Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: about comics, comic shop, Stan Mack

About Comics Sells More To Gift Shops Than Comic Book Stores

About Comics sells more comics to gift shops than comic stores - Stan Mack's Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution

Published Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:57:07 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Thu, 02 Nov 2023 08:54:24 -0500

Comments

Article Summary

About Comics reintroduces Stan Mack's 'Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution.'
Stan Mack's work focuses on journalistic comics and adding depth to the known historical narratives.
About Comics focuses on sales through museum and historic site gift shops over comic book stores.
Nat Gertler, the mind behind About Comics, is celebrated for bringing forgotten works back into print.

Net Gertler and About Comics are bringing Stan Mack's Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution back into print, in the spirit of Horrible Histories.

Previously released by larger publishers, NBM and Harper Perennial under the titles Stan Mack's Real Life American Revolution and Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels, About Comics has just released the latest edition of this graphic novel), bringing its clear storytelling and broad look at the matter to a new generation. "Very un-united people managed to create the United States," Mack notes. "We could use some of that now. There are points in this book more relevant to today than when it was originally released."

The war that led to the founding of the United States changed the world, but the conflicts were not all on the battlefield. The story is far richer than that, filled with characters at odds with each other even when fighting on the same side. The tales we are told of brave scrappy Americans taking on the powerful but stodgy British to secure freedom for all have a sliver of the truth, but the whole truth is far more subtle and far more interesting. In Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution, cartoonist-author Stan Mack spins the full picture… and it's full of pictures!

Stan Mack is best known for his journalistic comic strip Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies, which appeared in New York's Village Voice for two decades and will soon be collected by Fantagraphics Books. He also turned his cartooning skills toward history with the book The Story of the Jews: A 4,000 Year Adventure.

While About Comics intends to reach a variety of sales channels with this book, they are making a key target of one outlet many publishers overlook: gift shops at museums and historic sites. About Comics is a member of the Museum Store Association, and actually does more business with such gift shops than with comic book stores. For now at least, they are back with Diamond Comic Distributors for some volumes.

Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution is a 172-page black-and-white 6"x9" paperback cover priced at US$18. It is available for immediate order through Amazon around the world. Wholesale inquiries can be made to questions@aboutcomics.com

Nat Gertler is a comic book-and-related hero, an Eisner Award-winning comics history writer, putting work back into print that had been unduly forgotten, missed out from the canon or in urgent need of archiving. From religious-themed cartoons to superhero comic The Factor, from Stephen Weiner's analysis of Jeff Smith's Bone, to a facsimile of The Green Book, his work as About Comics is always worthy of note. But it is generally sold direct to the customer, or direct to interested bookstores.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!