Broken Frontier

In bringing on some extra help for my Caption Box imprint, I went looking for a solid, online primer to the various comic book companies and resources that currently make up the American industry. The person who volunteered to help was no stranger to comics, but a deeper understanding of the politics, the players, and the process was sought: Just some sort of starting point where a number of the major players could be gleaned all at once, and then pursued through their individual websites for whatever purpose.

And, while a number of defunct fan sites, massive URL lists, and unwieldy message board threads all arose to try and meet my request, nothing comprehensive was found. About.com was frenetic, ComicBookResources.com was fragmented, and the ICAA site was still fledgling. Few spoke about representative titles, the company’s age, its reach, and so forth.

The overview list I needed didn’t exist.

So, I’ve tried making one myself.

A few caveats: In terms of comic book companies, I limited myself to multi-title, multi-creator organizations. Sole proprietorships or creative “studios” were, for the moment, omitted.

Second, wherever possible, I let the company’s own boiler-plate copy speak for itself. That is, 90% of what follows comes from each company’s “About Us” section (or the equivalent thereof). Therefore, a sense for each establishment’s tone and style can also be gathered.

Lastly, I don’t consider this the end-all and be-all for a comic book industry resource. I’m certain that I’ve overlooked some businesses somewhere, and perhaps my bias will still come into play in certain measures. That’s the beauty of the Internet: It’s organic and evolving. So, I welcome suggestions of additional entries (or the correction of outright errors) via the Broken Frontier message board; take your outrage over my obvious snub/error/omission/ misrepresentation/oversight of [INSERT COMPANY/CATEGORY HERE] and put it to good use!

It’s not much of a column, I know. But, heck, sometimes we have to make sacrifices, folks. Woe and alas.

Enjoy.

PUBLISHING COMPANIES
DC Comics
Marvel Comics
Ait/PlanetLar 
Alternative Comics
Archie Comics
Checker Book Publishing Group
CrossGen Comics
Cyberosia Press
Dark Horse Comics
Digital Webbing Press
Drawn & Quarterly
Fantagraphics Books
Gemstone Publishing 
Hoarse & Buggy Productions
Humanoids Publishing
IDW Publishing 
Image Comics
Last Gasp
NBM Publishing
Oni Press
Penny-Farthing Press
Rorschach Entertainment
Silent Devil Entertainment
SLG Publishing
Tokyopop
Top Shelf Productions 

DISTRIBUTORS
Diamond Comics Distributors
FM International
Cold Cut Comics Distribution 

AWARDS
Eisners
Harveys
Ignatz Awards

SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS
ACTOR
CBLDF
ICAA
MoCCA
Xeric Foundation

 

PUBLISHING COMPANIES

DC Comics – www.DCcomics.com
Examples: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League of America (JLA)
DC Comics is one of the largest and most diverse publishers of comics and comics-related products today. DC is also one of the industry's most prolific publishers, producing more than eighty comics titles every month and close to one thousand titles per year. DC is also one of the oldest comics companies, with a continuous publishing history that spans over sixty years. DC Comics is owned by AOL/TimeWarner; until recently, DC Comics was partnered with European comic book and graphic novel companies 2000 A.D. and Humanoids Publishing.
Additional Brands: 
Vertigo
Vertigo was launched in 1993 as a venue for titles that push the boundaries of traditional comics aimed at the mature, literate reader. Examples: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Preacher, Hellblazer (aka Constantine)
WildStorm
Artist Jim Lee founded WildStorm in 1992, beginning as part of Image Comics; acquired by DC Comics in 1998. Examples: Warren Ellis’ Planetary, Alan Moore’s America’s Best Comics line (e.g. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tom Strong)

