SDCC ‘24: BOOM! Studios teases new books, “20 For 20” ahead of its 20th anniversary

In anticipation of its 20th anniversary next year, BOOM! Studios provided a sneak peek at upcoming projects at a packed Saturday morning San Diego Comic-Con panel, “BOOM! Studios: Discover the Future First.” The publisher’s plans follow an announcement of the its acquisition by Penguin Random House.

BOOM! Studios editor-in-chief Matt Gagnon presided over a panel that included president of development Stephen Christy, vice president of editorial content and strategy Bryce Carlson, and vice president of sales Josh Hayes.

Chief among the announcements was the “20 For 20” program in which backlist inventory from popular BOOM! franchises will be bundled into omnibus editions retailing for $20.

“This is a really fun, celebratory program where we’re taking a lot of projects from our backlist that had multiple volumes, like eight or 12 issues worth of content, into an omnibus edition, bringing 20 of those throughout all of next year,” said Gagnon. “And they’re all going to be $20. It’s just a great way to come in and discover some of the great books from 10, 15 years ago.”

Participants in the “20 For 20” program include James Tyrion IV (Something Is Killing the Children), Cullen Bunn (The Empty Man), John Allison (Giant Days), Christine Larsen (Orcs!), Jeremy Haun (Red Mother), Greg Pak (Mech Cadet Yu), and Mark Waid (Irredeemable).

Also celebrating 20 years is David Peterson’s Mouse Guard, which will return in 2025 with a new series after a three-year hiatus. According to Christy, this will represent the first time Peterson has collaborated with another artist to work on a long-form Mouse Guard story.

“We should have some fun with everybody guessing who that artist might be,” said Carlson. “We had to wait three years for the artist to become available. So, that’s something that we’re very excited about.”

Carlson also offered a sneak peek at licensing expansions for Power Rangers, Dune, and The Expanse. A Power Rangers crossover project with Usagi Yojimbo is slated for a September release, while a new series of books called Across the Morphin Grid featuring original Power Rangers cast members in editorial roles will street in October.

Christy updated attendees on the various film and television projects in production. BOOM! Studios has partnered with Nickelodeon on an upcoming 2G animated preschool series called HexVets and Magic Pets, which Christy has called “Doc McStuffins meets Harry Potter.” The publisher also partnered with Amazon Prime to film Marguerite Bennett’s Butterfly with Daniel Dae Kim. The film will release in 2025.

“It’s a father-daughter spy show, essentially with Daniel as Jason Bourne trying to essentially hunt down his daughter, who has gone rogue and who knows even more than he does about spy craft,” said Christy. “We were lucky enough to be the first show greenlit coming out of the writer’s strike last year. And we were the first Amazon show to ever shoot in Korea.”

New comic book properties anticipated for 2025 include Lee Bermejo’s A Vicious Circle, a new series in the Slaughterverse universe, and new books by the teams of Gus Moreno and Jakub Rebelka, Jude Ellison Doyle and Shoho and Shof Coker.

Stay tuned for more SDCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.