Writer/artist Frank Forte started Asylum Press 10 years ago, and since has published not your ordinary comic books, from Robert Steven Rhine’s SATAN’S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL to Steve Mannion’s THE BOMB, all at a level of professionalism, design and talent that puts fellow indies to shame. Here, Forte talks to BOOKGASM about the advantages and challenges of running his own publishing company, and what we can expect to be unleashed from the Asylum in the near future.
BOOKGASM: Why establish Asylum Press? What were the benefits in creating your own comic book company rather than letting someone else “do the hard part” by playing publisher?
FORTE: I was publishing under the banner Studio Insidio since 1999. I wanted to re-establish myself under another brand. I wanted to continue doing mainly horror books, so the name Asylum fit. It also put us alphabetically at the beginning of the distributor catalogs. Before I formed Asylum Press, I had sent out numerous pitches to other companies, but I was shot down by all of them. No one wanted to publish our books.
I knew there was a fan base out there, because they had sold well through CFD Comics. I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me that my books couldn’t be put out there, and I already know how to publish, so I went out on my own again. The benefits are that you get to put out what you want and create a catalog of similar titles that makes a mark on the industry. I get to call the shots, and the rewards are great when you have a success.
BOOKGASM: What would you say has been the greatest success in Asylum’s short history?
FORTE: THE VAMPIRE VERSES was our best-selling book. We’re going to get back to that and finish the series soon. It was planned as 12 issues, but we’re going to finish it as a trade. Steve Mannion’s FEARLESS DAWN is our best seller now.
BOOKGASM: And, on the opposite end, has there been any project that didn’t take off like you had hoped?
FORTE: I wished WARLASH had gotten better orders. We have some really cool one-shots planned for the next few years, so I hope fans and retailers get behind the book.
BOOKGASM: I was really impressed with WARLASH, and I didn’t expect to be. Why do you think that hasn’t connected as well?
FORTE: I’m not sure. It could be that we weren’t monthly. It came out quarterly. It was also an anthology of tales. So to do a three-issue miniseries and make it an anthology — it’s not a format that readers are used to. We’re going to collect the tales from WARLASH: DARK NOIR, add an origin tale and add a few more tales. There will be an additional 50 pages of all-new stories. We’ll also have a rogue’s gallery that explains the world and the characters. We’ll call this WARLASH: YEAR ONE or WARLASH: ORIGINS. Future WARLASH books will be one-shots or original graphic novels.
BOOKGASM: Publishing as a whole is facing interesting changes now. What particular challenges are inherent to an indie comic company like yours?
FORTE: The challenges are to keep the printed books profitable in an economic downturn, as well as dealing with distributor minimums. It’s easy for a small-press publisher to be put under if a large distributor doesn’t carry them. Twenty years ago, there were 20 comics distributors; now, there’s one big one and a few small ones. That’s it. We’re breaking into the bookstore market with our trades, so that’s a good step to branch out. We’re also targeting the indie bookstores through our books distributor and trying to get them to realize the popularity of comics and graphic novels.
The other thing is dealing with digital distribution for phones, the Kindle and the Nook. We don’t want to alienate brick-and-mortar stores, but at the same time, we have to be at the front of the digital market. If fans want digital comics, we have to be there. Our hope is that they come back and buy the graphic novel for their coffee table.
BOOKGASM: Horror anthologies are supposedly a tough sell, although I love them. But you print quite a bit of them. Do you see that at all, or is there enough of a dedicated fan base to keep yours healthy?
FORTE: Yeah, horror anthologies are tough, but there is a fan base. The numbers aren’t high enough to be profitable. We did about 2,500 orders for ASYLUM OF HORRORS #1 and printed 5,000. We’re selling through the website, at cons and through bookstores. The numbers for ASYLUM OF HORRORS #2 dropped because we took a year to come out. It was supposed to be a quarterly book, but with low numbers, we had to rethink our release schedule.