Marvel Comics – www.marvel.com
Examples: Spider-Man, X-Men, Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man
With a library of over 5,000 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused in four areas: entertainment (Marvel Studios), licensing, publishing and toys (Toy Biz). Marvel's characters and plot lines are created by its publishing division which continues to expand its leadership position in the U.S. and worldwide while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property.
Additional Brands: 
Marvel MAX
Mature readers line, mirroring the content of an r-rated film and targeted to adult readers. Examples: The Punisher, Supreme Power
Marvel Age/Marvel Adventures
All-ages line created especially for new and young readers. Examples: Power Pack
Ultimate Marvel
Designed to appeal to new readers who were intrigued by the movies and written so that it’s not necessary to know forty plus years of character history. Examples: Ultimate Spider-Man, The Ultimates (Avengers)
Marvel Knights
Existing within the Marvel Universe, but spotlight its darkest corners and grittiest characters. Examples: Daredevil, The Sentry
Icon
Creator-owned properties line. Examples: Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers, Dave Mack’s Kabuki

Ait/PlanetLar - http://www.ait-planetlar.com/
Examples: Channel Zero, Astronauts in Trouble, True Story, Swear to God
AiT/Planet Lar is a pop-culture company dedicated to bringing high-quality entertainment to the masses through the creation of original projects or producing works deserving of wider recognition. Currently the company is focused on producing Original Graphic Novels to be distributed through mass-market bookstores, Amazon.com, and specialty bookshops around the world.

Alternative Comics – www.indyworld.com
Examples: Peanutbutter & Jeremy, A Sort of Homecoming, Billy Dogma
Alternative Comics is a leader in the field of comic book publishing. Founded in 1993, Alternative Comics releases some of the most original and intelligent comic books and graphic novels created. Quite often some the best books are anthologies, collections of some of the best cartoonists working on short stories. Alternative Comics publishes and distributes some of the most unique and entertaining anthologies being created today.

Archie Comics – www.archiecomics.com
Examples: Jughead, Betty & Veronica
The Archie Comics line of comic books is one of the most successful, longest running lines in the history of the comic industry. ompared to other comic publishers whose audiences are primarily male, the comics of Archie Comics are read and enjoyed by males and females alike. With sales in excess of 850,000 copies per month, the comics of Archie Comics can be found at such diverse outlets as supermarket checkouts, bookstores and comic shops. With a pass-along readership of 6.7 per issue, the comics of Archie Comics are favorite reading of young people and young at heart adults. They are also published in nearly a dozen different foreign languages and distributed all over the world.

Checker Book Publishing Group – www.checkerbpg.com
Examples: Alan Moore’s Judgment Day, Supreme: The Return
Checker occupies a publishing niche which to date has gone largely unserviced. The large book publishing houses do not completely understand comics, and the majority of comics publishers are not well versed in the complexities of the book trade. With two Eisner-nominated series under our belt, our editorial focus should be clear. We endeavor to return high-quality comics series to print and bring them to a vast readership hungry for superior illustrated material in a convenient and permanent format.

Cross Generational Entertainment/CrossGen Comics [defunct] – www.crossgen.com
Examples: Ruse, Negation, Way of the Rat, Sigil, Sojourn
Before CrossGen folded in 2004, the ambitious American comic book publisher founded in 1998 by Mark Alessi managed to become one of the strongest third-party contenders in the comics industry.

Cyberosia Press – www.cyberosia.com
Examples: Revolving Hammer, Johnny Nemo
Cyberosia Publishing is an independent publisher of graphic novels and comics related books. Based in Massachusetts, Cyberosia is dedicated to producing high-quality works of fiction and non-fiction in a variety of genres.

Dark Horse Comics – www.darkhorse.com
Examples: Frank Miller’s Sin City, Hellboy, Star Wars, Aliens/Predator, Blade of the Immortal
By the mid-1980s, founder Mike Richardson had already established himself as a business leader in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area with the successful chain of retail comic-book shops he founded after graduating from college. For an industry that was already half a century old, there was very little innovation surfacing in the books he sold, and because of that, this medium that Richardson had loved since his youth was in danger of crumbling. Richardson knew that if he expected anything to change, he’d have to jump in and do it himself. In 1986, he invested profits from his chain of bookstores and with that money founded Dark Horse Comics. Soon Dark Horse was publishing some of the most popular and groundbreaking comics ever to hit the market. Today Dark Horse Comics is the fourth largest comic-book publisher in the U.S. and is recognized as the world's leading publisher of licensed comics material.

