FCBD for the Indie Hipster

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow so I wanted to mention a few things my minicomics lovin' pals should be on the look out for.

The Candy or Medicine FCBD book will be in an impressive amount of shops. You can see the list here. I'm fortunate enough to already have a copy and it is a good little introduction to this great minicomic anthology series.
I've already mentioned the WAP FCBD book here but I'll remind you again that you can download The Ancient Age for free this Saturday. Brad McGinty posted some samples and they look great.
I think my pal Jeremy Massie will have a FCBD sample version of his upcoming graphic novel at a couple of stores. His publisher, Alterna, is going to have an 80 page FCBD book that you should be able to find at your nearest comic shop and I assume it will have some samples of Jeremy's book. You can check out a preview here.

If I had the time and money to drive the kids to Charlotte I would go visit Heroes Aren't Hard to Find to check out their staggering list of guests for free.

And of course, there are the books from all the other publishers to look for. I have not had the time to check out the main FCBD site to study what will be available but I'm always happy with whatever I can get for free from Fantagraphics, Dawn & Quarterly and Top Shelf. You can check out the list here. I personally am desperate for the free Love and Rockets and Nancy books but I kind of doubt I find them in my area. So, if you see them in your store, grab a hand full and mail me one. I'll send you something cool back in return. Honest!

I always look forward to FCBD. It started the same year my oldest daughter was born and I've taken her every year. Even when she was a baby. I don't always get every book I want but she is always happy to have new comics and she will go back to them over and over and enjoy them for weeks, months and years. If you have kids and don't take them out for free comics then, well, I really just don't have any hope for you. I don't know how you can live with yourself. I hope your kids will forgive you. Someday.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Fluke 2009 Postview.

So I'm back from Fluke and I'm still exhausted.  Above you can see a pile of the fine products I obtained at the show.  I'll talk about the books more in the future.  I have to decompress and transform myself from dude that goes to comic book show back to dude that reads comics before I can really make sense of anything I'm reading.  There were a lot of great looking books that I'm excited about though and the anthology looks fantastic.  

I love Fluke, I love Athens and I love all my pals that were at the show so it was a good time.  It seemed at least as well attended as any previous year.  Maybe more so.  There was definitely a more steady flow of shoppers or at least it felt more crowded to walk though.  I'm terrible at keeping track of my sales but my guess would be that I sold more in 2008.  That could be because people are pinching pennies or because I really only had one new book that I had not sold at the show before but it was probably because I spent a lot of time away from my table talking to all the great comic book folk in attendance.  

Jeremy Massie (creator of The Deadbeat coming soon to your finer comic book selling venues) is from my neck of the woods and road down with me for the show.  We got up early and were (I think) the third and fourth persons at the door.  Jeremy took the above photo of me, my pants and my coffee.

There was a good crowd waiting for the doors to open.  It was pretty chilly for an April day in GA. 

Jeremy and I combined our products to create a full table.  I also had some Candy or Medicine books for sale.   I had some special advance Candy or Medicine FCBD books and they went quick.  

On the left is the Fluke table.  Serving all your anthology, t-shirt and eight ball needs.  Behind that big red beam, there are many minicomic fans and creators.  Honest. 

Jeremy Massie loves selling minicomics. 

I've been doing comic shows as a creator for about seven years and I think I've only been to two shows where I did not get to hang out with my pal Brad McGinty. Brad had two new books.  One in full color!  Wow.   

That's my pal Todd O'Brien.  Todd does not make comics.  Yet.

And my pal Robert Venditti.  Rob wrote some comic that is being made into a movie but I don't know anything about it. 

Wide Awake Press are wide, awake and pressing. 

J. Chris Campbell makes his minicomics out swallowed souls. 

Josh Latta was happy about how awesome the WAP printed Redskin Rashy turned out.  I was too.

That's Patrick Dean and Robert Newsome.  We thank them for making it all happen.  Thanks!

Patrick Dean and I bask in the glow of his giant new Big Deal book. 

After the show everyone went to Bizzaro Wuxtry.  They have so much stuff my eyes and brain just could not process it.  You would need a few days to get through it all.  I did manage to find a comic I've been hunting for a long time.  I'll talk more about that later over at Addicted to Distraction. 

