The following is an online extra from our November 2022 issue.
Photo by Justin Vaughan
By day, Brian Baynes is a mild-mannered museum art handler. By night, he becomes the publisher of comics’ mightiest zine.
“I sell it all over the world,” says Baynes, the man behind Bubbles, an infectious, topic-packed fanzine that explores cartooning in its many forms. Baynes, who helps to install exhibitions at VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art, is responsible for most of the content, which includes in-depth interviews with favored creators such as Archer Prewitt, Lale Westvind and Richmond’s own Dash Shaw; reviews of new comics; deep dives into history; snarky opinions; original strips by up-and-coming cartoonists; and more than a few curiosities — the very first Bubbles recounted the fascinating story of a little-known musical based on the classic Ernie Bushmiller strip, “Nancy,” one of Baynes’ favorites.
“It’s a fanzine, so I’m diving deep into things I’m a fan of and that I want to know more about,” he says of the 40-plus-page black-and-white Bubbles, which publishes three to four times a year. “I let my interests and whatever I’m into guide it.”
It’s only been publishing since 2019, but Bubbles is already putting Richmond on the comics map, says Chris Pitzer, the just-retired publisher of Richmond’s Adhouse Books. “Brian’s zine has taken the industry by storm,” he says. “It’s huge.” He adds that most of the best comic stores in America keep it in stock. “I walked into a shop in Canada, and it was there. It’s not only been very well received, he’s already being imitated by others.”
Baynes’ approach is to cover all aspects of the comics business — exhaustively — and that has included topics relating to Richmond’s comics scene. He conducted a valuable interview with the late VCU professor and comics historian M. Thomas Inge shortly before Inge’s death last year, and spotlighted Bob Lewis of the Richmond Book Shop, as well as local publisher Katherine Gates of Gates of Heck Press. Another issue featured a talk with Patrick Godfrey of Richmond’s Velocity Comics store. “I covered a lot of Richmond’s comic history in the beginning and have since expanded out,” Baynes says. “It was interesting to talk to Patrick about what was going on with retail shops and how they were dealing with COVID.”
With Bubbles, he doesn’t just want to chronicle the artists. “It’s the readers, the collectors, the stores,” he says. “They also help make the industry run. In my zine, I’ve interviewed publishers, letterers, translators, colorists. ... I try to cover the full spectrum of what comics are.”
A comics fan since he was a kid — “I got into it by reading the strips in the newspaper” — Baynes, 30, grew up in Northern Virginia and moved to Richmond in 2010. He immediately glommed onto the city’s thriving zine scene, helping to organize the long-running Richmond Zine Fest. “That led me to making Bubbles, which is kinda like the punk zine I used to do, but instead of interviewing punk bands, I’m interviewing cartoonists and writing reviews of comics instead of new records.” A longtime collector of comic-related zines, he thought he’d try doing one. “Little did I know that there would be such a hunger for it,” he says.
One of his prime resources is VCU’s formidable Comic Arts Collection. “It’s not as famous as the Ohio University collection, but it’s got to be in the top five for collections held by universities,” he says. “I wish VCU would shine more of a light on it. I’ve spent a lot of time there just reading alone. ... It’s an amazing collection and an amazing free resource, not just for students, but for anyone.”
Like many in the comics world, the editor and publisher — who is currently at work on Bubbles #15, slated for November release — is mad for manga. Working with translator Ryan Holmberg, he’s been reprinting classic Japanese comics from the 1940s that have never been seen in the U.S. The first was “Bat Kid” by Inoue Kazuo and, coming next year, Fukui Eiichi’s “Igaguri-kun: Young Judo Master.”
“Japan was ahead of the curve on a lot of things,” he says with a laugh. “There is so much exciting work that we’ve never seen, so many great stories. I personally can’t get enough of it right now.”
