#Scarenthood

[davidmariottecomics]

Goodbye IDW! Hello Something New!

Hi there! 

After seven years and some change, today, 12/22/2023, is my last day at IDW Publishing. It's for good reasons. Things just timed out that my last day could be the last work day of the year for IDW and in the new year, I'll be starting a new job elsewhere. I'll still be in comics and once I can talk about the new gig, I'm really stoked to be letting you all know. So, today, I want to say my goodbye to IDW. 

But first, before I get to that, I did have something else notable happen this week. I sent my last tweet!  I'm officially shutting down my Twitter at the end of the year and if you see a Twitter account claiming to be me after January 1st, it's an imposter. If you'd like to keep up with me, however, I've got good news! There are lots of other ways to find me still. Here are a few! 

Check out and bookmark my website! Get access to my blog, plus lots of behind the scenes stuff and new projects at my Patreon!  Subscribe to a newsletter version of my blog for free at Buttondown!  Follow my blog on Tumblr!  Keep up with my main socials: Bluesky and Instagram (I'm @davidmariotte at both)! 

Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about it. This is not my first time saying goodbye. In fact, almost exactly a year ago, I said my farewells to Transformers, one of the hallmarks of my IDW run. I don't want to revisit that too much, so if you want to read about my early days at IDW or that part of my career or a big list of thank yous to my collaborators, you can! And while I've had significant runs with other books, most notably Sonic the Hedgehog which with January's Sonic: Fang the Hunter #1 will mark 100 issues of Sonic at IDW under my editorial eye, or my personally exciting, if shorter runs on stuff like Godzilla, Samurai Jack, the Hasbro Action books, Canto, Scarenthood, The Kill Lock, The October Faction, Wynonna Earp, Brynmore, Atomic Robo, or literally so many other books, I don't want this to just be a retrospective on the work. In fact, I'm largely not interested in talking about the past when I say goodbye this time. 

IDW has afforded me a lot. They've helped me find my place in the industry. They let me do some writing. They let me do a lot of editing. I learned various other skills both through directly on the course of the job and through my own interest because of what I was doing and seeing there. I have made true lifelong friendships. And I have made comics. So leaving feels weird. I'm very bummed to be leaving a place that really has been my home (and for the past couple of years, has quite literally been mostly at my home) for so long. But I am even more excited about what's to come. On my side, I can't announce it just yet, but watch this space for some big news soon (after a couple weeks of much needed vacation). 

Talking about the future I actually can say a little more about, I wanna tell you how excited I am for IDW. Yes, I'm leaving, but IDW remains home to so many people--both at the company and our freelance creators--and so many projects that are close to my heart. Next year is their 25th anniversary. That is an impressive feat in not just the world of comics, but any industry. For the milestone, they've got a lot of cool stuff planned. 

I'm not going to blow up IDW's spot and say anything about what's coming up too early. Just to talk about the things that are already public knowledge, you've got things like the new TMNT: The Last Ronin sequel! The TMNT ongoing on it's road to issue #150! There are cool new originals like Golgotha Motor Mountain! There's the launch of the aforementioned Fang the Hunter which is IDW's first Classic Sonic mini-series and sees 100 unique issues of Sonic at IDW and is just laugh-out-loud funny and full of such good action! And I'll tease this, when the Sonic ongoing is back with issue #69 in May, you'll be in for an absolute treat as that series runs up to #75! 

I know some readers of this blog don't read a ton of American direct market comics. You aren't "Wednesday Warriors" who go to the comic shop every week. You like the comics you like and I've been graced to be a person working on those comics. If you aren't as familiar with how these comics work, let me assure you of a couple things. The books I was editing and many unannounced projects that I set up will still be happening. Because of the timelines of comic production, you'll still see my name in IDW books for a few more months and, at the same time, you'll see new credits creeping in. And if we've done everything right, that'll be about the only thing you'll notice is different, at least at first. As the editors really take the reins and take over, we'll both be in for the treat of the unknown! I'll be reading them with a good sense of professional jealousy. 