"Comics & Stuff".  What else is there?  Well, food.  About twenty of us went to Transmetropolitan for giant pizza slices but I was too busy stuffing my face and listening to every one's hilarious stories to take a picture of that. 

Thank you Fluke, WAP, Jeremy and all my pals.  Extra super mega thanks to folks that bought my books!  Fluke 2009 was good times.  I can't wait to do it again.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Candy or Medicine Vol. 6

Candy or Medicine Volume Six

Edited by Josh Blair.

All issues are quarter-sized (4.25" x 5.5") and printed on 30 percent recycled
post-consumer content paper. They are each available for $1 (in-person), $1.50
postage paid (U.S.), $2 (Canada) or $2.50 (elsewhere) via Paypal.

This is the funniest and most consistent issue of Candy or Medicine so far.  Consistent in the sense that all the comics seem to belong together in the same comedy comic.  I don't know if the book is at the point where Blair has enough submissions to put together pieces that match up thematically or if it was just the luck of the draw but if you were to set out and make a good comedy minicomic anthology it might look a lot like this.  The pieces also have more depth to them or at least more length than previous volumes.  Jason Viola's piece is a solid five page story.  Brien Wayne Powell provides a funny Magnet Man two pager.  I've been a Magnet Man fan for a while now.  Patrick Morgan's two pages are odd but look great and are pretty funny.  This might be the most accessible volume so far.  I think that if I had a dozen copies I could easily pass them around the office and generate a lot of laughs.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Candy or Medicine Vol. 5

Candy or Medicine Vol. 5

Edited by Josh Blair. 

Featuring Cayetano Valenzuela, Shannon Smith, Maggie Morrill, Ed Choy Moorman, Rob Moses, Sarah Orchard, Andrew Goldfarb, Daniel Olsen and Steve Rack.

16 black and white pages for $1.  Available here.

Well, first of all in the spirit of full disclosure, I am in this book so yeah, you should go buy it.  As far as my pages go, what is most interesting to me is how my pages look after I've sent them off to another editor.  Being a self-publisher myself I can analyze how well the other editor does putting the thing together based on the knowledge of how my pages looked originally.  I have to say that Blair does a great job and the pages I sent look better here than in my own minicomic.  

This is another solid one dollar comic and I'm really impressed that Blair has edited, assembled, printed and distributed five of these in a year or so.  This has been a really exciting year for minicomics anthologies seeing several put out multiple issues of good quality.  Pretty cool.

This issue has three lovely pages from Ed Moorman.  I really love his drawing and character design.  Somewhere between Dan Clowes and Sam Keith.  This story covers a good amount of distance for three pages but it felt unfinished.  I hope it is a part of something longer that I will eventually get to see.  

Andrew Goldfarb also delivers a nicely designed three pager and Maggie Morrill contributes a well drawn one page comic with a great punchline.  These two stoires represent the short comedy style that is pefect for this kind of small book.  

As always, I look forward to the next issue.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Candy or Medicine Volume Four

Candy or Medicine Volume Four

Edited by Josh Blair.

Featuring Simon Corry, Ray N. Josh Blair, Kevin Richardson, Molly Mullen, Olivia Arrow, Russ Walton and Abby Mullen.

All issues are quarter-sized (4.25" x 5.5") and printed on 30 percent recycled
post-consumer content paper. They are each available for $1 (in-person), $1.50
postage paid (U.S.), $2 (Canada) or $2.50 (elsewhere) via Paypal.

Visit the website to purchase.

Josh Blair continues to publish a solid minicomic featuring an international cast of contributors. The size, scope and page count are very much in keeping with the traditional idea of a zine or minicomic but the quality and production values have an consistency you don't find in a lot of books. I continue to be impressed by the fact that Blair manages to keep putting out these great looking little books on a regular schedule. The logistics of getting that many contributors on the same schedule, getting all the pages in, getting the books set up and getting them printed are a pretty scary thing. On top of that Blair consistently plugs away at promoting this thing around the net at at comics shows. If he can keep it up I think it is inevitable that something worthwhile will happen. I'm not sure what. But, something. These group anthologies always have that interesting element of wonder for me where I'm asking myself which of these creators will achieve bigger things.

