Indie Edge Creator of the Month: Drew Ford

Please tell us a bit about yourself!

I have been writing, drawing, editing and publishing comics for over 20 years. A few years ago, while working as an editor at Dover Publications, I started focusing on rescuing lost and forgotten comics and graphic novels, in an effort to give them a second life with future generations of fans. I recently left that position to launch my own imprint called “It’s Alive!”, where I focus on publishing not only reprints, but new material as well. The first two publications from my new imprint, Red Range by Joe R. Lansdale and Sam Glanzman (FEB170492) and Sax Rohmer’s Dope adapted by Trina Robbins (MAY170550), came out through IDW Publishing.

What are your favorite projects you’ve contributed to over the past decade?

Going back to before I launched my own imprint, the two collections I am most proud of putting together are The Puma Blues by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zuli (DEC171527) and U.S.S. Stevens: The Collected Stories by Sam Glanzman (JUL168691). These are two of my largest and most historically important collections, and both were nominated for Eisner Awards. It’s also worth noting that Glanzman’s U.S.S. Stevens collection contains the first biographical comic book stories ever told in the history of mainstream comics. I am honestly very humbled to have helped these incredible creators get their stories back in print. But of course, that’s how I feel about all of the 30+ collections I have edited over the last several years.

What are you currently working on?

From my It’s Alive! imprint there is Sam Glanzman’s Voyage to the Deep collection (OCT180726), and the Family Man graphic novel by Jerome Charyn and Joe Staton, both from IDW. Also, I am now delving into my first comic book reprints, with true stories from WWII, as told by none other than master comic book storyteller and WWII veteran, Sam Glanzman. The first of these, Dunkirk: From the Pages of Combat with a retailer incentive cover by Walter Simonson (SEP181845) was in the September PREVIEWS catalog, followed by Midway: From the Pages of Combat, with a retailer incentive cover by Russ Heath which you can find in this month’s catalog. Also in this issue, we have the graphic novel, The Silver Metal Lover, by Trina Robbins, with a foreword by Gail Simone and afterword (plus retailer incentive cover) by Colleen Doran.  Out of print since its initial publication in 1985, it’s a graphic novel adaptation of the book by brilliant novelist Tanith Lee, and tells the story of a young girl in the far-flung future who falls in love…with a robot!

What fun titles are you reading?

I read a lot, but it’s hard not to with all of the amazing stuff being published these days! It really feels like we are experiencing a comic book renaissance of sorts! Off the top of my head… Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (DEC161677), Jillian Tamaki’s Boundless (MAR171733), Black Eyed Kids by Joe Pruett and Szymon Kudranski (AUG161115), Junji Ito’s Yon & Mu (AUG151589), Noah Van Sciver’s Fante Bukowski (MAY151359), Cathy Malkasian’s Eartha (JAN171767)… the list goes on and on! One highlight for me is the work of a brilliant comic book storyteller named Joe Ollmann. I love all his work, particularly his most recent graphic novel biography of the controversial 1930’s travel journalist William Seabrook, entitled The Abominable Mr. Seabrook (NOV161505).

EDGE ESSENTIALS

Pick up these books to learn more about Drew Ford’s Indie Edge style!

• Voyage to the Deep HC (OCT180726)
• Dunkirk: From the Pages of Combat TP (SEP181845)
• U.S.S. Stevens: The Collected Stories by Sam Glanzman (JUL168691)