aii@tropix.UUCP ( Alice I. Insley ) (08/19/83)
Hurrah! I am seeing more and more acceptance of ground level comics these last few years. For those of you (quite few I'm sure) who don't know the reference... Once upon a time there were Marvel, DC, and undergrounds. Undergrounds could be bought at head shops, some conventions, and from friends. The "invention" of direct distributing, oh maybe five years ago, made it possible for low print run comics to be produced (2000 instead of 100,000). Although the art, story and general self worth of the new magazines such as Elfquest, Cerebus, D'arc Tangent, etc... are quite good, they would never have seen the light of day before direct distributing became acceptable. Newsnotes, D'arc Tangent is running quite late due (mostly) to difficulty in getting the inking finished. If this situation is not resolved soon, Freff may get an assistant or be replaced. Its a case of "The Rent Must Be Paid", not a lack of talent or interest. Phil has the advantage of a steady position with the Dragon, it doesn't cover everything, but it helps. Aardvark/Vanaheim announced that Swords of Cerebus volume 6 will be the last one. After that the back issues will be available in collections of 50 issues. That still means having 12 books to cover the whole 300 issue epic. Alice Bentley ...seismo!rochester!ritcv!tropix!aii