Floating World Comics is a comic book retailer and publisher located in Portland, Oregon. Owned by Jason Leivian,[2] the company specializes in alternative and independent comics, "showcasing auteur creators and the artists pushing the boundaries of 2-D sequential works."[2]
Floating World Comics opened in November 2006,[3] located in a "modest ActivSpace... under the I-405 freeway."[4] It soon moved to the corner of NW 4th and Couch in the Portland neighborhood of Old Town Chinatown.[2][1]
The company expanded into publishing in 2011. In 2013, Floating World took over as publisher of Arthur magazine, helping to relaunch the publication. (Arthur folded again the following year.)[5]
In February 2015, Floating World Comics became part of a distribution cooperative — managed by Alternative Comics — along with the small publishers Hic and Hoc Publications, Revival House Press, Study Group Comics, Hang Dai Editions, and Steve Lafler/Manx Media. Dubbed the Alternative Comics Publishing Co-Op, the publishers agreed to have their titles listed in distribution catalogs under the Alternative Comics banner, thus giving the publishers access to distribution from Diamond Comic Distributors and Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.[6]
In 2022, Floating World Comics moved locations to the Lloyd Center shopping mall.[2]
As of 2024, the company's titles "are distributed to the direct market through Diamond Comic Distributors and to the trade market through Consortium Book Sales."[1]
Over the years, Floating World Comics held experimental animation nights, art festivals,[2] and exhibitions of cartoonists' work, including Al Columbia (2007),[7] "Spacenight: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo" (2007),[8] new comics from Croatia and Serbia (2008),[9][10] "Spacenight2: A Tribute to Bill Mantlo" (2010),[11][12] and eBoy (2013).
