Once upon a time, Jeff Mason–the founding ringleader at Alternative Comics–had the foresight to send a big box of the otherwise now-hard-to-find Free Comic Book Day Alternative Comics anthologies from 2003-2005 to Ricko from Poopsheet. Many years later, what is left of those has made their way to Alternative Comics new home here in Cupertino. We are very grateful to Rick for holding onto these. Found in the inside back cover of the third issue was the full color gem you see above by James Kochalka promoting his seminal The Cute Manifesto. When Alternative Comics relaunched in 2012, the Cute Manifesto was the clear choice out of the back catalog of books to offer again to the world. I like to think some sort of a statement was being made.
In the meanwhile, it has been announced that the Alternative Comics anthology title has been relaunched as a bi-annual title–many of the old contributors are involved, and there are also many fresh faces. Alternative Comics #4 is in this month’s Diamond Previews [APR130765]. We urge you to order many copies of it. The book will also be available from Last Gasp and here at Wow Cool.
The new title that Alternative Comics relaunched with last year was Ted May’s Injury #4. It was a funny sort of co-publishing arrangement. The book had previously been with the defunct Buenaventura Press for the first three issues. The fourth one was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. I basically begged Ted May to print twice and many as he had planned, and to let Alternative distribute and promote the book to a larger audience. To the surprise and joy of all of us, the lead story in that issue: “A Birdsong Shatters the Still,” by Jeff Wilson and Ted May was announced as a nominee for the best short story in the 2013 Eisner Awards yesterday.
All I can say is thank you. Maybe this mad journey back into comics makes some sense after all.
