2007 Blog Favs
2007 Blog Archive
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October 27, 2007
Hey buddy, wanna buy a zine?
Shortly after this year's Ignatz nominees were announced Heidi MacDonald highlighted an interesting question from one of her readers on her blog, The Beat. It was essentially, "Where can I buy these nominated small press comics?" Unfortunately, as the subsequent flurry of posted comments revealed, there's no such thing as a one-stop small press comics shop. Small press publishing is unpredictable. It's often not very profitable either. So while a publisher may have come to terms with these facts of life, what's the incentive for a retailer? Let's face it, small press publishing is a very dynamic marketplace. Sometimes that's frustrating, but it's also part of the fun. When you set out exploring at a zine fest, an indie-friendly retail shop, or online, you never know what you may discover.
Still, there's always a need to continue to build awareness of the shops that do carry small press comics, so I made up a page on Squidoo of all the ones I've heard of. It includes well known distributors like Trees & Hills Comix as well as much smaller comic collectives that offer only books produced by their members. If you explore these online shops you still won't find a single one that stocks it all. But hopefully you will find a portion of what you're looking for and with a little luck, perhaps something unexpected as well.
If you know of any distros, shops, or collectives to add, just let me know!
Rick Bradford has just published a new mini comix by Steve Willis, creator of
Morty the Dog and Mr. August of this year's 2008 MF Desk Calendar. Rick will include a free copy of The Fetid Lake of Doom with any order from his Poopsheet Shop or eBay Store.
Great news from Steve Lafler - he's started up a new webcomic called Diva Funnies. Just in time for the witching hour, first story is yarn called Halloween Mashup and features Constance Reddy.
Tony Bourdain's No Reservations visited Harvey Pekar and Gary Dumm in their native Cleveland on the Travel Channel. Check out the online comic strip recap of the show by Pekar and Dumm!
Kristen Collier (writer) and friend of small press Kevin Collier (artist) have just completed a new children's book called Joy the Jellyfish. For a look at some of the artwork, a promotional video, and other goodies check out their website.
Main Enterprises has just released Comic Fan #2 and the Doc Savage pub, Zine of Bronze #3. There are several other books coming, so keep an eye on their website for new releases.
October 20, 2007
Happy Anniversary!
The Midnight Fiction website went live on October 21st of last year. Tomorrow will mark our official one year anniversary. The site launched with 5 pages, zero links from other sites, and was at the bottom of search engine results - if it showed up at all.
Initially, the site was started to help me learn how to use DreamWeaver and to see how much time and effort it took to deliver an update every week. Although I still have plenty to learn, I'm making good progress with the tools and I'm very pleased to have delivered 52 updates on time and nearly 80 pages of comix and reviews as the first year anniversary arrives. Consistency is one of the keys to successful publishing of any kind.
The site also enabled me to reconnect with friends from my old days of cartooning like Bob Vojtko and Brad Foster. Plus, I've met a whole new group of artists and writers. The site's also been the catalyst for folks to rediscover my work. I've been delighted to received emails from Bob Conway, Ron Fortier, and Howard Cruse after they visited the site. With encouragement from Dan Taylor, I even started doing a few new cartoons.
In addition to the site, the biggest accomplishment this year was publishing the 2008 Desk Calendar with contributions from a dozen of the top small press cartoonists on the scene today.
Small press or not, building readership is a continuous goal for all publishers. When MF.com launched last October, Dan Fish at Bugpowder was kind enough to include an item about us in his UK weblog. That helped us start off with a little over 100 visits in November 2006. The next few months were less encouraging, with January 2007 being the low point with only 48 visits. But as the months flew by more content was added every week and slowly the site began to attract more visitors. In June, I began regular forum posts highlighting the week's new content to help drive traffic. The 2008 Calendar announcement created nearly 100 extra visits in September. The rest of the growth has been incremental, with the current month on track for about 850 visits.
Another metric of progress is search engine results. According to SearchEngineWatch.com the top search engine use rates in August 2007 were: Google 54% Yahoo 20% MSN 13% AOL 6% Ask 2%
When the site launched, it was either very low in "Midnight Fiction" search results or non-existent. Today, it's at the top of the list on each of the top five engines. (Of course, if you search on something less specific like "small press comics" there's still plenty of work to do...)
As promised last week, there's one more item to announce. The Media Report Comix have been collected into a new, full color, 16-page mini comix. This signed and numbered limited edition mini comix is available now for $3 from the Midnight Fiction Shop.
Howard Cruse has published his second Cruse Art Newsletter offering his original artwork for sale. Even if you're not currently in the market to buy his original art I'd recommend you subscribe. The newsletter, which is delivered as a PDF file, is very nicely designed and features a great collection of Cruse's art each issue. I was lucky enough to purchase an item from the first issue and Cruse did an excellent job packaging the original art and added a signed certificate to boot.