Digital Webbing Press – www.digitalwebbing.net/comics
Examples: Bloodrayne, Burn, Digital Webbing Presents
Created by Ed Dukeshire, Digital Webbing is the acclaimed source of comprehensive information on comic book-related websites. In addition to providing daily comic news and daily columns, DW is well known for its "talent engine" - matching writers with artists, both amateur and professional. The flagship title of Digital Webbing Press is Digital Webbing Presents, an anthology of stories by both aspiring and established creators. Acclaimed titles such as Shades of Blue, Freakshow and Thundergod have also been published under the Digital Webbing Press banner.

Drawn & Quarterly – www.drawnandquarterly.com
Examples: Optic Nerve, Berlin, Palookaville, Peepshow
With cartoonists that have been instrumental in defining the literary comics medium for the past twenty years and a willingness to experiment with formats and concepts, Drawn & Quarterly has become one of the most influential art and literary comics publishers in North America, if not the whole world. Fourteen years and 100 books ago, Chris Oliveros humbly went in search of artists to contribute to his yet-to-be-published magazine anthology named Drawn & Quarterly. After several anthologies, comic book series and graphic novels, an elite and varied roster of cartoonists that includes Adrian Tomine, Seth, Chester Brown, Joe Matt, Julie Doucet, James Sturm and Debbie Drechsler are considered to be the medium's best and synonymous with Drawn & Quarterly.

Fantagraphics Books – www.fantagraphics.com
Examples: Love and Rockets, Peter Bagge’s Hate, Jessica Abel’s Artbabe, Joe Sacco’s Palestine
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2001, Fantagraphics Books is the world's leading publisher of cutting-edge work by today's most popular alternative comic artists, as well as collections of work by the greatest of the underground comix artists and classic comic strips. Nowadays, the idea of producing a line of comics that would appeal to adults, that would treat comics as a serious means of expression on the level of film, theater, or literature is not exactly outlandish – but it was a lot more not so long ago, in 1976, when Fantagraphics Books was formed. The company was the brainchild of Gary Groth and Kim Thompson, two young entrepreneurs who began stirring up the comic-book world during the mid-to-late '70s with their independently-produced trade magazine of comics news and criticism, The Comics Journal. Like outspoken critics in any field, Groth and Thompson were often greeted with a barrage of "if you're so smart, why don't you publish comics yourself?" So they did.

Gemstone Publishing – www.gemstonepub.com
Examples: Uncle Scrooge, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
In June 2003 Gemstone Publishing, with the support of Disney Publishing, started to publish Disney comics again in the United States after an absence of several years since Gladstone stopped in 1999. Best known as the home of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, Gemstone Publishing was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi as a conduit for his efforts in preserving and promoting the history of the comics medium.

Hoarse & Buggy Productions – www.hoarseandbuggy.com
Examples: Elk’s Run, Western Tales of Terror
Hoarse and Buggy Productions was formed in 2004 by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Christopher Arundel as a catch-all for all of their creative ventures, including publishing, film-making, and animation.  In that short time, the company has grown to be one of the most talked about independent comic book publishers in the industry, with critical acclaim coming from Wizard, Variety, and virtually every comic book website.

Humanoids Publishing – www.humanoids-publishing.com
Examples: Metal Hurlant, I Am Legion, Metabarons
The books, comics and trade paperbacks from Humanoids Publishing feature groundbreaking comic art from the world’s finest creators, presented in remarkable high quality publications. Purchased in 1988 by entrepreneur Fabrice Giger, the company was already famous for Metal Hurlant, which inspired the creation of the American magazine Heavy Metal. Imaginative and sophisticated, Humanoids’ science-fiction and heroic fantasy stories are designed to be read and enjoyed by an audience older than that of a typical American comic book. North American audiences are only beginning to discover the outrageous thrills and thought-provoking fun contained in these products.

