Among several self-publishers in the reprint space, Stefan Wood and his Comic Strip Appreciation Group are far and away the most prolific. His Lulu Bookstore boasts about 25 titles as of this writing. And judging from our conversation with him this week, that library will be growing weekly. Recently retired from the exhibit design team at the National Gallery in Washington D.C., Stefan brings to his comic strip mission a familial and professional background in the arts, digital skills and a penchant for tight deadlines. He keeps himself on a disciplined schedule, and has developed an efficient workflow that produces such a fast-growing library. But as we also discussed, there is also a method for selecting titles for reissue. Stefan is drawn to artists who used this medium to express personal experience, a unique perspective and exceptional artistic style. He is not only resurfacing old strips but also calling attention to an aspect of comics history often missed by standard histories and the familiar canon of “greats” they have established.
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So glad that you’re profiling the great work Stefan Wood has been doing with these releases. I’m a sucker for the soap opera strips, so was sold when one of the first releases was the entire run of Lou Fines/Elliott Caplin’s Adam Ames, but have come back to add a number of titles (many that I had only read a few examples of before) since then.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a similar project, also through Lulu’s print on demand service. James Gauthier, who was friends with Leonard Starr, was instrumental in supplying much of the art work for Starr’s Mary Perkins, on Stage, when Classic Comics Press released the great 15 volume set of that strip (and Classic Comics Press are also currently cranking out beautiful releases on Lulu.)
But James’ greater love among Starr’s work is his 20 year run on Annie (which, may the comic strip Gods strike me down, I prefer to Gray’s originals.) And he just released, again via Lulu, a gorgeous first volume (of a planned 14) of that series, complete with vibrant colour Sundays. I think handling Annie was in some ways more complicated because some of the profits do have to go back to the Syndicate (Annie is still a viable IP that they care about, thanks to the eternally revived musical which led to Starr’s comic in the first place.) Seeing as James is the only person with a complete set of Starr’s original proofs, this is a once in a lifetime release.
Thanks Eric. Yes I’ve seen mention of the Starr Annie’s. I tried to drop him a note about featuring it at the site but never heard back.
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