Maplewood Comics Group Releases Third Anthology

The 's new pride and joy got the spotlight at an opening reception on Saturday evening at in Maplewood.

The Maplewood-based comics creation group has published a new anthology of eight stories in black and white by eight writers and artists from Maplewood, Webster Groves, South County and South St. Louis. Self-published at a St. Louis printer, Mixed Feelings Volume 3 features 56 glossy pages and a full-spread, in-color cover.

The reception included refreshments and prize drawings for Stone Spiral T-shirts and Urchin Collective swag. The informal event provided a forum for readers to meet and chat with artists published in the book, as well as an opportunity to purchase all three volumes of Mixed Feelings and some of the creators' other books.

The group meets at the coffee shop each Thursday night and maintains a Blogspot blog and Facebook fan page.

With a few publishing projects under its belt, the collective—formed in 2008 by Webster University Assistant Professor Chris Sagovac—has become a well-oiled machine.

"It's definitely becoming easier because we're learning about the process and getting faster at it," said Jeanie Bryan, a Maplewood resident and Urchin Collective spokesperson.

The do-it-yourself element is a large part of what attracts Bryan and her fellow creators to the indie comics scene.

"We're doing something and putting it out there rather than just hemming and hawing," Bryan said. "Why wait around for them to publish us?"

Self-publishing once came with a heavy stigma, Bryan said. Creating, designing and having one's work printed at his or her own expense used to be seen as the last resort of untalented authors. Although the taboo still lingers to some extent, the members of Urchin Collective don't allow the negative connotations to hold them back from striving to see their work in print.

"The comics world has always been a little more friendly to DIY culture, so we're using that to our advantage," Bryan said.

Jeanie Bryan and her husband, Matt, published three entries in their ongoing Moses & Bean collection. Each story focuses on a comical, semi-autobiographical experience involving a child's experience with animals. In this issue, the girl tries to make a pet out of a mole, frees her father's goats and copes with a termite invasion.

Webster Groves resident Aaron James Ford wrote Golgotha: 10,000 B.C., a brutal and darkly humorous Stone Age war story. Also a member of the Ink and Drink comics group based in St. Louis and University City, Ford derives his artistic influences from death metal, video games and Renaissance printmaking.

Ford enjoys the artistic license and creative control that come with self-publishing, which he contrasted with the regimented assembly line experience of artists working for major comics publishers.

"At times I feel like Luther breaking from the Catholic Church," Ford said. "I can make my own books. I don't need these people. I don't have to conform."

St. Louis resident and Webster University alum Darren Owens teamed up with Urchin Collective artist Corey Tyson to create Priest of the Black Forest: When the Revolution Comes. The story serves as a prequel and accompanying piece to Owens' forthcoming film and Priest of the Black Forest book series—all based on a hip-hop collection he made in the late 1990s.

"One of the best things about this is the local people," Owens said. "A lot of young people don't have any idea what's in their own city. This is the kind of foundation that makes your artists and musicians of the community."

Mixed Feelings Volume 3 is on sale for $4 at Stone Spiral, in University City and several stores on Cherokee Street in St. Louis. Urchin Collective released 200 copies with the first printing.