internetcomics.net

Some Pretty Cool Stuff is Happening
for Comics and Web comics.

Keep your eyes open for 4 lights Media, Small Batch Comics, and Premier Pulp.
I’ll start off with the simplest one first. There’s not much else on their site just yet, but their ideas and ideology fit right up there with mine. I like the fact that they mention compensation for the creatives and are looking to do a print version of the mag.

4 lights Media

Web and Print
This is taken right from their site/page:

Four Lights Media Group (known as “Four Lights Media” or “4LM”) is a twenty first century publishing and marketing group focused on bringing the best original comics and web content to the world. Our mission is to provide both the venues and framework needed to develop and distribute creative content successfully. Our goal is to help writers and artists produce the best work possible, while earning them the compensation, recognition, and audience that they rightfully deserve.

Online, we provide a platform for sharing the best articles and reviews focusing on independent, non-traditional, and small-press media – works which might otherwise be missed by the popular media. By bringing together the best journalists, writers, artists, and creators, we hope to become the online source for news and reviews of comics, magna, anime, toys, indie music, tabletop and video games, art, online media, conventions, and anything else that keeps nerds like us up at night, as well as a world-class (but home-grown) publisher of original print, web, and animated comics.

For too long, the best comics, web content, and other media have been ignored or marginalized – creators have been forced to choose between forging their own lonely paths with little hope of reaching their intended audience or subjecting themselves to the whims of companies who put profit before passion and see creators as indentured servants. We aim to fix that. By offering fair agreements, top-shelf-marketing, and second-to-none production and editorial services, we want to find, develop, and publish the best comics and content under the same terms we’d want for ourselves.

So there you have it for 4 Lights Media. I can’t wait to see what they’ve got coming up. I’ll have my eyes open and so should you.

Small Batch Comics

A Non- Profit Comic Book Label Treating Creators with Respect
Web and Print

From what I can see they’ve got 8 projects/comics slated to appear in their 1st anthology comic due out in summer 2012.
Again I like their ideas and ideology

The art and stories vary so there’s sure to be something for everyone. I checked out some of their projects and from what I can see it’s sure to be entertaining.The content is all creator owned and Small Batch is promoting new and upcoming writers and artists. I hope they don’t stick to just publishing first time creators because I’d like to see the growth of some of the creative teams and if the content is good, it will bring people back. So a section for first timers would be cool until a second mag can appear. One for returning creatives and one for new. Just my 2 cents on that.
Small Batch has got an indiegogo page and if you can, drop by and give them some support. No disrespect meant and this is nothing but constructive criticism, but the video is a little ill conceived and it could be a lot more interesting, creative, and professional. Which is something to consider when you’re asking for money. Don’t hold it against them though, stop by and help them out and you’ll be helping out new creators and actually participating in the new future of comics at the same time. Really looking forward to your 1st issue guys.

Premier Pulp

Collaborative Comics Anthology Magazine
Web

A place for new talent to get read and discovered. They didn’t mention any possibility of comp for the creators, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any. I was just to lazy to dig around past what was on their pages.

I downloaded and read issue 2 of Premier Pulp. What can i say, for the most part it was awesome. There were 10 diversified comics in issue 2. The comics ranged from ninjas, to a gingerbread man with attitude, to a displaced demon, not to mention a few other things you’ll find out by reading. This just goes to show there’s talent out there and it’s starting to find a home. Did I think everything was great? No. Some of the art was so so but some of it was great. For just starting out that’s pretty damn good. I’ve had similar feelings about magazines like Mad from back in the day when it was really diversified. Out of the 10 stories I liked 8 and thought 2 were outstanding. The best was The Flower in the Ashes a great read and has great art. The only thing that bugged me about it was it could have used a little more whitespace around the word balloons. Other than that, spot on. I’m going to download issue one and give it a read and look forward to issue 3 due out in August. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go do it now. Well worth you’re time and tell your friends about this great anthology comic.

Comics are on their way back my friends and you’ll actually
be able to afford to read them!
That being said, if you enjoy whatever it is your reading, donate to the cause. I can tell you first hand it takes a lot of hard work to produce comics. So if you can, donate in some small way, you’ll have grateful creators and the content you love will keep on coming.
This stuff is to good not to help support. Money, word of mouth, whatever it takes. Since I’m flat out broke, this is my contribution. What’s yours?

Jim Reed
Founder, Writer/Artist, Web and Graphic Designer
Internet Comics Network