I am a partner in a comics publishing company now, but we are not a part of the mainstream comics industry. Our books are books (i.e. they have an ISBN number and can be purchased at Amazon.com instead of the local comics shop) and are a much better value than those thin-ass comics (our latest release is 244 pages long -- all comics, no ads or filler copy -- and costs five bucks.) Compare that to the average comic "book" today, which has only 24-32 pages (of which 4-8 pages is ads/copy/etc.) and costs $3.95.
You can check out our comics at our website.
I am also a working artist, specializing in ilustration, sports marketing, sportswear and commercial print advertising design.
The American comics industry is essentially dead. Most of the people I worked with in the comics biz are outside of the art business today. With a few exceptions, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of people.
B-chan