Jim Siergey sent an email that he's designed a new flyer (shown below) for the book Quiblets, that he illustrated for Edmund Conti. If you need a modestly priced gift, this engaging book should delight just about anyone!
All in all it's been an exciting first year of publishing on the web. Thank you for visiting the site - and if you've made it a habit, extra thanks for your continued support. There's plenty more comix and reviews ahead, so keep making us a weekly stop. If you have any comments or suggestions just let me know!
A special "Thank you!" to the following folks for their help and support during our first year of publishing on the web:
Thanks one and all! See you next week, at Midnight!
October 13, 2007
A Media Report Comix Alumni
Since the Media Report Comix series wrapped last week, I thought I'd highlight one of the alumni from those pages and those days.
Tim Fuller was one of the many cartoonists that contributed to Dave McDonnell's Media Report column in The Buyer's Guide. In July 1981 he broke through to the pro ranks with the cover and lead story for the Charlton Bullseye's second issue. His 8 page strip, written by John Leasure, was called Cap'n Catnip and Womble the Wonder Gerbil.
Artwork © by the artists
Fuller's self-publishing nameplate was Brouhaha Studios, through which he published several zines and comics. In the Summer of 1982 he published what was perhaps his best title: Hardboiled Animal Comics. The issue ran 48 b&w interior pages with a color cover printed on glossy stock. He drew most of his contributors from the crowd at Media Report, including a wonderful pulpy sendup by David McDonnell himself. The full list of artists includes Fuller, Bob Vojtko, George Erling, George Kochell, John Leasure, Mark Armstrong, David McDonnell, Jim Marsh, Rich Bruning, Rudi Franke, Charles Wagner, and Tom Patrick. The cover art is a collage of characters from each of the contributor's strips inside. Although Fuller closed the issue noting the horror theme for the next edition and even mentioned the titles of several scheduled strips, I don't believe the second issue was ever published.
Next Saturday marks the first anniversary of the Midnight Fiction website, I'll recap the highlights and make a little announcement too. Don't miss it!
October 6, 2007
Stumptown Debrief
I went to the Stumptown Comics Fest last Sunday and had a great time. With well over 100 exhibitors it was the largest gathering of small press comic creators I've ever seen. In fact, there were so many tables and comics available I couldn't see everything! Most of the exhibitors were based in the Portland metro area, but the show also drew talent from Seattle, SF, and other regional burgs. The Stumptown website lists the exhibitors with links to their websites, if you'd like to get a flavor of the show.
One of the highlights for me was getting to meet Wade Busby and Floydman, who shared a table at the show. Wade publishes Mr. Emergency under the Archetype Media nameplate. He's put out two issues to date and is working on the third. Floydman publishes a variety of titles including his news and review zine Ka-Whump!. His third issue is hot off the press. Check out his Ka-Whump! website for ordering details on Ka-Whump! and Mr. Emergency.
I picked up a stack of new zines at the show so there will be plenty of small press comics reviews coming in the weeks ahead. In fact, this week's reviews of Theo Ellsworth's books is just the beginning. Next week will likely be Mr. Emergency and Mondo Flod. If you'd like to see what's in the review queue, just check the right-hand sidebar on the main review page.
One of the offshoots of the recent small press explosion is the plethora of promotional flyers you see at the shows. From simple business cards to special edition zines and samplers, it's a great marketing tool for zinesters and a small press explosion in its own right. I handed out copies of the micro mini I whipped up for the show. (Many thanks to Wade and Floydman, who offered it at their table as well.) If you'd like a copy just send me an email with your address and I'll drop one in the mail.
A New Mini!?
The Media Report Comix series wraps up this week. The next series features cartoons from my days at the T-Shirt Factory and starts on Oct. 13th. I've been thinking about collecting the Media Report series into a mini comix. I thoroughly enjoy Web publishing, but the allure of a printed piece is calling and I may have to answer....
New Jim Siergey!
The Wittenburg Door has published a new 4-pager by Joe Bob Briggs and Jim Siergey (Researched by Pete Evans.). You can read online it or download a PDF file of Lifestyles of the Rich and Religious.
Midnight Fiction Shop
• 2008 Desk Calendar
• Self-published comix
• Movie Magazines
• Illustrated Fiction
Comix
Sundry Comix
Da Boids -1 Page
Nora Talbot -3 Pages
Smart-Ass Simpson
12 Pages
Those Non-Reproducing Blues
4 Pages
Bar Fly Theater
8 Pages
Media Report Comix
11 pages
Horse Opera
7 Pages
Simon Smith and Ronald Moss
7 Pages
Trapped on Jupiter
5 Pages
Mackovee Kids
2 Pages
Larry Lagoon's
Fanzine Blues
4 Pages
Comic Dreams
2 Pages
Funny Pages
15 Pages
Harry Hornsnobble
6 Pages
Farlie Fan in Cream City 9 Pages
Illustrations
Bob Vojtko
Suzy
8 Pages