Literary Comics

If there's such a thing as "a big micro press" Retrofit Comics might just apply. With a monthly schedule of small, attractive books by the premiere cartoonists working, they've put out some of the most notable comics of the past few years, including Wicked Chicken Queen by Sam Alden, Tom Hart's Daddy Lightning, and Flocks by L. Nichols. And now you can subscribe to the whole 2015 lineup, which is a stunner, including works by Olivier Schwawen, Matt Madden, Kate Leth and more.

Exhibitors at Comic Arts Brooklyn this weekend were kind enough to send me listings of their books—as usual there is something for everyone. I received so many listing I'm dividing this into two parts. Many thanks to the creators who took the time to send me news of their work. It looks to be a very exciting show.  Enjoy!

Dark Horse Comics have published the US edition of Mary & Bryan Talbot and Kate Charlesworth's Sally Heathcote, Suffragette, as of a few weeks...

Even though it's two weeks in the rearview mirror, a lot of worthy writing has been done about this year's Small Press Expo. I'm...

On International Workers' Day, the 1st of May, Jonathan Cape published Sally Heathcote, Suffragette, the second graphic novel written by Mary Talbot, a semi-fictionalised...

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi...

It's been more than a year since Alison Bechdel and Hillary Chute publicly convened at 2012's momentous Comics: Philosophy and Practice conference, an event...

A few months ago there was a Kerfuffle over a comics which some indie comics enthusiasts thought was artistically exciting, while others couldn't see that for all the racism in these comics. I wrote about it at the time, and wondered if indie comics—so lively and vibrant—were actually being given a larger social context.

  Here for your perusal, I examine a pile of worthy comics and graphic novelish books that I have found in my travels to Brooklyn;...

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it's More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat's own Heidi...

This is the golden era of indie comic, artistically and even financially, at least in term of the number of publishers, CAFs and cartoonists who wake up every day excited to be cartooning. It's a movement that is aesthetically and formally as exciting as anything else going on out there. All of which makes the Jason Karns Kerfuffle all the more unusual.

The indie-focused Ignatz Award nominees have just been announced. Chosen by a panel consisting of Lisa Hanawalt, Jason Shiga, Dustin Harbin, Damien Jay and...