IDW Publishing Fires Publisher Mark Doyle After Expensive TMNT Comics Relaunch

IDW Publishing keeps having financial problems, and the firing of Mark Doyle in the wake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles getting the #1 issue treatment is troubling.

IDW Publishing has had a bad couple of years. The company has posted massive losses over the last few years while the comic industry suffered declining sales. Despite several rounds of layoffs already, IDW Publishing fired four more today, including their publisher, Mark Doyle. 

In 2023, IDW Publishing made the news by posting a $1.9 million loss for the 2022 fiscal year. The losses compounded over 2021 when they posted a $0.8 million loss. After these terrible reports, the comic book publisher was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and initiated a restructuring and layoffs, which amounted to approximately 40% of their workforce losing their jobs. 

During this time, Senior Editor Heather Antos received a promotion to become the head of licensing at the company, sinking her tendrils into more of the comic publisher’s output.

This year was supposed to turn IDW Publishing around with a relaunch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. As industry insiders know, comic book buyers often speculate on #1 issues, and rebooting TMNT was thought to bring in major profits for the company, as the limited series TMNT: The Last Ronin has been the one major seller for IDW Publishing over the last several years, keeping the company afloat. 

IDW hired writer Jason Aaron to helm the relaunch, and the first issue sold over 300,000 copies, many of which were retailer incentive variant covers that required extra orders of the regular covers to have the option to purchase. While the relaunch posted incredibly successful numbers, many are speculating that there’s been a huge drop off in orders as the third and fourth issues are hitting pre-orders, bringing the book back down to standard sales levels. 

Fandom Pulse spoke with an industry insider regarding IDW Publishing. We were told that IDW spent incredible amounts of money on the TMNT reboot initiative, speculating on its success like those who purchase the variant covers at exorbitant prices. Apparently, with all the money they spent on this relaunch, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic did not provide the profitability needed, resulting in the publisher and others being fired to slash payrolls.

Bleeding Cool reported that Mark Doyle, the publisher, and three IDW Publishing staff members were fired yesterday. IDW Publishing has cut its creator-owned line, and it’s rumored to be losing one of its major licensing opportunities sometime this year after an embattled summer in which it barely held onto the Star Trek license from Paramount. 

Our insider tells us that the atmosphere inside IDW Publishing is one of panic right now, as many are wondering what might be the next shoe to drop. The company is supposed to release Alan Moore’s final graphic novel later this year, but will that be enough to move the needle in an environment where so many hardcore comic fans have been turned off from the entire publishing model?

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