

The people at IDW are no slackards. After taking a look at the sales of their My Little Pony comics—their best selling comics EVER—and the current ’90s cartoon nostalgia trend, they’ve pacted with Cartoon Network to bring out a bunch of old favorites—and current hits—in comics form, in a deal announced at last week’s ComicsPRO meeting in Atlanta. Titles include THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, BEN 10, DEXTER’S LABORATORY, SAMURAI JACK, JOHNNY BRAVO, and GENERATOR REX.

“Many of these Cartoon Network shows have only grown in popularity since they originally aired,” said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief, “and we’re excited to be able to offer new iterations of the characters in comic-book form alongside both our planned reprint material and also some new animated ventures Cartoon Network has planned, too. There’s a wealth of fun properties to play with here, and we’ve already got some unique things in mind for them.”



Not only will IDW be teaming with high-caliber creators from the world of comics to publish new adventures featuring tons of Cartoon Network’s characters, but fans can also look forward to a variety of reprints of previous incarnations of Cartoon Network comics.



“We are excited to partner with IDW to bring some of our most beloved and iconic brands and characters to life for fans of all ages,” said Pete Yoder, Vice President of Consumer Products, North America for Cartoon Network Enterprises. “It will be a great opportunity to revisit and expand many of these great stories told in comic-book form, and we’re excited to see what the creative team at IDW comes up with.”



POWERPUFF GIRLS, DEXTER, and JOHNNY BRAVO were all long-running comics at DC’s kids’ line (a few of them edited by yours truly) so there’s a lot of material to repackage. Given the current interest in kids’ licensed comics, this is a smart move all around.

