Indie Comics

KRAMERS ERGOT #8: THE TRAILER from Dan Nadel on Vimeo. Great news! Sammy Harkham, editor of the seminal art comix anthology KRAMERS ERGOT, has announced...

It's funny how something that has been around forever can still get a blog boost -- as we reported yesterday, some 6500 pages of ELFQUEST comics are online, to read, for FREE -- but they have been up for more than two years. Our post got Boing Boinged, and Richard Pini, WARP graphics co-everything, wrote in to answer some questions in that thread, especially complaints about the Flash interface (one wag posted a link to the complete Elfquest on a bit torrent site.)

First, thanks for putting this "old news" back in the news.

Speaking of fantasy, one of the pillars of the fantasy comics genres is now available in its entirety to read online. ELFQUEST, Wendy and Richard Pini's saga of homeless elves and their passions and battles, first published in 1978, was one of the foundational hits of the emerging indie comics scene, and after many publishers, movie options and assorted dramas, it's still a good story.

IDW's new Godzilla series grabbed the top spot this month, knocking The Walking Dead from their throne after only one month. Meanwhile Dark Horse released a Dollhouse comic based on the Joss Whedon series of the same name, Dynamite launched a Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris comic with a "Risqué Nude Art" variant cover, and Boom! launched a Hellraiser comic.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival kicks off tonight and runs tomorrow and Sunday at the Toronto Reference Library. Admission is free. For that priceless amount you get access to perhaps the greatest pound for pound assemblage of cartoonists in the history of the world. Mattotti! Brown! Seth! Ware! Ono! Brecht Evens! You can see the guest list here, and everyone exhibiting here. Truly stupendous.

Digital comics, Dark Horse layoffs, why SPX doesn't reach the civilian, royalties...wow, it's all coming out now, folks.

Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's totally groovy AFRODISIAC has been nominated for an Eisner for Best Humor Publication. But it's currently between printings. What to do? AdHouse has put it up to read for free:

To ensure that every possible Eisner Award voter has all of the necessary information to cast their ballot in a responsible and educated manner, we have decided to put the entire book online for FREE.

The MoCCA Festival at the Lexington Armory a few days ago was a fun weekend -- the numerous photo shows filled with smiling faces of dedicated artists and publishers show that. Look at Peggy Burns' engaging set or Dan Nadel's. Fun is fine, of course, but that's not entirely why people go to indie shows like MoCCA, SPX, and TCAF. I'd argue that the social aspect of hanging out with fellow cartoonists is a major motivation for attending, but that's not why D&Q or PictureBox or Fantagraphics attends. These are important shows for promoting authors and selling books.

The Stumptown Awards were given out at the like-named festival on Saturday night, and we haven't checked twitter or Facebook for the evidence of hijinks but hopefully Beat reporter Jen Vaughn, who was on the scene, will have all the dish in her report. We do know the eremont was hosted by Bobby "Fatboy" Roberts and winner were chosen on a public ballot. Here is the very fine bunch of winners:

The Walking Dead finally becomes the top selling non Marvel/DC book in the direct market, the second True Blood book from IDW debuts lower than I'd have expected, the Garth Ennis written Jennifer Blood launches from Dynamite, and Dark Horse launches another Conan series.

The Walking Dead finally becomes the top selling non Marvel/DC book in the direct market, the second True Blood book from IDW debuts lower than I'd have expected, the Garth Ennis written Jennifer Blood launches from Dynamite, and Dark Horse launches another Conan series.

Been too busy with my regular Monday duties for a full MoCCA Festival wrap-up -- look for more photos and observations tomorrow, but in the meantime, as usual, it was a fun filled festival of comics and camaraderie. All of the many social events were great; the turnout at Saturday's Strange Tales/Beat/CBLDF fundraiser party was fantastic and we kept hearing all about what a great time everyone had. The same night there was a Comics Journal party at an LES bar which was also off the hook with great cartoonists, conversation, dancing and carrying on. As for the show itself, the crowd was perhaps a bit lighter than last year and the Law Of The Show came down from the mountain again: people with lots of great new books like D&Q and Fantagraphics did great. People without a lot of new material didn't do as well. More in the full report.