Now, there's one other book that has been announced for next year and I wanted to do a special call out for. Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special went to press this week. It's the last IDW book I saw all the way from inception to completion. And, in many ways, it's kind of a really good analogy of a comics editorial career. I think, genuinely, this may be the book that went from conception to reality the fastest in my career. I think it took... less than a week from a half-joking suggestion of doing a Godzilla Valentine's Day book to getting Zoe Tunnell's pitch in and approved by Toho and getting it on the publishing schedule. Usually these things take a bit--people are working on other projects, licensors need time to review things, whatever other bumps happen along the way--but this was like lightning. Everyone just got it instantly. And then Zoe turned in the script and it was great! Things continued, as they do, and then... we got a curveball or two. I won't go into too much detail, but major thanks to Sebastian Piriz and Rebecca Nalty for getting it done and having a book that we were all so proud of that I could send to press this week. And it struck me on that final press day that despite the curveballs we had been thrown, when it came to actually getting it approved, everything was so easy, straightforward, and smooth. When you read it in February, if I've done my job right, maybe you'll remember seeing somewhere that there were some curveballs. But mostly, you'll just have a really good book in your hands. (BTW, you did JUST MISS the final order cutoff on that, so do check in with your shop about still trying to get you a copy!) 

Most of the time, after a book like that goes to press, an editor gets ready to do it again--maybe in a few minutes or days or the next week. For the first time in a long time, I won't be getting ready to do it again at IDW. That's a complicated feeling, but I'm so excited for the future. 

The best metaphor I've been able to come up with for what is happening is it's like I've been working in a one room office constantly for the past seven years. It's got that dull office lighting, you know the kind. Each day, projects come and go across my desk, and as they otherwise disappear into the world, I put up one of those glow-in-the-dark stars as a memory of it. And each day, I work with so many people--my coworkers at IDW who've helped foster my growth, my collaborators as both a writer and editor who have made so many stories with me, all the folks where things never quite lined up but we kept trying, and the readers who are an inherent part of the ecosystem, the reason we make what we do. And so, for each of those people, I put up a little glow in the dark toy. 

Now, for the first time, I'm going to get up and leave the office. As I flick the switch behind me, everything in there that has been soaking up light for years now glows. Some of the glows are slight. Some are so fantastically bright, it feels like they're drawing attention through the walls of the room. Together, they make the room brighter than it was when I left. Now, sometimes, I might sneak in to borrow a toy--make a copy of it for the new office I'm doing the same thing in. Other people will certainly do the same and make they've got their Evan Stanley figure on their shelf. If I ever return for a longer time, I'll be so glad to flick the light back on and let them all absorb even more light to glow an even longer time. If I don't, I rest happy that the glow goes on and forever people will be able to come back and discover some part of it. And I'll start working on a new office soon. 

If I keep going,  I'm a little afraid that I won't be able to stop. So, for now, I'll just say again, thank you. The future is about to be very exciting. Next year is for the creators you love or don't know you love yet, the books that are going to light you up that you've come to expect and the ones that will catch you by total surprise. While there are a lot of things I'm going to miss deeply and books that I'm going to wish I had gotten to do more on, I also have the really exciting experience of getting to see this stuff as a fan of IDW, just like you. And, hey, I hope you'll be a fan of the stuff I do next too! 

As for next steps, like I've said, I'm not going far. I'll still be in comics. I'll share the news when I can.

Before that, I'm getting a little break. Not too long, just a few weeks, and obviously the holidays are part of those, but in my time between my jobs, I'm going to be working on some personal projects. I put together a little tracking list recently and I have something like 40 projects in various stages of gestation right now. Obviously, I'm not going to be working on all of those at once, and chances are, some of them will never see the light of day, but I'm going to be working on trying to bring a couple of them to you in the new year (and beyond). If you're an artist that I've had the pleasure of working with in the past and you think you might be interested in peeping the list and seeing what we could do together, let me know. You can reach me on my website contact page, through my email, or through Discord (feel free to ask if you don't have it!). 

And if you read this blog, you'll see me hyping my last IDW projects up until we run out of what I left behind. Simultaneously, once I've got stuff to start hyping up for my personal projects and for the new gig, you'll see those start to pop up here too! I'll also keep talking about making comics and my thoughts on the state of the world and whatever else it is I blog about here on a regular basis! 

Thanks for reading. Bye-DW! Next week, I'll be doing a little Best of 2023. But for now, onto our regular features. 

What I enjoyed this week: Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Lego Masters (TV show), Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Short story collection), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Cunk on Earth (TV show), I'm a Virgo (TV show), The Boy and the Heron (Movie), an easy last week at IDW, all the well-wishes that've already poured in, leaving today to celebrate Christmas with my family and then have some downtime to work on my stuff, signing the paperwork for the new job, not being on Twitter anymore, getting all of our mail out in a timely fashion for the holidays, Chainsaw Man (Manga), I picked up Superman and Hawkgirl, so excited to get caught up on those, and knowing that in leaving this job, there are certain folks I just get to deepen my relationships with as friends, instead of co-workers. 

