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ramblingviolinist · 6 years

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Tags!!!

So... Basically I’m a terrible person and people have tagged me in a lot of things and I haven’t done any of them so here we go... Apologies that it’s so so late!!! (Also sorry if I miss a tag.) Thanks for the tags!

@ohpatreek, @eatapinkwafer, and @tangledupinmist tagged me in the “Get to Know Meme”

Name: Karen

Nickname: Kare, Kare-Kare, Kare Bear when I was little

Height: 5′1″

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Favorite Color: Blue

Time Right Now: 2:16 PM

Average Hours of Sleep: 6-8

Lucky Number: 13

Last thing I googled: Klein Bottle (a math thing)

Number of blankets i sleep under: 2 in the summer, 4-5 in the winter

Favorite fictional character or favorite real life “famous” person: Shelagh Turner, Lucille Anderson, Leslie Knope, and the March sisters for fictional characters and Laura Main, Julie Andrews, Amy Poehler, and Angela Kinsey for famous people

Favorite Book : The Mozart Season

Favorite Bands/Artists: AJR, Rend Collective, Mumford and Sons, Adele

Hair/Eye Color: Black/Brown

Dream job: I’m not even sure, but something to do with music

Quote that inspires you: “Do not walk behind me; I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend” -Albert Camus

10 Facts About me (tagged by @ohpatreek, @bbcshipper, and @tangledupinmist) I’m quite a boring person so this is a bit of a struggle.

1. My favorite number is 13.

2. I can solve a 3x3 Rubik’s Cube.

3. I know the names of all the American presidents in order.

4. I’m a violinist (if you couldn’t tell by my username), and I’m getting a university degree in music.

5. I’ve never been on a date.

6. My favorite animal is the giraffe.

7. I can lick my elbow.

8. I have the cutest dog named Fred. Seriously, he’s the cutest.

9. My favorite movie is The Sound of Music. I know A LOT about the true story and the movie and could probably quote the entire thing.

10. One of my goals is to run a marathon.

RULES: We’re snooping on your playlist. Set your entire music library on shuffle and report the first 10 songs that pop up. Then choose 10 victims. ( @tangledupinmist and @ohpatreek tagged me )

It’s Time-- Imagine Dragons

Build Your Kingdom Here-- Rend Collective

Budapest-- George Ezra

Honey, Honey-- ABBA (from Mamma Mia)

Perfect-- Ed Sheeran

Someone Like You-- Adele

Mamma Mia-- ABBA

Awake My Soul-- Mumford and Sons

This is Amazing Grace-- Phil Wickham

Some Nights-- Fun.

10 female characters

List 10 of your favourite female characters from 10 different fandoms (tagged by @tangledupinmist)

Shelagh Turner- Call the Midwife

April Ludgate-Dwyer- Parks and Rec

Elsie Hughes/Carson- Downton Abbey

Phoebe Buffay- Friends

Paris Geller- Gilmore Girls

Maria von Trapp- The Sound of Music (does it count if they were real too?)

Karen Brockman- Outnumbered

Lucy Pevensie- The Chronicles of Narnia

Anne Shirley- Anne of Green Gables

The March Sisters- Little Women

Random questions from @eatapinkwafer (There were a lot so I’ll just choose some.)

1. How much do your real life friends/family know about your fandom life?

I try to keep it on the down low because I go crazy when I’m in a fandom. They don’t know how much I get into shows.

2. What’s a recurring theme of fanfictions of you OTP that you find annoying/dislike?

My OTP is Turnadette. I’ll probably get a lot of hate for this but I don’t like how people write Angela’s adoption and Teddy’s birth. Quite a few people often make it sound like they love Teddy more than Angela because he was “actually their child” and they just had to “settle” with Angela before they had Teddy. I love Teddy a lot and I’m so glad they had him, but the complexity of it all is often written strangely.

3. What’s the meaning behind your tumblr name?

I talk a lot and I play the violin.

4. Have you ever written fanfic?

Yes.

5. What was your first fandom?

Downton Abbey

6. Where would you like to see your OTP vacation and why?

Most anywhere in America because I live here and I’d love to see their impressions of everything.

