§ Nice Art: Tyrant by Steve Bissette is one of those lost treasures of comics. A lot of people are really into dinosaurs, but when you are really, really, REALLY into dinosaurs, the result is Tyrant. Intense. The original came out as four comic books in the 90s, but an ARTIST EDITION sized reprint is coming from Lighthouse Press, a new deluxe comics outlet founded by Chris Stevens formerly of Locust Moon Press. Rob Salkowitz has all the details at Publishers Weekly.
Tyrant is the autobiography of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and his struggle to survive, featuring Bissette’s gloriously rendered Cretaceous period landscapes and epic storytelling that has earned it cult status. The title was originally published in black and white on newsprint from Bissette’s own Spiderbaby imprint, and was nominated for an Eisner Award in 1995. It appeared during a difficult period for comic book retail and distribution and never achieved much commercial success, but those who saw and remember the book often wonder why it has not returned to print.
“Yes, it’s for real,” said Bissette. “Lighthouse is bringing my personal primordial ‘lost Odysseus’ back into harbor. What I’ve seen thus far is absolutely beautiful, thanks to Lighthouse, Chris Stevens, and Jim Rugg. It never would have hatched out of the nest without them.”
Sean Michael Robinson, of Living the Line, is also helping with the art reproduction. The result will be kickstarted soon and you will all want a copy on your coffee table to show off to people who stop by.
§ More nice art: Len Wein and Walt Simonson redrew some Peanuts strips with Batman.
https://bsky.app/profile/comicswithjose.bsky.social/post/3m63pd3nyuk24
§ The biggest story of the last few weeks was this piece from David Harper on SKTCHD about how creators feel increasingly frustrated by the lack of opportunity for original comics. Yes licensed books (including Marvel and DC) are doing pretty good, but where are the new creations?
The perception is that publishers and retailers are incredibly risk-averse right now. That’s not new, of course. That’s been a growing trend for the past decade or so. But some believe it has gotten worse. Publishers are seen as pickier and even unresponsive in a way they haven’t been previously. And even when they like a pitch, they’re still having a hard time publishing it. Decision makers are viewed as playing it safe, a feeling everyone understands given the state of the world. But it means that some creators are making less and selling less than ever.
That’s just a preamble to a very long and informative article that quotes a lot of top comics creators.
Interestingly, some believe that a contributing factor is that comic shops are operating from finite budgets, particularly for indie comics. So, when the market is up and it’s primarily because something like DC’s Absolute line, its success cuts into available money for non-licensed titles. The first time this came up, I was surprised. It came up no fewer than five times during these chats.
Retailers say it isn’t so, Harper writes. Anyway there’s more, and you should subscribe to SKTCHD, and Harper is even having a SALE RIGHT NOW, so you have no excuse.
Anyway, this piece was widely shared and commented on and that reminded me that I need to write my follow to my own piece that was widely read and commented on. Then it will kind of be a trilogy!
Harper also interviewed Grant Morrison for his podcast so I imagine that had to be fun.
§ Related: Dean Haspiel on the freelancer’s life:
Dean Haspiel: I think most artists struggling to pay bills wish they could barter their art for food and services. I’ve been bold enough to broker some deals. I’ve created custom made art for health care. It’s like giving blood only, as an artist, you’re giving a part of your soul for a root canal and/or surgery for a beloved cat. I’ve drawn on bar napkins for drinks. It’s not a regular thing but having that kind of experience inspired New Brooklyn’s fantasy economy. Where value is dictated by the artist and determined by the buyer. A borough-sized flea market of haggling.
§ We’ve been hearing about all the new digital comics services coming out, but what to read them on? Amazon’s new Kindle Colorsoft is apparently a decent option.
The Kindle Colorsoft is one of the best ways to read comics and save space on your bookshelf. The 7-inch high-contrast display doesn’t strain your eyes too badly, so reading for extended sessions is fairly comfortable. You can highlight sections of your book or graphic novel using various colors, and its optimized screen for reading in color helps panels pop. A single charge can last up to eight weeks, and its adjustable display settings allows you to read in dark or bright settings with ease.
