Broken Frontier

Late last year while reading through the Narwain Preview, I became captivated by a company seeking to do things differently. As a new entrant into the comic book market, Narwain set itself impressive goals and sought to deliver a unique and diverse comic reading experience, with tales told by established and breakthrough creators.

I caught up with Mauro Di Pede, the company’s publisher, to talk about comics from an international perspective …

Jason Berek-Lewis: Mauro, welcome to Broken Frontier. Narwain launched in 2005 with a diverse range of titles from Free Fall, to Jenna, to Wall After Wall. How has the company’s arrival been received by fans?

Mauro Di Pede: Narwain has been well received by fans. Even yet, we still know it’s an uphill battle to attract more readers. We're one of the newest publishers in the US market, and we’ll have to work hard to get more attention from fans, but we are happy they liked our first titles. This is very important to us: don't forget that we Italian like to be friendly people, and we’re hoping the feeling is mutual with fans and retailers as well. Without them supporting us, we won't go anywhere! And we have to keep faith to our motto “readers' satisfaction is our mission”

What is your view on the current state of the comics industry, and how did this impact on your decision to launch Narwain?

The comics industry is a highly competitive one, and it's definitely not easy for a new publisher. Narwain is a company owned by a big Italian printing group, which has experience publishing books. Some of our people already had friends in the comics industry, and we decided to found and launch Narwain. This is a big challenge, but fans' support and faith give us the willingness and the strength to believe we can have a place in this industry.

How has Narwain sought to break through the noise and catch the attention of fans?

First of all we wanted to focus on the quality of our comic books. We started publishing titles written by young talented writers, for example Gianluca Piredda with Free Fall, Dario Maria Gulli with Wall After Wall. Now we are proud to work with artists such as Billy Tucci, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Dick Giordano.

This year, we'll start exhibiting at the conventions in the US too: we'll be attending the NY Comic Con in February, and we hope to meet and personally thank all those fans who trusted Narwain since the beginning.

And we’re happy to say that we’ll be participating in “Free Comic Book Day”. We think it’s a great tradition in the U.S. to spread the love for comics this way. Our book will contain an unpublished story by Benn Dunn from our sci-fi anthology and also a new story from our funny animal book Bluff.

What sort of fans do you think will be attracted to books from Narwain?

Narwain wants to be a publishing company for all and for the few. The wide genre of books we'll be publishing will attract different groups of fans. We hope to satisfy their wishes and preferences. We don't want to have a precise target, and that' s why we'll be publishing different genre and kind of books: from horror to sci-fi, to superheroes, to comics for children as well as for mature readers.

Tell me about some of your titles and what makes them stand out on the spinner racks.

As I mentioned, Free Fall has been well received. It’s a crime thriller and, while we’ve seen that genre making a steady comeback in comics over recent years, we’re very happy to have this as our entry into it.

Rash is a very cool science fiction/action book with a very modern art style, and we’re quite proud of that.

There’s a charming, all-ages book called Bluff about a family dog finding his way in the world.

Look for Neptune to be an epic fantasy from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, who have really come into their own as writers of American comics in recent years.

Zombie-Sama is terrific fun too. That one is from Billy Tucci, and it’s a horror/action book with lots of crazy humor in it too.

And we’re also committed to anthologies like Bryan Yuzna’s Horrorama and Tales from a Forgotten Planet, which let us put the spotlight on comics creators from all over the world.

What types of books are Narwain intent on publishing? Your original offerings range from horror, to drama, to crime, to superheroes. Are you intending to remain diverse in your output?

Yes, for sure. Narwain will continue offering different products, even if horror seems to be our art director's favorite genre...

You have attracted a range of established and new creators to Narwain. Who are some of the people you are working with to bring these books to life?

Billy Tucci, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, who I previously mentioned. We’ve got Jim Fern and Joe Rubinstein working on Jenna. Dick Giordano will be the penciler for Hollywood Noir. The young talented Eric J on Free Fall. Andy Kuhn, Ben Dunn, Christopher Long, Shannon Denton, Rob Worley and Amber Greenlee are all contributing to our sci-fi anthology Tales from a Forgotten Planet.

You are working with creators from across the world. Is it time for comics to become a more global, rather than American-focused, industry? What different perspectives do creators in Europe and Asia bring to comics? How is Narwain using this to differentiate itself in the market?

Our aim is to create comics where the diverse experiences and cultures give a new resonance or energy. Narwain is simultaneously publishing our titles in various places on the worldwide market, so we thought it was a good idea to give our comics a more international aspect. We are working with creators coming from USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, UK…and we are open to consider any artist coming from different countries.

It is not a simple thing to have creators of different nationaliesy working on the same project. They have different visions and needs...but we all speak the same language: the language of comics. I consider comics as a part of arts, and arts must be global.

How can people find out more about Narwain Publishing?

By visiting our web site or by emailing us through the form provided on the site. Our marketing office will be happy to answer all their questions.

Again, I invite all those who will able to to visit us at booth 110 at the NY Comic Con, where they will meet some of our creators too.

And to keep surfing Broken Frontier! Thanks for this opportunity!

Thanks for your time!

 

Here are some samples from Narwain's incredible line-up: