Indier Than Thou

When I look at the digital marketplace I cannot help but wonder where the small press books are at, where are the Rasl‘s, OGN’s and Wilson‘s on my iPad?

When we look at all the talk of digital comics that are being released, the debate over day-to-date digital, various apps for each company, and whatever else comes up, there tends to be one category that I never see many talk about: Indie comics.  Sure Image, Icon and Boom and others are releasing titles in the marketplace but what about the indie books out there?

Jeff Smith’s Rasl, Terry Moore’s Echo and Rachel Rising; or Mouse Guard, Asterios Polyp, anything by Daniel Clowes, Black Hole, Love and Rockets and tons more are being left out. These indie gems have not yet found a spot in the digital marketplace. Besides OGN’s, they are some of the most left out books in the medium. And these are solid books that have shown there is a marketplace for.

Is there some other factor that is preventing these books from being released?  I mean Bone has it’s own app so why can’t I download Rasl? Where is the ability to download Queen & Country or Stumptown from an Oni app? What about the Darwyn Cooke Parker novels? Why should Scott Pilgrim get all the love? What about Cullen Bunn‘s Sixth Gun, Echoes by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Mystery Society by Steve Niles? There are so many amazing books that are not yet available.

Terry Moore is a founder of the indie comic scene, his books have always been hard to find and I imagine a digital copy could allow a boost in sales, I know I wanted to try Rachel Rising but could not for the life of me find a copy, so now I am trade waiting the series, same with Rasl. I would love to be able to take Strangers in Paradise with me on my iPad to read.

For many of the OGN’s out there like Wilson by Clowes or even his “Superhero” book The Death-Ray, they could follow the Sin City method of having a app and releasing sections at a time. The same goes with Black Hole or American Born Chinese, release them anyway you can to get them out there. Some of the best books on the market are ignored till the Eisner or Harvey awards.

Will Holy Terror be released day and date digital or will Legendary Comics hold it back? Will Craig Thompson’s Habibi get a digital edition while Blankets is still limited to print? OGN’s can be a huge market for digital sales, I know I look at Amazon recommendations to see what new books I might wanna try, and it’d be even easier if I could download some with the press of a button. Neil Young and Cliff Chiang‘s Greendale could be a hit if marketed right, there are fans’s of Young who have never stepped in a comics shop but have an iPod or iPad.

Anything from Fantagraphics or any of the self publishing companies out there could see increased interest if available in apps.

Perhaps the group that could also benefit is webcomics. Hark a Vagrant, PvP, Penny Arcade, Ratfist, GastroPhobia and tons of other webcomics could sell collections in the various apps for people to download and read. There could be a app that automatically downloads the newest strip into the app, I mean it works for Dilbert and other newspaper strips. If anything webcomics are the next evolution of indie books, the indie for the digital age.

Slave Labor Graphics, who published the awesome Milk and Cheese, has ceased publishing month books and will release them digitally instead, with physical graphic novels released when the storyline wraps up. I imagine others will join them soon.

There are so many smaller publishers out there with huge backlogs of books that are classics; I have only touched on a small portion of them here.  Indie comics are some of the strongest, most heat filled books on the market, and I am worried about them falling behind. If anything this is a new area for them to branch out to and thrive in. Just don’t expect Cerberus anytime soon.