* I start blogging comics news after a 10-month hiatus and three days in, news that Gary Spencer Millidge's Strangehaven is returning? Strange but true! According to Millidge, "Strangehaven will return in May 2014 after an eight year hiatus. New episodes...will appear in a newly revived comics anthology bimonthly, Meanwhile… published by Soaring Penguin Press." Millidge says Strangehaven will no longer be self-published as a standalone comic, but rather that he plans to produce 13-14 pages of Strangehaven per issue, and anticipates twelve episodes should be published over a two year period, comprising the fourth volume.
* Millidge says a number of factors got in the way of his self-publishing through Abiogenesis Press (the comic was distributed in the States by Top Shelf Productions; see their Strangehaven page here), but publisher John Anderson of Soaring Penguin offered Millidge full creator ownership and a substantial advance to revive the series. Millidge says "As John will testify, I still took a lot of convincing -- temporarily at least -- to abandon my self-publishing philosophy, and the contract took a long time to iron out. Ultimately, I had to choose between this opportunity to get the fourth volume of Strangehaven completed and out into my reader’s hands, or to let it remain in limbo while I continued to figure out a way of having my cake and eating it." Since the series was suspended, Millidge has authored two books about comics, Comic Book Design and Alan Moore: Storyteller.
* Strangehaven was one of the best comics being published in its era (it originally ran from 1995 to 2005; here's my review of #15), and I'm thrilled that it's returning in any form. Inspired by TV series like Twin Peaks and The Prisoner, Millidge's writing and art placed the book in the top tier of independent creator-owned comics, right alongside titles like Stray Bullets, Nexus and Love and Rockets. The eighteen issue run is available in three trade paperbacks: Arcadia, Brotherhood and Conspiracies. Millidge says all three are available via Diamond Distributors and from your local comic shop (they may have to order it for you), as well as from online booksellers and Millidge's own site.
* The other big news yesterday was the announcement that Dan Nadel is closing his alternative comics imprint Picturebox, Inc. Tom Spurgeon has all the details.
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