IDW Publishing Hires Joel Elad As Direct Market Sales Manager Publisher Continues to Strengthen Relationship with Direct Market   San Diego, CA (February 18, 2016) – IDW Publishing has named Joel Elad as Direct Market Sales Manager, who will be the publisher’s liaison to comic shop retailers as well as manage the company’s retailer exclusive variant cover program. Elad comes to IDW from NewComix.Com, an online comic book retailer he co-founded in 1998. His wealth of experience includes acting as Director of Sales and Marketing for Top Cow Productions, where he led marketing campaigns for titles such as Wanted, by Mark Millar and JG Jones, and worked closely with retailers on a national basis. During his career, Elad has consulted with comic book stores, publishers, and conventions, as an independent contractor for Certified Guaranty Corporation (CGC), a third-party comic book grading company. In addition to his expertise in the direct market, Elad co-founded the So Cal Comic Con, a one-day comic book and toy convention in the San Diego area, where he personally recruited guests of honor as varied as J. Scott Campbell, George Perez, Marc Silvestri, Herb Trimpe, Rob Liefeld, Howard Chaykin, and Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. Currently, Elad is a Regional Advisory Board Member for the HERO Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping comic book creators in need. “We continue to expand what we do here at IDW, producing everything from Television shows to board games,” said IDW’s VP of Marketing Dirk Wood. “But the cornerstone of our business continues to be our partnership with comic book stores. We’ve been looking to expand our communication with the Direct Market, to reach out to our most important customers on a consistent basis. With Joel’s experience and understanding of the market, it’s clear he’s the right person for the job.” "I'm extremely thrilled to be joining this organization, as I feel IDW is part of my extended family after our previous successes together," says Elad. "I can't wait to contribute any expertise or perspective that I have to forge and enhance lots of beneficial partnerships with comic book retailers worldwide. I'm very honored to be a part of this team and I'm looking forward to the possibilities that lie ahead."

About IDW IDW Publishing is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE, MY LITTLE PONY and JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS; Paramount/CBS’s Star Trek; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Twentieth Century Fox’s The X-Files; Sony’s Ghostbusters, Temple Street Productions’ Orphan Black; multiple monthly DISNEY titles; and many more licensed and creator-driven titles. IDW Publishing is also home to acclaimed imprints such as; The Library of American Comics, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio; and the multiple award-winning IDW Artist’s Edition line. In 2015, IDW acquired Top Shelf Productions, an award-winning publisher of graphic novels. Top Shelf is known for publishing works of literary sophistication, including the #1 New York Times and Washington Post Best Seller March by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell and the authorized graphic-novel adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. IDW Games publishes both creator-owned and licensed tabletop games. The division was launched in 2014 and has quickly found success with one of the top-selling card games of the year with the Award-Winning Japanese import card game, Machi Koro. IDW Entertainment was started in 2013 to fund, develop, and produce television series based on IDW properties. IDW Entertainment is currently in development with a slate of properties for television including Wynonna Earp, licensed to Syfy and premiering in early 2016; Brooklyn Animal Control, sold to USA Network with executive producers David Goyer (DaVinci’s Demons, Dark Knight Rises) and Circle of Confusion (Walking Dead); and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, sold to BBC America with writer/executive producer Max Landis (Chronicle). IDW Entertainment also has several active theatrical projects in development, including Zombies vs. Robots, which is in development as a major motion picture with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and Sony.