The Nerd Kit, an entity based in Rochester, MN, has announced it has acquired Comicker and its imprints Comicker Digital and Comicker Press.
You may be asking who and what. Comicker Press is a small press company that launched back in 2015 as a digital imprint, along the lines of the similar Monkeybrain Comics. As Comixology had established a solid sales channel for digital comics, around this time several “digital imprints” like Comicker and Monkeybrain sprang up. They offered comics in a traditional 32 page single issue format only distributed digitally, with eventual print collections from various parties. Although this idea introduced a lot of great comics from top creators (for instance, the Eisner winning Bandette from Paul Tobin & Colleen Coover), the digital single issue hasn’t caught on the way free webcomics have – although it survives as Comixology Originals and in many other places, as a means to create material for eventually print collections, and simply for people who like reading comics digitally.
Anyway back to Comicker. The imprint was launched by creators Saori Adams and Sean E. Williams, and brought two books to print in 2016 as Comicker Press. You probably didn’t think of it for a long time, but now it’s been acquired by new owner Peter Steiner, who doesn’t seem to have much of a digital footprint, but he’s got plans.
“One thing that struck me immediately was the quality of the books – both the art and content on the page, and the books themselves,” he said in a statement. “I knew that this was a company that cared about its product, and about its creators.”
The imprint will be reintroduced at next weekend’s Los Angeles Comic Con. “We wanted to get our books back out in front of people as soon as possible, and remind them that Comicker stands for quality while we build out our next pipeline of titles,” Steiner says
As for future plans, they are launching with second volumes of Waking Life by Ben Humeniuk, Lost Angels by David Accampo and Chris Anderson, and The Casebook of Rabbit Black by Kate Sherron, which have already been published digitally via Kindle, DriveThruComics, and Hoopla digital. A second volume of the acclaimed series Chimera by Tyler Ellis is in the works as well.
According to their announcement, Comicker is also reopening submissions.
“There’s always a need for creator-owned platforms, and Comicker’s publishing model and royalty schedule make it ideal for the creator working a full time job or on a series for Marvel or DC,” said Steiner.
“I’m proud to say that our on-going creators make more royalties from their series at Comicker than they would at other name-brand publishers,” added Sean E. Williams, co-founder of Comicker LLC. “That’s one of the primary things we did correctly right out of the gate when we founded Comicker, and I’m glad that Pete is going to continue to be the champion for creators going forward.”
The return was also announced on Twitter.
Good morning everyone! I understand things have been quiet for a while. We have SO MUCH planned for the future! Starting with: Comicker Press will be sharing a vender booth at LA Comic Con! https://t.co/KQA2lShERJ
— Comicker Press (@ComickerLLC) November 10, 2022
Share and help us get the word out! pic.twitter.com/z0Rlb1PdAA
So small press imprints never die! They just morph.
