An Idea Worth Exploring

Written by Manuel A. Carmona

   As I sit down drinking my cup of coffee while checking social media, admiring my favorite creator's work, sharing my colleagues projects, exchanging ideas and posting art I notice one constant negative amongst every comic book creator's operation; how to publish their books with such high printing costs. I understand that you get what you pay for and although print costs are sometimes prohibitive, you do get (for the most part) a product that looks and feel profesional; still... many creators simply can't afford it. 

   I've been giving this problem a lot of thought for a very long time and I may have found a way to get some of your ideas printed without going broke. I've always thought of the indie comics community as a big family of relatives that for the most part don't know each other but are related under a creative umbrella that unites us; as absurd as that may sound. It's one of the reasons why I always try to push indie books, I'll promote creators like I know them even though almost none of them extend the same courtesy towards me; It's all good though. I still want everyone to succeed and make their dream a reality. I'm a romantic in that sense, although some might call me naive; I believe in helping others without expecting anything in return. You're right, I am naive.

   I say all this because I think indie comic book creators could benefit from helping each other, but in a real way; not just empty words that amount to nothing. My idea is simple, instead of writing, drawing, inking, coloring and lettering an entire book by yourself, why not get together with a few creators you know and/or respect and put together an anthology instead? We could have an anthology with 3-5 short stories and when it's time to print the books, instead of having to come up with $500 or $600 for 200 books, each creator puts up $50-$60 and you'll get 30-40 nice size, high grade, quality books that you can then sell at conventions, signings, shops; etc. To me that's a WIN/WIN situation! 

   Me and my partner in crime Alvaro Cortez Ortiz are planning on relaunching and completely revamping an anthology series we did a few years back, each with 2-3 short stories that we want to tell but don't necessarily fit in any of our main books. With that said, I don't see why we couldn't bring in fellow comic book creators outside of Truthful Comics and join forces for a few of these anthology books. Let's say you're an inker, maybe you can ink a story and/or every story; then when it's time to print the books, you put your share and get your books that you'll then be able to sell however you see fit. You're a letterer? Same rules apply. Hey... this idea is worth exploring I think. Let me know what you think and if you believe this is something you'd like to be a part of send us a message and remember... keep it Truthful! 
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