Benign Kingdom, BenignKingdom.com, is an Illustrator run and owned publishing company. Four times a year they pick four indie comic artists and publish books of the best work from their entire career. Once a year you can buy the whole book. The first four artists to be published are now the guys running the show, and they keep finding wonderful talent.They've only been around since Spring of 2012, but since then they've managed bring a light into the industry. Comic artists like many producers of media have greatly benefitted from the advances in technology, specifically the internet. Web comics are just one way artists like founding member Yuko Ota (he and his creative partner work on www.JohnnyWander.com) have been finding success.
Benign Kingdom now uses the crowd funding site Kickstarter.com as a platform (Their Project Page). They work on a system of presales to pre-fund the printing costs of each round of books. A method that works out as an advertising technique and a way to minimize the risk of over producing stock, it also saves the consumer money. Benign Kingdom sell pre buyers %34 of what they offer the books cost at retail.
The Spring 2013 collection is going on sale now.
The range of the artists is a real draw for anyone wondering why they would care about indie comics. You see things in webcomics and from these illustrators that will re-enlived your appreciation for the expression of the medium.
