Indie Comics

--remember that "handholds and rockface" metaphor we just used in the SLG piece? Here's an example of what we meant in an interview with Secret Acres' Leon Avelino and Barry Matthews at The Comics Reporter.

Koyama Press has am impressive new website, courtesy of Squidface and the Meddler. If you have never seen the comics from this beloved indie publisher, now's the time to check 'em out.

Chris Pitzer looks back on his nine years of publishing at AdHouse Books -- from Pulpatoon Pilgrimage and on through such coveted art books as Pulphope and Process Recess to acclaimed works like Duncan the Wonder Dog and Skyscrapers of the Midwest. With stops for Afrodisiac and PopeHats and more. Even goofy stuff like the Mort Grim, a comic book about cars. Each year's output from AdHouse will only take up a few inches on your bookshelf -- but those are precious inches. What a great line-up of strongly individual visions and wonderful stories, each presented in a well-designed format.

As the comics market has gotten a lot dicier In This Economy, a few smaller companies have become a bit harder to spot in the forest. Companies like Moonstone, the long-running pulp-themed publisher of such things as KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, BUCKAROO BANZAI, and so on. In recent year they have been best known for putting out a bunch of pulp heroes now published by Dynamite, such as The Spider and so on. Things have been pretty quiet on the Moonstone front of late -- publishing small indie comics periodicals seems like a supersonic journey to insolvency and industry scuttlebutt around Moonstone hasn't been exactly robust. But Moonstone is still around -- here are their April releases, both collections and both Buckaroo Banzai-themed. Guess that cult film has found its afterlife in the comics, with the participation of auteur W.D. Richter a big bonus.

Alex de Campi and Jimmy Broxton proposed a $27K project on Kickstarter. "Ashes" is a sequel to de Campi's and Igor Kordy's 2005 Eisner-nominated mini-series Smoke (published by IDW). This 250 page graphic novel is one of the most ambitious projects in terms of the dollar amount of the goal in the comics category on Kickstarter. Ashes has now reached it's funding goal and is sitting at 101% funded at $27,285 in funding with 11 days to go before the funding period ends.

It's all happening at Jim Hanley's Universe. Retrofit Comics is Box Brown's line of pamphlet/floppies that is bringing the periodical back to the indie comics world. Some releases thus far:

The last burst of indie comics comes out this weekend, including KRAMERS ERGOT #8 and work by Box Brown, Maurice Vellekoop and more. Check it out!

An anthology of Box Brown's much lauded EVERYTHING DIES mini-comic and webcomic is now available. Winner of two Ignatz Awards, EVERYTHING DIES deals with various historical and religious takes on the end of the world, second comings, death, and other eschatological matters. This Lulu-produced collection includes selections from both versions of the strip. Brown's THE SURVIVALIST is also available for pre-order and will be at BCGF this Saturday.

When a giant movie studio and a small comics publisher both use the same title, who gets to keep it? Well, in the case of WRATH OF THE TITANS, both. Warners is planning a sequel to its CLASH OF THE TITANS remake for next year, entitled WRATH OF THE TITANS and starring Sam Worthington and directed by Jonathan Liebesman. But Bluewater already published a seres of sequels to the movie in its Ray Harryhausen line, also entitled WRATH OF THE TITANS (this fact wasn't mentioned in the Variety story.) Harryhausen, you may recall, is the driving force behind the original CLASH OF THE TITANS, which showcased his signature stop motion animation.

Buffy returns in the top spot, although with sales far down on the beginning of the last Season, with Angel in third place. Sandwiched in between is Game of Thrones' debut issue, while TMNT drops to fourth place after being last month's best-selling indie. Further down the charts IDW's other new licensed ongoing titles seem to be benefiting from the increased awareness the new DC books seem to be bringing, while many of Dynamite's licenses seem to be tanking, the aforementioned Game of Thrones apart. There were 127 indie books in the chart this month, well up on last month's 103. The 103 book this month sold almost exactly what the 103 book last month sold, so this was certainly due to less Marvel and DC books released this month rather than stronger Indie sales. In fact those 103 books sold almost 35,000 less copies than last month, although top 300 indie sales are 1,053,116, almost 55,000 up on August. The bottom book sold 3,341 compared to last month's 4,514. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart. This month Dark Horse were the number three publisher, with 4.76% dollar share and a 3.51 market share, followed by IDW with 4.13% dollar share and 3.10% market share, Image with a 4.08% dollar share and a 3.29% market share, Dynamite with a 3.07% dollar share and a 3.02% market share, and Boom with 1.39% dollar and 0.94% market share. That's the same order as last month, although all but Dynamite have reduced figures.

More details of the last big indie show of 2011 have been announced, including related festivities, which include events at Union Pool, the Scot Eder Gallery, the Spectacle Theater and the Brick Theater, and an expanded guest list which, in addition to previously announced legends, also includes Adrian Tomine, Jordan Crane, Michael Deforge, Gabrielle Bell, Dash Shaw, Gary Panter, Frank Santoro, and Leslie Stein.

The final Minneapolis Indie Xpo wrapped up this weekend, and it sounds like it was fun. The CBLDF's Charles Brownstein tweeted: