Buenaventura Press

"In January of 2010, I closed the doors at Buenaventura Press in Oakland, California."
-Alvin Buenaventura, via Blog Flume



The announcement of the closure of Buenaventura Press is perhaps the most important event in Art Comics since the announcement (and subsequent release of) Kramers Ergot 7.

This post will function as a continuously updating archive of the subsequent internet coverage of this event, as well as a forum for the possible effects this event will have on Art Comics and comics in general.

I personally am interested in the response, if any, Picturebox will provide, most likely via their flagship online publication Comics Comics. Picturebox and Buenaventura Press comprised a duopoly in the American publishing world of Art Comics. While Buenaventura Press was, at the time of its closure, still expanding within Art Comics, with forthcoming publications expected from new creators, Picturebox for several years has not expanded the stable of creators it publishes, and, according to its publisher Dan Nadel, does not plan to. The effect this has on young creators, and to some degree those creators previously affiliated with Buenaventura Press, is yet to be seen. As Jason Levian writes, "Their books have inspired new comic scenes all over the world." What will happen to these scenes now that the publisher who inspired them has ceased to exist? Levian continues, "I look forward to seeing the next generation rise from these ashes."

Who will publish this next generation? Pantheon Books, Fantagraphics Books, Drawn & Quarterly, and Top Shelf Productions, have all oriented themselves increasingly, within the past decade, around various aspects of art comics, in their content and production. High production quality and innovative printing techniques were trademark aspects of Buenaventura Press, and these aspects have increasingly been adopted by larger publishers. Experimental and non-normative content often associated with Art Comics have been regularly featured in Mome, D&Q Showcase, and recent anthologies by Top Shelf Productions. To what degree will larger publishers close the gap Buenaventura Press leaves behind? Will young creators find themselves accepted or adrift within this territory?

To what degree will the closure of Highwater Books, a "small but influential independent comic book publisher" and arguably the first American publisher of Art Comics, offer precedence?

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What is the nature of the closure? Buenaventura writes, "the press experienced a devastating financial blow that made it impossible to continue." He adds, "I will release more details about this problem in the future." Sean T. Collins writes, "I talked to Alvin this afternoon and he told me it all comes down to a single problem that is legal in nature."

Twitter has become an archive of condolensces. Minty Lewis (@mintylewis) tweets, "i'm confused about why the buenaventura press announcement is being made 5 months after closing and also why it's still only half the story."