Comics Alternative Profiles Koyama Press

On April 29, Koyama Press got one hour and 23 minutes of love from the Two Guys podcast at Comics Alternative.

Derek and Andy , “two guys with PhDs talking about comics,” briefly explained the unique beginnings of Koyama Press: founder Annie Koyama had no background in publishing or comics.

Diary Comics by Dustin Harbin

One day, she suffered a brain aneurism, and during a long gig at the hospital, played the stock market. By the time recovery came, she had deep enough pockets to start a press for her newfound love: comic books. Since 2007, Annie has been publishing comics, graphics, art books, and zines out of Toronto.

The Comics Alternative Podcast highlighted the spring releases of Koyama Press, including Alex Schubert’s Blobby Boys 2, Ginette Lapalme’s Confetti, A. Degen’s Mighty Star and the Castle of the Cancatervater, and Dustin Harbin’s Diary Comics.

Confetti by Ginette Lapalme

Derek and Andy discussed in great detail the comic art from Confetti, uncovering the visual themes of food with faces, cats, dogs, butts, and bodily “leakage.” In Andy’s words, “Poop, pee, melting skin, something like intestines–there’s a lot of leakage in this one.”

According to the Two Guys, Koyama’s spring collection is quite the eclectic bunch, from the Blobby Boys without a moral compass, to a butt with eyeballs, you’ll see just about everything comical.