Hero Tomorrow Comics has inked a distribution deal with another small press, Asylum Comics, to distribute Hero Tomorrow titles via Lunar Distribution, bringing the publisher back to the direct market after a hiatus due to the bankruptcy of its previous distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors. This is the latest example of small publishers teaming up to facilitate distribution, as Massive Publishing did with several indie presses last year (see “Massive Indies Adds Two”).
The first title to be solicited under the new agreement is Punchline and the Vaude-Villains vs Violante #1, written, colored, and lettered by Hero Tomorrow founder Ted Sikora, with art by Yvel Guichet and Donny Hadiwidjaja. Future solicits will include collected editions of Bloom and a deluxe Vaude-Villains Origin Edition of Tap Dance Killer.
“Ted has created an action-packed shared universe of characters that has a built-in fanbase,” Asylum Press founder Frank Forte said in a statement accompanying the announcement, “and our goal will be to expand readership, publish new titles as well as collected TPB editions of previously published singles and mini-series.”
In a recent interview, Lunar co-founder Christina Merkler said that shared distribution deals such as Massive’s made it easier for the distributor to carry small publishers. “It’s a lot of work for any team to have to take in 10 separate publishers,” she said. “It’s much easier to bring it in under one banner … Then some of those publishers will come out of their contracts. As long as their numbers make sense, we’ll take them on separately, outside those banners, once those contracts come up. That’s the plan for a couple of those publishers” (see “ICv2 Interview“).
Source: ICV2
