Comics veteran Joseph Illidge has been working on new projects for the past few years, working on Illumines, and Beat has all the details about its launch.
Illuminous is a production and creative services company that develops original IPs for comics, animation, films, television and more. To understand exactly what that means and the plans for agencies to position themselves in a constantly changing industry, Beat spoke with Illidge in an email about new ventures, his plans, and creators who want to work with Illuminas.
Beat: Congratulations on the launch of Illuminas!
Joseph Illidge: Thank you! Illunas and its division, the fantastic creative services, have been working for quite some time, so it’s extremely exciting to finally open the door to the global creative and business community!
How does it differ from other creative agencies in the industry today?
Illidge: Illusion is different from all other creative agencies in the industry today. Because it represents the next stage of my particular promise to the comics and the world. By working with clients to develop their original ideas into long legs and shaped intellectual properties, the language of comics and the promotion of creators.
More in detail, my decades of editing and brand management experience working on famous IPs, from DC Comics’ Batman (probably one of the most popular and iconic fictional characters) to Milestone’s static metal magazine, combines Milestone’s static experiences and insights, combining my creative experiences and insights as a writer for Todd McFarlane Production’s Gunness World Record-Breaking Comics and Gunness for Imaverse and Imaverse Comics. Superheroes, including Static and Rocket from the DC Young Justice franchise, become a fluid bomb mixture of business and story knowledge, which is likely to be difficult to find elsewhere.
Fantasy is a way that my wealth of experience serves those ambitious creators and entities with ideas that require Batman level creative guidance, starting with realizing them in the form of comic books and graphic novels.
Why do you launch at this particular moment?
Illidge: That’s a great question. We are at the confluence of events. The event has a direct market publisher with non-super hero fares looking for limited series content almost exclusively. The term “ongoing series” has become a disgust for them. What does that mean?
This means that the direct market has become a ruthless machine of robust activities in the creation, development, financing and production of original ideas as a limited execution IP. Publishers are creating front lists at 125 mph, while also requiring formidable backlists.
We are in an age of hot demand for IP due to new comic books and graphic novels, and that goes beyond debate. For the greatest benefit of creators and publishers, we have a higher percentage of high quality stories with the possibility of long legs that the next thing is killing a child, or killing a child of Wonder of Wonder. This moment in the comic industry is the perfect time to be fantastically useful.
Who is your fantastic ideal creator or client?
Illidge: The ideal creator is a creator with high ambition and financial resources, and, coupled with wherewithal, bets on himself and leap in faith.
Let’s be honest. The unfortunate reality of comics is that experienced editors are not perceived as being an essential element of every creator to realize their vision.
But they are the ideal creators, people who know what they don’t know, people who want the best one for their ideas… They are the ideal creators who play a fantastic role.
As for clients, in addition to the aforementioned creators, businesses and entrepreneurs, we also recognize the efficacy of the language of comics and their ability to promote ambitious ideas of mythological measures.
Finally, a comic book publisher with a large amount of output and overwhelmed the editorial staff. Illuminus can curate and manage a centralized collection of titles for direct market publishers. This may be Marvel Knights, the way Marvel and DC have curated title imprints and collections over the years.
It takes the Marvel Knights paradigm and applies it to growing independent publishers who are tirelessly trying to keep up with the robust machines of new project development.
Illuminous is ready to help publishers looking to intensively subcontract their projects.
Many creators in the industry talk about lower working conditions, wages and profits. Are you ready to address these issues? If so, what do you think?
Fantasy: That’s a good question, but Illumines is not a publisher. Labor issues are something that the manga publishers deal with.
That being said, let me explain two aspects of what illusion offers to clients. One is a referral, legal, marketing and PR expert. So once the client’s project is completed, it can be placed on the road to protect and promote IP from a 360-degree perspective.
Second, as Illumines grows, we will hire freelance editors to support the scale of project volumes along with editorial monitoring. We have a new generation of keenly experienced editors who are independent contractors. Edited by Ronin.
When the time comes, the Illuminas will locate them and fit them into projects where they can provide support for their services and pay appropriately.
How did your experience help you shape this new venture?
Illidge: My career has been a decades-long journey through a globally recognized IP corporate hall into a virtual hall of independent publishers. Over the years of that journey, I had some of the best editorial mentors, business mentors and life mentors.
Illusion is the inevitable culmination of these experiences and lessons learned, and is represented as a company of purpose.
Astrologically speaking, I’m a Libra/Scorpio cusp kid, so there’s a combination of passionate, analytical perspectives that explain how I approach the business of cartoons.
I’m a cartoon fire.
How have you learned to adapt to major industry reforms that have occurred over the past few years?
Illidge: I’ve learned to adapt to change by feeling grateful, a wealth of rarity, knowing my worth and continuing to have a purpose in the comic community.
Through the work, Illuminas is performed for creators and clients, others become recipients of their purpose, acquire a crystalline sense of value for their ideas, and see the richness of creativity realized in the form of high-quality visual and narrative comic book.
Can you talk about your immediate plans for fantasy?
Iridge: Without breaking the NDA.
That said, in 2026 I will travel to more events than before and speak more directly with comic book creators and business people through face-to-face discussions to become a focused purpose in real time.
Face-to-face relationships are more important than ever, especially for us, creative business. I look forward to many conversations with the great people in the industry next year!
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