MoCCA Comics Fest is just around the corner, and some small presses have begun to send out their plans for this year’s publishing slate.
Two books I’m excited about from two different Canadian presses – Koyama Press’ koyamapress Mighty Star and the Castle of the Cancatervater from A Degen adactivity and Towerkind from Kat Verhoeven verwho. AD’s work is consistently good to great, and I really enjoyed Junior Detective Files published by Sonatina Comics last year. Likewise, I have been following Verhoeven’s Meat & Bone webcomic very closely and have been looking forward to TOWERKIND, the collection of her mail-order comic which I believe wrapped up in 2014. I’m hoping to pick up copies of these books when at TCAF.
Yeti Press yetipress and Sparkplug Books sparkplugbooks also had some exciting announcements recently, the biggest (in my mind) is the collection of Kat Leyh’s fantastic superhero comic SuperCakes. Published from January to August of last year, SuperCakes spins superheroes in a very different way, where relationship building and moving in together is just as important as fighting the next bad guy. I loved reading it online, I’m happy to pick up a copy when this comes out.
Yeti Press also has a nice selection of other books coming out over 2015, including a fun all ages webcomic about the first passengers on a hot air balloon ride, Rise Above! by Eric Roesner and RJ Casey, which will go live this summer.
Sparkplug’s most recent announcement is a schedule for their Sparkplug Minis Series (SMS) comics. Some really talented folks on this list including O Horvath and Solomon Fletcher. From the press release:
- Ce Ze (SMS #4) by Suzette Smith will debut in April. Smith is a graduate of the IPRC comics certificate program. Her work has appeared in Comics Workbook, Bitch Magazine and the Portland Mercury. Description of Ce Ze: “Honey Czarny and Amelia Smith are 7th graders who share fragmented memories of past lives in which they were powerful beings named Ce and Ze. A rival king’s plot to murder Ze forced her to flee her kingdom. Ce and Ze study and emulate human behavior but wish to return to their realm. “
- SMS #5 will be by O Horvath and is slated to come out in June. Horvath is a printmaker, comic artist and Xeric Grant recipient from Providence, RI.
- SMS #6 by is by Nalleli Sierra, a.k.a. Naji and is coming out in September. Naji is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in Linework comics anthology.
- SMS #7 is by Portlander Ebin Lee. The release of this comic will coincide with Short Run Comics Festival in Seattle, WA this coming October. Lee is a graduate of PNCA and an accomplished illustrator and self-publisher.
- SMS #8 is slated for February 2016 and will be by Solomon Fletcher. Fletcher is a comics artist from Minneapolis. They are the author of many minicomics and the sex positive webcomic Goldy and the Bears.
As we get closer to TCAF, I’ll be making a list of comics to buy at the show. I’d invite you to make recommendations to me either through DISQUS commenting below, or send me an ASK.