7. Who are you most like personality wise in your favourite fandom?

Sister Winnifred, I love her cheekiness and sense of humor

8. What’s something you’d never thought you’d do but have because of a fandom?

Read a mystery thriller ;)

9. What scene first got you hooked to your OTP?

Shelagh helping Patrick through his breakdown in Season 4 (I first watched CtM sometimes with my parents and just saw random episodes before I watched it from the beginning.)

I’d be really surprised if you read all of this, but there’s a bit about me haha

#about me #rambles from ramble #ramble rambles #all of the tags #sorry

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identybeautynet · 3 years

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How To Have a Healthier Looking Face ? 21

How To Have a Healthier Looking Face ? Beauty Tips To Get Nourished And Glowing Skin Going off to bed without taking your makeup off is one sin that we regret every morning. A skincare regimen is a necessity but maintaining consistency in that routine is a must. Without consistency, our skin might not even show results. Even if you are someone who loves their CTM routine, it needs frequency. Healthy skin doesn't need tons of products on your skin. Just the right ones are enough to get you started. And to help you out with it, we have curated the best tips that you need to inculcate in your skincare routine. Steps To Maintain A Healthy Face And Skin Get a healthy and tinted glow with these steps Wash Your Skin With A Cleanser Your skincare routine always starts with a cleanser and hence it is the most important. Cleansing is an unmissable part of the skincare regimen. It not only preps the skin but also removes the dirt, grim and excess oil from the face. Always pick a mild cleanser that suits your skin type and with a seasonal change, ensure that you switch formulations for best results. Do not rub your skin too hard, as it may cause irritation as well. Apply A Toner Once you dry your skin properly, apply toner evenly over your face. Toners are a great way to soothe your skin. They help in unclogging pores and tightens your skin. Look out for ingredients like cucumber, aloe vera and others when picking one as they can make a great fit for the summer season. (13 ratings & 81 reviews) Do Not Miss Serum We might think that moisturiser is enough after toner but let us tell you that applying 2-3 drops of serum before moisturiser is a must. You can pick active ingredients as per your skin type and concern or can ask your doctor for recommendations. Gently tap and massage the serum onto your skin and then allow it to settle down for a while before layering another product. Moisturisation Is The Key Moisture is the need of the skin and its important to give it the rightfully deserved nourishment. Moisturiser is an essential part of every skincare regimen. It helps in keeping the skin nourished and supple. It makes it clear and plump, while giving a natural boost of hydration to it. (10 ratings & 173 reviews) To browse more beauty products, click here Disclaimer: The Swirlster Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Swirlster has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. beauty tips: How To Have a Healthier Looking Face, Beauty Tips To Get Nourished And Glowing Skin Read the full article

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ilovemushystuff · 2 months

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Young Mr Turner

#call the midwife #timothy turner #turner kiddies #ctm season 13 #mushy-caps

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humansoulsarg · 7 years

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Rick Astley Pictures Solve

http://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/159101381827

These Pictures of Rick Astley appeared after the post which stated that this blog is no longer a Spice Girls blog. Since it was April Fool’s Day at the time, the jury is still out on how true that statement might be.

Whatever the case, this post presents us with a new puzzle in the RGB color channels of each image. There are two images the first inverted image has text in all three channels, while the second only has text in the Green and Blue channels.

The text on each layer consists of words from one of two phrases in Rick Astley’s most famous song. “Never Gonna Give You Up” or “Never Gonna Let You Down” are the phrases. By assigning each word in the phrase a number, in order, a mapping is created. Never=1, Gonna=2, Give/Let=3, You=4, Up/Down=5.

Then, these numbers can be grouped by twos and decoded as Tap Code to become letters. These letters can then be decrypted using a Vigenere cipher with key ‘Rick Astley’ to become letters ranging from A-J. Then convert these to numbers 1-0 and group by threes to result in ASCII decimal encoded values which decode to more gibberish-looking strings, but since they are 15 characters and made up of lowercase alphanumeric, we recognize them as mediafire IDs.

