Zainab Akhtar‘s all-digital October online comic convention, the ShortBox Comics Fair, has returned in 2024 with 100+ artists. Each creator has a digital comic available through the SBCF website all month long. So no need to worry about the edition selling out, as long as you pick it up in time. Whether you’re a regular of the annual digital comicon or discovering it now for the first time, there’s going to be comics that surprise and delight you. Or disgust you, titillate your senses, break your heart, unlock a memory, summon a ghost that haunts you. Something you can anticipate is some of the strongest work in the medium of comics, a direct connection from creator to reader, right now.
SBCF is made up of comics with a variety of lengths, subjects, and styles. I have picked 24 of 2024’s ShortBox Comics Fair releases, a half dozen or so by creators I am a big fan of, mostly stuff that looks cool to me. That said, this list is probably more reflective of what interests me personally in comics than it is of the whole of what the Fair has to offer.
SBCF’s digital releases are PDFs you purchase, download, and own. The money goes directly to each creator. There are no “table fee” Fair costs for artists, and they receive the lion’s share of the proceeds. Last year SBCF artists collectively made $400,000. Akhtar has been a physical book publisher, one of the most beloved in modern micropress scene, but found all the logistics of printing, distribution, and promotion were getting in the way of her love of editorial curation. SBCF isn’t about her success; it’s about elevating the creators.
Applications for next year’s SBCF are still open!
So where does one start elevating?
Hearth’s Haunting Jean Wei (Mending a Rift, Heat)
Coppélia et Swanilda Hana Chatani (Give Her Back to Me)
Wednesday’s Child Niv Sekar (Love in Space)
Child of Wrath Michael Furler (Bark Bark Girl)
Clair de Lune Xulia Vicente (I See a Knight)
On Her Own winchestermeg (Out of Style)
Blade of the Fane Theo Stultz
Being Useful Laura Knetzger (Bug Boys)
Expiry Date Sloane Hong (Marrow)
ALAS Sajan Rai
Dog Days Bianca Bagnarelli
Eve in her Estrangement ryugure
Lindsey Cheng Dates a White Boy!!! Asia Miller
Miau! Private Affairs Cons Oroza
Bobo Has an Offer For You Pavina
DOGBODY Lily Vie
Freelance Arsonist Sobsannix
Hibernation Guide for Rabbits and Hares L Adassovsky
The View From Up There Simone Stehouwer
The Collapse of Brine City mooooonbug
The Fool, the Absolute Mad Woman LAWEYD
Frogocalypse Matt Rockefeller
The Shit Witch Lis Xu
Home by the Rotting Sea Otava Heikklä
Again, this is less than a quarter of what is available digitally from the ShortBox Comics Fair!! From the first until Halloween, the convention doors are open to the entire world (wide web)- so if you’re interested in where the next generation of comics is at, if you want an idea for the potential the medium has, or if you long to be inspired about where comics are headed in the future, here it is.
This article was updated to reflect how the split for artists was structured this year.
