You never know what’s going to catch your interest when you write about comics. Sometimes it’s a new work by an old favorite. Other times it’s a fresh take on an existing favorite character. But every once in a while, it’s something that is so wildly unexpected that you cannot help but have your curiosity piqued.

That was the case for me when IDW revealed a new Hello Kitty line, one that would be headlined by a series written by Mariko Tamaki of This Place Kills Me, This One Summer, and Detective Comics fame, with the announcement even containing a promise of crossovers starring the character in the future.

Licensed comics can be very hit or miss, as sometimes, publishers just let the property do the talking above anything else. Which is fine! But it’s much more interesting when a a big swing is taken creatively on one of these projects, and this collaboration between IDW and Sanrio (the company that owns Hello Kitty) is certainly that. The first title is called Hello Kitty: Hello World!, and it finds Tamaki and artist Cody Lemieux telling the tale of Hello Kitty’s investigation into the disappearance of the most iconic symbols from each of Sanrio’s most adored characters. 3 While it is on its surface what you’d expect from a Hello Kitty comic, as it’s adorable and the first issue is polybagged with sticker sheets and all that jazz, Tamaki is a promise of something different.

The last time I saw the writer in person, it was witnessing her get over 10,000 steps just going to and from the stage at the Eisner Awards collecting trophies for her graphic novel Roaming with her cousin, Jillian Tamaki. She’s one of the most renowned names in comics for a reason, and the type of person who doesn’t just take a job to take it. She wants to tell a good and original story. Because of that, and because of the potentially bananas nature of any Hello Kitty crossover, I had to know more about the plans for this line. So recently, I sat down with IDW Associate Editor and Hello Kitty line head Bixie Mathieu to learn more about how this whole deal came together, figuring out the right approach for the character, the creative team working on the main book, those potential crossovers, and a whole lot more.

It was a real treat, and it reinforced my belief that while this will be a Hello Kitty line, the team at IDW is definitely trying to do something new and fun with this. You can read my conversation with Mathieu below, and it’s been edited for length and clarity.

Let’s start at the beginning. How does something like this the deal with Sanrio to make Hello Kitty comics come together?

Bixie Mathieu: It was a big process, I can’t lie. This started all the way back in July of 2024. IDW and Sanrio connected back then, and then from that point, Warren Buchanan, our licensing manager, really locked onto it and wanted it. He reached out to the editorial team and said, “Is there anyone here that really likes Sanrio?” And I of course started hooting and hollering and freaking out saying, “Me! Me! Me!”

So, from that point on, the editor in charge has to put together a pitch document and present ideas to both companies essentially to say, “Are you interested in something like this?” IDW said yes, and the pitch deck was sent to Sanrio, and they really liked it. It was a fun challenge because on the one hand, we had to prove, “You can trust us with your toys. We know what we’re doing with them.” And on the other hand, we wanted to see as a comic book company, how far can you go with it? What will you let us do?

We had some pretty absurd ideas in our pitch deck. Some of them got approved, some of them did not. The final version was sent off to Sanrio that August or early September in 2024, and then from then on, it was an insane negotiation. It took a long time. Like any deal, we had both sides trying to figure out what each side needs from the arrangement.

It was an interesting thing because it came down to the human element of it. I was pushing hard. One of our head editors, Heather Antos, was pushing hard. Warren was pushing hard. And then Andrew (Hogan) from the Sanrio side really wanted this to happen. So essentially it was like the four of us saying, “Can we do this now, please?”

That stage lasted for about a year. It was not until March 2025 that we signed a deal, so it was a long time. It took a couple of months of pure legal negotiations until May 2025 when we actually did a creative kickoff.

That’s when it all started.

Were you competing with other publishers for that? Was it a situation where you were just operating in your own domain and you don’t know what else was going on outside of this?

Mathieu: We are usually competing with other licensors. I’ve been part of other licensor pitches that have gone to different companies. But in this case, it was very unique because both Sanrio and IDW were like, “You’re our match.” Essentially, “We’re doing it with you or we’re not doing it.”

So, you have a pitch deck. You’re going to send that over. Do you go in with an idea of what the comics could be? Is there a more formalized thing in there? What is in that pitch deck?

Mathieu: Yeah, the pitch deck was essentially a bunch of wild ideas that I came up with. For example, I pitched the simple, “Hey, it could be Hello Kitty exploring the world,” and that’s our first series, but then it became, “Well, we could also do this series, and this series, and this series, and this is the log line of what it could be.” I generated a bunch of ideas within Sanrio’s world throughout genres and tones, while outlining what they might look like and how they make sense for both companies. Then it was off to Sanrio. 

So, near as I can tell the history of Hello Kitty comics isn’t very robust or consistent. The most recent one was a series of Viz releases from like 2013 or so. I understand why this type of thing would make sense, but what makes Hello Kitty comics appealing in your mind?

Mathieu: I think that Hello Kitty comics are inherently an appealing prospect because first of all, Hello Kitty and her friends are cultural juggernauts. They are massive. Universal. They’re like Mickey Mouse. And I think they offer a unique thing in that they…unlike a lot of characters like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Sonic, you can’t point to one piece of media to say, “I know the story of this character.” There’s no TV show or movie that can really point out and be like, “That is the story.”

So, we are playing with cultural titans that give a lot of leeway for what kind of story we can tell with them. Beyond that, I personally think that Hello Kitty comics are extremely exciting because it’s very happy, you know? It’s a truly joyous experience and, not to get political, this is a very difficult time to be alive. It is genuinely refreshing just to have something come across your desk where it’s about community and joy and sisterhood and friendship.

I have had that same talking point with a bunch of other creators. I’ve reached out to a bunch of writers and artists, and they just are just excited to work on something that is happy.

It feels good.

I was reading an SF Gate article about Hello Kitty and her success, and in it, they had some interesting points about the nature of the character. They said, “Sanrio has tended to keep the personality profiles of its characters relatively vague” and even said “Hello Kitty’s backstory seems almost too modest or irrelevant given the magnitude of the character’s international success.”

You mentioned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There are like a million different iterations of these characters, but they also have a cohesive identity. When someone says Michelangelo, they’re like, he’s the funny one. Raphael is all broody. But Hello Kitty is kind of a cipher in a sense. You know what she looks like, but also, what does it mean to be Hello Kitty?

I’m curious as to how that affects the comics you’re putting together. Is that something you’re expected to continue with or does that give you lot of room to define her to a degree we haven’t seen her before?

Mathieu: I feel like it has given us a lot of space to define her and to give her a solid personality. Especially because so much of these comics is her interacting with other characters, which gives you a true lens into who she is as a character. I think it’s been a lot of fun because there are certain rules. Hello Kitty is not going to do anything morally dubious or mean or anything. But you can start to see some of her flaws. You can start to see who she is as a person. And you can do the same with all the other characters, which I have truly enjoyed.

I also feel like it’s one of those things that I’m a bit nervous about. The fan reaction. Everyone has their favorite Sanrio character, and I don’t want to do them poorly. Ultimately, I think they’ll like what we put together.