1-Red: 11 32 23 44 15 45 13 44 32 23 51 32 13 44 24 12 12 44 33 13 52 42 13 42 11 12 53 31 33 11 42 42 21 13 25 55 13 44 13 23 55 34 13 44 14 -> AMH TEU CTM HVM CTI BBT NCW RCR ABX LNA RRF CJZ CTC HZO CTD -> JEF JEC JII JEE AJI JII JEF JIH AJE AJC AJD SJH JIG JIG AJD -> 056 053 099 055 109 099 056 098 105 103 104 108 097 097 104 -> 85c7mc8bighlaah -> http://mediafire.com/?85c7mc8bighlaah -> never.zip 1-Green: 11 41 13 13 12 43 44 31 23 54 11 32 31 34 11 12 53 31 33 13 42 24 31 35 11 43 53 31 go15 44 24 21 44 41 55 11 33 53 32 34 53 53 14 32 3 -> AQC CBS TLH YAM LOA BXL NCR ILP ASX LFY RRD TEV CPN HUP LSH -> JII ABA AAD AJE JEA JEA JEA AJF AAE ABA AJB JED JEJ JDH JIH -> 099 121 114 105 051 051 051 106 115 121 102 054 050 048 098 -> cyri333jsyf620b -> http://mediafire.com/?cyri333jsyf620b -> gonna.zip 1-Blue: 42 42 31 44 15 52 44 45 13 54 42 34 31 34 11 12 12 44 33 13 42 24 13 41 11 43 45 31 21 54 11 32 13 13 12 43 13 44 31 23 51 33 13 13 11 -> RRL TEW TUC YRO LOA BBT NCR ICQ ASU LFY AMC CBS CTL HVN CCA -> AJJ JEE AJG AAG JEA JII JEA AAG AAB ABA JEA ABA JIH JEF AAA -> 100 055 107 117 051 099 051 117 112 121 051 121 098 056 111 -> d7ku3c3upy3yb8o -> http://mediafire.com/?d7ku3c3upy3yb8o -> give.zip 2-Green: 42 42 14 13 25 53 44 31 15 54 42 24 13 44 24 12 53 35 33 13 52 42 21 42 11 12 13 31 33 13 42 25 13 13 12 44 13 44 32 23 51 33 31 34 13 -> RRD CJX TLE YRI CTI BXP NCW RFR ABC LNC RJC CBT CTM HVN LOC -> AJB AJF AAA AAA AJI JEE JEF JDH AJJ AJE ABA ABB JII JEF JEC -> 102 106 111 111 109 055 056 048 100 105 121 122 099 056 053 -> fjoom780diyzc85 -> http://mediafire.com/?fjoom780diyzc85 -> you.zip 2-Blue: 42 42 22 44 15 52 44 45 21 54 42 35 31 34 14 43 13 45 15 23 51 42 21 43 11 44 44 45 24 15 11 32 24 44 14 11 44 45 24 54 42 25 31 43 24 -> RRG TEW TUF YRP LOD SCU EHV RFS ATT UIE AMI TDA TUI YRJ LSI -> AJE JEE AJB AAH JED AJJ AJE JDI ABA JEG JEG JDI AJE AAB JII -> 105 055 102 118 054 100 105 049 121 057 057 049 105 112 099 -> i7fv6di1y991ipc -> http://mediafire.com/?i7fv6di1y991ipc -> up.zip

Each ZIP file contains a single WAV file with the same name as the ZIP. The five, unsurprisingly, make up the lyric 'Never Gonna Give You Up’. Each WAV file is encoded using the Kansas City Standard method and can be decoded using the python scripts provided early by Pangent Technologies in this medaifire link: http://mediafire.com/?re6w37cv7aejo93

There is A LOT of content in these WAV files. Never is 2 hours long while the other four are 18.5 hours each. After decoding the audio files into text, it is revealed that Never consists of an ASCII-art image of Rick Astley:

The remaining four audio files decode into files with ASCII characters '1’ or '0’ only. Each file consisting of 1,553,445 ones or zeros. The suspicion is that these are Portable Bit Map (PBM) files with the header missing. So a row and column count is needed. The total divides evenly by 555 and 999, so those were tried and it was discovered that the size of 999x1555 was correct for the images.

