A lot of kids love comics, even the ones who don’t think of themselves as readers. I’ve seen students absolutely inhale beat-up library copies of Bone, Smile, or Dragonball Z in their free time while they simultaneously struggled to even comprehend the texts I assigned in class, let alone be interested in or enjoy them. Stories told in visuals, with minimal written language, pull in readers who otherwise have a hard time reading.
Especially in a visual culture and literacy crisis, images are more immediately and widely accessible than prose. That makes them not only dangerous to those who want to control information, but also vulnerable to moral panics and cherry picking. Since comics are the art of juxtaposing images, it’s not particularly difficult to manufacture a case of obscenity by removing a panel from the context that gives it meaning and showing it at a board meeting or other assembly.
In order for us to perform our proofreading, Isaac had to teach us these industry standards which opened up many students’ eyes to the complexity of comics. Who knew the letter I could cause so many problems?
Thanks to the efforts of a brave few who are working to demystify the profession, learning the secret of comic book publishing has never been easier. These are among the best manuals for learning the industry; from editing to writing, art direction to professional direction, these five resources are invaluable to the aspiring comic book publisher.
Penguin Random House took a leap by publishing a print copy of Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, which had been topping the charts of romance and overall webcomics read on Webtoon’s platform consistently. During its first week on the market in November of 2021, the title sold more than forty-four thousand units.
Here’s a tip for our fellow BIPOC and queer book lovers: indie presses are where it’s at! There are so many amazing Black and queer comic book creators whose stories many people have not heard of before, and you’re in luck, because we’ve rounded a few up for you in this blog.