It was a very light week on the news front, so this week’s edition of Comics Disassembled is going to be a bit more of a grab bag of observations, takes, and news than usual — but hopefully in a good way! So, let’s get to that, as I write about the things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, led by a new imprint at a notable publisher.

White Ash and IDW, Teaming Up

In a very cool bit of news — and news that will be expanded upon considerably in next week’s episode of Off Panel, which features this project’s writer and publisher/CEO — it seems the previously Kickstarter powered White Ash Comics imprint is taking its talents to the direct market thanks to a deal with IDW Publishing. That includes not just its main book, White Ash, but also other White Ash Comics titles like The Game and Glarien, as each will be published by IDW starting with White Ash #1 in April 2027.

It’s an interesting deal if only because the writer, publisher, and CEO of the whole enterprise, Charlie Stickney, has done such a good job of building a crowdfunded empire for these books. They could have just kept doing that. But the fact of the matter is, Kickstarter’s still there as an available tool, and this deal with IDW could expand the audience of these books while building greater awareness in future crowdfunded projects. That’s a smart move. It’s something that could lead to gains for White Ash as a whole, and for IDW, they get to import a universe that already has a whole lot material completed.

That’s one of the coolest things about this. While a fair few people have read these titles already because they backed previous White Ash Kickstarters, all ten (and a half) issues of White Ash, The Game, and other associated minis like Glarien will be introduced to the direct market in the way they should have always been — as bigger than usual issues rather than shorter 20 to 30 page chunks that break the story, as Scout Comics did with White Ash back in 2020 — which gives this imprint a ton of runway to work with before new issues will even be necessary. That might make it easier for retailers to bet on this book, as they know there’s a lot of material to hook potential readers, to say nothing of the existing fanbase that might want to double dip for these new versions that promise fresh material.

White Ash itself is about a small town in Pennsylvania that, on its surface, seems like any other mining town. Down on its luck with little to offer those who live there, White Ash’s lead Aleck feels like he needs to get away from there…that is, until he learns he’s not what he always thought he was and that the town is at the center of a larger story featuring different species of beings who came from another fantastical realm, including dwarves, elves, and more. It’s a very fun book, and I could see it connecting in the direct market. It has something for everyone, as it brings some 1990s edge with modern sensibilities to its pages.

We’ll see how it plays out. There’s a lot of opportunity here, even if any original universe is going to have a lot of work to do to make a dent in the direct market. The good news is Stickney is excellent at playing the game, and everyone involved — including IDW, the company’s Chief Creative Officer in Conor Hughes, its Head of Editorial in Nicole D’Andria, its Head of Design in Tango, and production lead Travis Escarfullery — seems to have a good plan in place with an ashcan that’s going to debut at ComicsPRO before it’s sent to every direct market retailer, amongst a great many other tactics. We’ll see when all this hits, but if you’ve never experienced White Ash before, your time is coming soon!

Absolute Catwoman, Extending

This is a thing I really like: DC’s expanding Absolute Catwoman from six issues to 12. It’s not just that this one title is expanding that I appreciate, though. In fact, the thing I like the most about it is what it means. We’ve seen DC do this three times now in the Absolute line, as Absolute Martian Manhunter, Absolute Green Arrow, and now Absolute Catwoman doubled their runs as a reflection of the response to each title. That’s a good thing, because that means that DC as a publisher goes into limited series like these with a plan for more if the title pops and has the flexibility to push things further in that situation as well.

That’s not new to them, of course. Poison Ivy in the publisher’s main line is coming up on issue #50 after starting as a miniseries. But it’s something I wish every publisher would do more of, if it’s not something they’re already open to. We know that Marvel does it on occasion (see: the recent Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day), but I feel like miniseries graduating into something more should always be on the table if the story itself isn’t definitively finite. That concept is something I used to call a stealth ongoing, where a limited series had the potential for more, and it’s a good way to do business in comics, at least in my opinion.

Anyways, back to Absolute Catwoman itself. The second half will just be written by Che Grayson after the first six were co-written by Scott Snyder (although based on her appearance on Off Panel, it seems like it was mostly her to begin with), and Bengal will return as the artist. That’s even better, as that kind of consistency leads to stronger quality. There’s a lot to build on too in the wake of the events of Absolute Batman #25, an issue which, uh, somewhat changes the circumstances of Selina Kyle. We’ll see what it all means there, but it’s another winning move by DC and its Absolute line. Big fan.