In a move to continue growing the size and diversity of their comic book output, BOOM! Studios has announced today that they have merged their operations with Archaia Entertainment. The Archaia brand will live on as an imprint of BOOM! Studios, join their normal line, as well as the KaBOOM! line designed for all-ages books. Today’s announcement declares that this move gives BOOM! the largest independent company-controlled comic book catalog (Image doesn’t count since individual creators maintain ownership under Image, that’s kind of their thing).

BOOM! Studios have been steadily expanding for years, adding original series to their licensed comics. They have had a number of great creators working for them, from Frank Miller and Mark Waid to Paul Jenkins and Brian Stelfreeze. They are currently riding high on a series of successful tie-ins to some Cartoon Network properties, notably their line of Adventure Time books.

A few years ago, Archaia looked to be the next big publisher, largely on the strength of their breakout hit Mouse Guard. However, they could never find another monthly series that caught on like Mouse Guard, and instead have been focusing on producing some amazingly well designed and multi-award winning hardcover graphic novels such as Return of the Dapper Men, A Tale of Sand, and Cow Boy. I’d imagine that this side of their company made them so attractive to BOOM!, aside from the catalog of projects that are ready to be leveraged into movies.

In the end, this feels like a win for both companies. Archaia gets some stability that they seemed to be missing and BOOM! gets more books to add to their backlist as well as adding one of the most celebrated publishers of recent years into their fold.