Comics News Sites & Blogs
Books about Comics, Making Comics and Reading Comics
Annual Conventions & Events
Other Comics Creator Groups
Comics Libraries & Museums
Publishers
Printers
Comics News Sites & Blogs
TopBooks about Comics, Making Comics and Reading Comics
- Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
- Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden
- Mastering Comics by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden
- Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis
- Making Comics by Scott McCloud
- Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner
- Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner
- 99 Ways to Tell a Story by Matt Madden
- Foundations in Comic Book Art by John Paul Lowe
Annual Conventions & Events
Top
Other Comics Creator Groups
- 7000 B.C. (Santa Fe, NM)
- Austin Sketch Group (TX)
- Boston Comics Roundtable (MA)
- Cartoonist Conspiracy
- Cartoonists Northwest (Seattle, WA)
- Houston Area Comics Society (TX)
- Kansas City Comix Scene (MO)
- Lexington Comic Creators Group (KY)
- Nashville Comic Creators Group (TN)
- North Carolina WebComics Coffee Clatch
- PANEL (Columbus, OH)
- Trees & Hills (VT, NH & MA)
Comics Libraries & Museums
- Cartoon Art Museum
- Charles M. Schulz Museum
- Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center
- Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
- OSU Cartoon Research Library
- The National Cartoon Museum
- University of Florida Comics Studies
- Words & Pictures Museum
Publishers
- 12 Gauge Comics
- AiT/Planetlar
- Antarctic Press
- Alternative Comics
- Archie Comics
- BOOM! Studios
- Cellar Door Publishing
- Chaos Comics
- Claypool Comics
- Dark Horse Comics
- DC Comics
- Devil's Due
- Diamond Distributors
- Digital Webbing
- Drawn and Quarterly
- Dynamic Forces
- Fantagraphics Books
- Gemstone
- Graphitti
- IDW Publishing
- Image Comics
- Dennis Kitchen Publishing
- Komikwerks
- Magnetic Press
- Markosia
- Marvel Comics
- NBM Graphic Novels
- Oni Press
- Penny Farthing Press
- Silent Devil
- Slave Labor Graphics
- TokyoPop
- Top Shelf
- TwoMorrows Publishing
- Viper Comics
- Viz Communications
Printers
For the purposes of this list, there are three types of comics printers: offset printers, digital printers, and print-on-demand printers. Both offset printers and digital printers print a pre-determined number of your books, after which you try to sell the books. Offset printers have certain fixed costs, and (in my experience) they make sense only for print runs over about 500 copies. Digital printers use inkjet or laser printers; they have no minimum print runs.Print-on-demand printers use digital printing technology, but they print only one book at a time, every time you make a sale. They're a boon to truly small-press creators. The quality is usually indistinguishable from larger printers, and the per-unit costs are entirely reasonable.
When getting a price quote from a regular printer, email them (or fill out an online form) with the specs of your book: number of pages, size of pages, number of copies you want printed, weight of paper for both cover and interior, how many colors for both cover and interior (from black-and-white to four-color CMYK). They will get back to you with a quote. Factor in both tax and shipping into your costs. For people who are upping their game to go nationwide, I note the printers who have a pick-up deal with Diamond Distributors. :P
As far as I know, all these printers can do both saddle-stitch (stapled) comics and perfect-bound trade paperbacks.
- Litho Ninja: Comics printer based in Columbus!
- Brenner Printing: Long-term reputation, especially for small-press comics. Based in Texas. Diamond Distributors pick up from the print shop.
- Imprimerie Lebonfon: Prints most of the color comics in North America. Based in Quebec.
- Morgan Printing
- American Color Graphics: Diamond Distributors pick up from the print shop.
- Ka-Blam Printing: Small-run digital printer.
- Lulu.com: Print-on-demand printer. Has their own storefront too.
- ComiXpress: Print-on-demand printer.
- Lightning Source: Print-on-demand printer in Tennessee. Travis printed Amiculus through them.
