What is Fieldmouse Press:
Fieldmouse Press is a nonprofit publisher of comics, essays, and criticism. It is fiscally sponsored by the Nevada County Arts Council.
Our Mission:
The mission of Fieldmouse Press is to advance the comics arts through the publication of criticism, essays, and art for the benefit of the public.
Our Vision:
We believe that the comic arts are an essential part of the world in which we live, and we exist to enhance the contributions of comics arts to society, educate the general public, and enrich the comics arts generally.
We believe that criticism of the comics arts is equally essential for the betterment of the form, education of the public, and to give the comics arts a place for reflection, discernment, and connection with the larger world.
The aim of Fieldmouse Press is to emphasize its four pillars of “comics, critique, community, and collaboration” by presenting challenging, unique, and diverse material to as wide an audience as possible.
How It Began:
Veteran comics critics Daniel Elkin, Alex Hoffman, Rob Clough, and Ryan Carey announced the formation of a new, non-profit publishing company, Fieldmouse Press in September of 2019, establishing a visionary, ambitious, and dedicated multi-venue publishing initiative within the burgeoning small press comics community. The company’s first publishing project, SOLRAD (www.solrad.co), launched in January 2020, publishes comics criticism, essays, interviews, and new comics as a part of a larger effort to serve the public good.
Fieldmouse Press is operated by President Daniel Elkin, long-time publisher and editor at Your Chicken Enemy, with Alex Hoffman, publisher of Sequential State serving as Secretary/Treasurer. Rob Clough of High-Low Comics and Ryan Carey of Four Color Apocalypse rounded out the company’s initial board of directors. Shortly thereafter, freelance critic Jules Bakes, Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University Dr. Francesca Lyn, and Presidential Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate at The Ohio State University Rachel R. Miller joined the Fieldmouse Press Board.
Of the press’ founding, Secretary/Treasurer Alex Hoffman said, “Our goal is to provide a space for readers, artists, and the general public to explore the comic arts in the many forms they come in. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, our goal is to serve this community that we love and do something we think hasn’t been possible before now. And as a nonprofit organization, we can take chances that other publishers haven’t.”
What We Are Working On
Our online platform, SOLRAD (www.solrad.co), launched in January 2020. SOLRAD publishes comics criticism, essays, interviews, and new comics as a part of a larger effort to serve the public good. SOLRAD’s goal is to highlight and promote the works of a diverse range of comics artists, with special attention paid to marginalized and underrepresented voices.
Future goals include educational materials, lecture series, artist resource guides, and physical publications.
Get Involved:
Donate to Fieldmouse Press by going to our Donate.ly page: https://pages.donately.com/fieldmousepress/campaign/help-fieldmouse-press-launch-its-2020-season
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fieldmouse.press
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FieldmousePress
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldmousepress/
Key People
Daniel Elkin, the President of Fieldmouse Press, is an educator and comics critic who runs the successful comics criticism platform YOUR CHICKEN ENEMY. It was Daniel’s initial impetus that drove the conversation around developing a new corporate entity to serve the needs of comics critics and the general public. In addition to his role of President at Fieldmouse Press, Daniel will fulfill the Editor-in-Chief role at SOLRAD.
Alexander Hoffman, the Secretary/Treasurer of Fieldmouse Press, is an educator and comics critic who publishes his own work on Sequential State. He has been a comics critic for over a decade. He is also the publisher of ENEMIES OF THE STATE, a collaborative podcasting project between Sequential State and YOUR CHICKEN ENEMY. In addition to his role of Secretary/Treasurer at Fieldmouse Press, Alex will fulfill the Publisher role at SOLRAD.
Jules Bakes, Board Member at large of Fieldmouse Press, is a freelance comics critic with nine years of experience hosting events, supporting students abroad, managing social media, and more within the Fellowships office at Yale University. She’s a recurring guest on Enemies of the State and participated in their live podcast at SPX 2019. Jules brings to the organization an aptitude for organizing and years of experience in academia which will serve the burgeoning press during her term.
Rob Clough, Board Member at large of Fieldmouse Press, is a comics critic with almost two decades of experience. Rob is a long-time volunteer with other comics nonprofits including Small Press Expo. Rob brings to the organization a wealth of insight into comics and the critical arena, and has bylines at many of the largest publications in comics criticism history including The Comics Journal. Due to his experience, Rob brings to the organization a wealth of contacts, connections, and the personal infrastructure needed to do successful fundraising.
Francesca Lyn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Lyn is a critical race and gender scholar whose current interdisciplinary research centers on how women of color depict their own lived experiences. Her project “The Fragmentary Body: Traumatic Configurations in Autobiographical Comics by Women of Color” was the recipient of the 2019 John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies, an award presented by the International Comics Art Forum to a substantial research-based writing project about comics. She is the instructor of record for the self-designed courses, “Gender, Race and Comics” and “Gender in Comics.” Her teaching emphasizes the integration of lived experiences in scholarly inquiry. Dr. Lyn helped create Comic Arts Richmond, an independent small press comics show. She is also a member of the Small Press Expo’s executive committee and creates her own comics.
Rachel R. Miller, Board Member at large of Fieldmouse Press is a writer, editor, and scholar based out of Columbus, Ohio. She is currently a Presidential Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate at The Ohio State University, where she formerly served as the Assistant Editor of Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society. Her writing on comics and pop culture has been published in Public Books, Bitch Planet, Pretty Deadly, American Book Review, and more. She also recently co-curated the exhibit Ladies First: A Century of Women’s Innovations in Comics and Cartoon Art for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, which is on view until May 2020. You can find her online at rachelrmiller.com or onTwitter @girlgutters.
Ryan Carey, Board Member at large of Fieldmouse Press, is a comics critic with years of experience writing for Daily Grindhouse, SequART, The Comics Journal, and his own site Four Color Apocalypse. He is specifically focused on creators rights, diversity, inclusion, and highlighting emerging voices inside of the comics community. Ryan will act as a lead writer for SOLRAD.
