Is it me, or is there a glitch in the Matrix?
Every time I’ve logged in to write a new post, the webpage kept refreshing itself, making progress slow, if not impossible.
That - coupled with the seemingly endless list of creative projects I’m currently juggling - led to me not finishing this weeks post. But fear not, as it should be ready for you to consume next week.
In the meantime, I threw open the vault to bring you a recent interview with a friend and fellow comic creator, who is blazing a new trail as an indie publisher.
Lots to think about in this one, so I hope you enjoy it.
Being an indie or self-published comics creator can be hard. Not only do you have to create the book, which in itself is a challenge, but you then have to work around the clock to market and promote it. While the internet has certainly made it possible to find your audience, the sheer volume of content makes it almost impossible to cut through the noise. Outside of a few exceptions, most comics entertainment journalism focuses almost exclusively on Marvel and DC (who account for roughly 2/3 of market share ) which leaves little oxygen for other top publishers , let alone self-published creators.
Despite this, smaller indie publishers seem to be having a moment. Companies such as AWBW, Aftershock, Vault, Scout Comics, TKO, and others have begun to gain critical and commercial traction, even luring creatives away from the big two. These publishers started with just one or two titles but have quickly grown in prominence, and most take submissions from indie creators providing an alternative route into direct market publishing, which is still a highly prized status for many.
But if these new publishers started with just one or two books, what distinguishes them from creators who self-publish their works? Could an indie creator leverage their own brand into a new publisher? If so, how would that work? These are just some of the questions I’ve been considering in recent months, so I thought I’d reach out to a new creator-owned BC publisher – Altruist Comics – to learn more about this side of the business.
Randy Stone is a comic book creator in his own right having produced books for Arcana and Scout Comics before focussing on self-publishing.
When did you first realize you wanted to make comics?
I fell in love with comics (and superheroes in particular) through the Marvel Universe trading cards 30+ years ago. I had a friend at the time that I collected with, and we created our own stories together. He was the writer, and I was the artist. I pursued art over the years, even majoring in Fine Arts at University, and initially tried to break into the industry as an inker (it was the discipline I enjoyed the most – and let’s be honest, never had to deal with a blank sheet of paper).
The first real, full-length script that I wrote (Champion) was basically done so I’d have a book to ink. It got picked up but didn’t do well financially so I turned my attention towards a “real job” and starting a family. Comics are such an important part of my being that I couldn’t stay away forever; I eventually returned mostly writing short stories that formed the basis of my first self-published release and eventually Altruist Comics.
How would you describe Altruist Comics?
It’s hard to narrow that down because this isn’t just a capes company or focussed only on sci-fi or whatever. The projects so far (and the ones in the works) range from crime and horror to superhero and fantasy, mature readers and all-ages. The format is even a mixture of one-shots, anthologies, graphic novellas, and even a continuing series.
That said, the common denominator is high quality comics. Altruist also strives to include work from emerging talent and underrepresented groups; giving opportunities to creators who aren’t typically given a chance. The mission statement is basically: Making the world better…with comics. That could be as simple as bringing joy to readers, but I’ve tried and will continue to have a charitable element to Altruist. It’s in the name after all. I recently committed to having a tree planted for every hundred copies of books sold.
What uniquely defines something as an Altruist Comics book?
I can’t speak for others, but it seems that many companies are IP farms. While a Saturday morning Bullet cartoon or a Sensational Swan action figure would be amazing, the focus is on making great COMICS, not optioning their rights to Hollywood. I understand that it’s a way to have sustainable success, but I have such a great love for the medium that comics are the priority. With Altruist, I’m interested in telling quality stories that push the medium and try new things, from creators I’m excited about, who have unique perspectives and a shared love of comics.
How did you make the transition from creator to publisher?
There was a time when working for Marvel was the only measure of success. I remember being a kid and thinking Jeff Smith wasn’t legit because he self-published Bone rather than working for the Big Two. Now I honestly have no desire to go that route. I’m so happy doing my own thing. I eventually realized that my greatest skill was assembling a creative team more talented than myself, so I had already been scaling back on the work I was doing as a primary creator in exchange for hiring collaborators. The tipping point was seeing publishers take half of a book’s (already small) profits while creators were expected to handle the bulk of promotions. I figured if I was going to be doing the work anyway, I might as well just do the whole thing myself. Thankfully I had some success that has continued to grow with each project, proving it was the right call.
