About Comics
@aboutcomics.com
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A might-but-tiny publishing line of interesting and classic comics, plus choice historic items (Negro Motorist Green Book!), since 1998. NOT seeking submissions of new material, but open to reprint projects. More at http://AboutComics.com
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aboutcomics.com
Hey there, Blueskyers! About Comics may not (well, is not) the most famous publisher going, but we put out some worthwhile stuff - not just new and (mostly) comics reprints, but comics how-to books and interesting historic items. Here's just a few examples.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Comic Strip. The year after Anita Loos published her classic novel, she brought it to the comics page, with art first by classic flapper cartoonist Virginia Huget and then by radio great Phil Cook! Never before collected!! (A small but cheap edition is available at Amazon, but the one you really want is at Lulu.com.) BrainStorm!, a collection of the underground work by Father of the British Graphic Novel Bryan Talbot Panel Three: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers -- example comic book scripts from actual published comics by Mark Waid, Shaenon Garrity, The Men In Black creator Lowell Cunningham, and more. The Negro Motorist Green Book Compendium, collecting four editions of the classic annual travel guide for African-Americans, one from each of the four decades during which the series was published.
aboutcomics.com
Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip, has hundreds of daily strips (there was no Sunday) covering the first four storylines. It is available for immediate shipping from Amazon in the US only. www.amazon.com/dp/1949996883
Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip
Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip [Evans, Phil, Cooke, Tom, Levitt, I. M.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip
www.amazon.com
aboutcomics.com
The strip's storylines quickly got to being a few years ahead of what the space program was actually doing, but were grounded in what was planned to do. This is not a galactic-princesses-and-martians strip.
Two strips discussing the in-progress first multi-manned space mission, with the astronauts being two men and a woman, and talking about how they will have to keep an eye out on whether their companions behaviour changes in space.
aboutcomics.com
The strips were written by Phil Evans and, as you can see, ably drawn by Tom Cooke. But there was a key third person on the strip, scientist and popular science writer I. M. Levitt, who was their space consultant and kept the stories grounded in reality.
Page from the Drift Marlo book has two strips covering the discussion of planned space missions, one placing an unmanned rover on the moon, the next placing men on the moon. At the end, we cut to a scene where a truck has been stolen.
aboutcomics.com
Just released: DRIFT MARLO: The Space Race Comic Strip. This series about the security guy at an American space launch base launched in 1961, while the first astronauts were being launched into space, and is grounded in the real space program. 🧵
Cover to Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip fetures a man and a woman standing in front of a small rocket.
aboutcomics.com
Having already done the main work of culling over 400 of these cartoons, so what if it's not a hidden lesbian strip. It's funnies anyway! So I've just released the book, which is available at Amazon. www.amazon.com/dp/1949996875
Two women, one carrying a team pennant, are at the stadium entrance for a football game. Hildegard says to the man standing behind the "sorry, sold out" sign, "And you mean there's only one performance?"
aboutcomics.com
The Hildegard and Olivia cartoons, about two women whose gusto for life outstripped their driving skills, are a subset of the Kickin' Around daily panel by Wally Falk. The only continuing character in that series, they appeared irregularly, averaging slightly less often than once a week.
Two women in a covertible being pulled by a tow truck. The one not driving (Hildegard) says conspiratorially to the driver (Olivia), "Keep your brakes on—make him earn his money!"
aboutcomics.com
But when I showed these cartoons to wiser eyes, I was told (correctly) that while the relationship between the two women is never specified, it's not so much lesbian-coded as maiden-sister-coded, no matter what tone I tried to read into it. They were right.
Cartoon, woman yelling at traffic cop writing her a ticket. "I'd get your job for this, young man—if I thought your uniform would fit me!"
aboutcomics.com
The latest release from About Comics comes from me being too eager to find a book for Pride. When I found this series of 1940s-'50s cartoons about two women who lived and traveled together, I thought I might've uncovered hidden mid-century lesbians in mainstream papers...
The cover to Kickin' Around With Hildegard And Olivia features two women swerving their convertible just at the edge of a cliff.
aboutcomics.com
About Comics may be ridiculously tiny and insignificant even within the context of comics, but at least it is owned by me rather than being a mere spare thumb of some bloated media conglomerate too big to stand up for itself.

