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What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 7:50 pm
by Horsenhero
So, there are a lot of upcoming or currently published Indie books out there. I'm not talking about something put out by Image or Dark Horse or the like, but real Indie books that are published and promoted by the creative team or small labels like Irongate Comics, Infernox Comics, Zenith Comics or the like. Books that are available through direct order or at Indieplanet or what have you.

I hear all the time about dissatisfaction with the major brands, so what I would like to hear about are the independent comics you support. Have you thrown your support behind titles like The Stray, Geek Girl, Rochelle the Teen Cockroach or The Formidables?

What do you read that ISN'T a major label title? What do you want out of your comics, especially an indie title? As an indie producer, I really want to know.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:17 pm
by badpenny
I'm kind of off superheroes, at least Marvel/DC style and their effing reboots/restarts.

I just want consistent storytelling. That's kind of it. If there was a sufficient catalog of issues that were in the bank, so to say, that would give the creative team a good head start so as to minimize schedule interruptions, I'd buy that (for a dollar :geek: )

Sometimes people just want to hear the hits, but other times they want a mash-up. I'm in the latter camp. I probably wouldn't read an Avengers clone, but if it was more like the [original] Thunderbolts I'd be interested.

I also loved Ed Brubaker's Incognito, which was a pulpy/superhero mash-up.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:34 pm
by Spectrum
Are you considering webcomics as indy?

If so, I have a list of favorites.
If not, I only follow Empowered. I'm not sure that you can even call that truly Indy.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:42 pm
by Horsenhero
I see where you're coming from. As independent producer I have to measure the potential responses for my ideas and of course I support the kickstarters or buy the finished product for whatever I can. Indie comics can be put to physical form one of a couple ways. Usually a writer/letterer and an artist/colorist team up to produce things to keep costs down. For me, since my computer coloring skills are kind of poor I generally go looking for a professional colorist. I'm fortunate enough to have a frequent collaborator who can do professional lettering for trade. Even so before I even get to thinking about printing costs, a 22 page comic costs me $1100.00 for coloring (and this is at a discount rate of $50 a page) plus my own material expenses. After printing a small batch run, I'm generally about 2k+ in the hole and I'm not even marketing yet.

Given this, it's important for me to know what people are looking for because my money must be spent wisely, since I'm not going to even recoup my expenses in the short term or maybe even ever. The truth about indie comic production is despite all the vitriol tossed at the big houses, indie producers are very seldom supported by the fans who say they want alternatives.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:45 pm
by Horsenhero
Spectrum wrote:Are you considering webcomics as indy?

If so, I have a list of favorites.
If not, I only follow Empowered. I'm not sure that you can even call that truly Indy.
I consider webcomics indie. The creator still has to pay for hosting and other expenses out of pocket and occasionally they'll get enough under their belt to do a physical collection. There's a little less skin in the game for a webcomic producer, but it's still time and money up front they may never see again.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 9:43 pm
by L-Space
Horsenhero wrote:I see where you're coming from. As independent producer I have to measure the potential responses for my ideas and of course I support the kickstarters or buy the finished product for whatever I can. Indie comics can be put to physical form one of a couple ways. Usually a writer/letterer and an artist/colorist team up to produce things to keep costs down. For me, since my computer coloring skills are kind of poor I generally go looking for a professional colorist. I'm fortunate enough to have a frequent collaborator who can do professional lettering for trade. Even so before I even get to thinking about printing costs, a 22 page comic costs me $1100.00 for coloring (and this is at a discount rate of $50 a page) plus my own material expenses. After printing a small batch run, I'm generally about 2k+ in the hole and I'm not even marketing yet.
:shock: Please tell me you misplaced the decimal point. I can't believe it costs so much.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:13 pm
by Horsenhero
L-Space wrote:
Horsenhero wrote:I see where you're coming from. As independent producer I have to measure the potential responses for my ideas and of course I support the kickstarters or buy the finished product for whatever I can. Indie comics can be put to physical form one of a couple ways. Usually a writer/letterer and an artist/colorist team up to produce things to keep costs down. For me, since my computer coloring skills are kind of poor I generally go looking for a professional colorist. I'm fortunate enough to have a frequent collaborator who can do professional lettering for trade. Even so before I even get to thinking about printing costs, a 22 page comic costs me $1100.00 for coloring (and this is at a discount rate of $50 a page) plus my own material expenses. After printing a small batch run, I'm generally about 2k+ in the hole and I'm not even marketing yet.
:shock: Please tell me you misplaced the decimal point. I can't believe it costs so much.
Fifty dollars a page for professional coloring and I get a discount, so a 22 page book costs eleven hundred dollars to get colored by a pro. It often costs more, but, if you figure in the time required to get it done right, I'm forking out just over between $15-$20 an hour for the work, which is cheap for a trained, practiced professional.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:29 pm
by Michuru
Horsenhero wrote:I consider webcomics indie.
Well, in that case...

