New Crime Story Imprint Launches

IDW Publishing has been having great success with its IDW Dark line of comic books, which has been highlighted by its prequel series of the cult classic sci-fi/horror film, Event Horizon (and an upcoming SEQUEL series), and now the company will be trying to expand that success into a new line of CRIME books in a new imprint titled, appropriately enough, IDW Crime.

Senior Group Editor Heather Antos announced the line in a press release by noting, "Crime has a deep, often under-celebrated history in comics, from hard-boiled noir to social thrillers that pushed the medium to be bolder, sharper, and more adult. With the IDW Crime imprint, we’re honoring that legacy while giving it a modern spotlight — elevating creator-driven stories that feel urgent, character-forward, and unapologetically human. These are stories about obsession, consequence, and the ability to hold a mirror up to society, and we couldn’t be more excited to help bring them back to the forefront of mainstream comics.”

What is the first comic book in the new IDW Crime imprint?

Another IDW Senior Editor, Jake Thomas, also spoke about the line in IDW's press release, "The titillation of being transgressive, of breaking laws and norms, of acting out and letting our more dangerous and wild selves take over is probably something everyone has felt at some point in their lives, so we all in some way can understand the allure of the outlaw."

He continued, "But we are also hardwired to want order and justice, so we root for the hero to take down the villain. That's why all my very sweet and sensible wife's favorite TV shows involve murder, that's part of why we named our kid after the great crime writer Dashiell Hammett, and that's why I'm excited to be developing this new crime line at IDW. No other genre explores the warring impulses of humanity like crime, but it's also a genre built on tension, pacing, character work, and crackerjack storytelling, all elements that are elemental to comics and build truly rip-roaring yarns."

The line launches in May with the release of Seven Wives, a three-issue miniseries by writer Zoe Tunnell and artists artists V Gagnon and Tesslyn Bergin-Dicoi. The series is about a man living in a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints compound in Arizona who is murdered, leaving many witnesses and, most importantly, seven wives, any one of which could be the murderer (or know who the murderer was).

What are the other two books in the initial IDW Crime group of offerings?

Then, in July, the next three-issue miniseries launching as part of the imprint is Killer Influences, by Eisner-nominated writer Joey Esposito, and artist Valeria Burzo, about a serial killer who wants to be infamous, but he's just TOO efficient as a killer, so no one has connected his killings.

No one, that is, except for an aspiring true crime influencer named Kylie, who contacts him with an offer to work together. She'll connect the crimes, and make him an iconic serial killer, and it will, in turn, turn her into a star true crime podcaster. Of course, with a deal with the devil, everyone is bound to be burned in the process.

Finally, August will bring the third of the three initial titles, with Fixation, from writer Amy Chase and artist Savanna Mayer (who has currently been drawing raves for their work on Return to Sleepy Hollow). In this three-issue miniseries, a superfan for a popular vampire film wins a contest that allows her and her best friend to go stay in the famous house from the film for the weekend of the film's tenth anniversary.

But when a woman is found dead in the house, things aren't going to be quite as fun as the fan hoped for during her weekend getaway.

Source: IDW