(LAST UPDATED: 4/30/08)

I’ve created this page as a resource for beginning and up-and-coming comic creators because I always wish there had been a site like this for me when I was getting started. It’s intended as a constant work in progress, so if there’s a company I’m missing or you discover a broken link, then please let me know in the comments section below. I’m a writer, so my categorization of these sites is biased toward helping the writer, but most of the sites themselves are equally useful for both writers and artists.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: (click to jump)
00) Comic Writer Services ***New!***
01) Featured Items
02) Submission Guidelines Introduction
03) Anthologies
04) Publishers Accepting Unsolicited Submissions
05) Talent Searches/Contests
06) Publishers Accepting Unsolicited Submissions, But Not From Writers
07) Publishers Not Currently Accepting Unsolicited Submissions
08) Self-Publishing
09) Publishing Grants
10) Miscellaneous Resources
11) ENGINE Archive ***New!***

I have launched a brand new page of Comic Creator Services, this one specifically for writers. Be sure to visit COMIC WRITER SERVICES!

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FEATURED ITEM - DARK HORSE NEW RECRUITS

DEADLINE: Monthly
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES INTRODUCTION:
At last count, there are somewhere around 80 publishers listed below. I have not worked with most of them and do not have the time to investigate them all. Please use discretion and common sense when you are considering submitting to any given publisher.

A NOTE TO WRITERS: The publishers marked with a ” * ” will look at writing submissions without an artist attached. Or at least that’s what their guidelines say.

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Anthologies
2000AD (writers* and artists)
Alterna Tales
Antarctic Press’ anthologies and annuals
Blurred Vision
C’est Bon Anthology
Digital Webbing Presents
Drawn & Quarterly
Event Horizon*
FutureQuake*
Grave Tales*
Grinder
Heavy Metal Magazine
High Noon Presents (scroll down to just above the “Bulletins” section)
Krazybov Comics
Mad Magazine*
Negative Burn
Phosphorous Tide*
Radio Comix
Ronin Studios Anthologies
Sequential Suicide
Shivers Anthology*
The SPX anthology (currently on hold)
Thin Ice Anthology*
Trailer Park of Terror (their website is here, but the most recent submission info I’ve seen is here)*

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Publishers Accepting Unsolicited Submissions
Abacus Comics
Abrams Image
Alchemical Press
Alias Enterprises
Alterna Comics (and their children’s line)
Ambrosia Publishing
Antarctic Press*
Ape Entertainment
Approbation Comics*
Archaia Studios Press (ASP)
Arrow Publications (writers* and artists)
Atlantis Studios
Avatar Press*
Bloodfire Studios*
Bowler Hat Comics*
Cellar Door Publishing*
Dark Horse*
Desperado Publishing
Devil’s Due Publishing (this particular opportunity may not still exist…it’s hard to say)
Drawn & Quarterly
eigoMANGA
Fantagraphics Books
Gemstone Publishing/Disney Comics*
Highburn Studios
Humanoids Publishing
Image
Image Shadowline
Just A Buck Comics (JABC)
Marvel*
NBM Publishing
New Reliable Press
Nifty Comics*
Panini Comics/Marvel UK*
Papercutz*
Radio Comix
Red 5 Comics
Ronin Studios
Rorshach Entertainment*
Septagon Studios*
SLG Publishing
Steampunk Magazine
Tokyopop*
Top Shelf Comix
Visionary Comics Studio*
Warpton*
Zuda Comics

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Talent Searches/Contests
Archie Weekly Story Contest*
Platinum Studios’s Comic Book Challenge
Dark Horse New Recruits
DC Talent Search
Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga

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Publishers Currently Accepting Unsolicited Submissions, But Not From Writers
BOOM! Studios
Cold Fuzion Studios
Devil’s Due Publishing
Dreamwave
IDW Publishing
Kandora Publishing
Penny Farthing Press
Seven Seas Entertainment (GoManga)
SUMM Publications
Zenescope Entertainment

