Jeff Smith on self publishing in the 90s .....

Over at Jeff Smith's blog, the creator of Bone is setting forth on a series of posts and guest features about the spectacular rise in self publishing that happened way back in the mid 90s.
This holds a special place in my heart as every single one of the books he talks about were championed and beloved by us at Nostalgia & Comics.
It was an incredible time in comics, with seemingly endless possibilities every month, not from the big publishers of the time but from individuals, all producing some incredibly thought provoking and innovative work.

Jeff Smith's Bone, Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil, Larry Marder and Beanworld, James Owen's Starchild, Martin Wagner and Hepcats, and many, many more. All, of course, following the lead of Dave Sim, who had been doing this self publishing thing for years.

It's perhaps one of the great sadnesses of recent years that Sim is remembered far more for his radical (and often upsetting and incendiary) views than he is for his artistry. Cerebus remains one of the greatest achievements in Western comics so far and should be remembered as such.
For a much greater (and better) explaination of the Dave Sim problem see the post entitled Dave Sim; The Song, not the Singer by Andrew Hickey.


Rick Veitch part 1, part 2.
Larry Marder guest blog - part 1, part 2.
Joshua Smeaton guest blog.
Colleen Doran guest blog part 1, part 2.
Colleen Doran's letter from Dave Sim inviting her onboard the SP tourbus.
Jeff Smith on self publishing