For 10 years, Alterna Comics has produced over 50 different graphic novels for distribution in comic shops and bookstores. For the publisher’s 11th year, they’re shaking things up a bit. The company has announced a plan for a single issue lineup that will feature throwback style covers, a new logo, prices under $1.99 an issue, and the distant but familiar feel of newsprint.

Alterna is a creator-owned company with an open door submissions policy. Known for producing the Fubar series, The Chair (which has been adapted to a film that stars the late Roddy Piper), the IF anthology, Novo, Lilith Dark, Mother Russia, Croak, and many more. Alterna’s lineup has been an eclectic one over the past ten years.

Alterna publisher Peter Simeti explains

When I fell in love with comics, it was an entire experience. The stories, the imagery, and the paper. There was almost nothing else like reading a comic book.  It was a fragile thing, but durable at the same time. Printed on newsprint with a thin, but glossy, cover, you could roll the comic – not that you’d necessarily want to – and they were lightweight and had a floppy feel. The smell and feel of the pages is something that no longer occurs on the new comic book day release wall, yet it’s prevalent in back issue bins across the country. Our goal is to create a comic book that would “feel” like it just came out of a shop from 30 years ago.

While most companies seem to be trying to out do each other with premium paper stocks and escalating price tags, we’re aiming to make comics affordable and bring back a practicality to single issues. We’re not in the business of making collectibles first and comics second. These won’t be variant covers or variant issues, just basic comic books. We’re happy to leave the premium paper stocks to our graphic novel line, which we will still be producing. Right now, we’re aiming to launch this line with a few issues priced from $1 to $1.99, in Spring/Summer 2017.