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The key part in publishing comics is to have a publisher, and IDW Publishing appears to have a problem finding the right fit for that position. IDW's publisher Mark Doyle is confirmed to no longer be with the company.

According to Publisher's Weekly, Doyle and three others were all let go by the company in late August. This move comes just two months after Doyle was promoted to sole 'publisher', while also being leaned on to temporarily handle 'Editor-in-Chief' duties after Jamie S. Rich turned in his notice in order to launch a new comics venture. 

Doyle joined IDW Publishing in 2021, jumping away from DC comics and the highly prized Batman group editor position to lead a renewed push into original, creator-owned comics for the company - with a goal that it sell a lot of comics of course, but also open the door to media adaptations such as Netflix's Locke & Key, or IDW's original big hit, the 30 Days of Night movie franchise. But in April 2023, IDW Publishing's owners decided to make a hard "reset" of the company (in their own words), which led to laying off 39% of its staff - with Doyle, McCrillis, and Rich emerging as the leadership trio of the company under IDW CEO Davidi Jonas.

Going back further though, and the IDW publishing chair has been prone to more reboots than a Marvel superhero title. Following the exit of longtime staffer Chris Ryall as publisher in 2020, there have been four different people with the title 'publisher'. Jud Meyers lasted five days before an abrupt firing, with his successor Nachie Marsham laid off as part of that April 2023 "reset". Since then Doyle and McCrillis took on the bronco-buckin' of a position together, but McCrillis was spun off in April 2024 to focus on the operations side of publishing - while Doyle took the reins solo (along with that EiC position).

As it stands now, IDW Publishing has no publisher and no editor-in-chief. A job search was underway earlier this year to find a new editor-in-chief (under the job title of Executive Editorial Director), with this new person reporting to McCrillis (and not then-publisher Doyle). We're told an announcement is forthcoming on who has been hired for this position, but a decision on who the next publisher is (or if it's consolidated into someone else's position) isn't clear yet.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.