Gonna:

Give:

You:

Up:

Each image appears to be differently shaded versions of the same image, so these can be recombined as Composite layers to make a color image. Since we have four, CMYK is assumed instead of RGB. Combining the images as-is yields a fairly washed-out looking but functional version of the image:

But since the composite images are binary black-or-white pixel images instead of grey scale images, they can be blurred before recombining to get a better result when combined into colors as this will allow more than just the 16 possible colors when working with 4 black and white layers. (It might only be 8 possible colors as it’s converted to RGB) The result (thanks Taurtini!) is pretty impressive for 74 hours worth of Audio and 6 Megabytes of text. A space-saving format this is not!

Speaking of Taurtini improving image quality, by using a blur and vertical motion blur of the ASCII-art image from Never.wav, the following image is obtained:

So there you have it, Pangent’s elaborate Rick Roll of the 2017 April Fool’s Season. Here’s hoping for a return to regular programming soon :)

#puzzle #puzzle solution #human souls arg #submission

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titoslondon-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Titos London

#Blog New Post has been published on http://www.titoslondon.in/is-your-skin-festive-ready/

Is your skin festive ready?

By: IANS | New Delhi | Published:October 13, 2017 5:16 pm Make Cleansing, Toning and Moisturizing a part of your daily routine. (Source: File Photo) Related News

This winter opt for petroleum jelly not just for skin

Groom yourself with natural elements for festive season

What’s the secret behind Shraddha Kapoor’s glowing skin?

In festive times, most people tend to laden up the skin with numerous varieties of cosmetics to look good. However, they end up making the condition even worse as even the best of cosmetics do no good when the skin condition from the inside is completely troubled. So, this Diwali, be smart and prepare your skin in advance.

Priyanka Goyat from Rejove Clinique and Sandeep Babbar, Revyve share few tips and solutions to ensure the perfect skin radiance all through the festive season:

* Get ready to maintain a distance from fireworks: Most fireworks have high magnesium and cordite content causing heavy smoke emissions in the environment so take some extra precautions like staying at least six to seven feet from the burning firecrackers. Other than that, one can also cover up the face with a scarf or dupatta to keep the risks of burning face with sparks and pellets at bay.

It’s good to clean out the face thoroughly with mild soap and water and treat the skin with moisturizer after firework session to ensure that no harmful pollutant seeps deep into the layers of skin and do harm.

* Make CTM (Cleansing, Toning and Moisturizing) a part of your daily routine: Festive season, especially during Diwali it is the time when makeup is applied on the skin the most. To ensure the best of makeup effect, it’s necessary to make the skin healthy and makeup-friendly first. For this, one needs to religiously follow the mantra of cleansing, toning and moisturizing (CTM) at least once in a day.

* Munch-in the healthy nutrients:The sudden change in atmospheric condition due to increased fireworks and dipping atmospheric humidity can further deteriorate the condition of the skin. Make it a point to regularly fuel up the body with juicy fruits, green leafy vegetables and plenty of water. Proper workout or yoga routines are also necessary to clean out the toxins and impurities from the body. Try to keep the consumption of sweet and oily things under control as in a few days it starts reflecting on the face in the form of dull, weary skin; pimples; puffiness around eyes; wrinkles and weight gain.

* Scrub the impurities out: Before one starts with applying the makeup, it’s necessary to prep the skin with deep cleaning and exfoliation. Either buy a scrub as according to your skin-type or consult a dermatologist to refer the same and use it as and when prescribed.

* Post-fest care and treatments: When wiping off the makeup once the festivities are over, it’s advised to be extra careful and not to be lazy and careless with the process. Because it’s not just the makeup that is there on the face, instead there are layers of impurities and dust from the heavily polluted environment also.

