Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology – A Kickstarter to celebrate comic shops… with comics. A brilliant idea for one of the vital parts of the comic medium.
Cover A by Veronica Fish
First of all, just to get this out of the way, this is Meanwhile, the US anthology one-off to support comic shops, has nothing to do with the Soaring Penguin anthology Meanwhile, the one featuring Strangehaven (this one I covered on its last Kickstarter).
Anyway, back to Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology.
Edited by Kevin Sharp and Ryan Higgins, it’s all about celebrating the comics and the shops that sell them.
And if you’re reading this, if you’re reading comics, there’s a damn good chance that you love comic shops. I know I do. I worked part and full-time in Nostalgia & Comics in the UK (now Worlds Apart Birmingham) for the best part of 19 years after starting at age 16. So yes, I love comic shops, absolutely love them. Although having said that, I love comic shops that love comics, love the medium, want to expand the medium. I’m not at all keen on comic shops where 90% of the stock is toys and I’m definitely not keen on the old-fashioned, dark and dirty, awful customer service, nothing but spandex and superheroes. But that’s not a conversation for here.
Cover B by Alison Sampson
So, where was I? Oh yes… Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology.
Like I said, it’s edited by Kevin Sharp and Ryan Higgins and it’s all about celebrating the comics and the shops that sell them.
To do this, they’ve assembled an 80-page b&w and colour anthology of short comics and pinups by a group of comic creatives with stories focusing on their times as both comic creators and comic buyers, comic consumers.
Inside Meanwhile they’re talking of a genuinely diverse anthology containing various genres. They talk of “superheroes, adventure, humor, horror, science fiction, manga, and some stories that defy easy categorization.”
Just a few of the writers and artists include Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Walko, Scott Kolins, Geoff Johns, Liana Kangas, Leonie O’Moore, Christian Ward, Scott Snyder, Jock, Jenn St-Onge, and Lucy Sullivan. And that’s a wide and varied list of creators, from all parts of comics – just as any good anthology, any good comic shop should have.
Here’s the pitch from the Kickstarter… it’s a good one…
‘The squeak of the spinner rack. The flip-flip-flip of fingers going through back issue bins. Expensive vintage books suspended inside their clear prisons. Wednesday Warriors gathered at the monolithic wall of new releases. A child’s excited query of “Can we please get this?” A debate at the front counter about who’s stronger, who’s faster.
Maybe there are T-shirts and toys and other collectibles; maybe this space is so filled by comics — in bins, boxes, stacks — that there aren’t three feet of room to spare for anything else. Maybe that wide-eyed new customer doesn’t buy anything today, but just wanders, remembering, for a few minutes, the joy of when they used to read those things.
These aisles contain magic.
Welcome to Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology.’
Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology is available in digital and physical copies with a choice of two covers that you’ve seen already by Veronica Fish and Alison Sampson.
As for what’s inside, here’s a sampling of it all…
Bill Walko art from a story by Brian Michael Bendis
Eva Cabrera art & story
Eranga D art & story
Art & story – Ashanti Fortson
Art by Rachel Distler, from a story by Dan Johnson
Art & story – Corinne Halbert
Art by Leann Hill, story by Ryan Higgins
Art by Scott Kolins, story by Geoff Johns
Art & story – Liana Kangas
Art & story – Ariela Kristantina
Art & story – Soo Lee
Story & art – Sarah Leuver
Story and art – Maria Llovet
Art & story – Leonie O’Moore
Art & story – Drew Rausch
Art & story – Kaylee Rowena
Art by Lane Terasaki, story by Brock Sager
Art by Michiums, story by Kevin Sharp
Art by John & Justin Grosjean, story by Toby Sidler
Art by Christian Ward, story by James Sime
Art & story by Jenn St-Onge
Art & story by Lucy Sullivan
Art & story by Jodi Tong
Art by Scott Larson, story by Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson
Art & story by Lynne Yoshii
Meanwhile… A Comic Shop Anthology – A Kickstarter to celebrate comic shops… with comics. A brilliant idea for one ofCOMICONRead More