At the moment, this feels the better place to be.
aboutcomics.com
Lucky for me, there aren't any About Comics completists out there that I know of, or I'd feel guilty about this book. It's not going to be available for sale. It has three-page samples from a couple dozen books, and I hope to give out the 2 dozen copies at the Souvenir trade show in Vegas next month
Cover of Souvenir Sampler has black and white images of a bus driver staring at a stampeding elephant, two nuns looking at a wolf in GI uniform, a girl looking astonished, a dog riding on the back of the car, and Teddy Roosevelt with claws.
aboutcomics.com
If you want to learn to publish comics the About Comics way, this is your chance!
nat.gertler.com
I will only be at #SDCC on Friday. If anyone wants a meeting, let me know! And hey, come to this, where I'll be giving away all my (publishing) secrets!
Nat Gertler at the San Diego Comic-Con

Publishing Books of Comics Through Amazon Print-on-Demand
Friday July 25, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Omni San Diego Hotel, Omni Grand Ballroom DE, 4th Floor
Amazon's print-on-demand service can be a low-cost way to make your book available worldwide. About Comics publisher Nat Gertler, who has published over 100 comic book collections, comic strip collections, cartoon books, and graphic novels this way, will show you the process, give you the tips, tricks, and pitfalls in publishing print books through Amazon, and tell you when different services make more sense.
aboutcomics.com
One thing about focusing on the museum and historic site market is that my books get to end up in interesting places. They've restored the old Bush Family Home (yes, those Bushes) to its 1950s glory... and offer these books displaying 1950s culture!
Cover to Party Line Comics by Dik Browne. Cover the The Family Car: Road Trip, cartoons by Wally Falk.
aboutcomics.com
If you've been amazed by the dozens of books of Catholic cartoons that About Comics has reissued, well, here's hte lowdown on how Catholic cartoon booklets became A Thing in the 1950s.
Comics Show & Tell episode 8: Cartoon Nunsplosion
YouTube video by About Comics
youtu.be
aboutcomics.com
Lulu is running a 15% discount with codeword FIREWORKS15, making it an excellent time to order the About Comics books offered through them -- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Comics Strip, and Teddy Roosevelt: His Career in Cartoons.
Teddy Roosevelt
President and adventurer Theodore Roosevelt was a larger-than-life figure, mixing political wisdom and warrior pride with a great engagement with the natural world. In 1910, after while Roosevelt was ...
www.lulu.com
aboutcomics.com
This does not impact About Comics directly at all. We had no books on consignment. Diamond's debt to use in under $3K. We'll be fine.

Others, not so much, I suspect.

Best wishes to all publishers and retailers struggling through this.
Diamond Comic Distributors Submits a Motion for the Procedures to Sell or other Disposition of Consigned Inventory. Publishers, pay attention to this! - Graphic Policy
The shitshow feels like it's becoming an even bigger one. This feels like a big deal.
graphicpolicy.com
aboutcomics.com
This is a bit of a deluxe book for us-- thicker, glossy paper and higher-grade printing (needed to make the included photos look good.) It's not being offered through Amazon, but through Lulu. Paperback: www.lulu.com/shop/albert-...
Hardcover: www.lulu.com/shop/albert-...
Teddy Roosevelt
President and adventurer Theodore Roosevelt was a larger-than-life figure, mixing political wisdom and warrior pride with a great engagement with the natural world. In 1910, after while Roosevelt was ...
www.lulu.com
aboutcomics.com
The cool thing for cartoonheads is not only do you get to see the styles of many different cartoonists, but many different goals, as these opinionate pieces seek to depict him as a statesman, a madman, a hero, a villain, and so much more.
A wide-eyed Roosevelt in full Rough Rider horse-riding gear punches the air. Caption: Our vice-president elect. A group of European aristocrats look at a poster of a serious-looking suit-wearing Roosevelt pointing into the air. The poster has the text "Roosevelt's Straight Talks to Effete Civilisations". The caption reads: The wisdom of the west.
aboutcomics.com
I've just released TEDDY ROOSEVELT: HIS CAREER IN CARTOONS, a biography with over 600 contemporary cartoons about this president, warrior, adventurer, and power broker!
How'd I pull that off?
Easy! I reprint a 1910 book, then add 50+ cartoons to continue it until T.R.'s death in 1919.
aboutcomics.com
Happy Pride!

I’m dissatisfied that while About Comics does work with gay, trans, bi, enby, etc creators, we’ve got no real Pride books. Much of that comes from being a reprint publisher. But I thought I’d found some forgotten usable 1950s content.
I was wrong.
More on this later this year.
Reposted by About Comics
nat.gertler.com
I should note that Peter leaves behind him a body of work impressive in scope and quality, a large body of fans, a choice group of loved ones, and apparently large medical bills. Only the latter should be made to disappear.
Donate to Help Peter David, organized by Graham Murphy
Hi, friends. I'm restarting a fundraiser for Peter David and his family. Peter's health issues continue… Graham Murphy needs your support for Help Peter David
www.gofundme.com
Reposted by About Comics
nat.gertler.com
Peter David's wife is reporting that he passed away last night.

A versatile writer of comics and prose who adapted well to many characters, he had been having severe health issues for a while.

I am glad that he was around, and wish the best to those who knew him.
aboutcomics.com
"Why release this material in a second format?" I hear you cry, in your endless fascination with my publishing efforts.

This price point and being able to ship from Amazon makes it easier for me to service any of my museum store customers who want this book.

The other version is still available.
Party Line Comics - IndyPlanet
Contains all thirty of Dick Browne's Life That Way strips, filled with chatty teens, ignorant children, and opportunities that have been missed because someone has been tying up the party line. An exc...
www.indyplanet.com