Last year, we told you about comics editor Janelle Asselin’s mission to revive the great, lost genre of romance comics by putting together an anthology series called Fresh Romance. She succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. The comic’s Kickstarter campaign raised $53,311 — nearly twice the target amount. The series garnered accolade after accolade, lodging itself in multiple year-end lists and snagging a nomination for the coveted Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics. But there was one accomplishment it hadn’t achieved: a print edition. So far, the comic has only been available in digital form, but that’s all about to change: Thanks to a partnership between Asselin’s Rosy Press and longtime indie-comics publisher Oni Press, you’ll soon be able to literally get your hands on Fresh Romance.
“We’re moving to print because we feel like right now, we’re maxed out on what we can achieve digitally,” Asselin told Vulture. Digital comics are a growing market (especially for readers who don’t typically go to comics shops), but print is still where most of the sales action is. The hard copies will be available in stores in late summer. Rosy Press also has a new Kickstarter, which is looking for $39,000 to put together a deluxe print edition featuring extra goodies (and is looking to “signal to Oni that they’ve made the right investment in partnering with us and encourage them to take further chances on Rosy Press”). Those Kickstarter editions of Fresh Romance will be delivered in July, just in time for the weather to get as steamy as the stories.