I’d like to put out three per year or something like that. We really need to hit 10,000 in orders to make money. If the 64-page format doesn’t work, we’ll switch to an annual format. We’re already doing that with the ZOMBIE TERRORS anthology and the VAMPIRE MACABRE anthology. Those are scheduled to be 128- to 150-page annuals.
BOOKGASM: Without the benefit of a huge advertising budget, how do you rely on getting word out about your books?
FORTE: We rely on word of mouth, doing conventions, our fan base and e-mail base. We also send posters and postcards through Diamond. These tend to hang around longer and get better exposure for the books. We sometimes run ads in Diamond, but they’re expensive. I spend time calling comic and bookstores to establish a relationship with them. It’s a one-by-one, guerilla-style attack plan for a small publisher.
BOOKGASM: Another Asylum book I really liked was DTOX, which there was only one issue for. I’m happy to see that it’s continuing at all, in HEAVY METAL magazine, but is that end for it at Asylum? For instance, can we hope for an eventual D-TOX trade?
FORTE: Thanks. Yeah, HEAVY METAL liked part two, so they published it. If reader response is good, then they’ll order another. So we’re really hoping people write in and post on the HEAVY METAL message boards. Nenad and I would love to do eight-page segments and then collect into a trade. We’ll do the trade whether or not HEAVY METAL publishes the chapters.
BOOKGASM: What new books do you have coming out?
FORTE: FEARLESS DAWN is a four-issue miniseries that hits this month. It’s Steve Mannion’s full-color, creator-owned book. Fans of Wally Wood or Eric Powell will really dig this title. Issue #2 is going to the printer now.
FARMHOUSE is an original graphic novel coming out spring 2010. Written by playwright Elizabeth J. Musgrave and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski, the story is a dark character drama set in a mental institution in the town of Paintsville in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. In this tale, Sam Corneile, a drifter, returns home to take a job at a local mental institution where he discovers a group of patients being exploited under an art therapy regimen. While there, he falls for Helen, a feisty but troubled female who dares him to confront his past.
BLACK POWDER, written and illustrated by Dwayne Harris, is the story of Robert Young, a former captain in the Revolutionary War, and his river journey on America’s first steamboat to rescue the woman he loves from a gang of river pirates led by his cutthroat nemesis and former commander, Samuel Mason. On the way he encounters hostile Indians, swashbuckling battles, and several historical figures, all set against the backdrop of an earthquake that sinks islands, reverses the flow of the Mississippi river and wrenchingly exposes the fractures of a new nation itself.
EEEK! is a giant, 176-page trade paperback by Jason Paulos. It’s a black-and-white horror anthology that pays tribute to the old Warren mags EERIE and CREEPY. And to the Skywald books. It’s old-school horror at its best.
ASYLUM OF HORRORS #3 is almost done and features all-new horror tales from a melting pot of international creators. Fans of Tim Vigil will like his new “Survival Extinction Z” serial. Billy George’s apocalyptic “Ruined Earth” is another great story that runs issue to issue. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ASYLUM PRESS:
• THE ASYLUM OF HORRORS #1
• THE BOMB by Steve Mannion
• DTOX #0 by Frank Forte and Nenad Gucunja
• FEARLESS DAWN #1 by Steve Mannion
• SATAN’S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL by Robert Steven Rhine
• UNDEAD EVIL #0 by Frank Forte and Nenad Gucunja
• WARLASH: DARK NOIR #1 / #2 by Frank Forte
OTHER RECENT BOOKGASM AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:
• Q&A with ARCHENEMY’s Frank Beddor
• Q&A with THE LOST THRONE’s Chris Kuzneski
• Q&A with TIME OF THE RANGERS’ Mike Cox
Related posts:
- Warlash: Dark Noir #1 / #2
- The Asylum of Horrors #1
- Fearless Dawn #1
- Undead Evil #0
- Q&A with Underland Press’ Victoria Blake
