Northwest Press

“The Power Within” on Pride Month List on Library Journal

// May 18th, 2012 // // From Headrack to Claude, Glamazonia, The Power Within

Martha Cornog has included Charles “Zan” Christensen and Mark Brill’s anti-bullying comic The Power Within on Library Journal’s list of 26 LGBT comics and graphic novels recommended for library collections in recognition of the upcoming LGBT Pride Month in June.

This is a story created to address teen bullying and suicide. Thirteen-year-old Shannon just doesn’t fit in and gets picked on. When advice from parents and teachers seems irrelevant, he creates a superpowered alter ego to rely on whenever he’s threatened. Despite his fantasies and support from a few other students, Shannon remains a target. He considers jumping off a bridge until he finds a notice about a gay youth group with the message “You are not alone,” and he realizes that it gets better. With discussion questions and resources at the end, plus bonus pages from comics industry superstars, including Gail Simone, Phil Jimenez, Greg Rucka, and Dan Parent.

The article mentions that the book is available free to youth groups and teachers. If you’re interested in getting copies for your organization, please contact us by email to request copies.

The book is in great company; the list also features contributions from Power Within contributors Greg Rucka (Batwoman: Elegy) and Dan Parent (Kevin Keller), as well as Northwest Press talents like Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny creator Justin Hall (No Straight Lines) and From Headrack to Claude creator Howard Cruse (The Complete Wendel).

Check out the full list on the Library Journal website!

Bold Riley’s Leia Weathington Interviewed on Examiner

// May 17th, 2012 // // Misc

Want to know how Leia Weathington’s forthcoming Northwest Press book, The Legend of Bold Riley, came to be? Christian Lipski talked with Leia for an article on Examiner.com and uncovered Riley’s secret origins and inspirations:

According to the author, the picaresque adventures of Bold Riley were inspired by such classics as The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf.

“I like stories where there’s one character, and everything is broken up so it could almost stand alone, but it builds to a bigger narrative,” Weathington said. “I really like that mode of storytelling.”

The idea for The Legend of Bold Riley began during Weathington’s second year at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, and was soon published as a series of webcomics on the Girlamatic website.

She later printed minicomics for some of the stories, but the money required to print each one separately was money she would not have to create a Bold Riley graphic novel, her ultimate goal. Rather than continuing with individually-published stories, Weathington decided to focus on the collection, intending to self-publish.

“I got fortunate enough that Zan Christensen of Northwest Press asked if I would give it to him,” she remembered. “He’s one of those people who wants diversity in comics, especially in the queer community, and he’s such a great person to work with.”

That’s just a taste; there’s a lot of great stuff in the article and it talks about a lot of the artists, Leia’s balance between being an artist and a writer, and her move from San Francisco to Portland.

Check out the whole feature on Examiner.com!

Bold Riley reviewed on Okazu

// May 17th, 2012 // // Bold Riley

Erica Friedman has feasted her eyes on the next Northwest Press book, Leia Weathington’s The Legend of Bold Riley, and she likes what she sees…

I was brought up on Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. They were so stereotypical—fierce, strong, heavily muscular barbarian swordsman, confronting evil priests and bizarre monsters and bedding wenches of all kinds, that kind of thing. I loved “that kind of thing.”

I have basically been waiting my entire adult life for someone to write “that kind of thing” starring a lesbian Princess who leaves her home to find adventure, because she can’t stop herself, and who confronts gods, creatures, demons and the like. And, of course, beds wenches.

Leia Weathington’s The Legend of Bold Riley, is, at last, that story.

Check out the whole review on Okazu!

Glowing Review of Glamazonia on High-Low

// May 11th, 2012 // // Glamazonia

Rob Clough has written a review of Justin Hall’s glamorous superhero adventure, Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, and he certainly likes what he sees!

[Hall] takes that idea of superhero-as-drag and spoofs it to the end while demonstrating how useful the drag trope is in thinking about superheroes.  Using the deliberately outrageous and delightfully narcissistic patois of drag-speak, Hall gives Glamazonia five different secret origins, has her constantly reject the attentions of a would-be sidekick (Rent Boy), puts her on the grassy knoll at JFK’s assassination and has her compete in a Contest of Champions (the prize: super-pets!).  Even better, he collaborates with an all-star team of queer cartoonists in a series of short “One To Glam On” segments that are the best part of the book.  The segment with Ed Luce of Wuvable Oaf is a particular highlight, as Glamazonia gives a group of bears advice on keeping their body hair healthy and free of split ends.

I think he’s really captured the spirit of Glamazonia who—for the uninitiated among you—is not what you’d call an adherent to the notion that “with great power comes great responsibility”…

Glamazonia is unrepentantly sarcastic and self-centered, willing to save the world but not if she’s busy with her nails.  She’s not so much a real character as she is a smartass alter-ego.  She reminds me a little of DiDi Glitz, Diane Noomin’s cartoon alter-ego.  Blond, bewigged, fabulous and a little bit bitchy, but their hearts are in the right place.  Both characters seem to be a way of exercising a particular part of the artists’ personality that’s ultra-extroverted, outspoken, witty, obnoxious, a little trashy and not afraid to get what they want.

