Monkeybrain Comics has launched- All Five #1s Now on Comixology

David_D

Chris Roberson and Allison Baker's Monkeybrain imprint of all-digital, Comixology-exclusive comics have launched. I believe that they were originally going to go live on 7/4, but surprised people by making their comics available yesterday and, as The Beat reported, got people talking and ended up trending well on Twitter through the day.

Link to their Comixology page here.

And here is a description of their initial launch of titles, format, and what is ahead, via The Beat:

Aesop’s Ark by J. Torres and Jennifer L. Meyer
Amelia Cole and the Unknown World by Adam P. Knave, DJ Kirkbride and Nick Brokenshire
Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
Edison Rex by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver
October Girl by Matthew Dow Smith

The line will be distributed digitally, exclusively with comiXology. As Roberson explained in a press conference this afternoon, it’s essentially an Image Comics-like deal: Monkeybrain will take a small cut for packing and marketing, but all copyrights will remain with the creators. According to Roberson, the line is very focused on completely creator-owned projects. “Neither writer or artist can be working in a work for hire capacity. We do ask the projects that come to us if it’s a collaborative team, that everyone share share some level of ownership in the property.”

More projects will be announced at a panel at Comic-Con on Friday, July 13th at 7PM. The creative lineup:
Grace Allison, Nick Brokenshire, J. Bone, Chad Bowers, Wook-Jin Clark, Colleen Coover, Kevin Church, Dennis Culver, Matt Digges, Ming Doyle, Curt O. Franklin, Ken Garing, Chris Haley, David Hahn, Phil Hester, Joe Keatinge, D.J. Kirkbride, Adam Knave, Axel Medellin, Jennifer L. Meyer, Michael Montenat, Ananth Panagariya, Thomas Perkins, Adam Rosenlund, Chris Schweitzer, Brandon Seifert, Chris Sims, Matthew Dow Smith, Paul Tobin, J. Torres, Josh Williamson and Bill Willingham, among others.

Titles will have a variety of formats and lengths, and be priced at either 99¢ or $1.99 depending on the length. At least one future project will be in a more explicitly digital format., meaning an eventual print collection might need to be adapted

As for eventual printing, print rights will remain entirely with the creators, said Roberson. Although he wouldn’t rule out a potential Monkeybrain line at Image, creators are free to go where they want in print.

You can find the whole story about the launch from The Beat here.

Paul

I'm in for all of these. I love Roberson's writing, and I find he always excels when he's writing his own creations. I'm interested to see what the other creators do with their titles. I like the plan he has for this line, and I'm excited to get in on the ground floor!

David_D

@Paul I'm looking forward to trying some of these, too. I have heard a lot of good things about Roberson, and I like the visual style of what I am seeing. Also, a new publisher is always an exciting thing. And we see less of those these days, I think, then we did 8 or 10 years ago*. I will definitely get some and give them a try.


*Please note this is an unsourced, thoroughly unscientific observation. It just feels that way.