After removing the makeup properly with the wipes, then go with the regular cleansing, toning, and moisturizing routine. Don’t forget to apply the night cream on the parts exposed

For all the latest Lifestyle News, download Indian Express App

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glowing skin

healthy skin

skin care

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inspoartist · 7 years

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CTM SEASON 7 NEWS

What’s in store for season 7, for the Turner’s? Our very own Stephan McGann gives us a bit of insight😁 http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-04-13/call-the-midwifes-stephen-mcgann-has-two-very-different-words-to-describe-series-seven

#turnadette #call the midwife #stephen mcgann #laura main #doctor turner #shelagh turner #shelagh and patrick #baby teddy #season 7

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aion-rsa · 7 years

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INTERVIEW: IDW CEO on What Made 2016 the ‘Best Year’ in Company History

Comic book fans are well-acquainted with IDW Publishing, the company known for licensed comics including “Transformers” and “Star Trek,” original stories like “Locke & Key” and “30 Days of Night” and high-end collected editions like the “Artist’s Edition” series of oversized hardcovers reprinting classic comic book runs scanned from the original art. But IDW is a multi-faceted entity called IDW Media Holdings, also encompassing IDW Entertainment (movies and TV shows), IDW Games and the CTM Media Group, which distributes brochures in display stands.

As CEO of IDW Media Holdings, company co-founder and publisher Ted Adams is at the head of all of that. And he had a big 2016, ranging from two IDW Entertainment TV series having their first season on air — “Wynonna Earp” and “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” both of which are coming back for second seasons — and “March: Book Three,” by Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell, winning the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

RELATED: IDW CEO Makes Creator-Owned Debut with New Horror Anthology

CBR spoke in-depth with Adams, who in 2017 will add to his slate by releasing his first creator-owned comic titled “Diablo House,” about the big year IDW had, ranging from the success of “March” and some overlooked gems from its EuroComics line, to the new shared universe of its licensed characters brought about by “Revolution” and the challenge of introducing creator-owned comics in the current environment of the direct market.

CBR: Ted, at the start of this conversation you remarked that 2016 was the “best year” IDW has ever had, so that seems like a good place to start. From your perspective, why was that the case?

Ted Adams: We’ve been a public company for quite some time, but this was the first year where I decided to start attending investor conferences, and put some energy into that side of the business. Our market valuation is $280 million, so we’ve had pretty phenomenal success there. The stock is up a huge amount this year, there’s definitely a lot of interest in what we’re doing. That’s directly the result of the success we’ve had in those different divisions.

If you look at the divisions, specifically with publishing, this has really been a breakout year for us. We won the National Book Award, which is the first time a graphic novel publisher has ever accomplished that. Our lines across the board really seem to be working for us. That side of the business has really done well. Our games business is also up this year, pretty significantly. We had a couple of big things — we had a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” miniatures game that we started via Kickstarter, and also had great success with retail. That single product is the biggest single revenue-generating project in the 18-year history of IDW, which is pretty phenomenal, at least from our preorder standpoint. So that’s pretty exciting.

The big driver for our growth this year is our entertainment division. We had two shows on this year — “Wynonna Earp” for 13 episodes on SyFy, then “Dirk Gently” with eight episodes on BBC America — both those shows have been renewed for second seasons; in fact, “Wynonna Earp” [has started] shooting in Calgary.

What the public markets are responding to is, these are not option deals. We’re not going to studios and saying, “Do you want to option our content and pay us a small amount of money, and give us some kind of nebulous back-end?” These are shows where we’re either fully financing or co-financing the creative development and the production of those shows, and in exchange we get the worldwide distribution rights for those shows. So it’s a completely different approach to TV than what any of our peers are doing,

Given IDW’s many divisions, how is your time divided these days? Do you get to spend much time on publishing?

These are my jobs: I’m CEO of the public company, which requires a lot of attention; investor conferences, shareholders, quarterly reports, annual reports, all those kinds of things. I’m also the operational CEO of our three divisions — publishing, games and entertainment. Very much a hands-on CEO with those businesses. I’m a producer on our TV shows as well. If you had to split that up, it’s probably, at this point, 25 percent CEO of the public company, 50 percent operational businesses, and 25 percent producer. I literally just don’t have enough hours in the TV to accomplish everything I need to do. I’m extremely fortunate I’m surrounded by an extraordinary group of people in all of our divisions. Pretty much everybody I work with is an A-plus performer.

Let’s talk about the newly announced imprint Woodworks, which will be headed by IDW’s VP of Marketing Dirk Wood and based in Portland. IDW Publishing is a pretty diverse operation as it is — what’s it looking to do with Woodworks, and what IDW can accomplish in Portland that it can’t in San Diego?