IDW Publishing – www.idwpublishing.com
Examples: 30 Days of Night, Sword of Dracula, Will Eisner’s John Law
IDW PUBLISHING is a division of Idea + Design Works, LLC, a revolutionary creative service company with a wide range of clients including The Upper Deck Company, Electronic Arts, Ultima Online, WizKids, Cartoon Network, Sony Online Entertainment, Nickelodeon, and many more. IDW Publishing focuses on a small number of high-quality titles. Among them are CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's 30 Days of Night; Ashley Wood's Lore; Beau Smith's Wynonna Earp; and Steve Niles’ Wake The Dead.

Image Comics – www.imagecomics.com
Examples: Savage Dragon, Liberty Meadows, Age of Bronze, PvP
Image is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by seven of Marvel Comics' best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become the third largest comics publisher in the United States. Image Comics was originally founded by seven artists: Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Of those seven founders, only six opted to become full partners: Larsen, Lee, Liefeld, McFarlane, Silvestri, and Valentino. There are currently four partners in Image Comics: Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Image is currently divided into three major houses: TMP - Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow, and Image Central.
Additional Brands: 
Todd McFarlane Productions (www.spawn.com)
Todd McFarlane Productions is the company behind the monthly comic book Spawn created by Todd McFarlane and debuted in May 1992. Currently, TMP releases three comic books, the long-running Spawn monthly comic, now in its tenth year.
Top Cow (www.topcow.com)
Founded by Marc Silvestri, a 17-year comic book veteran, CA-based Top Cow publishes eight separate titles created by a whole slew of mega-talented individuals, all obsessed with putting out the coolest comic books and product on the market. Examples: Rising Stars, Tomb Raider, City of Heroes

Last Gasp – www.lastgasp.com
Last Gasp is one of the largest and oldest publishers and purveyors of underground comic books in the world, as well as being a distributor of all sorts of weird 'n' wonderful subversive literature, graphic novels, tattoo and art books. After some ups and downs (at one point the company almost dissolved!) Last Gasp began to grow into a successful and innovative publishing and distribution company. Over the years they have continued to publish, and in some cases bring to light some of the most respected and talented artists working today, including such luminaries as R. Crumb, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Frank Kozik, Todd Schorr, Winston Smith, Spain, and Robert Williams to name but a few. 

Nantier Beall Minoustchine (NBM) Publishing, Inc. – www.nbmpub.com
Examples: Will Eisner’s The Last Knight, CryptoZoo, Dungeon
From humble beginnings, NBM has grown to become the second largest indie comics press after Fantagraphics with close to $3MM in yearly retail sales on over 200,000 graphic novels sold a year plus tens of thousands of comic books and magazines. Founded in 1976 by publisher Terry Nantier while still studying at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications, NBM (at the time, Flying Buttress Publications) was among the very first to bring the concept of graphic novels over to these shores. Ironically considered an 'alternative' publisher in comics simply because it does not publish superheroes, NBM is in fact a general interest publisher in its field. Uninterested in "niches", outre margins or otherwise alienated side voices which appeal to just as narrow an audience of fans as superheroes, NBM has always sought as wide an audience as any good novel or movie may reach.

Oni Press – www.onipress.com
Examples: Queen & Country, The Adventures of Barry Ween, Jingle Belle
Started in 1997 by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack, Oni Press first published Badboy by Simon Bisley and Frank Miller with the goal of being an entirely creator-owned company. In addition to their licensed Kevin Smith books, Oni has featured the works of Brian Michael Bendis and Judd Winick as well as the action-espionage writing of Greg Rucka.

Penny-Farthing Press – www.pfpress.com
Examples: The Victorian, Captain Gravity
Penny-Farthing Press officially opened its doors in 1998 with a small staff and a plan to create comic books and children's books that exemplified quality storytelling, artwork, and printing. Starting with only one book, The Victorian, Penny-Farthing Press has expanded its line to six titles, but keeps its yearly output small enough to maintain the highest quality.

Rorschach Entertainment – www.rorschachentertainment.com
Examples: Lucifer Fawkes, Gravedigger, Industriacide
Rorschach Entertainment is a Seattle area based company that was officially started up in late 1999 as a label for artist James Taylor to use as creative outlet for his prints and comic book creations. RE quickly morphed into a broader spectrum, covering all areas of entertainment not limited to just creations by James Taylor. In late 2000, RE launched The Small Press Magazine, which was an e-zine dedicated to the coverage of independent comic books and their creators. SPM ran for almost two years before coming to a stop, and before the end of SPM, Rorschach Entertainment began gearing up to enter the comic book market as a publisher which finally came to fruition in late 2003 with the release of Sprecken: The Destiny Dance.

