In recent years, the media have rung the death knell of publishing but, surprisingly, there is a wealth of graphic novels being published.
The biggest trends in comics
- The popularity and critical acclaim of autobiographic and graphic memoir work like Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.
- The rise of newer cartooning genres like journalistic comics such as Joe Sacco’s Palestine and graphic medicine such as Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits and John Porcellino’s The Hospital Suite.
- Digital platforms are looking for creators of compelling content.
- Comics are being used as an accessible and engaging literacy tool.
- Universities are finally recognizing the merits of the comics medium as literature, and as research and educational tool.
How to start your own comic or graphic novel
An emerging cartoonist doesn’t have to rely on a large publisher to have their work printed these days.
- You can begin a blog and use social media to create an audience.
- Crowd funding can be used to publish your work (e.g., Kickstarter, Indiegogo).
- There are Canadian festivals and conventions that offer the opportunity to sell self-published zines and books, such as The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), Canzine (Toronto and Vancouver), Expozine (Montreal), FanExpo, ComicCon, Zine Dream (Toronto) and the Toronto Queer Zine Fair
The comics medium is flourishing because of self-publishing, smaller publishers, and an insatiable reading audience’s search for stories told by creators outside the mainstream media.
Fiona Smyth teaches a Comics and Graphic Novels course at OCAD U's Continuing Studies. She is also a Toronto-based painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Smyth's first graphic novel, The Never Weres, was published by Annick Press in 2011. A collection of her Exclaim comics, Cheez 100, was published by Pedlar Press in 2001. She illustrated Cory Silverberg's Kickstarter-funded picture book What Makes A Baby in 2012, re-released by Seven Stories Press in 2013.