Check out the whole review for more glowing Glamazonia glory!

Northwest Press Publisher Wins CNW Toonie Award!

// May 7th, 2012 // // Misc

I’m proud to let you know that Northwest Press has been honored for its work as a publisher in 2011 by the good folks at Cartoonists Northwest, who bestowed upon me the coveted “Toonie Award for Excellence in Publishing” at their annual banquet on Saturday night.

Cartoonists Northwest was founded in 1981 as an association of professional and amateur cartoonists who meet monthly to network, collaborate, and promote community among local artists. It is one of Seattle’s longest-standing organizations and boasts membership of such artists as: Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse), David Horsey (Seattle PI), John Lustig (Disney and Last Kiss), Brian Basset (Adam @ Home and Red and Rover), Donna Barr (The Desert Peach and Stinz) and many more.

In keeping with CNW’s irreverent spirit, Saturday’s banquet was quite an experience: press-on moustaches, a clay sculpting competition, live music with delightfully nerdy cartoon lyrics, and a fantastic speech by special guest Scott Kurtz of PVP. They also had a silent auction, in which I bid on and won some Alan Moore trade paperbacks to give to the uninitiated.

Even though I’ve only been in the publishing business a short time, I am so grateful to organizations like Lambda Literary and Cartoonists Northwest who have recognized my efforts and encouraged me. 2011 was as good a first year in the saddle as anyone could hope for, and that was in large part due to being embraced by the book and comics worlds so warmly.

Onward and upward in 2012!

Homophobia Hits Bent-Con 2012

// May 1st, 2012 // // Misc

Northwest Press has been an exhibitor at the first two annual Bent-Con conventions Los Angeles, and we’ve had a fantastic time. There’s no show quite like it; it’s like Comic-Con, only queer! And I’m proud to say that Northwest Press will not only be exhibiting at Bent-Con this year, but we’re also a major sponsor of the show.

So we were more than a little dismayed to hear that Bent-Con was having trouble officially launching their new website and releasing tickets for sale. It turns out there was a problem with the company that was recommended to them to handle credit card transactions: Cornerstone Payment Systems didn’t want to do business with a queer comics show.

From the official Bent-Con site:

Credit card payment gateways are the mechanism the internet uses to exchange information between websites and mobile phones and the banks. When the general public buys a pizza or orders tickets over the web, the gateway verifies all the information is correct, authorizes the transfer of funds, and takes a percentage for the effort in “fees”. These fees can add up to significant amounts of money for both the seller and the gateway service. Getting the best deal possible is what every seller requires.

“In setting up our ticket service, our ticketing agent signed us up with an established company that offers low rates to non-profits like us—Cornerstone Payment Systems—that’s when things got odd,” [Bent-Con President Sean Holman] said.

Typical approval time is 48 hours. Several days of no word prompted Mr. Holman to inquire about the delay, first to the ticketing agency, then to Cornerstone itself. Two weeks later, a Cornerstone representative sent a cryptic email that said, “Unfortunately because the type of business we cannot get this account approved. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Puzzled, Mr. Holman inquired further with both Cornerstone and the ticketing agency about the rejection and the language. Apologizing, the ticketing agency indicated that Conerstone’s “underwriting criteria will be problematic” in regards to Bent-Con and quickly made arrangements with a different company, ACH Direct, to handle the processing. ACH approved Bent-Con and the website is now live and taking ticket orders for the December 2012 event.

It turns out that Cornerstone rejected Bent-Con due to the fact that it was an LGBT nonprofit.

Cornerstone’s website says they put “Christ at the Cornerstone of our business… we will not process credit card transactions for morally objectionable businesses”. In addition to rejecting customers based on their sexual orientation, they also funnel a portion of their fees to a number of anti-gay groups through a service called “Processing with a Purpose”, one notable beneficiary of which is The American Family Association, which the Southern Poverty Law Center certified as a hate group last year.

Here’s AFA Executive Director Bryan Fischer explaining how it’s perfectly appropriate to discriminate against gays, using the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:

Cornerstone also provides these services to related organizations like the Home School Legal Defense Fund, American Family Association, Teen Pact, World Magazine and Florida Family Policy Counsel. Cornerstone advertises that they’ve processed several billion dollars and worked with 30,000 ministries.

Again, from the Bent-Con site:

“No wonder they rejected us,” Mr. Holman said. “We’re the kind of people they hate!”

The most troubling aspect, though, is that Cornerstone, directly and through partnerships, has provided gateway services to unknowing groups who support equality and fairness in other ways.

“There are several charities—cancer prevention, poverty reduction, even Little League organizations—that use Cornerstone due to its low rates and inadvertently fund the anti-gay hate industry in the United States,” Mr. Holman said. “Had things broken in a slightly different way, we might have wound up providing money to what is, essentially, the ‘bag-man’ for internet funded hate groups. I wonder how many otherwise great organizations don’t realize they’re helping to fund such hate with their own internet sales.”