New Releases this week (12/20/2023): Godzilla: The War for Humanity #3 (Editor) Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon (Editor)

Announcements: The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. Additionally, the CC is hosting their mini-comic awards! It's a cool way to maybe get your mini-comic recognized and make some scratch!

You can also give more directly. If you don't have money, and I get it, you can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives. Keep your eyes open for actions too, whether they're another general strike or demonstrations and marches in your area. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. 

While Becca has got some things brewing for next year (and now on a schedule), you should reach out if you'd like to work on comics with them! You can find their gallery on their website and also, y'know, maybe pick up a few things for belated gifts while you're there!

Finally, I called out my Patreon earlier. You can support me (and boy, that would be cool during the time between paychecks because vacation is nice, but living is still expensive) and get not just this blog, but a lot of cool special features like extra posts, comics, infographics, and more! At the $10+ levels, you can also access stuff like a holiday gift guide I made, a podcast pilot for a spicy show with Becca, and a ton more! 

Pic of the Week: Happy holidays from Becca and me! If you wanna full card in your inbox, lemme know! 

[comics-comicsandmorecomics]

Here's a list of the comics I have read so far/I am planning to

(reviews coming soon !)

•Deadly Class (Image Comics)

•Doom Patrol by Jerald Wey (DC)

•(The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys) National Anthem (Dark Horse Comics)

• Moon Knight (2016) (Marvel Comics)

•Family Tree (Image Comics)

•Specs (Boom Studios)

•The Autumnal (Nightfall Vault)

•Evolution (Image Comics)

•The Riddler: Year One (DC)

•Dark Knights Of Steel (DC)

•Hellboy Seeds of Destruction (Dark Horse Books)

•Tales From The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse Comics)

•Dead boy Detectives (DC)

•Black Widow (2014) (Marvel Comics)

•Scarenthood (IDW)

• The house (Dark Horse Comics)

• Daisy (Dark Horse Comics)

•House of Slaughter (Boom Studios)

And more.......

[thecomicon]

Review: Cormac Is Forced To Dig Up The Past In 'Scarenthood' #3

Review: Cormac Is Forced To Dig Up The Past In ‘Scarenthood’ #3

‘It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid… Unless you’ve disturbed an ancient entity, your sanity is in tatters, your child is at risk, and your friends don’t believe a word you say. Cormac is forced to dig up the past as The Big Boy makes itself more and more at home, and Scooper gets what every kid wants from Santa: An exorcism.’ The group is rapidly losing faith in our man Cormac.…

[thegaminggang]

IDW Publishing Comics for November 11th, 2020

Plenty to like from IDW this week including premieres of Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World, Marvel Action Chillers, and Scarenthood.

[smashpages]

What’s scarier: demons or parenthood? IDW announces ‘Scarenthood’

Nick Roche, Chris O’Halleran and Shawn Lee kick off a new horror title in October.

[graphicpolicy]

Review: Scarenthood

Scarenthood is a must for fans of #horror and especially parents who enjoy it. #Comics #ComicBooks

As a fan of Supernatural, I enjoyed the show for most of its entire run. I enjoyed the dynamics between the brothers and how they sacrificed themselves for each other. Season after season, the love between them and for those who they call “family”, made their adventures more than your typical procedural. At its core, it was really a show about family. The recently collected comic series…

[iamghostwriter]

Doing some serious housecleaning, ran across some issues of #scarenthood , loved the mini run! #igcomicbookfamily #igcomicfam #igcomics #spiritualnapalm #igcomicbooks #igcomicsfam #scarenthood #panelalchemist #igcomiccommunity #panelscientifix #readmorecomics #readmore #supportindiecomics #supportindiecreators #supportlocalartists #supportindieauthors #createimproverepeat #underrated #comics #housecleaning https://www.instagram.com/p/CTOd_lnMk6L/?utm_medium=tumblr

[pawlschwartz]

Comic day! The dnd comic Is great! Strong story and two strong females leading the way. . . . . . #comics #comicbooks #scarenthood #champions #weonlyfindthemwhentheyredead #startrek #odo https://www.instagram.com/p/CHd1_FXlSmJ/?igshid=z0apfub2kghc

[quetzalpapalotl]

It would have been SO easy to have Tarantulas love for Springer an extension of his horror mad scientist vibe, like being creepily possessive, seeing him as an experiment, caring more about his science or whatever. But no, Tarantulas genuinely loves Springer and wants the best for him, Tarantulas genuine love for his son in his one(1) redeemable quality to the point it could have made him better (even if Springer would have been worse u.u). And it is great and the story is all the more tragic for it and I have legit cried in public over Tarantulas and Springer.

