Comics Experience alumnus and Workshop member Rich Douek‘s indie success Gutter Magic is back in print as of last week (September 25, if you want to be all exacting about it) thanks to Source Point Press! The four-issue fantasy series – whose team includes Brett Barkley on art, Jules Rivera on colors, and Nic J. Shaw on letters – now features four new covers by Fei Chen to celebrate the re-release.
“One of the reasons we wanted to rerelease the original issues is so that new fans can get into the series from the beginning, and not be confused by feeling we’re starting in the middle of something. But, we also wanted to give existing fans something new to get excited about, so we started to look for artists who could bring something new and awesome to the table,” Rich says.
“We found that in spades with Fei Chen, who created a slate of new covers highlighting the main characters in some of our favorite scenes from the book. She’s got a style that’s different from anything we’ve done before, but undeniably feels like Gutter Magic, and we’re really excited to get them out there.”
Gutter Magic started off as a 5-page short in the Introduction to Comic Book Writing course, and grew into a full series – first as single issues, then a trade paperback from IDW. A spinoff series, Tales from the Gutter, met its Kickstarter goal and expanded the alternate history steampunk universe further.
Rich says, “During the publishing process, Andy was an invaluable resource as an editor and advisor. It’s safe to say that Gutter Magic wouldn’t be what it is without Comics Experience, and I’ll always be grateful to it for helping to get my comics writing career off the ground.”
Make sure to keep your eyes out for the Tales from the Gutter, coming soon from Source Point Press! This will be the anthology’s first time in print.
If you’ll be at New York Comic-Con this weekend, make sure to catch Rich at Andy Schmidt’s Writing Comics Like the Pros panel, and pick up the new Gutter Magic at the Source Point Press booth, #2243.