There were tons that I used to religiously check, but at this point, there's really only a handful that I keep up with: Questionable Content, Order of the Stick, and Dr. McNinja.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 11:24 pm
by Ken
There's something called The Lost Jungle which you've never heard of that I support.

And by "support," I mean helping the author/artist (my dad) keep track of pieces of art as he's doing touch-ups, but keeps misplacing things.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 11:36 pm
by Horsenhero
Ken wrote:There's something called The Lost Jungle which you've never heard of that I support.

And by "support," I mean helping the author/artist (my dad) keep track of pieces of art as he's doing touch-ups, but keeps misplacing things.
That works for me. I'm a disorganized mess quite often, so having someone to help keep things arranged and on target would be awesome.

Myself, I support Irongate Comics, Aspyre Comics, Geek Girl, The Stray, Power Company, Black Alpha, Mega Woman, The Black Guard and a few others as best I can (some get my money, some get as much free advertising as I can do for them). Hopefully, when the time comes, they'll return the favor but it won't affect my support either way.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 11:49 pm
by Shock
Atomic Robo is a lot of fun. Though now that it's published by IDW, I'm not sure it's really Indie anymore.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:47 pm
by Gamebook
I love indie superhero comics and trawl the internet for them. Indyplanet is a good site for digging a few gems out of the rough.

My favorite is Argo Comics by Dan Sehn. The main titles are Argo 5 about a fairly straight superteam and Sorority of Power about a trio of wannabe superhero women and their misadventures as they seek to become full members of a sorority of superheroes. I've done builds for many of the characters in my Character Sheets thread.

Another good one is Unlikely Heroes Studios and their title Super!. Only six issues so far but the quality of the art is astonishing.

The Super Cliche Hero Chick by David Arroyo has simple b&w art but tells an amusing story.

I recently picked up the first issue of Villain by Voluzione publishing. Two storylines about an ex-con supervillain trying to go straight and quickly failing, and a rather deranged Rorschach-like vigilante. It's set in a world like that of Marvel where superheroes are common and accepted so the two characters are understood as what they are. It's a cynical and brutal setting, with for example the cops just standing aside and letting a costumed vigilante rough up an innocent witness because he happens to be an ex-con.

A feature of many indie comics is that they can be a bit more daring than the big titles from DC and Marvel. They still can't hold a candle to the frankly disturbing stuff Avatar put out though.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 12:48 pm
by Orbiter
Horsenhero, since you support Irongate, I have to ask if you're familiar with Will Lill comics. Warren Montgomery, the publisher of Will Lill, is a personal friend of mine, so I'm a bit biased, but he's also a mutual friend of the Locketts, who publish Irongate. I've helped Warren and the Locketts with tables and booths at conventions because of this. (And I can tell ya that when you're supporting the companies, you're supporting good folks behind them.) Any way, point is, if you like the Irongate Universe, I recommend WL's stuff, especially "John Kirby: Firefox".

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:50 am
by Horsenhero
Orbiter wrote:Horsenhero, since you support Irongate, I have to ask if you're familiar with Will Lill comics. Warren Montgomery, the publisher of Will Lill, is a personal friend of mine, so I'm a bit biased, but he's also a mutual friend of the Locketts, who publish Irongate. I've helped Warren and the Locketts with tables and booths at conventions because of this. (And I can tell ya that when you're supporting the companies, you're supporting good folks behind them.) Any way, point is, if you like the Irongate Universe, I recommend WL's stuff, especially "John Kirby: Firefox".
I see snippets of John Kirby: Firefox occasionally in the ICC (Independent Creators Connection) group on facebook, but I haven't hunted it down yet. I'm working through a period of...sketchy finances...at the moment, but once I'm a little more flush I'll look it up. Of course I have to keep setting money aside to get the coloring and publishing done on my own stuff (which you can see examples of in the art forum here), but I'll always support a fellow creator to the best of my ability.

Re: What Indie Comics Do you Read/Support?

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:18 pm
by Jabroniville
Motorcrush has been amazing- it's from the group behind the relaunch of Batgirl, doing the "usual thing" and leveraging a popular comic book run into an indie where they own all the rights :). Despite me never caring about racing or whatever, the motorcycle races in this are BITCHING, and the character designs are awesome- the main character has this cool Butch Black Lesbian thing going on, while her ex looks like a chestier Jem (a la The Holograms). Plus there's drug dealers, the racing is brutal real-world-Mario Kart stuff, and the indie aesthetic allows the artist to be even wilder than she was on Batgirl.