[davidmariottecomics]

Wazzup?!

Hi Tumblr,

My name's David Mariotte. I am a comic writer and editor. I've written books like Transformers vs. the Terminator, Transformers Wreckers: Tread & Circuits, Hanazuki: Full of Treasures, and stories in the Transformers Beast Wars Annual, Continental Cryptid Anthology, and more! I've edited books like Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Samurai Jack, Wynonna Earp, Scarenthood, Canto, The Kill Lock, and most recently Godzilla, as well as tons of others!

If you like licensed or original comics and folks who know a lot about them, I'll be using this site as basically a mirror of my usual weekly blog, so there'll be lots of cool tips about getting into comics professionally, talk about what makes for good comics, good and bad things happening in the world outside of comics, and pictures of my two cats and my fiance.

Thanks for checking it out! Hope you dig it!

[daisyachain]

Johnny Sims/Nick Roche horror comic…

[smashpages]

Concept art and preview pages from Scarenthood, by Nick Roche, Chris O’Halleran, Shawn Lee and IDW.

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Scarenthood

Scarenthood preview. What's scarier: fighting demons or letting your kids down? That's what a group of parents will find out as their plans to solve the school's long standing mystery lead to one parenting nightmare after another! #Comics #ComicBooks

Scarenthood Nick Roche (A/CA) Nick RocheIn Shops: Sep 29, 2021SRP: $15.99 What’s scarier: fighting demons or letting your kids down? That’s what a group of parents will find out as their plans to solve the school’s long standing mystery lead to one parenting nightmare after another! TO-DO LIST: Drop kids at preschool; Grab coffee with other parents; Go ghost-hunting in woods; Fight demonic…

[decepti-thots]

As October approaches I really wanna reread Scarenthood for Spooky Season... it’s not tf related, but I'm tempted to dust off my old Medium or something and write a review like 'why you should read it', I really enjoyed it so much.

(For anyone unaware, Scarenthood is the creator-owned horror IDW comic Roche did, it's a four issue miniseries I highly recommend.)

[thelastofthebookworms]

Hi, fellow nerds,

I'm looking for SFF comics/bd/similar stuff. I'm fine with horror recs too. I favor printed form

I'd like to read a series as captivating as Sandman (that I've finished) or Saga (waiting for the next update).

I've already started Abbott, American Vampire, Birthright, Black Magick, The Books of Magic, Briar, Crossover, Dead Boy Detectives, Ether, Fables, Fairlady, Fatale, Inferno Girl Red, Injection, Isola, Jupiter's Legacy, Klaus, Ladycastle, Lady Killer, Lanfeust de Troy, The Last Witch, Lazarus, Lazarus : Risen, Monstress, Oberon, Oblivion Song, The Once and Future Queen, Phonogram, Promothea, Reckless, Rose, Seven to Eternity, Scarenthood, Shadow Roads, Something Is Killing the Children, Spell on Wheels, We Live, We Only Find Them When They're Dead and Zombillenium

I'm not continuing 100 bullets, Decorum, Dept H., East of West, Fear Agent, Lady Mecanika, Moonshine, Rising Stars, The Sword and Trees because of personal preferences

I really enjoyed Alienated, Another Castle, Black Cloak, The Boogeyman, The Closet, Crosswind, The Crow : Lethe, The Cull, Daytripper, Deadly Class, Die, The Escapists, God Country, The Gravediggers Union, The Highest House, Invisible Kingdom, Klik Klik Boom !, Knights Temporal, The Last Mermaid, Locke & Key, Low Road West, Mercy, The Neighbors, Once and Future, The Plot Holes, Proctor Valley Road, The Psi Lords, Rachel Rising, Rockstars, Roku, Scott Pilgrim, Skyward, Specter Inspectors, The Spire, Unholy Grail, Velvet, Watchmen, The Wicked + the Divine, wytches and Y : The Last Man (I've finished them).

So if I had to recommend authors, BKV, the brothers Moon and Bá, and Gillen are probably the highest on my list

However I have a library card and am always eager to start a new series so I thought I could ask for help here. Would any of you have some recs ?

I keep updating this post with recent reads.

Please feel free to answer this post no matter how much time has passed, recs are always needed and appreciated !