§ But wait! Artist Mike Choi pulled the curtain back on his royalties for the first six months of 2025 and revealed that from all his work on best selling Marvel titles, he netted a total of $25.17. That’s as bad as Spotify. If you want to support artists, buy in print!
§ However, libraries are still awesome, and someone from Libby, Overdrive’s app for digital lending in libraries wrote to tell me that the app just hit 5 billion checkouts. Pretty cool.
§ We mentioned this in our Funko story the other day, but ICv2 has more details on Alliance Entertainment’s entrance into the collectible market as a distributor, including the attractive catalog that they’ve put out.
Erstwhile Diamond Comic Distributors acquirer Alliance Entertainment grew collectible sales 31.9% in their most recent quarter ended September 30. While a dramatic increase, sales are relatively modest; they grew to $6.4 million from $4.8 million in the year ago quarter. That’s a relatively small portion of the company’s $254 million in sales in the quarter, up 11% from the year-ago quarter. Alliance had a profitable quarter, with $4.88 million in net income, up from $397,000 in the year-ago quarter.
§ Chip Zdarsky has retired from public life comics journalism, but he is still a funny guy and his report on going to the Lucca comics and games fest is frightfully amusing.
§ Speaking of Lucca, it was quite a successful event, Variety reports:
The numbers say it all. Despite last year’s event falling providentially on a long public holiday, this year has seen even more attendees at Lucca Comics and Games, Europe’s answer to Comic-Con.
Over 280,000 tickets were sold and 17,000 professionals, comic-book artists and creators participated and 30,000 cosplayers. There were exhibitions by leading Manga artists, Netflix promoted their last season of “Stranger Things,” and Hideo Kojima was on hand for a panel, talking to the public about his new game “Death Stranding 2,” along with actors Luca Marinelli and Alissa Jung.
17,000 PROFESSIONALS! Yow! That is some Bar Con.
§ Gina Gagliano in conversation with Ngozi Ukazu and some shocking revelations:
I’m curious about how much hockey you’re still thinking about now that it’s 2025. You’ve wrapped up Check, Please!, but are you following hockey? Are you into the new women’s league? How is your current hockey knowledge?
I can’t say that I’ve been paying attention to hockey these days! My love of hockey was a love of research, and that helped make Check, Please! authentic.
§ Superheroes movie franchises are struggling and we’ve entered the inevitable “dark superhero” phase, which Slate explored a bit:
Imagining an evil Superman is old hat in genre fiction, and building an economy around him is only a touch more novel. Perhaps this is why Gen V’s campus story feels more satisfying than the more openly acerbic The Boys, exploring what it’s like to grow up in a media environment that constantly bombards the youth with invective and far-right jargon, casting the world and current events in terms of ideological slurs and partisan mudslinging. The young heroes of Gen V are #Resisting, sure, but it’s not really out of any particular conviction of their own: They just want to goddamn live.
§ More Nice Art…maybe. This is supposedly a 2020 drawing of Captain America by Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto. I dug into the origin of this and couldn’t find much. Is it real? Is it AI? Did I get suckered? Explain in the comments.
§ It wouldn’t be a Kibbles’n’Bits without a weird story from CBR: 10 Indie Comics That Can Be Called Masterpieces, Ranked.
While Marvel and DC Comics might be the biggest names in the comic book industry, there have been countless independent comic book titles released over the years that rival and even outshine the books published by the “big two”. Publishers like Image Comics, BOOM Studios, IDW Publishing, and many more have brought readers a countless supply of incredible indie comic books.
Not only are many indie comics worth reading, but some of them are true masterpieces. These books have arguably surpassed many of the highlights from Marvel and DC, and they’re all titles that comic book fans desperately need to check out.
Indie comics as good as Marvel and DC? Mind blown! I had no idea! Titles mentioned include Saga, The Walking Dead and It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth. Hm, now what was that we were saying about creators struggling to find support for original comics? Yes, it all ties together.
