This is my second of five interviews with various creators at Emerald City Comic Con.
I sat down with Adrian Wassel, Editor-In-Chief of Vault Comics, a publisher entering its second year. They had a huge table with lots of space, so I was actually able to sit down with Adrian right there which was nice. It was the only interview from the weekend that I wasn’t on high alert wondering if a security guard was gonna make us move.
Morgan: So you all have blown onto the comics scene in the past year or so. For those who don’t know what Vault is, describe who you are and what kind of comics you publish.
Adrian: Vault’s in an interesting place right now because some people know us really well, have been with us the whole year and have seen the explosive growth. Some shops are ordering from 200-1000 copies of our comics. And then some shops don’t even know our name which is like, sort of frustrating but also good. It’s a good place to be because it means you can point not just to the fans, but the retailers who order the books, and you can say “Hey look, don’t take it from us. Just look at the fan feedback from the people behind the books. We came into the market with a very clear intention and a very clear ambition and it was something readers responded to. We wanted to publish the very best of science fiction and fantasy because we think those genres allow people, allow creators, to explore, and they can subvert all sorts of constructions that need, right now, absolutely need to be talked about.
And it’s nice to see. Comics don’t exist in a vacuum. It’s in conversation with all the other media out there. Sometimes it’s kind of the lifeblood. It’s like the spring of so much. Movies, T.V., games. The mission statement of Vault is to give creators the platform that they deserve to tell stories that right now, absolutely need to be told. And that means not the same voice that’s been dominating the industry for far too long at the expense of voices that have been doing the really great work. It’s not like it hasn’t been there. It’s been there the whole time. And people that really love this genre have always known that and have fought for it and it’s nice to see not just Vault, but other publishers finally doing what’s always needed to be done in embracing that.
Read on here. [x]
