Comic shops coming together, working to benefit each other isn’t a new concept. There’s organizations, there’s just general friendliness, we’ve see shops work together for exclusive variants. Ink Alliance is the newest entry in that concept, bringing together ten black-owned comic shops with a shared vision.

The shops have come together to show what collaboration can do over competition. Their goal is to expand their opportunities and strengthen their communities.

Initial Ink Alliance Retailers include:

• ACME Comics – Greensboro, North Carolina
• Blerds Underground Comics & Collectibles – La Grange, Illinois
• Challenges Games & Comics – Atlanta, Georgia
• The Comic Den – Los Angeles, California
• Cuts And Comics – Newnan, Georgia
• Eastgate Comics – High Point, North Carolina
• Gulf Coast Cosmos Comics – Houston, Texas
• OffBeat – Jackson, Mississippi
• Third Coast Comics – Chicago, Illinois
• Windu’s Comics & Collectibles – Clermont, Florida

It’s a spread out group of retailers across the US.

As part of their launch, Ink Alliance have revealed a retailer-exclusive variant cover for New Titans #38 which will be limited to 1,000 copies. It celebrates Virgil Hawkins/Static’s return to the DC Universe and joining the Titans. The variant is by Eisner-winning artist Sanford Greene and features Static and Cyborg.

The variant cover will be exclusively available at participating shops starting August 19.