There’s a real dearth of actionable data in the direct market — or the side of the comic industry comprised of comic shops — these days. Whether you’re talking about sell-in (sales from publishers/distributors to comic shops) or sell-through (sales from comic shops to its customers), the post-pandemic, multi-distributor era has resulted in there being … Continued

If you’re looking to sell me on a comic, one of the best ways you can do that is by giving it amazing production value. Whether you’re talking paper stock, design, or whatever, if you put a project together that looks and feels great, I’ll be paying attention. And the Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box … Continued

There are more ways to make and publish comics than ever. But how do you fund them? That’s an important question, and it’s one many creators and even publishers have struggled with, especially of late. Of course, questions like that can create opportunities. That’s probably why there has been an influx of crowdfunding platforms entering … Continued

Kieron Gillen is always building. Building on his ideas. Building on his previous work. Building on what his collaborators bring to the table. You name it. And The Power Fantasy — his new Image Comics series with artist Caspar Wijngaard, letterer Clayton Cowles, and designer Rian Hughes — might be the biggest thing he’s built … Continued

The comics you read and the comic experiences you have early on in your life often form the building blocks of your relationship with the medium. Obviously what you’ll enjoy expands from there, but for readers, those earliest experiences can be enormously influential on you going forward. It’s the same for our favorite creators. Some … Continued

When writer Ram V first told me he was going to be relaunch the New Gods with artist Evan Cagle at DC as part of the publisher’s larger All In initiative, my internal dialogue was something like the following. “Wow! That’s an inspired creative team! Evan and Ram work so well together, and I bet … Continued

It isn’t always easy to succeed in the direct market of comics. The side of the industry defined by comic shops has always been a challenging one for original ideas that don’t have a connection to some sort of well-established property, and that may be even more true in this moment, as retailers grow increasingly … Continued

Every person is different, and because of that, every comic creator is different. And with those differences in individuals comes differences in how they do the actual work, from their workspaces and processes to the tools and entertainment that keep them company throughout. This kind of thing always fascinates me, as does getting an inside … Continued

Running a comic shop is a hard job in normal circumstances. Doing so when the strip ball you’re in is loaded with about half the water you’d find in an Olympic-sized swimming pool is even harder. Incredibly, unbelievably, that’s something retailers 1 Brandon Schatz and Danica LeBlanc now know, as they faced the unimaginable this … Continued

When I’ve mentioned the publisher Mad Cave Studios on the site or podcast in the past, it often comes with an admission: I don’t really understand them! I don’t mean that in a “I don’t understand what a comic publisher is” sort of way. I get that. It’s just that Mad Cave as a company … Continued