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Publishers Not Currently Accepting Unsolicted Submissions
Adhouse Books
Alternative Comics
AiT/Planet Lar
Atomeka Press
Beckett Comics
DC Comics (includes Wildstorm and Vertigo, but see Zuda above)
Del Rey Manga
Dynamite Entertainment
FC9
First Second Books
Go! Comi Manga
Graphix (Scholastic Books)
HarperCollins
Markosia
Masterpiece Comics (click “Submissions” link on left side of page)
Moonstone Books
Narwain Publishing
Neko Press
New Reliable Press
Oddgod Press
Oni Press (unless you are at a convention)
Pantheon (Random House)
Platinum Studios
Shooting Star Comics
Top Cow
Viper Comics
Virgin Comics
Viz
Warp Graphics/Elfquest

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SELF-PUBLISHING:
Comics Are Open Source by Jane Irwin
“The Poor Man’s Guide to Self Publishing” by Val Staples
Street Cents on self-publishing
Comics Storytelling Tips That Work by ??

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PUBLSHING GRANTS:
The Xeric Grant
DC Conspiracy’s Aarggh! Comics Grant

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MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES:
Creating Comics - Maintained by Dave A. Law, this is a spectacular resource. It is wider in scope than my own page. If you can’t find it here, I bet you’ll find it there. And even if you think what you’ve found here is enough, you should still poke around over there.
Scryptic Studios also has a terrific resource page for writers.
OniKimono has a comprehensive comic creators resource page, oriented particularly toward manga creators.
Independent Propaganda has a good Resource page with links to printers, conventions and various tutorials.
You can also find many other helpful sites by browsing through the Silver Bullet Comics Links Database, particularly the “Small Press/Self-publishers” section.
Kevin Melrose maintains a great Creator Resources thread over on the always-helpful Digital Webbing.

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ENGINE ARCHIVE:
THE ENGINE, the 2-year message board experiment conducted by Warren Ellis from September 2005 through August 2007 was many things, including a singular web location for observing comic pros discussing comics and comic theory. Before the board closed I saved the following discussions as reference for up-and-coming creators. They are not links, but Word .doc files. The formatting is a little wonky and the pictures didn’t transfer, but all the links work and all the great discussion and information remains intact:



(NOTE: Warren Ellis has since started a new online community, Whitechapel, but the focus is less industry-based)



A Slimline Anthology Format.doc
Act Like a Professional.doc
Advice on pitching at conventions?.doc
Agents in the comic industry - advice please. ^_^.doc
Anthologies Don’t Sell Well.doc
Artists - what’s your work day like?.doc
Building The Page.doc
Co-Writing Methodologies.doc
Comic Creators & Hollywood.doc
Comics Scripts .doc
Comics Writing- Nuts and Bolts.doc
Comics- How long?.doc
Concept to Script.doc
Content-centric marketing.doc
Convention Etiquette.doc
Cover Design.doc
DESOLATION JONES 7.doc
dialogue word count.doc
Dialogue.doc
Does it really work?.doc
Dosage.doc
Fuck The Mainstream.doc
Full Version.doc
GLOBAL FREQUENCY 10.doc
Good script books?.doc
Graphic Novels And Growing Pains.doc
How Are You Using The Internet?.doc
Image.doc
Lettering Question- To Bold Or Not To Bold?.doc
Lettering your own work.doc
Lettering- A Lost Art.doc
Manga–new language of comics?.doc
Marketing Comics- A Restatement.doc
More Doses, Please.doc
More Than You Can Chew.doc
Nouvelle Manga Manifesto-1.doc
On Conception.doc
On Cutting.doc
On Representation - Agents and Managers.doc
On Singles And Sales- More Rambling.doc
panels vs importance.doc
Pitching comics.doc
Promotion advice.doc
Rules For Writing.doc
Script writing programs.doc
Selling It On Street Corners.doc
Setting an initial print run.doc
SOUND EFFECTS.doc
Speed Of Work….doc
Switching gears?.doc
The Booktrade Explosion- A List.doc
The Creator’s Bill Of Rights.doc
The Diamond Process.doc
The Grass Roots.doc
The Nouvelle Manga Manifesto.doc
The Pitch.doc
The Rozz-Tox Manifesto.doc
Theory- panel rhythm.doc
thought balloons.doc
TURN OF THE PAGE.doc
Variations.doc
What’s a “Satisfying Slab of Culture?”.doc
Writers - what’s your work day like?.doc