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Three years ago, IDW Publishing (and its parent company IDW Media Holdings) went through a massive self-induced "reset" that included laying off over 35% of its staff, the installation of a new senior management, and more to avert an impending destiny of having to declare bankruptcy. A year in, both its new editor-in-chief and one of its new publishers departed, but at the same time, efforts were ongoing to create new hits such as Beneath the Trees Where No One Sees and the revitalization of its licensed franchises, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek. Now, three years later, there are positive signs.

In IDW's quarterly report to investors released June 11, the company appears materially healthier than it has in years by growing revenue, decreasing some of its expenses, and seemingly stabilizing what had been in flux. While a full turnaround has yet to be achieved, the idea of it is becoming more credible.

If these numbers are true, IDW is only $3,000 shy of breaking even, down from losing $1.738 million in the same six-month time period last year. That is a dramatic improvement, resulting from a 15.6% increase in overall revenue, almost exclusively from comic sales. And not just general comic sales, but primarily from comic book store sales "driven by IDW Dark titles and recovery of the industry after Diamond Comic Distributors' bankruptcy in the prior year." Patrick Horvath's Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees has become one of the largest sellers at IDW as a whole, and has become the defact flagship of the IDW Dark line. 

After a fallow period for its TV & movie development division following success with the Locke & Key and Wynonna Earp series, IDW has had minor gains there with an increase in revenue from various comic projects being optioned for development. No series has entered production, but the possibility of it has helped contribute to IDW's bottom line more than in past years.

One ongoing element of concern, which IDW itself seems very aware of, is that its print comics publishing efforts are concentrated in one primary distributor (Penguin Random House) and come off a time when such a bottlenecked distribution workflow has come back to bite them, as they are still wincing from nearly a million dollars in lost revenue from the bankruptcy of its last distributor, Diamond.

Related: Inside the IDW layoffs and "reset": How a company went from making "a shit-ton of money" to worrying about bankruptcy

This time next year, IDW will also need to deal with paying its CEO, Howard Jonas. Jonas became CEO in April 2022 with an annual salary of $400,000, but in lieu of that cash for his first five years, he was given that money in IDW stock, paid upfront via restricted shares that vested over the five-year period. That five-year period would be up on April 5, 2027, and barring some similar deal then IDW would have the recurring expense of paying a CEO, roughly $400,000 a year (or more).

IDW's vision for the future relies on the recent success of TMNT: The Last Ronin, Beneath the Trees Where No One Sees, and George Takei's two graphic memoirs, being not just one-offs but the beginning of a steadier flow of continued revenue from those, as well as more new projects like those.

Get ready for what's next with our list to upcoming comics and how to buy comics at a comic shop.