This issue might be the strongest so far. I really like the cover by Simon Cory. There is a two pager by Josh Blair and Ray N. that has both a manga and alt comic auto bio feel about it. It's based around a clumsy yet realistic conversation between a young couple and ends with a gotcha punchline from the Mad Magazine school of humor.

Olivia Arrow provides a couple of pages of single panel gags depicting "Ailments of the Future". The art is hastily drawn sketchbook style but the gags are pretty funny. Especially the "IM speech impairment".

The most substantive piece is "In Search of Delia" by Kevin Richardson. This six page story is longer and much more complex than most Candy or Medicine entries. Richardson demonstrates some pretty good cartooning chops. The drawing, the character design, the layouts and even the lettering are all very strong. The story is a slice of life conversation between two young friends about the girl that got away. The dialog feels real and of the moment. Each character has clear voice. The piece feels like a short episode of a longer or ongoing work.

(From In Search of Delia.)

I have a lot of respect for what Josh Blair is doing with this book, how well he does it and how good he is at getting it in people's hands. He has realized and accomplished a realistic minicomics anthology model. The right size, the right price, a nice variety of creators and well worth a dollar. Minicomics creators should visit the website and find out how to contribute. Josh has also taken on reviewing some minicomics on the Candy Or Medicine blog so creators will want to look into that as well.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

CANDY OR MEDICINE #3 edited by Josh Blair

Candy or Medicine Vol. 3 edited by Josh Blair.

http://www.candyormedicine.com/home.html

16 page black and white quarterly minicomic anthology.

Available for $1.50 here.

Josh Blair is doing an admirable job keeping this minicomics anthology going and it is getting better with each issue. Blair has an open solicitation policy so the quality of material could go either way from issue to issue. Volume three in particular is pretty strong. Not Mome or Kramers Ergot strong but pretty strong for a 16 page mini that sells for one buck in person and a dollar fifty online.

There is a charming and well drawn four pager by Eric Myers (sampled above) and a funny four page gag/adventure story by Colin Tedford. I'm also happy to see a nice one pager from Dan Taylor. There are a couple of juvenile pages that didn't do anything for me but that seems to be a constant in even the best anthologies. Like I said before, a thing like this could go either way. So far it has been on the right track and the quality has been at least strong enough to make me curious about the next issue. I think if Josh put together a best of book once every year or so that it would be a very good minicomic.

Josh also included the FCBD sampler which you can preview for yourself right here. It's not as strong as Vol. 3 but will give you an idea of what Candy or Medicine is all about and it has a fun FCBD themed cover that I like a lot. If you saw me at HeroesCon I may have given you a copy. If I didn't, that was because they were good looking little books and they went fast.

Don't forget that Josh is always looking for submissions. If you've got a few pages lying around or in the works then drop him a line.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

CANDY OR MEDICINE Vol. 2

Candy or Medicine Vol. 2 edited by Josh Blair.

16 p b&w minicomic.

http://www.candyormedicine.com/home.html

Available in person for $1 or here for $1.50.

I really like the idea of Candy or Medicine and if it did not exist I would probably do the same thing eventually. That it is an anthology of minicomic creators is nothing special but the idea that it comes out on a quarterly basis (and has so far delivered) is something to admire in the often flakey world minicomics.

From the website's about page: Candy or Medicine is a quarterly mini-comic anthology published by Josh Blair. It showcases a diverse talent of mini-comics creators, provides a low-cost exposure of mini-comics to new audiences and shows people of all ages and skill levels that they can make comics. Candy or Medicine is always seeking contributors of all skill levels.

This is a great idea and I'm glad Josh Blair is pulling it off. As far as the quality of the comic itself? Well, when you open things up to "contributors of all skill levels" from the world of minicomics, the results can be hit and miss. Vol. 2 is probably more miss than hit. There are some nice sketches from Matt Feazell and some nice cartooning by Liza Miller but most of the strips look like first attempts at comics. That being said, Vol. 2 is easily interesting enough to justify the $1 (or $1.50 online) price.

If Josh can keep this thing on schedule and keep spreading the word it could develop into a nice anthology. Josh seems to be working hard at getting this thing out there but it can only be as good as it's contributor's comics. If you are like me and want to live a world where a good quarterly anthology of minicomcs exists then I suggest you submit your own comics to Candy or Medicine. I've already sent in my three pager for the next volume.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith