Rebel Developments started life as a online game manufacturing studio, however over the previous 25 years, it has turn into a power within the U.Okay. publishing trade, having developed a strong periodical, prose, commerce comics, and collectibles enterprise and damaged into each tabletop gaming and merchandising. Rebel additionally made a giant funding in a media manufacturing facility as a part of its plans to carry properties together with Decide Dredd and Rogue Trooper to each massive and small screens.

Rebel retains its workplaces in 4 U.Okay. areas, together with Oxford, the place its headquarters is house to an archive of British comics and unique art work going again to the nineteenth century. The corporate took custody of this treasure trove when it accomplished the acquisition of Fleetwood, one of many two longtime U.Okay. comics publishers, in 2016. The acquisition adopted Rebel’s acquisition of Fleetwood’s marquee asset, the landmark science fiction periodical 2000AD, in 2000, which marked the corporate’s first foray into the publishing trade.

Rebel sees worth within the stockpile of company-owned IP from 2000AD and the remainder of its archive as gas for its gaming and media companies, nevertheless it additionally takes its function as custodian of the legacy of British comics very severely. The archive is lovingly maintained in museum-quality situations, pointing the best way towards the long run in addition to the previous.

“On the comics aspect, we’ve been publishing 2000AD weekly since 2000 alongside the month-to-month Decide Dredd journal,” mentioned Ben Smith, head of movie, tv, and publishing for Rebel. “We relaunched Roy of the Rovers [an old British favorite focused on a football star] as an unique sequence of graphic novels and illustrated fiction, which ran for 16 books and has spun off right into a fiction function, and gave it a giant promotion on World Guide Day, which is the most important day in comics for youths within the U.Okay.”

Smith mentioned that Rebel’s periodicals profit from each the U.Okay.’s still-robust newsstand distribution system and the direct market. “2000AD is the most important beast on the newsstand, however so are our mini-series and different titles,” mentioned Smith. “In addition they do properly within the direct market, as do our trades and graphic novels.”

Whereas most of the firm’s titles are geared toward British readers, Rebel is reaching for extra North American followers with the relaunch of one other basic sequence, Battle Motion, that includes a hard-hitting lead function by Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher), in addition to the primary new work from Brian Okay. Vaughan (Saga) in a while. Gail Simone (Marvel Lady, Birds of Prey) is doing a four-part miniseries for Misty, a gothic horror/romance and one other classic title from the Nineteen Seventies. Smith mentioned that Rebel can be placing collectively curated collections of archival materials by such British comics superstars as Brian Bolland, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and others who obtained their begin within the pages of 2000AD, that includes restored art work and full storylines.

Rebel is distributed by Simon & Schuster on either side of the Atlantic, however Smith mentioned that the corporate additionally has a cope with Hachette for a particular version sequence of Decide Dredd, working to 90 volumes, accessible primarily by means of subscription. One other sequence, that includes the whole 2000AD, runs to 200 volumes.

Between Rebel and Titan—the opposite main British comics writer, whose lineup consists of such licensed sequence as Blade Runner, Conan the Barbarian, The Simpsons and, after all, Physician Who, alongside some unique properties—comics publishing within the U.Okay. seems to be as wholesome because it has been in fairly some time.