Poseur Ink (2003-2013) was a small-press publisher and distro by comic artist Rachel Dukes. Based in

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the company specialized in

independent comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream su ...

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, and novelty T-shirts. During that time Poseur Ink published collections of Dukes' journal comic "Intentionally Left Blank" and the anthologies "Side A: The Music Lover's Graphic Novel" and "Side B: The Music Lovers Comic Anthology". Poseur Ink also distributed work by indie cartoonists Megan Rose Gedris, Colleen Frakes, Box Brown, Josh PM Frees, and

Ed Brisson Edward "Ed" Brisson is a Canadian comics writer and letterer who has written for independent comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. He has been nominated for the Joe Shuster Award for Best Canadian Writer several times. Career Brisson has been ma ...

. Their comics are still sold online and in comic book shops in North America, distributed by

Diamond Distributors Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

and Tony Shenton. Their shirts were sold nationally: legally by

Hot Topic Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...

and later illegally by several big box stores until served with cease and desists. "'Poseur Ink'" tabled at many conventions annually, including: Comic Con International,

Alternative Press Expo The Alternative Press Expo (APE) was a comic book festival and alternative comics convention that operated from 1994 to 2017. Founded by Slave Labor Graphics publisher Dan Vado, APE focused on self-published, independent, and alternative carto ...

Wondercon WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film fan convention, convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and Wond ...

MoCCA MOCCA or MoCCA may refer to: * MoCCA Festival, comics showcase * Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto * Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York Mocca may refer to: * Mocca (band), a jazz and swing band from Indonesia * Mocca.com, adverti ...

Emerald City Comicon The Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC), formerly the Emerald City Comicon, is an annual comic book convention taking place in Seattle, Washington. Originally taking place at the city's Qwest Field (first at West Field Plaza, then at the Event Center) ...

, and

TCAF The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is a comic book festival held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Since its founding in 2003, TCAF has grown to become one of the world’s largest festivals dedicated to the promotion and appreciation o ...

. The company dissolved the summer of 2013. Dukes still creates comics regularly: both self-published (under the name Mixtape Comics) and for larger, licensed titles (

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who lives with the Crys ...

Mod Buttons

In conjunction with Poseur Ink, Dukes also ran the custom badge/button website Mod Buttons where she created custom merchandise for other artists/companies such as:

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, John Fluevog Shoes, Saddle Creek Record, and VampireFreaks. Mod Buttons shut down in the summer of 2013.

Side A

In April 2007 the company released its first compilation graphic novel, entitled '' Side A: The Music Lover's Graphic Novel''. The theme is how music has played an influential part in the life of each artist and the creative process. The book features contributions from Ben Snakepit, Sarah Shay and Corey Marie Parkhill (Creator of ''Scene Language'' and ''Life's So Rad''), Tod Parkhill, Rachel Dukes, and Liz Greenfield (Creator of '' Stuff Sucks''). ''Side A'' was featured in the late March (2007) issue of

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

, in an article spotlighting upcoming publications being sold at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. To coincide with the release of the book, a seven-inch vinyl record was released featuring local San Diego bands

Get Back Loretta Get Back Loretta is a funk-rock ensemble from San Diego, California. The band consists of Steven Bradford (vocals, bass); Kevin Martin (vocals, piano); Isaac Cass (drums); Josh Cass (guitar); and Sonny Romeri (guitar). They have received San Di ...

and Fight Fair. Limited to 1000 copies, the record contained one song from each band. There are 150 on light blue marble vinyl and 850 on black. In July, the T-shirt competition website

Threadless Threadless (stylized as threadless) is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website based in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2000 by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart. Threadless designs are created by and chosen by an online community. E ...

gave away ten copies of the book to its users, introducing their users to Poseur Ink's other products such as shirts and comics. Side A was featured in the October 2007 issue of

Alternative Press (music magazine) ''Alternative Press'' is an American entertainment magazine primarily focused on music and culture. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, and relevant news. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea in Cleveland, OH. The compan ...

