After several crowdfunding projects and partnerships with other publishers, writer Adam Barnhardt is gearing up to launch his own comics press, Lunchroom Riot. The press will debut with five titles in 2023: Nock, Macabre Mel: Wicked Salvation, Keepers of the Cosmos, House of Haunts, and Hypknot. These books will all form part of Lunchroom Riot's shared universe, aptly named the RiotVerse.

In the lead-up to the launch of Lunchroom Riot, CBR spoke to Barnhardt to find out more about his decision to launch a comics press. He also discussed the history of the RiotVerse and some of its pivotal characters. Barnhardt laid out how the submission process will work for indie creators and what type of material and genres Lunchroom Riot will look for in the future.

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House of Haunts Cover

CBR: Why did you decide to launch a small comic book press?

Adam Barnhardt: The best thing about indie comics is the grassroots tenacity creators have carried with themselves since the dawn of the industry. It's a part of a comic that often has all the thrills and glamor stripped of it, and because of that -- indie publishers or, more specifically, small presses and self-publishers -- produce more passionate results. It's a land where every project, by nature, is a passion project. That often results in deeper stories and elaborate characters.

More and more recently, creators are taking their comics futures into their own hands. Even the A-listers who've written for the Big Two are going the self-publishing route, largely because the fate of their own work rests entirely on their shoulders instead of "the machine" -- and that's where my desire to launch Lunchroom Riot came into play. Few publishers give superhero tales the slightest thought before tossing a submission into the trash can, so why not make a press that's cape books through and through? I don't know when to say no, [so] I'm taking it a step further and helping others bring their stories to life.

Tell us more about the RiotVerse and its key players.

It all started with my first book SH*TSHOW, from Scout Comics. As I began developing that story with artist Samir Simão, it was clear what we had lent itself to a deeper world, and that's what we're starting to explore. That title will continue to serve as a flagship of sorts, propelling the narrative of the entire universe forward. We're well into the art on the second story arc of that and will begin production on a third volume in the new year, continuing to follow Richard McCoy, the hero known as Legend, and his found family of people with abilities, the Magnificent McCoys.

Then we head to space with the Keepers of the Cosmos, one of our titles that will be published by Scout Comics. [Keepers of the Cosmos examines] this superhero universe from an out-of-this-world cosmic angle. That's not to forget a supernatural corner of our world with Zaria Moonspawn and her Defenders of the Dark, which had an introductory issue funded successfully on Kickstarter earlier this year. The first arc for that group of characters is in production for a 2024 release. Last but not least, we usher in an era of scaled-down, character-driven, street-level storytelling with our first direct-marketing offering Nock in 2023.

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Hypknot

Beyond 2023, how do you envision the publishing schedule for Lunchroom Riot? Will you be open for submissions?

2023 will directly impact our release schedule moving into years beyond. For now, the creatives in the Lunchroom Riot family [and I] are comfortable with the workload we have going into next year. Moving beyond that, I hope to get to a spot where our output is well-balanced between RiotVerse tales and other creator-owned books.

How will the open submissions process work? Will it be similar to the Image Comics model, where creative teams must submit the completed work, or are you willing to consider individual artists and writers?

It will work similarly to how other publishers and presses operate in that anyone is welcome to submit a story to us as a complete story. While we won't require you to have the entire comic done upon submission, we'll expect the team with the submission [to be] the one that will be with the book throughout its duration.

That said, we're going to be hyper-selective with the titles we decide to pick up. Titles in science fiction, horror, and cape books (naturally) are the genres I gravitate towards as a creator. They're the ones I'd like to publish under the Lunchroom Riot banner. Bombastic, larger-than-life stories with even more dynamic characters in any of those genres will have a head start. The exact rules for our submissions will be available on the website once we ready ourselves to start accepting them in the latter part of next year. You best believe we'll be on the lookout for some superhero books.

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Keepers of the Cosmos

Keepers of the Cosmos will be released by Scout Comics. Why did you make the decision to partner with other publishers for some of your titles?

As a creator, my first-ever published work was published by Scout Comics. The RiotVerse launched in SH*TSHOW, under contract with Scout, and in one of the short stories included in that volume, we introduced Lemondrop, one of the members of the Keepers of the Cosmos. Because of that already-established connective tissue between SH*TSHOW and Keepers of the Cosmos, we felt it was best to not disrupt anything that wasn't broken.

Scout also provides a different distribution plan than what we hope to achieve with Lunchroom Riot. We'll be much more direct at Riot HQ as readers and retailers will purchase directly from us instead of regular distribution channels. Scout, on the other hand, is a publisher that sells its books through regular distribution [channels].

To find out more about Lunchroom Riot, click here.