Floating World Comics
{{Short description|Comic book retailer in Portland, Oregon}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Floating World Comics
| logo = FloatingWorldComics-logo.png
| type = Private
| genre =
| founded = {{start date and age|2006|11}}
| defunct =
| founder =
| hq_location = Lloyd Center
| location_city =Portland, Oregon
| location_country = United States
| locations = 1
| area_served =
| key_people =
| industry = Retail, Publishing
| products = Comic books, graphic novels
| services =
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| assets =
| equity =
| owner = Jason Leivian
| num_employees =
| parent =
| subsid =
| homepage = {{URL|https://floatingworldcomics.com/}}
| footnotes =
| intl =
}}
Floating World Comics is a comic book retailer and publisher located in Portland, Oregon. Owned by Jason Leivian, the company specializes in alternative and independent comics, "showcasing auteur creators and the artists pushing the boundaries of 2-D sequential works."{{cite news|title=Floating World Comics Is Moving Out of Old Town... to the Mall |first=Suzette |last=Smith |work=Portland Mercury|url=https://www.portlandmercury.com/books/2022/07/29/44519257/floating-world-comics-is-moving-out-of-old-town-to-the-mall|date=July 29, 2022}}
History
Floating World Comics opened in November 2006,{{cite news|title=Comics Shop Confidential: The Scoop on Four Stores|date=Oct 10, 2008|first=Steve|last=Duin|work=The Oregonian|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2008/10/comics_shop_confidential_the_s.html}} located in a "modest ActivSpace... under the I-405 freeway."{{cite news|title=Portland's Floating World Comics Is Celebrating its 10th Anniversary|first=Nathan |last=Carson|work=Willamette Week|date=August 17, 2016|url=https://www.wweek.com/arts/2016/08/17/portlands-floating-world-comics-is-celebrating-its-10th-anniversary/}} It soon moved to the corner of NW 4th and Couch in the Portland neighborhood of Old Town Chinatown.{{cite web|title=About|url=https://floatingworldcomics.com/about|work=FloatingWorldComics.com|access-date=Sep 4, 2024}}
The company expanded into publishing in 2011. In 2013, Floating World took over as publisher of Arthur magazine, helping to relaunch the publication. (Arthur folded again the following year.){{cite web |url= http://arthurmag.com/ |title=May We Meet Again |first=Jay |last=Babcock |work=Arthur Magazine |date=March 3, 2014 |accessdate=May 6, 2015}}
In February 2015, Floating World Comics became part of a distribution cooperative — managed by Alternative Comics — along with the small publishers Hic and Hoc Publications, Revival House Press, Study Group Comics, Hang Dai Editions, and Steve Lafler/Manx Media. Dubbed the Alternative Comics Publishing Co-Op, the publishers agreed to have their titles listed in distribution catalogs under the Alternative Comics banner, thus giving the publishers access to distribution from Diamond Comic Distributors and Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.{{cite press release|title=Floating World joins Alternative Comics distribution co-op|location=Cupertino, California|website=Floating World Comics|url=https://floatingworldcomics.com/archives/4115|date=Feb 18, 2015}}
In 2022, Floating World Comics moved locations to the Lloyd Center shopping mall.
As of 2024, the company's titles "are distributed to the direct market through Diamond Comic Distributors and to the trade market through Consortium Book Sales."
Exhibitions
Over the years, Floating World Comics held experimental animation nights, art festivals, and exhibitions of cartoonists' work, including Al Columbia (2007),{{Cite web|url=https://floatingworldcomics.com/archives/60|title='The Land of Broken Hearts' – A Rare Exhibition of Artwork by Al Columbia|website=Floating World Comics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514200448/https://floatingworldcomics.com/archives/60|archive-date=2021-05-14|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-14}} "Spacenight: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo" (2007),{{cite web |url=http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/spacenight-a-tribute-to-bill-mantlo-dec-6th/ |title=Spacenight: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo |date=November 13, 2007 |publisher=Floating World Comics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122005710/http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2007/11/13/spacenight-a-tribute-to-bill-mantlo-dec-6th/ |archive-date=November 22, 2010 |url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} new comics from Croatia and Serbia (2008),{{Cite book|title=Nevidljivi strip|last=Sekulić|first=Aleksandra|publisher=Narodna biblioteka Srbije|year=2011|isbn=978-86-7035-231-5}}{{Cite web|url=http://floatingworldcomics.com/archives/80|title=Oct. 2nd – ON THE MARGINS: NEW COMIX FROM CROATIA AND SERBIA {{!}} Floating World Comics|website=floatingworldcomics.com|access-date=2016-07-28|date=Sep 2008}} "Spacenight2: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo" (2010),{{cite web |url= http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2010/11/16/dec-2-spacenite-2-a-tribute-to-bill-mantlo/|title= Spacenite2: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo|date= November 16, 2010|publisher= Floating World Comics|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130507041220/http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2010/11/16/dec-2-spacenite-2-a-tribute-to-bill-mantlo/|archive-date= May 7, 2013|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web |url= http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2010/12/22/spacenite-2-fundraiser-auctions-for-bill-mantlo/|title= Spacenite 2 – Fundraiser Auctions for Bill Mantlo|date= December 22, 2010|publisher= Floating World Comics|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130502235331/http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2010/12/22/spacenite-2-fundraiser-auctions-for-bill-mantlo/|archive-date= May 2, 2013|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}} and eBoy (2013).
