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rynlingI thought it might be good to share some notes for a conference presentation I'm giving in May. The topic is indie comics publishing in the 2010s, and this is the basic outline of what I'll be talking about.
How did the business of publishing comics change during the widespread popularization of social media during the 2010s? This paper examines three case studies of popular and award-winning independent artists within the context of North American cultures of online marketing, in-person comics conventions, and physical book printing and distribution.
I will outline the decade-spanning careers of Yuko Ota, Abby Howard, and Reimena Yee, all of whom are connected to the Small Press Expo indie comics event in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. I argue that contemporary independent comics publishing is tied to the affective economies of fandom, especially fandoms surrounding anime, manga, and video games. Through online fandom, East Asian subcultures of independent comics publishing entered North American media conventions, thus providing a viable alternative to both traditional mainstream distribution and countercultural zine making.
Many independent comic artists who launched their careers in the 2010s were successful due to the support of fannish social networks on Tumblr, which partially moved to Twitter toward the end of the decade. To anyone who has participated in fandom during the past several years, this statement is so self-evident that it hardly seems like an argument at all. Time flows like a river, however, and I believe that this cultural moment has passed. I therefore want to preserve the specifics of this common experience instead of taking it for granted.
Before outlining the three case studies, I’d like to give a broad introduction to the online media fandom platforms of the 2010s, as well as how these platforms enabled the emergence of a cohort of artists who chose to self-publish their comics instead of seeking contracts with big-press comics publishers or animation studios. I’ll close by describing the cultural shifts that resulted in the fragmentation of online fandom cultures and the decline of associated indie comics publishing. By way of conclusion, I’ll offer a few observations on the emerging publishing cultures of the 2020s, during which many comics artists have turned to small-studio video game development.
How did the business of publishing comics change during the widespread popularization of social media during the 2010s? This paper examines three case studies of popular and award-winning independent artists within the context of North American cultures of online marketing, in-person comics conventions, and physical book printing and distribution.
I will outline the decade-spanning careers of Yuko Ota, Abby Howard, and Reimena Yee, all of whom are connected to the Small Press Expo indie comics event in the Washington DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. I argue that contemporary independent comics publishing is tied to the affective economies of fandom, especially fandoms surrounding anime, manga, and video games. Through online fandom, East Asian subcultures of independent comics publishing entered North American media conventions, thus providing a viable alternative to both traditional mainstream distribution and countercultural zine making.
Many independent comic artists who launched their careers in the 2010s were successful due to the support of fannish social networks on Tumblr, which partially moved to Twitter toward the end of the decade. To anyone who has participated in fandom during the past several years, this statement is so self-evident that it hardly seems like an argument at all. Time flows like a river, however, and I believe that this cultural moment has passed. I therefore want to preserve the specifics of this common experience instead of taking it for granted.
Before outlining the three case studies, I’d like to give a broad introduction to the online media fandom platforms of the 2010s, as well as how these platforms enabled the emergence of a cohort of artists who chose to self-publish their comics instead of seeking contracts with big-press comics publishers or animation studios. I’ll close by describing the cultural shifts that resulted in the fragmentation of online fandom cultures and the decline of associated indie comics publishing. By way of conclusion, I’ll offer a few observations on the emerging publishing cultures of the 2020s, during which many comics artists have turned to small-studio video game development.
