State Of
The Indies:
March Madness
Well hello there boys and girls! Its three months into the new year of 2025 and the weather can’t seem to make its mind up about what it wants to be doing. At least… In my area anyway as it could be completely different in your respective wooden areas. Though the fact my area finally has a comic shop now makes me happier than a big kid in a candy store! I’ve also learned why some folks enjoy Crunchyroll so much. WOOT! And naturally, quite a bit’s happened in the 3 months since 2025 began with seemingly a lot of it happening during March.
Things like Oni Press’ Akogun trade finally releasing this past week, Todd McFarlane potentially buying Diamond (which apparently isn’t happening), quite a few successful crowdfunding projects like Mr. Nacho’s first issue of Superguy hitting its goal in 4 hours, the Mad Cave crew being at ECCC 2025. We also can’t forget the fact that Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Ramboli launched Tightrope Press, a proudly queer woman owned (with an upcoming KS launching soon!) Indie Publisher with a goal to help folks be a little less lonely through art! And the more LGBTQ+ representation out there, the better in this day and age! Boy… quite a bit’s happened and it feels like I’ve barely started!
LA Strong, a benefit anthology by Mad Cave (released on the 19th), was set up to help out victims of the LA fires and I hope the absolute best on that. Vincent Mallie’s Mystery Classics thru Magnetic Press (more on them in just a bit) had a successful crowdfunder back in February and now the Magnetic crew has joined forces with the gang at Oni Press! Gotta love the Indies! All so that that Magnetic can have more reach thru Distribution thanks to Oni’s own reach. Team work, it makes the dream work, baby! Ryan Mendoza and Mike Shea of Miskatonic High fame had a successful KS back in February for the 25th issue of MH! Heck of a milestone right there!
Magic Powder’s own Jeff Schiller has been a little busy bee himself with intention to launch the second volume of MP on KS so stay tuned for that. While that happened, Matt Garvey’s had himself some success recently on the platform with I Took A Hammer To Hell! Yeet! Looking forward to reading that I tell you! Wells Thompson also recently just launched a new KS project for his latest title By Appointment Only. A 4 issue series about modern day witches who get requested to find a missing boyfriend. So get in on that as early as ya can!
Kat Calamia and Phil Falco of Lifeline Comics also recently launched two new KS projects with the Beast and Snow: Vampire Snow White vs. The Evil Queen, a 3 issue (4 days left to back) series set in their EverAfterVerse and is a mature Sapphic Supernatural title. Their other project is a Graphic Novel known as The Dancer, a dancer/assassin who (11 days left to back) has to relive her childhood trauma of seeing her parents murdered when she was a kid. There was also some news that UK Publishers like 2000 AD/Rebellion Entertainment, Avery Hill Publishing, DC Thomson, and several others have joined together for a joint venture known as Comic Book UK.
The Dancer, now on Kickstarter!
A venture designed to help drive growth in the UK’s Comics Industry, which I think is seriously cool and hopefully works out really well! See? I told ya a lot’s happened in good ol’ March! Who knows what could happen next since there’s still a few days left before we hit the end of the month! But before I go, it should also be mentioned that the ever awesome David Pepose kept teasing folks on Social Media about a new title in the works and we finally saw what that is on the 20th! Coming through the Mad Cave imprint Papercutz, is David’s latest project known as the Ten-Ton Titan Terrier! Boy… That’s a lot of ‘T’ that I think even Mr. T himself would approve of.
Out 10/7! So getcha pre-order on!
Ahem, anywho!
Out in October, this is a book perfect for those who love Dogs, Kaiju, and giant Robots! Plus, this is the kind of silly fun I can get behind and the wait for this one is gonna be agonizing in my view! Big Dog Ink is also celebrating 15 years, congrats guys! And speaking of Avery Hill Publishing, they currently have a KS going for Kit Anderson’s Second Shift Graphic Novel with 5 days to go!
So the question is…
With Alliance Entertainment winning the bid for key assets in relation to Diamond Distribution, will things improve? As there has been a number of stories over the years of bad relations with the Distributor. Of course, as with most things in life, only time will tell.
Until next time, folks! I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Written by: Rob Wrecks
