2D Cloud announces ambitious 2015 slate, adds to staff

Minneapolis based 2D Cloud is an experimental comics publisher that’s looking to grow in 2015. They’ve added Blaise Larmee as Marketing Director and Melissa Carraher as Publicist. Larmee is, of course, a cartoonist of some repute himself. In the past they’ve put out acclaimed works by Anna Bongiovanni, Mark Connery and Noah van Sciver.

“We’re threading an expanding universe,” said 2D Cloud founder Raighne Hogan in a statement. “We’re publishing more books this year than the last five years combined, and looking to 2016 and beyond, our ambitions are equally sizable.”

They’re kicking things off with three new books, all “exploring adult themes around sex and cultural taboos.”

Andy Burkholder’s Qviet a “provocative collection of a multi-year series that takes a fearless look at the abstractions of sex, of seeing, and the fluid relations between the two. ”

Blaise Larmee’s 3 Books “comprises three separate, intertwining works, including the highly anticipated Ice Cream Kisses, and features a mix of media: intimate Skype video sessions, bleed-through drawings and monochrome paintings.”

Émilie Gleason’s Salz & Pfeffer “brings to life a pageant of abduction, damnation, hell, brainwashing, fart jail, magical kingdoms, and murderous machinations across a set of evocative pencil drawings.”

These three books will be out in the summer, but later in the year 2D Cloud will release graphic novels by Meghan Hogan, Justin Skarhus and Raighne Hogan, Gina Wynbrandt, and MariNaomi, and later on books by Anna Bongiovanni, Austin English, Blaise Larmee, and Lauren Monger.

I had an advance peek at Salz & Pfeffer, and it’s a rollicking adventure in surrealism. 2D Cloud’s books aren’t for everyone, or maybe even casual readers, but they are evocative and boundary pushing, and for people who want to see how far comics can go, they are well worth a look. If you want to check them out, they have a pretty healthy webcomics section up here.