The new publisher, in partnership between the livestream marketplace app Whatnot and Massive Publishing, has announced the sales figures for this first printing. Initial sales of their first title Alpha Betas #1 reached an impressive 45,000+ units at FOC.
The comic book series is both the companion and prequel to the animated show, produced by 3Blackdot and Starburns Industries (the animation studio behind Rick & Morty), with voice talents that include top Youtube gaming creators such as Vanoss Gaming and Hollywood all-star voice talent including Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto). The debut of the 4-part series written by Kyle Starks (I Hate This Place, Image Comics) and with art by Starburns alum Michael Calero, hits shelves on October 12th.
“Making a series like this and launching a publishing company you hope that the effort you put in will be met with fan support and that retailers will spot your book amongst the field of amazing comic series debuting each and every month. The response we’ve received has been mind-blowing and we are incredibly thankful.” - Michael Calero (Alpha Betas Artist and Whatnot Publishing Co-Founder).
The show’s Pilot has over 7.5 million views on Youtube and new episodes will be released shortly after the comic book release. Alpha Betas looks to make big waves in the last quarter of 2022 both in the animation and comics world simultaneously.
“We know how much retailers put on the line when ordering books and we wanted to be able to put something into their hands that showed that we are going to be releasing titles that not only sell themselves but are fun to read. So we put a sampler comic book featuring our first four series into the hands of every Diamond Distributors retailers across the globe at no cost to the shops.”
- Trevor Richardson (Alpha Betas Colorist and Whatnot Publishing Co-Founder).
Whatnot Publishing is already looking forward to its next series debut in Ninja Funk #1 which is on track to secure the fledgling Publisher a back-to-back hit. Early retailer interest and exclusives for the publisher’s first original series surpasses that of its recent hit, according to Kevin Roditeli, co-founder at Whatnot Publishing:
‘’We couldn’t be more grateful for the support and interest from readers and retailers toward our launch lineup. With orders of Alpha Betas #1 surpassing 45,000 copies and looking at the early orders of our next debut, I just want to shout out that YOU’RE THE BEST! The co-creator of Ninja Funk, JPG, is a retailer himself and is making his dream of creating comics into a reality. Seeing the support he is getting from fellow retailers, just shows how special and beautiful the world of comics is. Thank you all! ’’
Whatnot Publishing plans to continue the momentum started by Alpha Betas and Ninja Funk by following them up with the buzzworthy release of Quested in December. The creator-owned title is co-written by Michael Calero and newcomer Thomas Parson with illustrations by up-and-comer Kit Wallis, artist of the recently optioned series, Hellicious. In January, they will continue up-the-ante with the release of The Exiled, a cyberpunk crime-noir tale co-created by the legendary action star, Wesley Snipes.