, and the issues 40 and 41 of Razorcake Magazine.

Side B

Poseur Ink's second anthology about the influence that music has on the creative process. Almost twice the size of ''Side A'', ''Side B'' contains stories by comic staples like

Jim Mahfood Jim Mahfood (born March 29, 1975), a.k.a. Food One, is an American comic book creator. Apart from his creator-owned comic book series ''Grrl Scouts'' and his comic strip ''Stupid Comics'' (which appears weekly in the ''Phoenix New Times'') he als ...

, Jeffrey Brown, and Ryan Kelly; as well as

Xeric Grant The Xeric Foundation is a private, non-profit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The Xeric Fo ...

winners: Box Brown, Colleen Frakes and many others. Released in June 2009, the book was favorably reviewed by the vast majority of those who picked it up.

Johanna Draper Carlson Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ coul ...

(''

Comics Worth Reading a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

'') said it was "the best anthology

he had He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

read this year," in her 2009 MoCCA report. The music e-zine

Absolute Punk ''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to featur ...

gave away three copies of the book to its users, introducing their users to Poseur Ink's other comics and products. * Format: Trade Paperback, 232 pages * Pre-order: Diamond Order Code APR090973 * In Stores: June 3, 2009 * Price: US$22.99 * Contains stories by:
Andy Jewett, Beck Kramer, Box Brown, Brandon Graham, Brian Butler, Cathy Johnson, Colleen Frakes, Cordus Holdenmauer, Cristy C. Road, Dave Crosland, Dino Caruso, Dmitri Jackson, Dominique Ferland, Ed Choy Moorman, Elizabeth Gearheart, Fickle Pixie, Gary Beatty, Grant Reynolds, Greg Khmara, Jamie Campbell, Jason "JFish" Fischer, Jason Marcy, Joe Meyer, Jeffrey Brown, Jim Mahfood, Joe Decie, Joe Laquinte, John Cei Douglas, John Isaacson, John Robbins, Jon Chad, Jon Sperry, Jonathan Bass, Jonathan Baylis, Joshua Kemble, Joshua Rosen, Katie Shanahan, Lars Brown, Lawrence Gullo, Liz Baillie, Lucy Knisley, Madeleine Flores, Megan Rose Gedris, Mike Lopez,

Mitch Clem Mitch Andrew Clem (born September 15, 1982) is an American cartoonist best known for his web comics '' Nothing Nice to Say'', ''San Antonio Rock City'', and ''My Stupid Life''. Biography Early life Clem was born in Minneapolis, on September 15 ...

, Morgan Pielli, Ned Hugar, Nicole Miles, Noah Van Sciver, Patricio Betteo, R.S. Carbonneau, Rachel Dukes,

Rob Guillory Robert Guillory (born June 2, 1982) is an American comic book artist known for his art on ''Chew (comic), Chew'', published by Image Comics. He currently writes and draws ''Farmhand (comics), Farmhand'' published by Image Comics and writes ''Mosel ...

, Ryan Kelly, Sean Azzopardi,

Steve Orlando Steve Orlando is an American comic book writer, known for his work for DC Comics writing characters such as Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, and two series starring Midnighter, which were nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Early ...

, Tim Hengeveld, T.J. Kirsch,

Todd Webb Todd Webb (September 5, 1905 – April 15, 2000) was an American photographer notable for documenting everyday life and architecture in cities such as New York City, Paris as well as from the American west. He traveled extensively during his lo ...

, Uriel A. Durán, Warren Wucinich

External links

Poseur Ink.com
Home Page
Mod Buttons.com
Custom 1" Buttons made by Poseur Ink for bands, artists, etc.
Intentionally Left Blank
Dukes' Journal Comic
Mixtape Comics
Dukes' portfolio website {{Authority control Comic book publishing companies of the United States