...there's usually no forewarning, no announcement, just a silent disappearing act, as evidenced by a few that were once touted on this and another Christian comics forum. One exception, however, is Dust Comics. Though I strongly disagree with the philosophy of the "Emerging/Emergent Church," I do laud their comics arm's openness in the following statement:
> From: newsletter@dustpress.com
> Date: Sat., 21 Mar 2009 0400:57 +1100
> Subject: Dust Bites the Dust
>
> It's with some sadness that we are announcing the demise of Dust. Yes, Dust is biting the dust.
>
> We had a lot of fun. We even had a few people tell us we were making something great.
> But we were never able to get enough people to join us and so we've run out of steam.
>
> We know this is going to disappoint some of you. We had no intention of being at this
>point, so we thank you for your understanding.
>
>Good-bye from Dust.
Their website is down, but you can see a few pages from their first book here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070710121107/site.store-dust.com/ffhengs.pdf
The quality of art (and lettering) improved in the next few issues, but the physical packaging and paper quality, particularly the cover stock, was always very good. Aside from their website, they had a MySpace page (scroll down to see a 3:36 video)
and were well promoted. For example, a CCM magazine article about them below:
http://www.ccmmagazine.com/news/headlines/11546900/
There is something to be learned from this. Some might say there's no money, not even enough to make a living, in Christian comics. That may be true. However, as a side ministry, as something that pays for itself while you retain your day job, that's another matter. The larger companies aren't interested in having a perpetual loss leader. They can only use such as a tax write-off for the first three years.
Thoughts?
Blessings in Christ,
Alec
Replies
we still have their graphic novel available, in color and black and white editions, too...
www.lamppostbookstore.com