Previous Altruist Comics releases were all anthologies to some extent. Was that a deliberate plan?
In a way, yes. This is clearer since I started as a self-publisher first, focussing on my own short stories. Putting together a comic takes a lot of resources, time commitment from collaborators, and the financial hit of paying them to work on your stories - so short comics are a great way to create something that will actually get finished. It’s also easier to manage, especially working around a day job, doing one little story at a time. In the end, collecting a handful of these really does feel substantial, even if it’s only twenty odd pages. I also LOVE working with different creators and doing these short bits with everyone allows me to collaborate with so many more than if I just “settled down” with one team. I would say The Sensational Swan made the best use of the anthology format because the book implies a decades long history of the character; doing various shorts accomplished what otherwise couldn’t be done without publishing several hundred issues.
Are anthologies a good way to begin building a brand?
Since Altruist isn’t targeting a specific audience (plans to release anthologies for horror, romance, sci-fi, and maybe even another Crime Pays), I think it speaks more towards giving opportunities to new creators. Doing short stories is a great way to get work out there and contributors can cross pollinate their fanbases. At the same time, the thing that really excites me is that several creators had their first published comic in something like Crime Pays, and I love that I was able to bring their work into the world. I recently found out that another publisher put out a book as a direct result of the writer’s Crime Pays entry. How cool is that?!
Bullet Adventures is set to be your next release, and it’s the first on-going series you’ll be co-writing and publishing. Can you talk about the series and how it came together?
Bullet is a Silver Age (in both inspiration and time period) superhero story about a college student who gains speed powers and falls in love with one of the researchers helping him explore his abilities, while fighting crime as a costumed hero.
I actually wrote the initial Bullet story around the same time as I did Champion, but it never got picked up and I basically shelved it for a decade. I remember the framing sequence of old Dale looking back at his time as a hero in the ‘60s being the driving force of the story.
Another piece that I recycled into this story was the idea of Dale being in the control group of this study, yet he developed powers. I just built it up from there with his relationship with Jo and the choice he faced at the end. I thought the core concepts were genuinely good, but since it didn’t go anywhere as it was, I was looking for a writer (more skilled than myself) to strip it down and build it back up.
Jordan Alsaqa was a writer I followed on Twitter and was on my internal “ones to watch” list. I had read a script from him that showed such well-developed characters and I thought he could be the one to bring the Bullet cast to life in a one-shot. I literally gave him my previous draft with the instruction “do this, but better” and he knocked it out of the park. There was a lot of great collaboration between the two of us, but he was able to write the book that I had been trying to make. I also found artist Kath Lobo on Twitter and felt she had the chops to handle the fun superhero aspects as well as the romance. I can’t imagine anyone else showing Dale and Jo falling in love like she did. I had worked with Lucas Gattoni on a previous book and was thrilled to have him back on this project.
While Bullet is completely self-contained, Bullet Adventures is an ongoing story that will continue Dale’s story and explore his lineage. Unfortunately, Kath wasn’t available when I started putting the series together, so Jordan, Lucas, and I are joined by artists Lara Kane, Nicolás Carrizo, and Francesca Cittarelli for the creative team. Bullet was by far the most professional looking book I’ve put together and these upcoming issues only get better.
Bullet Adventures will easily stand alongside (or ahead of!) the very best that Marvel or DC have to offer. In the early issues of Adventures, I still did a lot of writing with Jordan, but by issue four, outside of some plot points and character creation/development, I basically just sat back and let him work his magic – to the point where I will likely drop my credit down from co-writer to editor only.
The Bullet one-shot was originally funded through Kickstarter but will be re-released ahead of the ongoing series. Right now, I am waiting to hear back from distributors, but the plan is that Bullet Adventures will be solicited and available from comic shops in the fall.
What would you say are the biggest challenges of being an indie publisher?
There is just so much unknown, with constant price increases (shipping being the biggest) and delays that are just out of our control (supply chain issues). Everything takes so much longer than I would like. I wanted to build retailer/buyer confidence by banking issues of Bullet Adventures (number four is already drawn) so they can be released regularly, but the one downside is that I’m so far ahead on this title that I have ignored some of the other projects I would have liked to be working on by now.
Follow Altruist comics on Twitter (@AltruistComics), Instagram (AltruistComics), and Facebook (AltuistComics), and be sure to pick up past books and apparel at their online store: AltruistComics.com/shop.
What did you think? What did you take from this discussion? Let me know in the chat.
Until next time.
John