I’d like to encourage organizations that use credit card gateways to check and see if Cornerstone is your provider. Cornerstone is free to work with whomever it wants, but we’re also free to point out their policies and encourage people who support fairness and equality to take their business elsewhere.

In any case, I’m happy that the matter has been resolved and that the community can now buy tickets for this fantastic event without worrying that we’re inadvertently funding groups that work against us.

You can find out more about Bent-Con (and buy tickets!) by heading to their website. See you in December!

Bold Riley Preview: iBook or PDF

// March 21st, 2012 // // Bold Riley

The preview of The Legend of Bold Riley that we released a few weeks ago has gotten even better, and now has a version that’s designed specifically for the iPad, to be read in Apple’s iBooks app. If you haven’t tried Northwest Press books on your iPad yet, find out what you’ve been missing! Just download this preview, add it to your iTunes library, sync it to your iPad and enjoy!

Of course, you can also still grab the PDF version that can be read on your desktop computer, on other tablets, or even on your smartphone (though it’ll be pretty tiny. ;-)

We’re super-psyched about this book and we know you will be, too. Please spread the word to your friends and ask your local comic shop to check in out in Diamond’s PREVIEWS catalog in May. (I’ve even included a link to the ever-handy ComicShopLocator.com right in the preview so you can find your nearest shop!)

The Perfect Day to Introduce You to…

// March 8th, 2012 // // Bold Riley

Today just happens to be International Women’s Day, and it’s the perfect time to unveil the next Northwest Press book, The Legend of Bold Riley, which will be on shelves this summer! This sword-and-sorcery epic springs from the mind of Leia Weathington, and is illustrated by Leia and a host of talented artists. I couldn’t be happier that it’s a Bold Riley book that is NWP’s first book with a lesbian lead; I’ve been picking up the Bold Riley minicomics at conventions for years and always told people how awesome they were. Now I get to help bring a deluxe, full-color Bold Riley book into the world!

The book will be 232 pages, lush full color, and feature a gorgeous cover by Brinson Thieme with a metallic logo and ornaments. This thing is going to sparkle.

“Who is Bold Riley?” you might ask. She has hunted the wildest game and dallied with countless beautiful girls, but still longs to know the world beyond the city walls. Princess Rilavashana SanParite, called Bold Riley, leaves behind her station and sets out to travel through distant lands and find forgotten ruins, fearsome enemies, inscrutable gods and tragic love.

She’s as capable with a sword as she is with her wits—man, does she carve things up when the need arises—and is a strong, beautiful, confident woman who doesn’t wear a bikini into battle. And she always gets the girl!

We’re putting the finishing touches on the book, but there’s enough finished that I can share a pretty extensive preview in PDF form. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the book will be available to order from the May installment of Diamond’s PREVIEWS catalog. Check out the preview of The Legend of Bold Riley and ask your local store to reserve you a copy!

Nominate NWP Books for Harvey Awards!

// February 28th, 2012 // // A Waste of Time, Diary of a Catering Whore, Rainy Day Recess, The Power Within

Hey there, comics professionals!

The voting has opened for the 2012 Harvey Awards, and all comics industry professionals are welcome to submit their nominations for the best of 2011. I would be oh-so grateful if you could keep the four Northwest Press books from 2011—Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics, The Power Within, A Waste of Time and Diary of a Catering Whore—in mind when assembling your nomination lists.

Here are the categories that the books are eligible for; you can nominate up to five people/titles per category. (And if you’d like me to nominate your work from 2011, please let me know!) Download the email-able ballot, fill it in with your choices, and send it to harveyballots@hotmail.com.

Thanks for your support!

1) BEST WRITER
Charles “Zan” Christensen — The Power Within

2) BEST ARTIST 
Mark Brill — The Power Within

3) BEST CARTOONIST 
Rick Worley — A Waste of Time
David Kelly — Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics
Sean Seamus McWhinny — Diary of a Catering Whore

7) BEST COVER ARTIST
Rick Worley/Phil Good — A Waste of Time
Mark Brill — The Power Within

8) MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT
Rick Worley — A Waste of Time

14) BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics — Northwest Press

15) BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
The Power Within — Northwest Press

16) BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics — Northwest Press

18) BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK 
A Waste of Time — http://rickworley.com

19) SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
Rick Worley — A Waste of Time

22) BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS
The Power Within — Northwest Press
Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics — Northwest Press

A Waste of Time: ★★★★☆

// February 23rd, 2012 // // A Waste of Time

Rick Worley’s A Waste of Time gets four out of five stars from Jamais Jochim of the San Francisco Book Review!

Not all gay comics are about sex, but it does seem that way. A Waste of Time is an autobiographical comic about relationships and how they can drive you crazy. Worley portrays himself as a rabbit, with his friends being a closeted bear, a gay robot, and a fox with lots of problems. He survived his past relationships and is in a working relationship. He tries to make some sense of it all, but doesn’t really succeed at trying.

I particularly love this line:

As a gay strip, it is incredible, but as a commentary on the need to just persevere it is a wonder.

Read the whole review of A Waste of Time on the San Francisco Book Review website!