There are Canadian festivals and conventions that offer the opportunity to sell self-published zines and books such as The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), Canzine (Toronto and Vancouver), Expozine (Montreal), FanExpo, ComicCon, Zine Dream (Toronto) and the Toronto Queer Zine Fair.

Crowd funding can be used to publish one’s work (Kickstarter, Indiegogo).

You can begin a blog and use social media to create an audience.

Universities are finally recognizing the merits of the comics medium as literature, and as a research and educational toolĪn emerging cartoonist doesn’t have to rely on a large publisher to have their work printed these days:.

Comics are being employed as an accessible and engaging literacy tool.

Digital platforms are looking for creators of compelling content.

The rise of newer cartooning genres like journalistic comics such as Joe Sacco’s Palestine and Graphic Medicine such as Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits and John Porcellino’s The Hospital Suite.

The popularity and critical acclaim of autobiographic and graphic memoir work like Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.

In recent years the media has rung the death knell of publishing but surprisingly there is a wealth of graphic novels being published.

In the Comics and Graphic Novels course in OCAD U's Continuing Studies, I explore and share information about the exciting contemporary comics scene. By Fiona Smyth, painter, illustrator, and cartoonist

Special exits by joyce farmer