Filipino komiks (“comics”) have long had a commercial industry that goes far back as the 1920s, but it has been only until recently that interest in these works has grown outside of the Philippines. With social isolation restrictions still in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many artists have been turning to ways to expand…
Community Spaces, Alternative Marketplaces: Indie Comics and Culture
Over the last decade, the growth of independent, “indie,” or creator-owned comics has broadened the comic book landscape and birthed a new wave of creators who aren’t adhering to conventional standards. The demand for non-superhero material from publishers outside of the Big Two (Marvel and DC) has empowered creators to carve out their own space…
Strangers in Paradise Rantrospective Part 1: She Will Never Break This Chain
Content Warning: this retrospective mentions abuse and sexual assault If I were to do a quick Google search, I could find webcomics featuring anything I can imagine: gay centaur Westerns, wild overarching epics with diverse casts, and autobiographical tales featuring authors of almost every gender, sexuality, and race. While comic books on the direct market keep…
Mana: Priya Huq’s Comic Full of Water
It was raining heavily when I walked, under leafy trees and through the neighborhood park, to pick up my copy of Priya Huq’s Mana: 1st Volume. Primarily available as a free-to-read webcomic, Mana follows Samudra, a young khandati (swordsperson) who must journey from her mountain home so that she may find what she saw in…
Kickstart Your April – 6 Crowdfunded Comics to Check Out
If you’re feeling burned out on big comics publishers, or just want to add some new names to your “to-read” list, then crowdfunded campaigns might have exactly what you never knew you were looking for. But the pool of crowdfunded books is deep and sometimes hard to navigate–hence this new column! This month’s round-up features…
Jane Mai Is an American Hero
Memoirists, unsurprisingly, often retell moments of their lives to extract a lesson from their experiences. It is natural to use the act of writing or talking about yourself to generate meaning, but lately I’ve been wondering if building narratives out of one’s own incomplete life can be dangerous. We all have, at one time or…
Let Me Live Through You: Go To Safari Festival
Safari Festival is August 27th–this upcoming Saturday. And, it being in London, which is far away and tricksy once you get there, I can’t go. Can you go? If you want to, you should. Here’s the sell! Safari is run by Breakdown Press. Like their comic output, it is curated. Breakdown Press are the sort of people…
