Setting Bruno Free!

In response to the current situation around the Covid-19 Coronavirus and the requirement for self-isolation, I have seen several creators online offering some of their work for free.  Hey, we've got to do something to fight off cabin fever while we're avoiding other people right?
Armed with that inspiration, I've gotten Ian McDonald's permission to make Vol. 1 of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" free.  The book is available free in pdf and cbz formats right now from DriveThruComics. 
Head over there and grab a copy if you don't already have one!  It's a great introduction to a very entertaining series with some of Ian's finest work, not to mention a host of illustrations from other webcomics artists, all wrapped up with praise from Marvel Comic's own Roy Thomas and a cover that is arguably the last published work by classic Conan artist Ernie Chan!  All that and you can't beat the price!! Click the link above, or the cover image below to get your own copy of this comics classic!

While you're there, don't forget to check out our other free offerings, "Why Comics?" and a Journals of Simon Pariah short story, "A Pair of Boots". 

Here's hoping all you Brunatics stay well and stay safe.  It's not a great time right now...but it could be a great time to catch up on some reading!

Forever Free....

I've only recently discovered the DivShare, the cloud based storage service I used to host the free book "Why Comics?" has shut down.  It's not a huge loss, as I didn't have a lot else stored there, but it would have been nice had they sent out a notice to their subscribers. 
In any case, it means I have to redirect readers who might want to snag a copy of the free book, so you'll notice that the sidebar on the left now points to the listing at DriveThru Comics.  You will have to register for a DriveThru account to get the book, but membership is free, and by joining up, you will also get access to the free issue of "The Journals of Simon Pariah", Issue 1A - "A Pair of Boots". 
If that's not enough of an incentive, you also get access to all the other free content on DriveThru. I know it's probably not the smartest thing to recommend someone else's books, but I enjoy their content myself, and can't dispute the amount of good work they have on there.  A few recommendations, if I may:

• Artesia #1 from Archaia Entertainment - the art in this series is just beautiful.
• Dork Tower #1 from Dork Storm Press - THE comic for gaming geeks, and I just love Jon Kovalic's art.
• Deadworld Vol. 1 #1 from Caliber - Zombies!  Long before anyone had heard of the Walking Dead, Vince Locke was ruling the zombie genre with this book.
• Dead Future #1 from Raven Warren Studios - Zombies again! In space no less!  Zombies in space!  What more do you want?

And that's only a small portion of the free books they have available there.  Go grab them all!  Just make sure to read ours first!

Now Available: The Journals of Simon Pariah #1A - Free!

Here's a little something for your to peruse over the holidays.  If you've got a DriveThru Comics account, or are willing to get one, you can now get "The Journals of Simon Pariah" #1A free.
Why #1A?  Well, because this is not a full issue; rather it's a wordless 8 page story I created, partly as an exercise in wordless comics, and partly to develop the idea of "apocryphal" Simon Pariah stories.  Apocryphal stories, in this case, being short pieces that are incidental tales featuring the character that may or may not be part of the "canon" that will be the character's history, and that give me the context to set stories out of continuity or (I hope) to eventually invite other creators to tell their own tales of the character.

Issue #1A contains the story "A Pair of Boots" which originally ran as a webcomic on the Simon Pariah Comic Genesis site.  It's dedicated to Steve Ditko, who inspired the story with his treatment of philosophical elements in works like "Mr. A" and his simplistic yet highly effective art style.

Head over to DriveThru Comics right now and grab a copy.  Then be sure to let me know what you think, either in a review, or in the comments.  Either way, you can't beat the price. Enjoy!

Local Hero is Free!

This coming Saturday, 7 May, is the most important holiday of the year...Free Comic Book Day!  I was hoping to get out and do some sketches and meet some comics fans like I did last year, but my favorite local shop is not hosting a sketch panel this year, so instead I've dug out an older piece of work to make available for free to mark the occasion.
AIM Comics is not yet an official sponsor of Free Comic Book Day, but that's no reason I can't honor the occasion by giving you a free read.  In this case, it's a short story, "Local Hero", that I did as a submission for the SPX biography-themed anthology a few years ago.  This piece actually honors two Halifax figures who are important to comics:  Hal Foster, the creator and artist of "Prince Valiant" and the original "Tarzan" comic strip, and Calum Johnston, the owner of (and this is verifiable) the Greatest Comic Shop in the World, Strange Adventures.  It's probably not the most professional piece of work in comics, and it's more than a bit fannish, but I'll make no bones about being a fanboy.
The story is in .cbz format, which means it can be read with Comical, CDisplay or any of the many digital comics readers, including myComics on iOS.  If you'd like to give it a look, you can download it right here.
As always, comments and criticisms are welcome and encouraged, either by email or by comments on this post.
And whatever else you do this weekend, be sure to make time to drop by your local comics shop and partake in the annual wonder that is....Free Comic Book Day!

We're Live on DriveThru Comics!

AIM Comics is live on DriveThru Comics!  This is just one of the partners we're lining up for digital distribution of our books, and we've kicked off by making "Why Comics?" available from them as a free pdf download.  I've been reading offerings from DriveThru for a couple of years, and I know that they have a great catalog of independent publishers as well as some big names over there, so I'm proud to be able to join their ranks.
Head on over to the AIM Comics page at DriveThru and grab yourself a copy of "Why Comics?" to get a taste of what DriveThru can deliver!

Why Comics? - Free Download from AIM Comics

While "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" will be AIM Comics first official release, our first unoffically official book is already out...and it's free!
"Why Comics?" is a 30 page book compiled from a couple of older pieces of mine.  The first is the titular "Why Comics?", which is a 24 hour comic I produced a couple of years ago.  It explores my own perspective of the whys and wherefores of creating comics based on my own limited experience and long-time drive.  It's pretty rough, but I think it's a good piece.
The second piece in the book is titled "Comics on the Cheap" and is a reprinting of an article I sold to Blueline Pro's Sketch Magazine in 2002.  It was an exploration of how a beginning creator can create comics without breaking the bank on expensive software and computer hardware.  It's badly in need of updating, but still makes some valid points, and a lot of the software mentioned is still available in newer veersions.
"Why Comics?"  is being released under a Creative Commons, non-commercial, no derivatives licence, meaning that it can be freely shared, but not changed or sold or claimed to be owned by anyone else.  It can be downloaded here.
The only thing I ask is that if you like the book, and if you're a blogger or any other kind of internet writer, that you consider writing a post, review or any other kind of article to help spread the word.  Feel free to link directly to the book for download, or to email me with any questions or comments about the book, the site, or AIM Comics in general.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Why Comics? by Mike Dominic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.aimcomics.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.aimcomics.com.

Update:  I should have mentioned that the book is in .cbr format.  You can either download a specialized reader for this format (I recommend CDisplay for its ease of use and portability), or you can treat the file as a glorified zip file (which is all it really is) and unzip the contents to read the .jpg files contained in it.  A pdf formatted version is coming soon.