Yeesh. What a week! I don’t know if this is just normal pre San Diego Comic Con levels of crazy or it’s been particularly spicy, but this week was insane, especially on the headliners front. So, with that in mind, let’s look at ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, including some big deals being made behind the scenes.

1. BOOM! Goes the Penguin

You know, I really thought I was being smart when I decided to push my big retailer feature so it didn’t run during the 4th of July holiday. I wanted it to get it an appropriate amount of attention, and the holiday seemed certain to rob it of that. So, you bump it and elect to run it on a seemingly regular day with seemingly regular things happening on it, and then…massive news drops out of nowhere to capture everyone’s attention. That’s just how it works sometimes, though.

The big news, of course, is that Penguin Random House — the biggest of the Big Five book publishers, an empire made of a whole bunch of smaller empires it has swallowed up — has acquired BOOM! Studios, effective immediately. The news lit the world of comics on fire, with wild speculation happening everywhere as soon as it dropped. The sky was falling, or everything was changing, or nothing would ever be the same, even though we knew very little about what it all meant. Here’s what we do know, though.

We already knew BOOM!’s President of Publishing & Marketing Filip Sablik was out, albeit on his own volition. But the publisher’s co-founder Ross Richie is also departing because, you know, he sold the company. We know it will be a part of Random House Worlds, the section of PRH defined by the sort of genre fiction sandbox BOOM! plays in. While PRH leadership will work with the team, it’s been said that BOOM! “will retain its editorial and publishing independence,” with the company even staying in its existing Los Angeles offices. And contrary to immediate expectations, the publisher will be sticking it out with Diamond Comic Distributors as its direct market distributor and with Simon & Schuster as its book market one for the time being. That’s the end of the list of things we know with certainty.

There are a lot of things that have been coming out since, some of which are informed and some of which are speculation. These things are all out there in the ether. Everyone believes that BOOM!’s distribution will eventually switch to PRH itself, if only because there’s no reason it wouldn’t save for the fact that the publisher likely already had deals in place with set timeframes with its existing distributors in Diamond and S&S. There’s also been endless discussion about how BOOM! has been on sale for a long time now, even though very little of that had been reported, so this sale wasn’t exactly surprising news in that sense. Who actually bought them was the only surprising part. Although even then, the options of who might have the interest and ability to buy them was limited. Meanwhile, Heidi MacDonald from The Beat reported that this may lead to layoffs. I’m not speaking to the specifics of that until that’s a known known.

That’s because as much as everyone enjoys discussing the ins and outs of what these deals could mean, we often forget the human cost behind all this. There are assuredly lot of nervy feelings in the BOOM! offices, people that probably feel a little uneasy about the public discussion (and victory laps, even) taking place when their jobs might be on the line. I don’t want to add to their tough time. So, instead, I wish everyone at BOOM! the best in this transition, and my fingers are crossed that the company gets to maintain everything that made it special (and that it finds other ways to improve), much of which comes down to the people who work there.

The last two things I want to talk about are the “what” and the “why.” The most common question I received yesterday was, “Why would Penguin Random House do this?” We know why BOOM! would sell. They wanted to already. This is just them fulfilling a pre-existing desire. But why would PRH buy them? There are assuredly a lot of reasons — media rights have been positioned as an appealing draw — but it’s probably pretty simple. This is what PRH does. They acquire smaller companies to become parts of their wider constellation of stars, retrofitting each onto its overall apparatus smoothly and simply. And why wouldn’t they want to buy something like BOOM!? The publisher has a lot of notable releases, many of which have teeth in the direct and book markets, and they’re a self-sustaining enterprise that PRH likely got at some sort of discount due to its long path towards a completed sale. Beyond the “because they can” of it all, it seems likely that PRH just acquired a profitable business that helps expand its overall footprint. Why wouldn’t they do that?

And the “what” side is more like, “What does this mean for BOOM! and its releases?” I saw some fearful thoughts out there, with some wondering whether they would still publish things like Jeff Lemire’s recently announced Minor Arcana series. Of course they will. Lemire was not signed in a vacuum. The people in charge knew this was coming. I am sure things like that made BOOM!’s sales pitch all the more appealing. Many of the deals we’ve seen of late at BOOM! and many of the deals we haven’t seen yet were likely made with full knowledge of this PRH deal being on the horizon. This doesn’t likely change what BOOM! is doing in the short to mid-term. The publisher’s dominoes will continue to fall and their plates will continue to spin. Long term, though? No clue.

That brings in my final point. There is going to be enough speculation about all this that it will be difficult to know what’s real and what isn’t. The truth is, no one really knows what’s happening or what’s going to happen. We might have ideas. We might have beliefs. But the only people who know what’s really going on are inside these companies and their respective buildings. Time will be the great decider here, so instead of sharing my thesis on how I think this is all PRH’s grand plan to get in the Wild’s End business, I’m going to simply say this: There’s plenty more to come, and I will cover it right here.

2. First Second, Heading Down 23rd Street

My favorite news of the week goes to the announcement of 23rd Street Books, the upcoming sister imprint to my beloved First Second Books at MacMillan. The idea behind 23rd Street is simple. Its addition will allow for the clear delineation of age groups between the two imprints, as First Second will now zero in on children and teens while 23rd Street’s emphasis will be on adults. That makes a ton of sense, both because a path to adult-oriented graphic novels needs to be a point of emphasis across the board and because cleanly separating those age groups will make it a little easier for everyone involved. I love First Second, but it was quickly becoming the everything publisher. That’s great for me but it probably made their marketing team’s job a little more difficult.

The funny thing about this, of course, is that the people heading this new enterprise will…uh…be the same folks that were doing it before. Actually, the same trio will lead the way for both imprints, as Mark Siegel will be the boss as Vice President, Executive Editorial & Creative Director, Calista Brill will be the Editorial Director, and Kirk Benshoff will act as…well, the other Creative Director, I guess! 23rd Street will launch in 2025, and it has one sweet list of creators onboard already. Not just established luminaries like Ben Hatke and Gene Luen Yang but also up-and-comers like my guy Jesse Lonergan and Anna Meyer (who seemingly has samples from her upcoming project there on her site, all of which look great) and random but welcome folks like actor Damon Wayans, Jr.. I personally hope Wayans will create a graphic novel explainer to the drinking game True American from the sitcom he co-starred in, New Girl. But that seems unlikely. A boy can dream, though.

That’s it! A new cool thing is happening in the hands of the same cool people, with a whole bunch of amazing creators onboard. What’s not to like?