Anthology Comics: Thoughts and Relevance?

I was talking to my friend and room mate today about the possibility of writing a comic book together and the challenges we would face looking for an artist. As the conversation went on and permuted the subject of doing an anthology comic came up and was entertained. We were both fans of DC's Wednesday Comics from 2008, and have fond memories of reading Heavy Metal and Tintin when we were younger. My question though is whether or not the format has fallen to the wayside?

Do people even read them anymore? Would they? I was also curious as to whether anyone knew of any resources that would reveal information regarding sales and demographics, as my own initial search has bore no fruit.

edited 12th Nov '17 4:58:03 PM by J.G.Crowne

They're pretty big on Kickstarter. I back plenty of comics anthologies there. There doesn't seem to be much room for them in the direct market, but there's definitely space for them online.

In Japan, for instance, all comics start in anthologies. Even here in the US, Shonen Jump sold pretty well (dunno if it still does). If you were to do an anthology, I'd advise trying to make it look more (production wise, as in the way it's packaged) like Shonen Jump than a regular American comic book.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

While my search for the sales figures of anthologies currently in print still allude me, I was able to figure out a preliminary budget if we were to go ahead with the project and use crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter; if we were to use a "one-and-done" format at least. While it's not what we're hoping to do at this point in time, it makes for a good starting point.

Basically $20,000 would allow us to produce 1000 full-colour copies with 200 pages a piece. The majority of this figure would cover major expenses such as printing, shipping and fees with enough being put aside for packaging, rewards and wiggle room in case of emergencies.

Granted, this figure was reached using a projection of 20 stories with with a minimum page count of 4 pages to a maximum of 15. We may have also considered the possibility of foil being used on the cover. My philosophy has always been to start with the big and whittle down.

Thoughts and opinions are welcomed.

The world needs a new anthology comic. I'd read it, but I want to know what genre it'd be.

What size do you want it to be in? Normal comic book size or something bigger or smaller?

edited 12th Nov '17 5:22:15 PM by Aldo930

We were hoping for a traditional comic book size at 6.625 x 10.25, and I used this size in my projections. We might even release it digitally with an accessible subscription fee in order to expand our potential readership.

I'll admit we're still not too sure as to what genre we want to explore. The two of us came with a Pulp Sci-Fi concept and a Funny Animal Small Town Murder Conspiracy in the same brainstorming session. Plus we're still on the early look out for talent.

edited 13th Nov '17 2:43:48 AM by J.G.Crowne

I mean, I'm definitely not going to argue against more anthologies, given how many I back on Kickstarter. But you say that like there's a shortage of them, and there really isn't. There's a shortage of anthologies in the direct market. In LCS's. But there's a lot of anthologies out there. Fresh Romance is a thing. Iron Circus Comics publishes plenty of anthologies, including Smut Peddler. So, yeah, the world has lots, even if there's always room for more.

It's been a productive day. We've managed to make a short list of prospective artists we can approach wth the project, though we've yet to find any writers we would like to work with. Briefly the idea of using a broadsheet format of 14" x 20" was discussed. Very briefly. While nostalgic and all, we found it to be very unwieldy compared to the classic comic book format.

We've yet to find a single unifying genre or concept, but we did find a tone that could potentially work. At this point we're taking inspiration from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki with a desired demographic of 10+. Naturally, this is bound to change but again: start big and whittle down.

We think we may have even found a name. Thrillhouse!

edited 13th Nov '17 6:27:58 AM by J.G.Crowne

Good on you. I wish you luck.

I have a nostalgic love for the anthologies that birthed so many of the Golden and Silver Age rosters: early Action Comics and Detective Comics, All Star Comics, Tales to Astonish, Amazing Fantasy, Strange Tales ... Jesus, a man really could go on. Such honorable precedents. Best of luck!

Plus 2000 AD, Judge Dredd Megazine, The Beano, and Phoenix are still going strong, so there's definitely still a market. The success of Phoenix is particularly encouraging, since it launched this decade, has no ads, and appears to only be available via subscription.