Silent Devil Entertainment – www.silentdevil.com
Examples: Silent Forest, Dracula vs. King Arthur, Out of Sequence
Silent Devil was formed in 1996. A multi-media entertainment company, SD produces a wide-range of products, from comics and related merchandise to music and film. This year Silent Devil is publishing two new series, Dracula vs. King Arthur and Runes of Ragnan. Later this fall SD will release the one-shot graphic novel Ja-Tan: Blood and Bones and hip-hop artist Johnny Def’s debut album.

SLG Publishing/Slave Labor Graphics – www.slavelabor.com
Examples: Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Farewell Georgia, Street Angel
SLG Publishing was conceived of and founded by Dan Vado in 1986 when he had the sudden realization that comics were merely "paper, ink, and staples." We will overlook the fact that this epiphany arrived after many years in the comics business, including two retail stores (separated by five years, but miraculously in the same location) and organizing several conventions. Now with a whole host of talented folks, we have published dozens of titles by many extremely talented creators, only a few of which have gotten the attention they deserve.

Tokyopop – www.tokyopop.com
Examples: Cowboy Bebop, Love Hina, Mobile Suit Gundam
“Leading the Manga Revolution.” TOKYOPOP is the leading North American publisher of manga, the fastest growing segment within the publishing industry. With exclusive rights to hundreds of licensed and original book, video and music properties, the company has rapidly become a media convergence leader.

Top Shelf Productions – www.topshelf.com
Examples: Blankets, Three Fingers, From Hell, Monkey vs. Robot
Since 1997, Top Shelf Productions has been producing a wide range of craft comics that appeal to today’s connoisseurs of superb narrative art. Not content to simply appeal to elitist snobs, our readers come from of all walks of life. This is not a boys club. Girls are most certainly welcome. Ours are Comics for The People.

DISTRIBUTORS

Diamond Comics Distributors – www.diamondcomics.com
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. was established in 1982 to provide comic book specialty retailers with wholesale, non-returnable comic books and related merchandise.
After more than 20 years of service, Diamond has emerged as the world's largest distributor of English-language comics and related merchandise, with a network of strategically-located Distribution Centers throughout the world.

FM International – www.fminternet.com
FM International, Inc. is the second largest distributor of comic books and related material in the United States. They are always looking for new product to offer our retailer base, be it comics, books, toys, videos, or something completely new. Since FM pre-sells everything they offer, they offer books three months in advance of the release date.

Cold Cut Comics Distribution – www.coldcut.com
Cold Cut Distribution is the industry's leading reorder distributor for quality independent comics. Cold Cut has been servicing retailers across the country and internationally since 1994 and growing every year, both in terms of the number of stores which use our services and the number of publishers and books we carry. No other reorder distributor matches our wide selection and in-depth stock, and nobody matches our flow of information and reviews on independent titles. We currently mail our main catalogs to well over 500 stores, and service regular orders from around 300. While advance distributors focus on advance orders and treat reorders as secondary, or offer "instant reorders" for only a limited selection of mainly-mainstream trade paperbacks, we at Cold Cut put our energy into focusing on what we do best - getting reorders on copies of quality independents into stores where they can sell!

AWARDS

The Eisner Awards - www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml
The Eisner Awards are named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of "The Spirit" and several award-winning graphic novels), given out in more than two dozen categories covering the best publications and creators of the previous year (such as Best Short Story, Best Graphic Album, Best Writer, and so on). The finalists on the ballot are selected by a blue- ribbon committee that considers thousands of entries submitted by publishers and creators. The nominees are then voted on by all parts of the comic book industry: writers, artists, and other creators; publishers; editors; and retailers and distributors. Established in 1987, the Eisners came under the auspices of the San Diego Comic Convention, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, in 1990. The Awards Administrator is Jackie Estrada. The awards program has been funded by contributions from distributors, retailers, media companies, and such industry suppliers as major printers of comics.

