Broken Frontier

Oni Press is pleased to announce that despite a significant overprint, Brian Wood’s LOCAL #1 has sold out, and will be reprinted in March, with a new cover by series artist Ryan Kelly. Wood’s series, which looks at the aspects of life in different towns and cities in the US, has received both critical and fan acclaim since the release of its first issue.

“We know that Brian’s previous work has had strong reorder activity,” commented Oni publisher Joe Nozemack. “Because of that, we decided to take a very aggressive position on LOCAL, overprinting by over 65% of the received orders. Those lasted us until issue three, and we’re still seeing reorders on a weekly basis.”

Each issue of LOCAL focuses on life in a different town in the US, while looking at the lives of normal people facing extraordinary situations and choices. Crossing genres as it crosses the country, LOCAL examines how where you live impacts who you are.
Due to the stand-alone nature of LOCAL’s issues, new readers can begin reading with any issue of the series; but as all the issues fit together to form a larger picture, many readers want to catch up from the beginning.

“Brian was very deliberate in the construction of this series,” explained editor in chief James Lucas Jones. “He wanted to create an experience that people could dip in and out of, with the idea that it would make the whole series more accessible. It’s obvious that his approach is working—readers are consistently proving that they want to catch up and read the whole series.”

Joe Ferrara of Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, CA has found this to be true in his own store.  “We have people coming in all the time who have read about the comic on this or that website or magazine, and it’s great, because we can offer them all the issues from the beginning, or they can choose the city or story that sounds the most compelling to them.  The format really drives sales for us.”

Previous issues of the 12-issue series have been set in Portland, OR; Minneapolis, MN; and Richmond VA. Future issues will visit cities as diverse as Halifax, Nova Scotia; Brooklyn, NY; Tempe, AZ, and Ann Arbor, MI.

Nozemack concluded, “We’re absolutely committed to keeping these books in print and available to the retailers and readers who support Brian’s work.”

Issue #1 will be reprinted and available in stores in late March. It will feature a new color cover by Ryan Kelly, and will have a cover price of $2.99. Issues #2-4 of LOCAL are still available; please contact your local comic book store for details.