By Jennifer McCartney in BookLife (August 22, 2016)
Over a decade after its creation, Camille Carida’s feminist graphic novel, Lick-It Man, a bawdy superhero story with a twist, is finally finding its audience. The self-published book, written by Carida and illustrated by the future Marvel Comics artist Joe Quinones, is a #1 bestseller in Amazon’s graphic novel category. It has also received endorsements from such industry influencers as Toxic Avenger creator Lloyd Kaufman and comic book writer Scott Lobdell.
“I think traditional publishers were just too afraid to touch it,” Carida says of her decision to self-publish. Carida pitched the comic to numerous editors. She went to Comic-Con in 2005 and 2008 to show the completed 66-page work to various publishers. “I got the same response from everyone: loved the art, but the story was too kinky, too out there,” she says. An editor at a Random House imprint couldn’t get the higher-ups on board, according to Carida. It was too risqué. A deal to publish the book in 2008 fell through because of the financial crisis. “At a certain point,” she says, “I realized that the traditional comic book world is not where Lick-It Man would find its place or audience, so I stopped trying.”
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