Tag: Chip Mosher

Dark Horse will publish Mosher + Krause’s ‘Blacking Out’ in 2024

Set in Southern California, the graphic novel follows an ex-cop’s investigation into an unsolved murder.

Dark Horse has announced plans to publish the graphic novel Blacking Out next year. The SoCal crime story was written by Chip Mosher, one of the co-founders of DSTLRY, with artwork by Peter Krause, Giulia Brusco, Ed Dukeshire and Tom Muller.

The project began its life on Kickstarter and raised more than $40,000 back in 2020, at the start of the pandemic. I spoke with Mosher about it at the time, and he told me the project was inspired by the French bande dessinée format.

“Creators really take their time producing the work and it shows,” he said. “And these albums are just beautifully crafted, beautifully done, and I really just wanted to do something like that. I just really wanted to do something that just had absolutely no compromises.”

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DSTLRY’s ‘The Devil’s Cut’ anthology will launch eight new titles

Check out previews of stories by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Christian Ward, Ram V, Lee Garbett, Becky Cloonan and more.

DSTLRY , the new comics company formed by former Comixology execs David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, will release their first comic next month — The Devil’s Cut, an anthology featuring the work of Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Jock, Tula Lotay and many of the other creators from the murderer’s row of talent they’ve recruited.

Not only has DSTLRY released preview pages from the 11 stories that will appear in it, they’ve also announced that eight of those stories will serve as springboards for new series that will launch later this year and next year.

“With The Devil’s Cut, a majority of the self-contained stories lay the foundation for series to come,” said DSTLRY CCO Chip Mosher. “To be crystal clear, these eight stories found in The Devil’s Cut are not previews, but the first appearances of new worlds from our Founding Creators and Friends.” 

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DSTLRY’s first title will arrive in August

‘The Devil’s Cut’ anthology will feature comics by Scott Snyder, Becky Cloonan, Jamie McKelvie, Ram V, Jock and more.

DSTLRY, the new company started by former Comixology execs David Steinbeger and Chip Mosher, has announced their first title: The Devil’s Cut, an anthology featuring comics by the company’s “founding creators.” The anthology will go on sale Aug. 30.

Steinberger and Mosher announced the new venture last month, which is taking some unique approaches to how they operate:

  1. They’ve enlisted a group of creators who they are calling “founding creators” who each have equity in the venture. They’ve set aside an additional 3% of company equity to be distributed among all creators who release projects during the first three years of their publishing slate, with allocations being based on title performance. This part seems to have been generally well-received, as it’s an attempt to address the financial and ownership disparities that have cast a shadow on the industry in the past.
  2. As part of their release plans, they will publish print comics and digital comics, and have announced distribution deals with Diamond and Lunar Distribution for print. Their digital single issues will be sold on their website (and/or through an app, or something … they haven’t released details on the specifics of how this will work yet) and they plan to somehow make them collectible and resellable “with no crypto or NFT-hassle.” This part has not been so well-received, with many noting that digital scarcity is the kind of notion that drives things like the NFT market. DSTLRY has said that they plan to collect individual series in trades that will be available widely in print and on digital, even outside their own marketplace. So they seem to be trying to appeal to both collectors and readers, the two wolves that exist inside the comics community that are constantly eating each other.

The Devil’s Cut will be distributed digitally by DSTLRY through Sept. 6, according to the press release, which signals that their digital marketplace will be up and running by the end of the summer.

Jock provides the main cover, which will be one of six covers for the anthology:

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Two Comixology vets return to comics with DSTLRY

The new publisher will offer creators an ownership stake in the company.

If you’ve been wondering what comiXology co-founder David Steinberger and former comiXology Originals head Chip Mosher have been doing lately, wonder no more. Today the duo have launched DSTLRY [pronounced “distillery”], a “next-generation comics publisher that redefines creator-owned comic books and collectibles.”