The Harvey Awards – www.harveyawards.org
The Harvey Awards are one of the comic book industry's oldest and most respected awards. The Harveys recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories, ranging from Best Artist to the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. They are the only industry awards both nominated by and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Beginning in 1988 at the Chicago Comic-Con, the Harveys permanently joined the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in New York City in 1993. The Harvey Awards Gala is the capstone of MoCCA's Annual Art Festival Weekend and a much anticipated evening for comic book creators and publishers worldwide. The Harvey Awards are presented annually to those creators and publications that receive the most votes from their peers in the comics industry.

Ignatz Awards – www.spxpo.com/ignatz.shtml
The Ignatz is a festival prize awarded at the Small Press Expo (SPX) to recognize outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. A panel of five cartoonists develop the ballot, which is then voted on by SPX attendees.

SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

A Commitment To Our Roots (ACTOR) - www.actorcomicfund.org
ACTOR, A Commitment To Our Roots, is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need.
ACTOR creates a financial safety net for yesterday’s creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and entrée back into paying work. ACTOR exists because many Golden Age or Silver Age creators toiled in comics’ earlier days for low pay and with a nonexistent pension plan.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) – www.cbldf.org
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was officially incorporated as a non-profit charitable organization in January of 1990 from the money left over from donations raised to defend Friendly Frank's arrest for selling "obscene comics" in Lansing, IL in 1986. Since then, the CBLDF has helped over a dozen comic book retailers and professionals fend off the censors, some successfully, some not. In recent years, police and prosecutors around the country have decided to crack down on comics. For cartoonists and their readers, it's a dire threat. The work accused of being allegedly "harmful to adults" includes comics by the best cartoonists of our time: Robert Crumb, Frank Thorne, Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez, Reed Waller, and many others.

International Comic Arts Association (ICAA) – www.comicarts.org
The International Comic Arts Association (ICAA) is the comic industry’s first official, large-scale, US based trade organization and promotional board serving the entire industry. This non-profit organization’s primary purpose is to help support, promote, and strengthen the comic industry, its products and professionals. The ICAA’s efforts are focused on enhancing and improving the comic book industry, and increasing the reader and consumer base through a variety of innovative programs and projects. After over five years of planning and development, the organization became officially incorporated in March 2003 and is currently securing its status as a tax-exempt, non-profit trade organization under Section 501(c)(6)of the Internal Revenue Code.

Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art (MoCCA) – www.moccany.org
The purpose of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is the collection, preservation, study, education, and display of comic and cartoon art. Every genre of the art will be represented: animation, anime, cartoons, comic books, comic strips, gag cartoons, humorous illustration, illustration, political illustration, editorial cartoons, caricature, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and computer-generated art. We want to emphasize the universality of the medium in all its forms, not just in terms of content and subject matter, but in the simple fact that all peoples around the world have told stories through pictures in almost every period of human history. Comic and cartoon art are ways in which humans reintroduce themselves to the world, and vice-versa. We would be doing a disservice to the medium we love if we were any less universal or inclusive.

National Association of Comic Art Educators (NACAE) – www.nacae.org
The National Association of Comic Art Educators is an organization committed to helping facilitate the teaching of comics in higher education. The increasing numbers of young artists who have chosen comics as their medium of expression continues to grow rapidly. Colleges and universities have been slow to acknowledge and engage these students.While most schools still hold antiquated notions of what comics are, a growing number of colleges have started offering programs and classes in comics (or sequential art, as it is often referred to). The NACAE's website objective is to be a resource where the growing number of educators in comic art/sequential art can get and share ideas. I also hope that educators who work in other disciplines can use comics as a way of furthering their own objectives.

Xeric Foundation – www.xericfoundation.org
The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation established by Peter A. Laird, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Planet Racers. The Foundation offers financial assistance to fully committed, self-publishing comic book creators and qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The geographical consideration for comic book artists is the United States and Canada. Charitable and nonprofit organizations must be located in Western Massachusetts.