Indie Comics

Forget Kickstarter! Let's talk OLD SCHOOL SUBSCRIPTIONS! Micropublisher Oily Comics has a DEAL for you. Center for Cartoon Studies alum, two-brick Ignatz winner and future Fantagraphics author, Charles Forsman is offering a subscription service for a few more hours! Days after subscribing I received a package full of comics. BAM!

August 17-25, members of Canadian independent comic book collective Colosse tour from San Francisco to Vancouver BC with multimedia readings of their acclaimed and edgy works, followed by book signings. Authors include Sophie Yanow (In Situ, a graphically daring, poetic journal strip) and Francois Samson-Dunlop and Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau (Pinkerton, an indie-rock rom com about getting over a truly 90s breakup in a post-90s world). Don’t miss this rare West Coast appearance!

Yet another good-looking new creator-owned imprint is coming, this time from Ivan Brandon.

Kickstarter has become an avenue for cartoonist to get funding for their projects. Lately more and more working professionals have taken full advantage of this major platform. Here are some projects that are promising and deserve support.

By Paul Mellerick--

Walking Dead shoots up in sales with two issues this month, while X_O Manowar marks the return of Valiant with the second best-selling indie book this month. Saga, Buffy and Fatale follow shortly behind, with a nice handful of strong new launches from all of the major players as the indie books continue to make their mark in the upper part of the chart.

And back in the real world. Toronto-based indie publisher Koyama Press has announced three fall releases from Julia Wertz, Michael DeForge and the Team Society League collective. Details below:

For all you stay at homes who are sick and tired of endless San Diego talk, we hope to provide a distraction or two. Like KUTIKUTI, a Finnish comics anthology. You can download all the issues as pdfs. We've always found Finnish humor to be equally fatalistic and merry, and so is KutiKuti.

Well, well, well. This is gold rush time for new digital comics imprints/initiatives. Not only did MonkeyBrain roll out its lineup today, but we also have The Whole Story, a new portal for original graphic novels for some of the top indie creators including:

After teases over the last few weeks, details on the new Monkeybrain Comics imprint from Chris Roberson and Allison Baker have been announced. The line launches on July 4th with five titles: Aesop’s Ark by J. Torres and Jennifer L. Meyer Amelia Cole and the Unknown World by Adam P. Knave, DJ Kirkbride and Nick Brokenshire Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover Edison Rex by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver October Girl by Matthew Dow Smith The line will be distributed digitally, exclusively with ComiXology. As Roberson explained in a press conference this afternoon, it's essentially an Image Comics like deal: Monkeybrain will take a small cut for packing and marketing, but all copyright will remain with the creators. According to Roberson, the line is very focused on completely creator owned projects. "Neither writer or artist can be working in a work for hire capacity. We do ask the projects that come to us if it's a collaborative team, that everyone share share some level of ownership in the property."

J.T. Yost writes to alert us to a successful Kickstarter for a great sounding project called DIGESTATE, a food-theme anthology:

This past weekend's CAKE show in Chicago was important for a few reasons, but mostly because CHicago has a rich vibrant indie/mainstream comics scene, and having an event to take advantage of it is a boon to the entire Midwest. The show had a stellar guest list, so we've been eagerly awaiting word on how it did. So, from reading a few reports the word seems to be: great show, so-so sales but awesome atmosphere.

Chicago's inaugural CAKE Expo kicks off with a bunch of events tonight, and we expec this to be an awesome show, based on the amazing guest list alone. Jessica has already informed you of the debut of Gabby Schulz's WEATHER, but there's a ton more going on. Here's the event list below, more info at the site. And please -- we are looking for reports so hit us up.