Technology and Kansas City comics

I recently found a great post by a blog entitled "Subrealism" which details a collaboration between the blogger and Kansas City comic book artist Anthony Jappa.

It's an inspiring take on the struggle of an artist to find an audience for his work and the use of technology in that quest:

Jappa explained to me how the Marvel/DC/Diamond publication distribution monopolies had fundamentally altered the landscape of comic book availability and further, how the dominant business practices in the industry have made it exceedingly difficult for independant comics creators to break-in in any meaningful way into this field of cultural production and entertainment. For his business to succeed - and there's no question that his work is worldclass - Jappa's had to hustle and grind like a madman. Getting breaks here and there with dealers, working the convention circuit, and doing everything he can to figure out alternative pathways by which he can achieve mass distribution and proliferation of his work product.

Really, this is a must read post for anyone interested in alternative media, new trends in comic books and the consequence of open source ethos on the mainstream media.