The whole Woodworks imprint is very much a work in process, and came out of many conversations with Dirk. IDW is based in San Diego, and Dirk has been commuting here from Portland, because his family’s up in Portland, for six or seven years. [Laughs] How he’s done that for that long I don’t know. This was a good opportunity for him to stop that crazy commute, and also put together what I think is going to be a pretty interesting line of books.

I don’t want to give too much away, because we want to figure out how we’re going to roll out the announcement, but it came from a conversation where he and I were both — I think like much of the world — pretty discouraged by this political year. Whether you’re happy with the presidential results or not, it was a pretty ugly process to get there. The world feels like it’s full of fear and anger.

He and I both have a long-lasting love of print, of physical products. What we want to do is curate a magazine for people who are interested in entertainment, but do it in a way — I don’t want to say “intellectual approach,” because that would turn people off — but in a deeper way than you would get from web news or on Facebook or whatever. It’s very much a work in process, but it’ll be a combination of original comic content, interviews with interesting people, in-depth looks at pop culture and things that interest us.

We’re not doing a promotional tool for IDW. This is not the equivalent of what Image is doing what their magazine [“Image+”]. This doesn’t have anything to do with IDW’s content. This is going to be a standalone magazine that we hope will be of interest to people who want to take a deeper dive into what entertainment is all about. If there were an example I could point to, it would be what The Comics Journal was back in the heyday, when they were doing those big substantive interviews with comics creators, really in-depth reviews. That’s a bit of a model for us, but the magazine’s not going to focus just on comics, it’s going to be broader than that. This is an opportunity for us to do something that you can spend an afternoon with, and hopefully enjoy and have that nice, physical product.

For the past few years, IDW has a consistent place in direct market charts — the No. 4 spot, behind Marvel, DC Comics and Image Comics.

I think we’re going on five years now pretty consistently in that spot. Our friends in Portland [Dark Horse Comics] often try to convince people that there’s some reason that we’re not, but if you go back, we’ve been in that spot for at least five years. Before “The Walking Dead” took off like crazy, we were actually pretty often swapping back and forth between the third spot with Image, but they’ve taken that as a dominant position.

As publisher, is it an active goal to move that spot up further? Or given that IDW does so many different things, is the direct market not as much of a priority to you as it may seem to comics fans? What’s your philosophy on that position?

My philosophy is this: The direct market is without any question important to us. Those charts everybody obsesses on are just purely direct market numbers. It’s very much just a portion of where we sell product. I think this year, and this is just purely an estimate, our total revenue from direct market for IDW Media Holdings is probably going to be in the 15 to 20 percent range. Super-important, no question, but it’s only 15 to 20 percent of our revenue.

My thinking has always been, I want to be an extremely diverse publisher, and I want to sell my products in as many marketplaces as I possibly can. We’ve very much accomplished that.

Of course, shared universes” are very popular in the direct market, and IDW has one now, as a result of last year’s “Revolution” crossover between Hasbro properties like “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe.”

The Hasbro “Revolution” event was really a longtime in the works. We’ve been working with Hasbro for 11 years, so we have a really long-term relationship with them. Our editorial team came up with this idea — as you’d expect, these things are complex to execute creatively, and making sure that our goals are aligned with Hasbro’s goals. A lot of work goes into these kinds of projects. I was really proud of the editorial execution, also really proud of the marketing and promotion that our marketing teams put together, specifically for the direct market. I really couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.

What our hope is, we can have that shared universe where now those characters — while we don’t want it to be forced — it wouldn’t be out of the question that other Hasbro characters could pop up in an issue of “Transformers,” or vice versa with any of the other brands. We’ve set the ball rolling with “Revolution,” then you’re going to see that really continue on as we continue our publishing program with Hasbro in ’17.

Given the sheer amount of licensed properties IDW currently publishes as is, how aggressively does IDW pursue new licenses on an ongoing basis?

I kind of look at it this way: We have “Transformers”, we have “Star Trek,” we have “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Those are arguably three of the top four brands, the only other one that really comes to mind as potentially bigger is “Star Wars.” If we already have the A-properties, we don’t need to be in the C-property business, if you will. With that said, we’re opportunistic, and always looking for new licenses, and new interesting things. I can assure you at any given time, we probably have as many as 10 deals swirling, things that we think are going to be good.

