Mad Cave Studios Acquires Kids Comics Pioneer Papercutz

Last year, the North American comics industry grew nearly 60%, largely driven by the insatiable appetite for graphic novels for younger readers. Even publishers whose business is squarely aimed at traditional older comic fans have taken note, with Marvel entering into an agreement with Scholastic, the 800-pound gorilla of kids’ lit, traditional prose publishers flooding the zone with Raina Telgemeier clones, and smaller publishers trying to spin up imprints to publish kid-friendly fare.

Today, an unexpected player made a big power move, as Florida-based publisher Mad Cave Studios announced it has acquired Papercutz, one of the earliest and best-regarded companies specializing in the kids’ market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Papercutz was founded by Terry Nantier, who also runs the international comics and graphic novel publisher NBM, and editor Jim Salicrup, who developed Marvel’s first early reader title Spidey’s Super Stories in the 1970s. It’s been around since 2005, long before the kids comics boom was on anyone’s radar. The company has had a singular focus on using comics to get kids interested in reading from an early age, and long editorial experience understanding what works and what doesn’t, giving it a huge head start in both branding and know-how compared to almost everyone else in the market.

Papercutz, which bills itself as the #1 kids’ graphic novel publisher, is best known for developing original literary comics for children, licensed comics for The Smurfs, The Hardy Boys, Loud House, Geronimo Stilton, Casagrandes, and other kid-oriented properties. The imprint typically publishes 40-50 titles per year and has a backlist in the hundreds. The company’s biggest hits have sold in the millions of copies, and Nantier says Papercutz’ market growth is in line with the huge uptick that the rest of the comics market has seen since 2020.

Papercutz has also reached into the cornucopia of European comics, issuing editions of work by Lewis Trondheim, Peyo, and the classic Asterix by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. International markets represent nearly a quarter of their business. Papercutz has trade distribution through Macmillan and comic store distribution through Diamond, but crucially, the company has long had its hit titles featured in Scholastic Book Fairs, which is the decisive factor in driving sales and readership for comics aimed at this audience. Those distribution arrangements will continue post-merger.

For Mad Cave Studios, a relatively new addition to the comics publishing landscape that has just started to make inroads in the direct market with fantasy-adventure titles like Nottingham, Wolvenheart and Stargazer, acquiring a known and trusted brand was a shrewd way to gain instant credibility in the space. It also more than doubled the size of the company and added significantly to Mad Cave’s catalog of titles.

“Papercutz’s devoted fan base and well-established licenses make it the perfect complement to Mad Cave’s current vision,” said Mad Cave Studios founder and CEO, Mark London. “With the addition of Papercutz, readers should know that Mad Cave will be the best place to experience new content for different age groups. This is the next step in building an industry-leading publisher, a commitment we have to our talent, the fans, and the comics community.”

Last year, Mad Cave launched its new Maverick imprint as its first foray into the YA space. The acquisition of Papercutz offers them reach into the young reader and middle-grade categories, which have been the white-hot core of the booming kids’ market. And rather than trying to build that brand from scratch, Mad Cave can now piggyback on the reputation that Papercutz built among teachers, librarians and reading advocates.

“This acquisition of Papercutz is the perfect middle-grade complement to the Mad Cave publishing group,” said Mad Cave’s VP of Business Development, Mark Irwin. “We couldn’t be happier in welcoming the expertise, talent, and content of Papercutz to our great Mad Cave team, and watching both continue to grow.”

“I’m impressed with what Mad Cave is doing with Maverick and the positive messages in those books,” said Nantier. “That was part of my decision-making, to place Papercutz with a company bringing fresh material and a fresh approach to those markets.”

Salicrup and Nantier will continue to work with the merged company through the transition, but moving forward, longtime writer/editor Rex E. Ogle will be the new head of editorial for Papercutz. “Papercutz has been publishing incredible graphic novels for kids for 17 years, and Mad Cave already has an amazing readership in both the adult and young adult sectors, so it’s exciting to add our middle grade line to the overall list,” said Ogle.

Acquiring Papercutz is not just an opportunistic way to get into the kids comics arena; it’s also strategic for Mad Cave as it tries to expand its footprint among older readers in a highly competitive market for non-superhero genre stories that includes Image Comics, Boom! Studios, IDW Publishing, Vault Comics and others. That’s because young readers eventually become older readers – something DC and Marvel have only just recognized in the past few years. Irwin says Mad Cave is staffing up its marketing and editorial capacity to help get the most out of the merger.

“By providing licensed books, original stories, and creator-owned projects, we’ll be creating new stories for every reader and creating an entry point to the rest of our line,” said Ogle. “As young readers grow and their tastes evolve, we’ll be able to provide fresh content. Whether a child is a reluctant reader or reading well ahead of their peers, Papercutz can provide action, adventure, fantasy, mystery, scary stories, and of course, some of the most recognizable characters in the media.”

“We’ve already acquired more content that will be published under the Papercutz imprint,” said Irwin. “We couldn’t be more excited by this. We want to be a leader, we want to matter to kids.”