IDW President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall: IDW at 20

In late 2018, we brought you news of Chris Ryall‘s return to IDW Publishing in the capacity of President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer. As IDW celebrates 20 years of existence in 2019, with the new Transformers series arriving soon, Ryall recently completed a career-spanning interview with Tripwire.

TW: How has IDW changed in the last 20 years?

CR: When I started in ’04, we published about 7-10 titles a month and had 6 or 7 employees; at various points over the intervening years, we’ve had tenfold as many books and employees. And with that extreme growth has been a lot of trial and error and really figuring out our proper level. We added new divisions, getting into Games and TV production, along with some other new ventures. IDW also went from a tiny indie publisher of horror comics to consistently the fourth-largest premiere publisher in the states, driving the resurgence of licensed comics and kids’ comics and expanding outward in many directions; all of which has been very gratifying to see.

TW: You have also written series for IDW. What is it that you find satisfying about writing comics rather than editing them?

CR: I mean, the chance to tell the stories I want to tell is a huge part of it but mostly, it’s the collaboration. The chance to work with such amazing creators who hopefully combine with you and create something very special.

Read the entire interview here, then share your thoughts about it on the 2005 boards!