From comics kept under the bed to printed collections, a new publisher is saving N.L.'s illustrated past

Newfoundland and Labrador's very own comic book publisher is introducing readers to comic books made in the province and wants to push local artists to get their work out there.

Kevin Woolridge, who launched Heavy Sweater Comics in November, marvels at how quickly it has grown since then, as he now has seven titles in print.

"It's built up very quickly," said Woolridge at his vendor table during last weekend's annual Sci-Fi on the Rock convention in downtown St. John's.

At his table was a sign proclaiming "Local Comics" and a display of the titles he has published, including Andrew Hawthorn's My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yardarm and his own Fishsticks and Andy and the Magic Box, as well as buttons and watercolour prints.

When people hear there's a local comic book publishing company, he said, it grabs their attention.

"The local comic community, the cartooning community, are really excited about this work. Because in a way it's kind of lighting a fire underneath some of their butts, you know?" he told CBC News.

During the convention he also released three new titles: Jennifer Barrett's Werebears and Only Children: The Good Ones, Sam Dinn's Dirty Laundry and his own autobiographical comic Nothing Super Important.

An official launch party for the new comic books was scheduled for Friday at the LSPU Hall's Cox & Palmer Second Space, he said.

Heavy Sweater Comics is currently the only active comic book publisher in the province.

Woolridge previously told CBC News that prior to starting his company he had been self-publishing his comics under the name Little Grey Dog Comics and Games but he realized there was already a publisher with a similar name, so he had to select a new name for his company.

He said his friends started throwing out words they associated with him, and Woolridge happened to like heavy sweaters, and the name stuck.

Preserving the past

Woolridge said he has experience self-publishing his own comics so it wasn't a big leap to decide to start the company and publish the works of others.

"There are people here doing it, and it's just sitting underneath their bed in a box. Why not get that material out there to the public?" he said.

Many of the books he's published are collections of previously published works. That wasn't intentional initially, he said, but it's a way for people to read comics when they're no longer easy to find.

He pointed out Werebears and Only Children was initially published on a blog and then in the Scope, an alternative newspaper in St. John's that folded in 2013. Likewise, Hawthorn's book is a collection of his webcomic On the Bounty.

"That kind of material is kind of getting lost unless it's published, right? I think I'm doing a little bit of a service just to try to get this history of comic strips, especially, out there," said Woolridge.

Artists Dinn and Barrett were at the convention for book signings.

Barrett said Werebears and Only Children started off as a "goofy webcomic" about two unnamed characters, beginning on her blog, then in the Scope, and then back online. But it had been years since she'd posted anything.

"I haven't been doing it consistently for almost 10 years, so it was nice to go back and revisit it," said Barrett.

Bringing her characters back in a collection was something that had been on her mind while she had been making her comic but never got around to, she said.

Then after a hole unexpectedly opened up in his publishing schedule, Woolridge reached out to Barrett, asking her if she wanted to put together a collection of her comics.

"I thought I should just take advantage of that because I already had all the work, the actual comics, made," said Barrett, adding that she pulled out the comics, scanned them, cleaned them up and added some new content like puzzles.

"It's just kind of like another little dream to come true after many years."

Having a local comic book publisher opens up possibilities for local artists, she said.

"What Kevin is doing is amazing, and there's a lot of great comic makers in the province already. So this is just another way to help expose that."

New titles coming

Woolridge said he has big announcements on future titles coming in the next few weeks, including a fantasy apocalyptic story and a coming of age story. He's also working on a children's book and a painted 200-page book, he said.

For the moment, Woolridge said, his focus is on publishing N.L. artists but he's been seeing submissions from across the country.

"Once I have the kind of distribution network in place, I'd like to be able to publish some more stuff — with a mandate of remaining mostly local."

Heavy Sweater Comics titles can be bought through the company's website, as well as local comic book shops Timemasters, Downtown Comics and Heroes & Hobbies, he said.

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