AdHouse 100… and done.

I did the “math” a few months back and figured out we were coming up on our 100th AdHouse related publication. We wanted it to be special, so I negotiated to make the 100th book Grass of Parnassus. I’d like to thank the Immonens for helping to make that happen, and understanding when I said I would be closing AdHouse Books.

(There might have even been a little joy in Kathryn’s voice when she said “We’re the book that killed AdHouse!”)

I imagine the biggest question associated with this announcement will be WHY? And that’s a tough one to answer. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years… a lot of successes… a few challenges. But if you’re curious, I’ll try and answer WHY the best I can:

I’m old. Now, I know that’s a matter of perspective, but take a look around the current comic-making universe and you might get an idea of what I’m talking about. Next year will be our 20th year of publishing at AdHouse, and well, I just felt like that was enough for me. Why not move over and let some of these kids take over?

And yes, at one point we thought AdHouse might make a good retirement business… and it still might. (See below for more details.)

Sales. Yes, Virginia, not every comic or book can be as successful as Mtsyry: Octobriana 1976. And I get that. If every publisher knew what projects to publish and how many to print, we’d all be swimming in it. It’s really no one’s fault but my own. It just seems like fewer and fewer books are getting ordered by our distributor, Diamond Comics, which means even fewer stores are ordering them. That’s not a sustainable business model. And if we had the energy, we’d probably even look into…

Kickstarter. The NEW Direct Market. (It doesn’t get much more direct than person-to-person patronage, along with the feel goods of helping a project happen.) But for some reason, I could never make the switch. It always felt like my putting my hand out and asking for alms. I know it’s splitting hairs, but when a publisher is supposed to bring the finances to the table, I always went old school. Hell, I took out a second mortgage… TWICE to make certain projects happen.

Covid? Sure, I guess that might be part of it. Hell, I haven’t seen my convention buddies in over a year, and that lack of friendship and finances might have taken a mental toll. I mean, if I REALLY wanted to keep doing this, I could probably power through?

You all do know this is a side gig, right? I have a day job. There is no way I could afford to live on the earnings from the House of Ad. And I’m sorry… I want to travel, retire and be comfortable. Last I checked, all of that takes money. So, while it might have been nice to have AdHouse to keep me busy in my retirement years, I don’t want to bet with “House” money.

So, here’s my plan… We have the previously mentioned GRASS that will be coming out in September. We have another Canadian surprise that will be released in October, and that will more or less wrap up AdHouse publishing. I’ve got three back-burner projects that might come to the front, but honestly, they probably won’t. We’ll take 2022 and hopefully attend any conventions we’ve always had an eye on. (Hey! If you run a show, and want to have AdHouse as a special guest, by golly, feel free to reach out! Remember when Nobrow was a Special Guest at CAKE? I still do!)

After a year of trying to move the final units, I’m imagining we’ll morph from a publisher into a dealer of sorts. I have a LOT of stuff, and it won’t sell itself. I mean, it will, but it needs a little help. So I might attend a few local conventions and try liquidating some of the collection.

Anyway, that’s the plan at present. Of course things might change.

Finally, if there are any serious offers out there to purchase AdHouse, I’ll entertain them. It might not be much, but damn if it didn’t take a lot of work, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t try and capitalize on that work.

And I really didn’t want to get into naming names, because down that road will eventually emerge someone who should have been mentioned. That said, I always considered the “pillars” of AdHouse to be the work of Jim Rugg, Joshua Cotter and Ethan Rilly / Hartley Lin. Afrodisiac, Skyscrapers of the Midwest, Street Angel, Young Frances… were all works I tried to keep in print. (Guess what? Most are almost out of print!) So, I’d like to thank these creators for not only working with me all those years, but becoming my friends in the process. #AdPals

Kudos to the other comic publishers who patiently answered my questions in the beginning… Jeff/Geoff Mason & Ted Adams come to mind.

Thanks to C. Scott Morse for inviting me into your sandbox to play with some of your creations. It was one helluva ride, and I can’t wait to see what you have planned next!

I’d like to thank all the retailers over the years who took a chance on AdHouse. It is truly a golden age of comic publishing, and I realize you can’t order everything. The fact you took a chance on us is appreciated!

Special nod of the AdHat to Doug Fraser. Not only was he one of my favorite illustrators BEFORE I got to work with him on Mort Grim, but he also drew the first Ad-HOUSE that he allows us to continue to use to this day. We had actually planned to visit Doug in March of 2020, but then Covid happened…

Thanks to all the shows that we’ve attended over the years. SPX will always be special. HeroesCon will always be fun. SDCC will always be a place I need to get back to visit…

Appreciation to all the fans that supported us through kind words, patronage and all types of stuff. Hell, some fans even become friends, and well, is anything more magical?

Colleagues! You just gotta have some peeps to vent to… right? Big ups to Annie Koyama, Leon Avelino and Eric Reynolds off the top of my head. Did you know that at one point, another publisher tried to steal one of our IN PRINT books? Tis’ true. Our book was HC. They wanted to do a SC version. W.T.F.? Well, after talking to said colleagues, we figured out it was probably all grant-based. That publisher needed a DONE project to pad their grant proposal. Yes… GRANT proposal. I’m so glad this biz is fair that way. (eyeroll).

Shout out to all the critics, bloggers, writers and thinkers who took the time to give our works a little bit of spotlight. Warm fuzzies all around!

I know it might be weird to thank all the people who gave us an award nod, but we’re pretty proud of that list. I think our ratio of quality work is pretty high. Of course, we’re not perfect. Just near perfect.

If Tom Spurgeon is reading this on his computer in the sky… thanks to you too. You knew when to set us up and tear us down. You were an ear to bend, while always asking how WE were doing. I think about you lots, and feel the comic industry is lesser without you.

Excelsior…

Chris Pitzer
AdHouse Books