The new company will offer “limited physical and digital item drops, available online or in-store at local comic shops, while providing creators with fairer deals alongside company ownership.” There’s a lot to unpack from their press release, so let’s jump in … but first, here’s an image of DSTLRY’s founders drawn by Tula Lotay:

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Chip Mosher leaves Comixology Originals

Bryce Gold will take over as head of the digital comics imprint.

Comixology’s Chip Mosher, who spearheaded their Comixology Originals line and grew it into what it is today, has announced he’s leaving Amazon at the end of this week.

“After 11 years, I’ve decided it’s time for a change and this will be my last week at Comixology,” he said on Twitter. “It’s been an amazing decade+ for me & I’m grateful to have been able to be part of the company’s growth. In particular, it’s been an honor pioneering the Comixology Originals program.”

Under Mosher’s leadership, Comixology Originals has brought original, digital-first comics to the platform by creators like Scott Snyder, Spike Trotman, Curt Pires, Chip Zdarsky, Alex Segura, Rachel Pollack and many more — and then later to print through an arrangement with Dark Horse. He also worked with the Harvey Kurtzman Estate bring Marley’s Ghost to fruition, a “lost” graphic novel by the creator that went on to win an Eisner Award.

Before Comixology Originals launched, Mosher served as their head of marketing and PR, and prior to that was at BOOM! Studios in a similar role. He’s a comics veteran with a lot of knowledge and a good reputation with creators, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does next.

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comiXology Originals stealth-launched ‘.Self’ by Sebela + McGee today

See what happens when your life is saved to the Cloud — and then hacked.

ComiXology today stealth-released a brand new Originals title from Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Crowded), and Cara McGee (Dodge City, Black Canary: Ignite), the five-issue miniseries .Self. They’re joined by colorist Rebecca Nalty and letterer Aditya Bidika.

“In this new era of crypto and NFTs I wanted to explore the idea that even we ourselves are capable of being exploitable digital assets,” Sebela said. “In .Self, we play with the concept that you can see yourself in different bodies that have chosen to follow different paths and dreams you may have let go of over the course of your life either because the dream was silly, or you changed, or life just didn’t allow for it.”

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Smash Pages Q&A | Chip Mosher on ‘Blacking Out,’ bande dessinée and billboards

The writer of ‘Left on Mission’ returns with a new comic that’s currently up on Kickstarter.

As the Head of Content for comiXology Originals, Chip Mosher already has a pretty great day job, working with creators to bring original content to the digital comics provider.

But before working there and for his previous employer, BOOM! Studios, he wanted to write comics, and in fact wrote Left on Mission, with artist Francesco Francavilla, which was published by BOOM! before he joined them to handle marketing.

Now, more than a decade later, he’s returned to the creative side and has written something new, Blacking Out, featuring artwork by Peter Krause, Giulia Brusco and Ed Dukeshire. It’s currently up on Kickstarter, where it blew past its modest $500 goal in the first 8 minutes of the campaign.

I spoke with Mosher at length about the new project, what inspired the format, how he’s promoting it and more.

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Smash Pages Q&A: Chip Mosher

The head of content for comiXology Originals discusses his role, what he looks for in a project, the launch of ‘Youth’ and more.

Chip Mosher got his start in comics as a creator, writing the miniseries Left on Mission that was published by BOOM! Studios back in 2008. From there he joined BOOM! in a public relations and marketing role, before eventually moving over to comiXology.

While serving in a marketing role for the digital comics provider, he added responsibilities as head of content back in 2016, when the company launched its comiXology Originals imprint. These are original, digital comics created in conjunction with either existing publishers or directly with creators, and are available to buy on comiXology or to read if you subscribe to comiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading.

Since then, the imprint has published comics in conjunction with Archie, Kodansha, Marvel and other publishers, as well as creators like Chip Zdarsky, Kel McDonald, Tyler Crook, Ray Fawkes, Magdalene Visaggio, Claudia Aguirre and many more. Today sees the launch of their latest title, Youth by Curt Pires and Alex Diotto, which will run weekly for four issues. I spoke with Mosher about this latest project, the imprint’s evolution, his approach to finding new content and more.

