Comics Publication May Return This Summer

By: E&P Staff A publication called "News Free Comics" (NSF) may re-start by August if 2,000 subscribers sign up, reported Alan Gardner on his Daily Cartoonist blog.

Randall Vanfossen launched NSF last year as a four-page free paper distributed locally in the Parkersburg, W.V., area, but he had to put it on hold this April when he didn't sell enough advertising. If NSF resumes via a paid-subscription model, Vanfossen said the monthly would have at least 20 (newsprint) pages.

NSF would spotlight somewhat lesser-known comics such as Michael Jantze's "The Norm," Dave Kellett's "Sheldon," Vic Lee's "Pardon My Planet," Jef Mallett's "Frazz," Norm Feuti's "Retail," Mark Leiknes' "Cow & Boy," Tony Carrillo's "F Minus," "Brooke McEldowney's "9 Chickweed Lane," Jim Meddick's "Monty," and Brian Anderson's "Dog Eat Doug."

"I'm trying to make it look different than the average newspaper comics section, which is usually the epitome of blandness," Vanfossen told Gardner. "I've been known to take a single daily strip and blow it up to the full width of the page, just because. I also like to occasionally throw two or three dailies together to make one long strip, also just because."