It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas, we’re talking about ShortBox Comics Fair. The brilliant small press publisher has created something unlike any other comics festival, releasing over 100+ digital comics that are only available during the month of October. There’s a fantastic array of creators with eclectic styles, stories, and…
The Cartoonist Cooperative Want to Disrupt Predatory Publishing Practices
In case you didn’t realize, we really love comics here at WWAC. But often the sequential art that we love is born out of an industry that is flawed at best and exploitative at worst. It’s why we’re always excited to see creators coming together to forge brave new ways to share their work. The…
Humour in Times of Crisis: How Satire Can Lead to Self-Reflection and Social Action
Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal was introduced to me in March of 2020 by a highly valued friend and mentor, just as the world was locking down for the first time. It has become my comfort read throughout this wild journey we have been on in the past year as the post-apocalyptic collection of skit-esque…
REVIEW: Superman/Batman Fan Book Soft Lead is The World’s Sweetest
Batman and Superman have a long and storied history but in a recent fan comic shared on Twitter, artist Chan Chau encompassed a sweet, soft, and caring side of the heroes that we rarely see. The 17 page comic is one of the loveliest things that I’ve read in a while, and both moved and…
A Platform for Philippine Komiks: An Interview With Penlab
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…
Gamal Hennessy on The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing
The world of comics is changing. With DC suffering mass layoffs shortly after separating from Diamond distribution and Marvel struggling to find a brand outside of their brilliant X-Books, there is an industry wide reconsideration of the publishing landscape. Outside of the world of the big two though there is a thriving world of independent…
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…
Big Punk #1 Review: Life on the Wild, but not Queer, Side
In Big Punk, our protagonist asks an important question—didn’t the world used to be about pushing against convention and boundaries? Why has everyone turned into a yes-man? She can take no more of this and makes the only sensible decision—move to the woods. But is she alone?
A Little Magical Girl Ultra Violence: A Review of Magical Beatdown Vol. 1 & 2
Magical Beatdown Volume 1 & 2 Jenn Woodall (Art & Words) Silver Sprocket With a longsword, a baseball bat studded in nails, and her trustworthy bloodthirsty motorbike, Jenn Woodall’s eye-patched magical vigilante combats harassment from scumbags with style all while paying homage to classic magical girl manga with her zines published by Silver Sprocket, Magical Beatdown…
You Yourself Are an Obsolete Computer: Reading Carta Monir
“Virtual intimacies were failures before the fact. If you had to get online to get it, it couldn’t be the real thing. But what is the real thing, what is real intimacy?” —Shaka McGlotten Before it spirals out into freaky chatroom horror, Carta Monir’s Secure Connect takes the familiar and comforting form of a memoir…
Celebrate Punk Music and Community with Liz Prince’s Be Your Own Backing Band
Be Your Own Backing Band Liz Prince, Hannah Templer (colorist) Silver Sprocket August 2018 Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. There’s an incredibly profound short comic in Liz Prince’s new, now fully-colored comics collection, Be Your Own Backing Band. When Prince’s childhood cat passed away, her family was able…
Hire These Folx: Nicole Goux
Hire This Woman was a long-running series of interviews at ComicsAlliance overseen by Janelle Asselin. We’re happy to announce that from here on out, with Asselin’s blessing, we’ll be taking over the “Hire This Woman” mantle. Using the questions from the original series we’ll be interviewing our favourite creators who identify as anything other than…