Cosmic Lion Productions is joining the direct market via an agreement with Diamond Comics Distributors. Three of its titles will debut in the July Diamond Previews catalog for September on-sale: Wait, It Gets Worse … If Only We Knew by Gideon Kendall and Doug Latino, Deathslinger, and Ro Higashi’s Half of the Crown. Four additional titles will debut in the August Previews with October on-sale dates.
“We’ve been producing some incredible work by highly talented creators for a couple of years now and the time has come to show more people what we’ve got,” said Cosmic Lion founder and publisher, Eli Schwab. “We really do have something for everybody, and people who appreciate good comics will probably find that they enjoy several of our offerings.”
Wait, It Gets Worse is a hardcover collection featuring over 270 pages of the popular indie comic, including 10 new stories and 50 pages of brand-new material. The book also features a forward from Denis Kitchen.
“The rogue’s gallery of auto-bio comics authors is replete with some truly messed-up personalities. Crumb, Pekar, Wilson, Eichhorn, Joe Matt… the list goes on,” said Kendall.
“Do these incredible creators embellish and play up their foibles for dramatic and comic effect? Sure. But to varying degrees, these are all people with problems. The funny thing about Doug is he’s actually pretty sane. Stable, even! But no amount of wholesomeness or stability can withstand the slaps and slights that life throws at you, and that’s what these stories are about.”
An oversized edition of Deathslinger will also be in the July Diamond Previews catalog and hit shelves in September. Co-created by writer Shane Berryhill, artist Ben Perkins, and letterer/designer Keith Finch, Deathslinger is an adult space western featuring alien gangs and cyborg assassins.
“The book is everything I have wanted to draw,” said Perkins. “Sci-fi locales, crazy alien characters, robots, and gunslinging!! This is some of the best comic storytelling I’ve done in my career; I’m excited to show people what I’ve done for this book.”
The final Cosmic Lion title to debut in the July Previews catalog is Webtoon fan-favorite Half of the Crown, which boasts nearly 17 thousand online readers, in print for the first time. The story follows Penny Chiu, who starts attending a new school only to find herself sharing space and a soul with classmate Issei Devlin. Their bond will decide the outcome of an ancient conflict.
“The older I get, the more vulnerability scares me,” said Higashi. “My comics and work mirror a lot of the things I’m afraid of. Reading my comic is like getting to know me. On the surface, it appears harmless, sweet, and maybe ‘adorkable.’ As you read more into it and invest time, you may realize there is this huge mess that totally changes your view about what you thought you were agreeing to read. My hope is that you stick around and stay invested in the story and characters along with all their changes, twists and turns.”
Stay tuned for more from Cosmic Lion Productions and check out the July Diamond Previews catalog for on-sale dates.
That’s awesome news. We need more comic companies like Cosmic Lion, that want to put out good comics. Not some investment firm using comics to test out potential IP.