Indie Edge Creator Spotlight: Ted Adams
Dec 09, 2019
PREVIEWSworld: Please tell us a bit about yourself!
Ted Adams: 2020 will be my 30th anniversary of working in comics. I started my career at Eclipse where I worked for Dean Mullaney and cat yronwode. From there, I went to Dark Horse, working for Bob Schreck and Mike Richardson; WildStorm, working for Jim Lee and John Nee; and Todd McFarlane Productions, working for Todd and Terry Fitzgerald. In 1999, we started IDW and I worked there for 19 years, primarily as the company’s CEO and Publisher. I’ve also written a number of comics, mostly adaptations of video games, movies, and novels; and have a creator-owned title, Diablo House, that was co-created and drawn by Santiperez. I’m lucky to have a beautiful wife who loves books almost as much as I do and a cool son who loves hockey as much as I do books.
PREVIEWSworld: What are your favorite projects you’ve contributed to over the past decade?
Ted Adams: As a publisher: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key (Master Ed. Vol. 1 HC, DEC140577); Darwyn Cooke’s Parker adaptations (Martini Edition Vol. 1 HC, NOV190719); What Fools These Mortals Be: The Story of Puck; Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (AUG150325), adapted by Troy Little; all of the Artist’s Editions; and all of the books that I published with Top Shelf, Library of American Comics and Yoe! Books.
As a writer: Getting to work with Gabriel Rodriguez on an adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau (NOV190718) was a dream come true. I also had a ton of fun creating Diablo House (JAN180555) with Santiperez.
PREVIEWSworld: What are you currently working on?
Ted Adams: As a publisher: I’m proud to be publishing a new collection of Will Eisner’s The Spirit (DEC191591) from Clover Press. When we first started publishing comics at IDW, Mr. Eisner let us do a book based on his John Law character, and I was extremely grateful to him for choosing us!
As a writer: I’m working on an adaptation of a classic (arguably “the” classic) American novel that will be out in early 2021. We also have plans to bring back Diablo House and I’ll be writing at least one story for that book. I’ve also been slowly working on a graphic novel biography of Theodore Roosevelt and a non-fiction book called 25 Comics That Changed the World. I wrote a book about my experience starting and running IDW that will only ever be read by my wife.
PREVIEWSworld: What fun titles are you reading?
Ted Adams: Copra by Michael Fiffe, Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips, Maria M. by Gilbert Hernandez, Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai, Drawing Blood by Kevin Eastman, David Avallone, and Ben Bishop; Ms. Tree: One Mean Mother by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty; Shock, edited by Joe Pruett; Ghost Tree by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane; and the list goes on and on…
EDGE ESSENTIALS
Pick up these books to learn more about Ted Adams’ Indie Edge style!
The first half of this collection features the complete story. In the second half of the book, we reproduce all of Gabe's stunningly beautiful blue-pencil renderings, Artist's Edition style-a true joy to behold!
Preorder these Clover Press titles from the December PREVIEWS!
Graphic Novella trade paperback