Indies

Just a few months ago I came across a call for creators to submit stories to be published in a then-untitled anthology made up of stories that, for one reason or another, had yet to find a home. Before I knew it, the anthology was released digitally on DriveThruComics and sent to the presses for December 1st release. To get my head around the quick turnaround and the quality of a book made up of seemingly “unwanted” stories, I spoke with one of the editors, Marta Goodrich Tanrikulu. She informed me of the process that lead to the creation of the anthology, eventually titled Out of the Blue: A Collection of Strange Stories.

By Matt O'Keefe A few months ago, editor-in-chief of The Beat Heidi MacDonald shared on social media that she’d been interviewed for the comic book podcast Stuff Said....

This month has some fun new comics added to the roster headed by George Perez’s Siren from Boom! Studios. Of course Image had its fair share of new titles, with Copperhead and Roche Limit having stellar debuts. While Marvel had a title overload last month, in September DC had a special month with special and regular editions for the N52. All that means that there were only 105 indie titles charting in the top 300, which is still a bit down from last month’s 126. Understandably, overall indie title sales were down at 1,315,225 compared to last month’s 1,766,686 for average sales of 12,52, a slight decrease from last month’s 14,021. Overall there 12 titles went up, 72 titles went down, with the rest made up primarily of new issues and a few specials.

More amazing books to pick up tomorrow at Comic Arts Brooklyn or via your local comics shop or the web if you can't attend. What are you most looking forward to? Many thanks to the creators and publishers for sending me info and to CAB's Gabe Fowler for enabling this.

Lion Forge, the mostly digital but going to print comics company, picked up some nice 80s licenses like Punky Brewster and Miami Vice. In the modern era of licensing, it isn't about likenesses and wooden stories, but about reimagining things. So Lion Forge hired Joe Casey and artist Jim Mahfood to do Miami Vice. Bringing Crockett and TUbbs to the modern day. Since both Casey and Mahfood are certifiably bonkers*** this is awesome.

By Matt O'Keefe There’s no one doing as pure a form of worldbuilding as indy fantasy comic Cartozia Tales. Not only does it have a map...

Black Mask Studios started their NYCC with a bang, announcing a slate of exciting new titles that will be hitting the shelves in 2015. The...

Spring catalogs are in the air ad so are book announcements, Koyama Press has just announced its Spring releases with several top-notch books including the...

You can read my official SPC report at PW, with news and notes, but I'm guessing that everyone who was at SPX is probably, like me, realizing that the magic is over and we have a whole year to go, or maybe a few weeks if you count APE, but in the meantime, I can keep the magic going a few moments more by rounding up some of the magical, mystical memories of SPX. I said there were a few people who didn't have a good time, and you can find one of two on Tumblr who sat outside hotel rooms sadly waiting for the person with the key to come back. But if you could open your heart, SPX would make you love it. As the above picture shows, SPX is the only con where you can find Julia Wertz and Renee French just sitting and smiling with each other. It's also the only place where someone would leave their computer just sitting out on a table (as one prominent comics personage di don Friday)and feel pretty secure that it would be just fine. There is a reason why people puts up so many pics and blog so much about this show—it's a full on love affair.

By Chris Rice A few interesting new entries this month, headed by, of all things, The Death of Archie! That’s joined by Rick Remender’s new...

by Zachary Clemente This past weekend, the 20th annual Small Press Expo (SPX) brought an explosion of independent and small press comics to the Marriott...

Miss Lasko-Gross has gained attention for her two autobiographical comics, Escape from Special and A Mess of Everything, but her new book will be more of a fable. Henni is the tale of a young girl named Henni who lives in a structured society where religion is the last word of the law. She goes off on her own to discover truth and adventure. The story is drawn in s style reminiscent of classic children's books, contrasting carefree childhood with the struggle against dogma.