publishing – Lucha Comics

I love comic books – they constantly amaze me, and take me to new and impossible worlds. Now I’d like to tell you about why I had to launch a comic book publisher. Yes, why. Sure it’s enough to love something, to turn it into an expensive hobby, and let it consume a lot of your free time. But it takes a special kind of crazy to look at juggernauts like Marvel and DC and think to yourself “how hard can it be?”. Well, here are just a few reasons (and I am sure that I can think of so many more).

1. Marvel and DC aren’t all that I want

While I am more of a DC guy, I certainly enjoy a lot of Marvel stuff. I grew up with batman as my favourite, but have always enjoyed Punisher, Alpha Flight, and most recently Hawkeye. While the Big 2 put out some of the best comic books in the world, they sometimes aren’t enough to satisfy me as a reader. Imagine going to a movie theater, and only being able to watch Die Hard or its knockoffs. Things would get boring quick, wouldn’t they?

2. Image, BOOM! and others are awesome

Image Comics is awesome. I love The Walking Dead, (and did before it was so mainstream!), read many early Image Titles, and enjoy some of the quirky stuff that they put out. I really enjoy Mind the Gap, Chew, Morning Glories and more.

When it comes to BOOM!, Mark Waid’s brilliant Irredeemable is still one of my all-time favourites, and I was completely blown away by Suicide Risk. BOOM! just makes really good comics.

So, what does this have to do with me? These creative studios have proven that the industry has matured, wants more variety, and that ultimately the market will reward those with a quality product – even if it isn’t wrapped in capes and tights.

3. There are many great stories that deserve to be told

Digital comics have revolutionized the industry, and made it accessible to a great deal of talented people. 20 years ago, there are books that would have been impossible to read – no kickstarter, no iPads, and no real way to get into comic book shops without a massibe budget. Now, I can bring fellow comic book lovers hidden gems like The Kursk, or never before available in English graphic novels like Boom. I can reach out to those that miss Westerns, and War books, or have just had enough of The Avengers or Batman. All of this is due to the fact that digital has lowered costs and barriers to entry, and there are markets, like ComiXology, to discover new books. These all point to new, incredible reads that make comic books fun and new, all over again.

This is just a little bit of insight as to why I jumped into a fun, crazy and exciting industry. I am determined to make a real go of this, and turn Lucha Comics into a viable publisher that brings you awesome comic books that you won’t get anywhere else. Be sure to follow @LuchaComics, and if you know of a comic book that we should add to our catalog, get in touch!

So, how did I launch a Comic Book Publisher?

If you read my last blog post, you’ve basically surmised that someone who reads lots of comics and can’t draw worth anything has decided to enter the business. Yeah, seriously. So, I have the ambition, some business background and tons and TONS of comics in my basement that my wife keeps threatening to get rid of, or worse yet, put into the hands of two toddlers. I’m sure that’s exactly who Stan Lee and Bob Kane got their starts.

To be fair, she has been quite supportive, but as a young family with a limited budget, I decided that if I really wanted to do this, I was going to make some sacrifices to get this thing going. This meant it was time to go into the basement and sell some of my coveted Walking Dead books. I’ve told myself that if I make a go of this thing, I’m going on eBay and buying myself a nice copy of a #1, even if I pay some ridiculously inflated price. Anyway, without any further ado, here are the sacrificial lambs that made Lucha Comics a reality:

Sacrifice #1: The Walking Dead #10 & #11

I picked these up off of eBay awhile ago. I made a bit of money off of them, but not a ton. While profit is nice, I told myself if I can turn some books into cash, it can help me to get things going. Parting with these hurt a bit, but not as bad as the next one…

Sacrifice #2: The Walking Dead #27

I’m not going to lie – this one hurt (Especially since I scored this at a local shop’s back issue bin for cover price less than 2 years ago – this was an absolute STEAL). Yes, besides The Walking Dead 1 and 19, this has got to be the most sought after issue. Before this, the world knew not of how awesome and sadistic the Governor was. Despite the fact that I have more valuable comics in my collection, this was probably one of the hottest books that I had. Letting it go wasn’t easy, but I had a goal to reach, and while I could have saved over a few paycheques to make this happen, I really wanted to see if my comic book collection could spawn a comic book business.

Other Sacrifices:

Other sacrifices included The Walking Dead #20, #42, #61,63, #85-91 and the variant of #75, and some DC New 52 stuff. So, what did this leave me with?

Enough funds to get my friend Emilio (the most talented visualizer I have ever met) to come up with an awesome logo for my brand, and a new website design that will be rolling out here soon. It also covered some web hosting costs, and, in case if I ever learn to draw or can find an intern, a Bamboo tablet. While this doesn’t sound like much, it’s more then enough to get me going. Now I just need to finalize some content deals and get some cool stuff out there…