Make More Comics
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Make More Comics is a soon-to-be non-profit organization promoting comics literacy and the craft of making comics through programs and grants.
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PO Box 64
Steubenville, OH
43952
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Make More Comics
I am the type of person that has an idea and it eats away at me until I do something about it. One day, I woke up with a passion to make something that supported not only my love of comics but hopefully sup-ported the backbone of the industry, the comic shops, as well. To help create something that gave them a way to showcase underground, independent, local art on their shelves. I wanted this to be the type of book that I am always on the hunt for when I am checking out shops - new voices, low price point, interesting comics, all in bite sized chunks.
So I did what I always do in situations like this. I spent some time and money to learn how to do it. I decided to publish a comic book. The result of that effort was H%C #1. It was a small print run, with a small page count, but it featured new voices. Some of which have never been published before or since. I learned how to put a magazine together, however poorly, and I learned how much it would cost. I took that and iterated into H%C #2, which featured many significant upgrades over #1 including more content, deeper page count, a full-color cover, and printed on aged newsprint which I wanted from the beginning.
I wanted to continue to improve the magazine while finding new and better ways to support independent artists and creators in the comics medium. I added more funding into the plan for this issue including an official submission policy which included rates for accepted pieces. Mind you the rates are meager, but they are just a start. It never felt right publishing creators without payment. Even if that payment is small I wanted to offer something for their work...but how much money could I pump into this thing? How could I make it viable? I can’t just keep pumping money into this hob-by, could I?
That is when I watched an interview on Cartoonist Kayfabe where Ed and Jim interviewed the great Steve Bissette. They did a long interview where they talked about publishing, comics, the business, everything. I ate it all up. At one point in the interview they got to talking about Eastman and Laird and how they turned their success into ways to support the art. Eastman created Tundra and blew millions on that venture which didn’t give the world a lot of output, but what it did give was strong and long-lasting. Laird created the Xeric Foundation and Arts Grant which gave out small self-publishing grants to young creators. Neither of these ventures still exist today, but which one lasted longer and had more of an impact and influence?
