Boom! Studios

Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.

History

In the early 2000s, Ross Richie had been working in Hollywood, helping to option comic book projects as a producer and working to develop them into movies with the studios, but was getting increasingly frustrated with the process. "I'm getting older, and nothing's happening, and this is so frustrating," Richie said. "My plan was to start BOOM! to get away from Hollywood."

Before BOOM!, Richie worked briefly with Dave Elliott and Garry Leach in 2004 to revive 1980s comic book publishing house Atomeka Press. While working with Atomeka, Richie cut a deal with Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis to publish their series Hero Squared with the Hero Squared X-Tra Sized Special one-shot. When Giffen was featured as a guest at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention, he grabbed a beer with Richie after the show and persuaded him to part ways with Atomeka Press and start his own outfit, BOOM!. BOOM!’s first publication was Zombie Tales #1, a horror zombie anthology released on June 29, 2005 under the BOOM! and Atomeka Press logo. The issue was originally solicited by Atomeka but released after Richie had left the company to start BOOM!. Giffen and DeMatteis imported their Hero Squared series from Atomeka to BOOM! and Hero Squared became the very first BOOM! comic book solicited solely under the BOOM! logo, shipping July 27, 2005.