NEWS: We're entering a new era of Anhecomics, my friends
Also, Anhecomics got a Spotlight feature on graphicmedicine.org!
Hey all you party people. It’s been a minute.
First I just want to draw attention to the fact that Anhecomics has been given a Spotlight on the official Graphic Medicine website!
Big shout-out to MK Czerwiec for helping me out with this. Anhecomics started as a thesis project that primarily focused on graphic medicine, so it’s super cool to see my work featured on the site.
To see the Spotlight, click here!
I also wanted to update y’all on where the project currently stands.
It’s been a few months since the release of my last installment of Anhecomics, Episode 11, Mother Nature Loves Variation. Maybe from the outside it seems like I’ve moved on from the project, but simply judging from the fact that I just arranged to get it a feature, you can be confident that I’m not slowing down any time soon. While I enjoy the memoir work I’ve been able to do as well, Anhecomics remains, in my eyes, my most important work.
See, no new episodes are currently in the works, but that’s only because I am currently redrawing all existing Anhecomics episodes.
Anhecomics was the first comics project that I took extremely seriously, meaning that I came to it pretty inexperienced in the comics medium. Hell, I wouldn’t call myself experienced now, but what I am is more skilled and familiar with the medium than I was when I started. And somewhere along the way, I realized that much of the way I’ve formatted Anhecomics might need a little makeover.
For one thing, in the beginning I very much designed Anhecomics to be a webcomic. The large, individual panels make it excellent for the vertical format. I do plan on continuing to publish it as a webcomic, but I also need to keep my goals for print publication in mind as I go forward, which means reformatting is in order.
I also have developed a distaste for lowercase letters. No more of those. I’m an all-caps bitch now.
Redrawing everything, unfortunately, is a slow and taxing process. It means a lot of my other work is going to be mostly put on hold until I have all of this in order. But once I am done, I plan on releasing print editions of Anhecomics in an all-new way!
Currently, I physically publish the individual episodes of Anhecomics as small zines. They have sold very well at vendor events. People like them! But I think my readers deserve better.
In the future, I plan on releasing Anhecomics as a serial zine, each edition having probably around five episodes inside. This way, people who buy my Anhecomics zines are getting more bang for their buck, and it sets the stage for me to eventually compile a larger anthology of these stories.
Here’s a sample of the first page of Small Sh*t, which you can compare to the original webcomic here:
CC, is there anything I can do to support you in this new era of Anhecomics?
Why yes, dear reader, there is.
I plan on putting out calls for new interviewees once the redrawing stage has come to a close, but in the mean time, I am always looking for new interviewees.
For those unaware, I mostly find my interviewees by putting out this survey and then following up. This way, I know a little more about the person before I interview them, and I have better ideas of what questions I can ask them.
Anyone who reaches out now probably won’t hear back from me for a few months, but it’s never a bad time to put in your survey. If you are interested in being interviewed, or you know someone else who might, please send them the link! Also, when I put out a larger call for interviews, probably via Instagram, please do share it. It would be greatly appreciated. :)
Well, that’s all folks! Thank you for reading, and thank you for supporting this project. In this current time, when mental health is at such a low low, this little drop in the bucket of growing mental health representation in media is probably the most important thing I have ever done, and I can’t do it without y’all.
xoxo,
cooklin