Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Bruno Gmünder GmbH, dale lazarov, erotica, sticky graphic novels

Help! Gay Comics From Sticky Graphic Novels Need You As Much As You Need Them

Published Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:00:57 -0600

Under the Sticky Graphic Novels banner, Dale Lazarov publishes gay character-based, sex-positive, wordless graphic novels for an international audience. The comics are available digitally, and also in hardcover from German publisher Bruno Gmünder GmbH. Or, at least, they were, until unfortunate circumstances put the future of the hardcover editions in peril, prompting a fundraising sale of the t-shirt you see above.

Lazarov explains:

Frank Zahn, the owner of Bruno Gmünder GmbH, which licenses Sticky Graphic Novels for hardcover editions, died unexpectedly in early February. While the ownership of Gmünder is determined, several categories of books are "on hold"; that includes their graphic novels lines. Five Sticky Graphic Novels that are finished and ready to go to hardcover in 2017 and 2018 — SLY, TIMBER, CARNAL, SUPER CREEPS!, KINDLY WOODSMEN — are now off the publishing schedule. We will receive no advance on hardcover publication or royalties for these titles.

We would have made it through this transitional period with digital comics sales through Class Comics at http://dale.gaycomics.me/but digital sales have been in the tank since Trump was elected. As of this writing, I have not been able to find a new hardcover publisher for these five orphaned titles or for the available backlist that Gmünder has not reprinted. I have not received pay from Gmünder for 2016 royalties, either, and we may never receive it if it turns out that Zahn died without determining the ownership of Gmünder after his death.

As a stopgap solution while another publisher is found, Sticky Graphic Novels is selling a fundraising t-shirt in 3 different t-shirt base options with 4 color options each at Ink to the People.

The money this crowdfunding t-shirt will raise will go to paying the creators of Sticky Graphic Novels while we seek a new hardcover publishing licensor for our books. Also, we want to continue expanding beyond digital and hardcover publication and into t-shirt merchandising; this fundraising t-shirt project will show a potential production and distribution partner that there's a market for merchandise based on our sweet and carnal gay sequential art. With a third source of cash flow from merchandising, we would be better able to work through the ups and downs of digital and hardcover publishing of gay graphic novels.

If you're interested in helping out and getting a Sticky Graphic Novels t-shirt for your troubles, head to the fundraising sale page, where you can choose from a variety of options and sizes (and yes, they go all the way up to size 5XL – we checked). And if you want to get your hands on some digital erotica right now — and who doesn't?! — you can check out Dale's Class Comics digital store (NSFW).