But really, with with “Transformers,” “Star Trek” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and honestly, with “My Little Pony,” which is going to be big in ’17 — the movie’s going to be out — we’re really fortunate that we already control what I consider the premier brands.

Speaking of brands, in recent years IDW has had several crossovers with DC, including two between “Batman” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Intercompany crossovers were once commonplace, but now not a lot of people are doing it, and it feels more novel. How important have these been to IDW?

Certainly those are important to us. We have a very long relationship with DC. One of my first jobs in comics was working for [DC Co-Publisher] Jim Lee at WildStorm, I consider him a good friend, and everybody here has relationships with folks at DC and vice versa. While, yes, we compete for direct market dollars, we are as friendly as competitors can be. Certainly there’s no question that the fan response to those crossovers has just been phenomenal. The Batman/Turtles book [by James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II] that DC published [last] year, and the one that we’re now in the midst of publishing [by Matthew K. Manning and Jon Sommariva], people just absolutely love what we’re doing.

I think that goes back to creative execution. We’re not just smooshing these properties together and throwing them out there. There’s a lot of thought going into the creative; making sure that the stories make sense, that we have the best writers we possibly can, the best artists, and really try to make great comics. I think we’re definitely seeing the results of that, from fandom.

IDW is in an interesting position, because more than any other single publisher, IDW works with other publishers. DC, as noted, but also publishing Artist’s Editions of both Marvel and DC works, collaborating with Archie on some collected editions — it feels like that all makes IDW a bit of a different entity than other comics publishers.

It goes back to my desire for us to be a diverse publisher. Clearly our Artist’s Edition line is as far away as you can get from our Micro Comic Fun Packs, as you can imagine. One is mass market and cheap; one is a much bigger, more expensive line for the hardcore collector. I think because we’ve proven our ability to execute against those products at a very high level that our peers are very comfortable with allowing us to do that. In the Artist’s Edition line, we’ve done lots of both Marvel and DC books. Also, through our Library of American Comics line, we’ve also done both Marvel and DC; Spider-Man comic strips, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. Through our Micro Comic Fun Packs, we haven’t done DC, but we’ve done a number of Marvel properties.

It all starts with relationships, like all business does, and also the trust that we’re going to do a good job for them. We also represent Archie’s foreign language releases, so in our international division we represent their catalogue; we also represent Oni Press’ catalogue.

Original concepts have always been a part of IDW, but creator-owned comics are a harder market to crack — both because it’s new properties by nature, and because Image has such a corner on the market. Still, 2016 saw IDW publish titles like the William Gibson-written “Archangel” — how important is creator-owned comics to the overall IDW picture?

It’s in our roots. It goes all the way back to “30 Days of Night,” which was first comic we published. We’ve published creator-owned comics for 17 years, and always will. But as you referenced, it’s a lot easier for us to get a lot of attention for a Hasbro crossover than for something new. The William Gibson “Archangel” book, direct market retailers were a little more comfortable with a project like that, because Gibson’s attached to it, so it’s less of a risk for them. but I do think it’s a challenge, and not just for IDW. If you look at creator-owned books, outside of a very small handful, it’s a tough sell to the direct market.

There’s a very obvious reason for that, and that’s because the system is set up so retailers are taking the risk. If they order wrong, in almost all cases, they’re the ones stuck with the inventory. Retailers have to be risk-averse, and go with the sure thing. It’s just the way the system is set up. We have some interesting creator-owned books that are coming out in ’17, and we’re trying to think about the best ways to sell those products to direct market retailers, and the best way to market and promote those books, but there’s no question it is always a challenge. Part of what we want to do with creator-owned books will also tie-in to what we’re doing with Dirk and Woodworks as well.

A big source of original material for IDW has been via Top Shelf Productions. We’re at the two-year anniversary of IDW’s acquisition of Top Shelf? What has that meant to the company? Obviously it’s meant a National Book Award, for one.