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‘Breaklands’ debuts on comiXology this week

Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern and Rachel Deering team on a post-apocalyptic miniseries.

The comiXology Originals line will expand in September with four new titles, starting first with Breaklands by Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern and Rachel Deering.

The five-issue series is set 150 years in the future in a world where everyone has powers except Kasa Fain, who is desperate to find her recently kidnapped brother.

“We wanted to do a book about what would happen if a lot of people suddenly got a lot of power,” Jordan said. “It was important that the world didn’t look like what readers have seen in traditional post apocalypse stories which, generally, ends up deserts and barren landscapes. Instead,the environment has had a chance to bounce back. And there’s plenty of high action, colorful new cultures and weird creatures.”

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comiXology announces ‘Adora and the Distance’ OGN

Marc Bernardin and Ariela Kristantina tell a story inspired by Bernardin’s autistic daughter.

Genius and The Highwaymen writer Marc Bernardin has been more active as a TV writer lately, working on shows like Alphas, Carnival Row and Castle Rock in recent years, but he’s making his return to comics with a new graphic novel from comiXology Originals.

Artist Ariela Kristantina, colorist Jessica Kholinne, letterer Bernardo Brice and editor Will Dennis will work with Bernardin on Adora and the Distance, a story inspired by Bernardin’s daughter, who was diagnosed with autism at four years old.

“There are millions of parents of kids on the autism spectrum and there are millions of children with siblings on the spectrum,” Bernardin said in the press release. “This isn’t a book about how hard it is to be a parent or a sibling, it’s one that imagines the unknowable: What’s going on inside the mind of a loved one who has never been able to tell us?”

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comiXology adds seven titles to their ‘Originals’ line

New titles by Sam Humphries, Kel McDonald, Tyler Crook, Tim Seeley, Mike Norton and more join the growing line.

In June comiXology released four new titles as part of their comiXology Originals line, as they expanded the program to include creator-owned titles and a print-on-demand option. Today in San Diego, a dapper Chip Mosher, comiXology’s head of content, announced seven new titles coming to the line, four of which are available now.

“When we debuted the first wave of creator owned comiXology Original titles, we launched all five issues of the Superfreaks series in one day so readers could binge read the series at once. No one had ever done that before, and that’s just the tip of what we have planned,” said comiXology’s Head of Content Chip Mosher. “Today we are making history again with Goliath Girls, which is releasing simultaneously in English and Japanese. Going forward we’ll continue to push the envelope with new ways to connect with readers. It’s great to be able to offer the over 100 million Prime members worldwide the opportunity to experience these great books.”

The four book now available on their site include:

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comiXology expands their ‘Originals’ line with creator-owned titles, print-on-demand

comiXology moves into print comics with an ‘experiment’ using Amazon’s print-on-demand capabilities.

comiXology Originals debuted in 2016 and have since published comics in conjunction with Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Valiant Entertainment and the estate of Harvey Kurtzman — and even earned an Eisner nomination. Now the Amazon-owned company is branching out to include creator-owned comics as part of the program.

The company announced four new titles that can be found on comiXology’s storefront, with the promise of more to come. Interestingly, comiXology is expanding beyond digital and will offer three of the four books through Amazon’s print-on-demand service — giving consumers the opportunity to buy comiXology material directly, rather than through a traditional comic book publisher.

The new comiXology Originals releases include: Savage Game created by NFL player Ryan Kalil, written by Shawn Kittelsen, and art by Chris B. Murray; Superfreaks from writers Elsa Charretier and Pierrick Colinet, with artist Margaux Saltel; Elephantmen 2261: The Death of Shorty from writer Richard Starkings, and artists Axel Medellin and Boo Cook; Ask For Mercy from writer Starkings and artist Abigail Jill Harding.

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