Publications (selected)
= Ongoing and limited series =
- All Time Comics Zerosis Deathscape (7 issues, 2019-2020), by Josh Bayer, Josh Simmons, Trevor Von Eeden, et al — superhero pastiche
- Black Phoenix (3 issues, 2023-2024), by Rich Tommaso
- Hyperthick (3 issues, 2021–2022), by Steve Aylett
- Night Hunters (4 issues, 2020–2021), by Alexis Ziritt and Dave Baker
- Unsmooth (2 issues, 2019–2021), by E. S. Glenn
- Slasher (5 issues, 2017–2018), by Charles Forsman — co-published with Alternative Comics
= Graphic novels and one-shots =
- After Land (2016), by Chris Taylor — nominated for the Doug Wright Award Pigskin Peters Award
- Algernon Blackwood's The Willows (2017?), by Nathan Carson and Sam Ford
- Amnesia: The Lost Films of Francis D. Longfellow{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/reviews/amnesia-the-lost-films-of-francis-d-longfellow-1/|title=Amnesia: The Lost Films of Francis D. Longfellow|first=Matt|last=Seneca|website=The Comics Journal|date=Oct 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515173714/http://www.tcj.com/reviews/amnesia-the-lost-films-of-francis-d-longfellow-1/|archive-date=2021-05-15}} (2018), by Al Columbia — co-published with Colubmia's own PO Press
- Ariadne Auf Naxos (2013), by Julia Gfrörer
- Boat Life (2022), by Tadao Tsuge
- The Coward's Hole{{Cite book |last=Landry |first=Tyler |url=https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/vile-1-by-tyler-landry |title=The Coward's Hole |publisher=Study Group |year=2016 |isbn=9781681480060 |language=en}} (2016), by Tyler Landry — co-published with Study Group Comics
- Cowboys and Insects (2016), by David Hine and Shaky Kane — first published digitally by Aces Weekly
- Diamond Comics #6 (2011), by Paul Pope
- Floodgate Companion (2016), by Robert Beatty ({{ISBN|9781942801986}} {{OCLC|1033512652}})
- The Immersion Program (2019), by Léo Quievreux{{cite book | last=Quievreux | first=Leo | translator-last=Vigneault | translator-first=François | title=The Immersion Program | publisher=Floating World Comics | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-942801-89-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiIhtwEACAAJ | access-date=17 June 2022 | page=}} — translated version of a series originally published in French
- Island Of Memory vol. 1 (2013), by T. Edward Bak{{cite web|date=July 19, 2013|title=Floating World Comics Unpacks Forthcoming 2013 Publishing Season: Eng, Bak, Gfrörer And Alden|work=Comics Reporter|first=Tom|last=Spurgeon|author-link=Tom Spurgeon|url=https://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/index/floating_world_comics_unpacks_forthcoming_2013_publishing_season_eng_bak_gf/}}
- Lonesome{{Cite book |last=Landy |first=Tyler |url=https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/vile-2-by-tyler-landry |title=Lonesome |publisher=Study Group}} (2016), by Tyler Landry — co-published with Study Group
- Object 10 (2013), by Kilian Eng
- Wild Man vol. 1: Island of Memory: The Natural History of Georg Wilhelm Steller (2013), by T. Edward Bak ({{isbn|978-0-9886624-4-5}})
= Anthologies =
- St. Owl's Bay (2013) — broadsheet newspaper
- Performance (2017) — broadsheet newspaper
== Free Comic Book Day mini-comic anthologies ==
- 2012 Brad Trip – co-published with Teenage Dinosaur, Revival House, and Sparkplug Comics
- 2013 Master P's Theater – co-published with Sparkplug Comics, Snakebomb Comix, and Teenage Dinosaur
- 2014 Barrio Mothers – co-published with Sparkplug Comics, Snakebomb Comix, and Teenage Dinosaur
- 2015 Free Stooges – co-published with Sparkplug Comics, Snakebomb Comix, and Teenage Dinosaur
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://floatingworldcomics.com/}}
- {{gcdb publisher|id=9290|title=Floating World Comics}}
{{Comic book publishers in North America navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Floating World Comics}}
Category:2006 establishments in Oregon
Category:Companies based in Portland, Oregon