Welcome to August! I have completely and utterly lost all concept of time at this point—my weeks are punctuated by trips to the library and staring hungrily at my mailbox, waiting for books I’ve backed to show up even though I immediately forget each project’s schedule as soon as I read the updates. But that’s fine! It means each package is an exciting surprise. And this month, you can set yourself up for some more!
ShortBox 13
Zainab Akhtar, Lily Blakely, Jack T Cole, Chu Nap, Joseph Ruddick, Xulia Vicente, Luis Yang
ShortBox
Ends August 11
The roundup is going up a little early this month because I desperately wanted a chance to plug the 13th and final ShortBox. Since she started the project in 2016, creator Zainab Akhtar has pretty much perfected her version of the mail order comics publishing model, getting boxes to backers with an incredible efficiency that doesn’t at all impact the gorgeous comics or whimsy that they bring with them. Unfortunately, shipping boxes across the world has become unsustainable in its unpredictability, so this is the final actual box—though Akhtar and ShortBox as a publisher will continue editing, publishing, and printing comics, just not in quarterly boxes.
This ShortBox itself carries 5 comics and a box-exclusive print, as well as some candy and mysterious stretch goal surprises. Backers can choose to get two of the comics (I See a Knight by Xulia Vicente and Moving by Luis Yang) in either Spanish or English; the rest of the comics are in English.
The Out Side
Min Christensen, David Daneman, The Kao
Ends August 12
The Out Side is an anthology of autobiographical stories of self-actualization, designed for the teens and tweens who might need to hear them. The book collects the work of 16 trans and nonbinary artists including the likes of Sage Coffey for about 96 pages of comics, plus a foreword by Julia Kaye! This anthology aligns so well with the work I hope my own comics projects do—while it’s incredibly important for queer people to be able to tell all kinds of stories (including difficult or tragic ones!), stories that are specifically autobiographical and hopeful are desperately important for folks who might not have personal access to queer elders. Also, the book looks extremely cute!
Girls Have a Blog: The Signature Edition
Sarah Bollinger & T. Kurtzhals
Rocketship
Ends September 1
It continues to be wild to me that people my age(-ish) are collecting their slice of life, oh-god-we’re-becoming-adults webcomics into hardcover print editions, but the passage of time leaves no one untouched and, frankly, its extremely cool. Sarah Bollinger and T. Kurtzhals of Girls Have a Blog are doing just that, packaging their first forays into a comics career up for print and purchase. I didn’t follow Girls Have a Blog as it came out online, but the preview pages on the Kickstarter page are all… immensely relatable.
And more!
- Reburn #2. Ends August 13.
- JALISCO, Latina Superhero Graphic Novel. Ends August 15.
- SIGNALS: The Complete Series. Ends August 26.
- Inhale-Exhale, a mental health zine. Ends August 29.
- Pack #1–3: A Comic Series About 6 Stray Dogs & 1 Stray Man. Ends August 31.
- Death in the Mouth: Original Horror By People of Color. Ends September 1. Organized by Sloane Leong!
