Indie Comics

Whew the comics arts festival circuit news is flowing thick and fast; we're in the middle of application season and hearts and minds are turning to tabling. And the CAFs are answering back with news.

Alternative Comics has announced a seven book spring 2015 season, with collections by some intriguing talents. Stephen Cerio hasn't been seen in a while, and a round-up of Malachi Ward's quirky comics is long overdue. Plus Rich Tommaso, Sam Henderson and a process guide from Tom Hart's Sequential Arts Workshop—some good stuff here. Alternative publisher Marc Arsenualt has also announced that Erik Aucoin will join Alternative as Associate Publisher. Aucoin's background includes HR, law, being a record label co-owner and of course liking comics. a massive fan of comics familiar to many of today's top creators. In the past Aucoin has worked for the US Congress, a lobbying firm and as a radio DJ so comics should be a snap for him. His duties will includes editing the anthology title Alternative Comics.

Brought to you by Publishers Weekly, it's More To Come, the weekly podcast of comics news, interviews and discussion with Calvin Reid, Kate Fitzsimons...

By Kate Reynolds November saw a slew of new titles from Image with some pretty serious sales, most notably ODY-C from Matt Fraction and Tooth...

Brought to you by Publishers Weekly, it's More To Come, the weekly podcast of comics news, interviews and discussion with Calvin Reid, Kate Fitzsimons...

By Bruce Lidl Lost somewhat in the initial burst of news from last week’s ImageExpo was the announcement of a new Image Humble Bundle offering,...

On her tumblr, Anya Davidson informally announced that her comic strip Band for Life will be collected by a pretty major publisher, but we'll refrain from putting it in the announcement since it's "informal." Band for Life was long serialized at Vice, but is now available in full on Davidson's website, where it updates every Friday. it's about the colorful, raucus and surreal adventures of a band of misfits in a world where some people sort of look like monsters. So yeah, Doug for a new generation.

Whitney Taylor continues to be my favorite investigative comics journalist—well, maybe investigative is too strong a word, but if "talking to a lot of people and painting a picture" is the criterion, Whit is it, as her report on Comic Arts Brooklyn shows. This was a strong show but one that experienced an unexpected glitch: a lot of people thought it was a two day show and didn't come to the exhibits on Saturday. This resulted in a smaller crowd and, for some, lower sales. On the day there was a lot of anxiety—it's like basing your business plan on Christmas sales and then there's a big blizzard the day of the big sale—but everyone seems to have survived intact. And yet, is a financial model this precarious one that is "sustainable"? I predict sustainable will be THE word of 2015, as a the last few days of posts here have been exploring. Taylor talks about the model with many publishers and creators and key behind the scenes people like publishing rep Tony Shenton, and while everyone is optimistic, there is no real consensus on whether things are working, improving or just providing a false illusion of hope:

After a lengthy hiatus, the creative team behind Image Comics' EGOs is back in action and ready to serve up more interplanetary crime drama...

Gary Spencer Millidge's Strangehaven may well be the best comic you've never read. Originally self-published in eighteen issues over the course of ten years,...

Well, sort of. It's well known that some used book prices on Amazon are just kind of...loony. Take for instance, Monsters by Ken Dahl, an excellent book about a guy who thinks he has herpes by Ken Dahl, published by Secret Acres but now out of print. (A new edition is planned for next year.) In the meantime, you can get a used copy for a mere $394.94... or brand new for $11,964.08.

Over at PW I reported on Consortium starting to distribute Alternative Comics and Secret Acres to bookstores. They currently distribute Uncivilized, Toon Books, Nobrow...