Obviously the success of “March” has exceeded everybody’s expectations. It’s been very rewarding to see the response to that book. I was at the National Book Awards [ceremony], and Congressman Lewis, when he accepted the award, told a story about how when he was a young man, he loved to read, and he went to the public library, and was refused a library card because of the color of his skin. It’s a pretty powerful thing to hear. One of the reasons that I love that book beyond the financial success and the critical acclaim is that it tells that story in a way that’s very accessible for a large audience. I think that if we aren’t very careful, we will continue to repeat the mistakes from our past. My hope is that book will help people look into a moment in our own history which was not very long ago, and realize how sad it was, so we won’t make those mistakes going forward. That is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of book, as far as I’m concerned as a publisher.

Beyond that, being able to work with [Top Shelf Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief] Chris Staros and [Top Shelf Publicist & Marketing Director] Leigh Walton, two of the smartest folks in comics — great editorial taste, really unbelievable ability to market and promote books — I’m very proud to call them colleagues at IDW. A couple of books they did this year that I really liked — “Fun Family,” which just got nominated for the Angoulême award, is a really, really interesting book that’s worth everybody checking out. Then we have the sequel to “God Is Disappointed with You” called “Apocrypha Now,” which is also a lot of fun.

It’s a notable acquisition, because two years into it, it seems from an observer perspective, to be run how it was before it was acquired.

Well, it is. They were good at what they were doing. What Chris himself would tell you that he didn’t like doing and maybe wasn’t great at was the back office stuff. Dealing with the contracts, doing the royalties, all those parts of publishing that get in the way of a small shop being able to focus on editorial and marketing. Those are the functions that we’ve taken over. I wouldn’t have bought Top Shelf if I wanted to go to Chris and say, “Now we’re going to completely change Top Shelf.”

We have a long history of working with outside editors. Chris isn’t an outside editor because he’s an employee of IDW, but if you look at our longtime relationship with Dean Mullaney or Craig Yoe, those guys both have published hundreds of books with IDW. What we don’t do is interfere with them editorially. What we do is handle all of that back office publishing stuff that they don’t want to do.

To wrap up, where do you want to see IDW go in 2017, and what releases are you looking forward to in the new year?

My mantra is always diverse products and diverse distribution of those products, so that’s not going to change in 2017.

I’d almost rather focus on some things in ’16 that I think got overlooked. We did a couple of books — Dean Mullaney has a line with us called EuroComics, it’s been known at this point because we’ve been republishing “Corto Maltese” in English. Those books are phenomenal. We did two books with Dean this year that I think were just amazing, and they’re a little more obscure, so I’m always looking for an opportunity to talk about them.

One is “Dieter Lumpen” [by Jorge Zentner and Rubén Pellejero], which is sort of an accidental mercenary adventure. The stories are great, but the art is just truly some of the best art I’ve ever seen. Anybody who loves fun stories with phenomenal art, “The Adventures of Dieter Lumpen” is absolutely worth your time.

Another book that we did through EuroComics was called “Paracuellos” [by Carlos Giménez]. This is the story of an orphanage after the Spanish Civil War. Kind of in the spirit of “March,” you see some of the things in the not-so-recent past that human beings do to each other — it’s pretty astonishing; these kids that went through these horrible experiences and were able to survive them. It’s a really powerful work that people would like.

We also published a couple of Disney hardcovers that we licensed from a French publisher, Glenat, with some extraordinary international creators, Lewis Trondheim being one of them. If you’re interested in really smart, well-drawn, fun Disney comics, those are really great books.

We of course had a lot of Artist’s Editions come out this year. I was really interested, personally, in some of the Kirby Artist’s Editions we did, particularly the “Thor” Artist’s Edition where it really gave this opportunity to see Kirby’s art in a way that you never had before, and you also get to see some of the editorial process. You see the notes that are hidden there, written on the margins of the pages. You start to see the communication that Stan [Lee] or somebody in the production office was having with Jack. You can actually see Jack’s hand-written notes of what he thought the dialogue should be. Beyond his amazing art, it’s a fascinating look at the editorial process in the early days of Marvel.

The post INTERVIEW: IDW CEO on What Made 2016 the ‘Best Year’ in Company History appeared first on CBR.com.

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