Gabriel Rodriguez, the Eisner-nominated artist of Locke & Key, has signed an exclusive contract with IDW Publishing, the company announced over the weekend at WonderCon Anaheim.

Since making his comics debut in 2003 with IDW's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the artist has gone on to draw more than 2,000 pages and covers for the publisher on titles ranging from Angel to Land of the Dead to Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. However, Rodriguez is best known for his lengthy collaboration with author Joe Hill on the bestselling horror series Locke & Key.

"I'm deeply honored to start this new journey with my long term friends and partners from IDW Publishing. I'm excited, thrilled and thankful,” he said in a statement. “This is not only a major step in my professional career over time, Ted Adams, Chris Ryall and everyone from the IDW team have become close friends of mine, making me feel part of a family. It's both amazing and challenging to start this new stage in our creative collaborations, sharing a common vision: passion for art and comics, deep love for storytelling, high standards in personal and professional relationships. I hope to be able to give my very best in projects to come, and the few things we've already discussed hinted a path of amazing possibilities! It's somehow overwhelming, it can't get better than this."

Rodriguez's next IDW project is Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland, a collaboration with Eric Shanower announced last year at Comic-Con International. The eight-issue miniseries is scheduled to debut in August; an eight-page ashcan was distributed over the weekend at WonderCon.