Greetings comic book geeks, aficionados, nerds fanatic and all around appreciators! For this installment of the “Queer Creators Spotlight” we’re doing something a little different and going to talk to one of the most unique and diverse indy publishers out there today. The two time Eisner nominated, FairSquare Graphics. Founded by writer, editor, journalist, Fabrice Sapolsky, and co-captained with his wife, Kristal Adams Sapolsky – writer and comedian extraordinaire, FairSquare brings us original stories from black and brown creators, from immigrants to America and queer creators from all aspects of the rainbow.

In a tumultuous time in our country, where the state of immigration is being fought over in the capital on our streets, trans inclusion in everyday life is being scrutinized and religious adherence is being attacked on our streets, FairSquare is a small beacon of transparency giving us stories, perspectives and insights into the small groups of people and cultures who also make up a large portion of the great American experiment.

CA: Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to forming FairSquare Graphics and what is your mission statement?

Fabrice Sapolsky: Our tagline is “stories from the rest of us.” Our titles are inclusive and diverse, just like we are. We’re —to this day alas— the only family, immigrant and minority owned publisher of graphic novels in the US. Company started in 2019. It was. It meant to be a publisher. It originally was set to be a place for my creator owned projects to have a legal frame. But everything changed in 2020 when I was let go from my job and the George Floyd murder happened. FairSquare Graphics organically stood up as we launched NOIR IS THE NEW BLACK, a collection of noir stories from black creators. 

Kristal Adams Sapolsky: When we first started the company, I was in more of the role of a cheerleader. But after observing my fair share of the industry through the eyes of Fabrice and other comic creators, I became more invested out of a sense of justice. Not only were creators’ rights and livelihoods being trampled in a way that was invisible to the public, the industry was failing women as a growing audience of comic book readers. In a sense, we formed FairSquare Graphics first and I grew into my role as co-owner as we progressed. 

CA: What do you feel is your niche in the industry? What would be your sales pitch or what is your sales pitch in attempting to attract new customers?

FS: I like to think of us as a mini-major publisher. We’re tiny in size for sure, but we’re publishing a wide array of titles for almost everyone. Where we come out as different is through our curation process. Our creators are mostly from underrepresented groups, just like we are. Stories incorporate elements and characters from many different cultures. But we chose very early on to not let ourselves put in any box. We want everyone to feel our books are for them. 

We also insist on the quality of our publications. Small doesn’t mean terrible design or awful print quality. We define ourselves as a premium boutique publisher. We print in the US or Canada. We’re environmentally conscious. And, last but not least, our commitment to creators rights is a key part of our identity.

CA: Can you tell us what type of publishing avenues does FairSquare Graphics offer? Original work, Licensed, outside creator projects? Can people submit to you and if so, how?

FS: We started with three different types for three colors: green for the books created and owned by us, purple for the works by outside creators where they keep all their creative rights and blue for licensed properties. We’re going to publish less purple books in the future, simply because they are more expensive to fund and we need to be frugal right now. We’re still committed to offering great deals, but we need to be able to get back on our feet financially speaking after two difficult years.

CA: Can you tell us of some of your amazing projects through the years?

FS: Obviously A BOY NAMED ROSE is one we’ve been very proud of. Not just because it’s a queer book. It was also our first ever nomination at the prestigious Eisner and Harvey Awards in 2024.

CA: I got my copy and it’s is truly one of the best and most beautiful OGN’s I’ve ever read.

FS: Of course, NOIR IS THE NEW BLACK, the anthology that started the whole company, a collection of Noir stories by black creators. We did volume 1 (2020-2023), and we’re now doing Volume 2, with even more stories! There’s also INTERTWINED, the Kung Fu Noir graphic novel with a gay love story at its core… And so many more. 

Recently, we started a collection of Light Novels. These are a hybrid type of titles: part-graphic novels, part-prose, part-illustrations. We now have two titles like that SHAKESPEARE’S VAMPIRES and THE BIG LIE, which stars public domain characters like Popeye and Tintin in the most incredible adventure you can ever think of.

CA: Can you tell us about the LGBTQ+ projects that are part of FairSquare Graphics library?

FS: As I mentioned earlier, we don’t really like labels. We publish books that look like the world outside our window. So, in many of them, there are some gay, lesbian or trans characters, but save for A BOY NAMED ROSE, it’s not obvious from looking at the cover. It’s something you experience while reading. I name-dropped INTERTWINED, but for example, there’s a trans character in NO FUTURE. There are a couple of trans/lesbian stories in NOIR IS THE NEW BLACK, DEAR BODY or HYPHEN, our Jewish anthology.  And our new title, HAPPY ENDINGS, has two queer stories (out of three). We even established that in our flagship title, MUTINY BLACK GIRL MAGIK, the main character is bi. 

It’s just not heavily publicized. We’re not hiding it, far from that. We just want to bring our stories to everyone, not just to one community in particular.

CA: How do you feel about the state of independent small publishers in the industry today?

FS: I feel something’s broken. Since our distributor – Diamond—went bankrupt in 2025, everything has been disrupted. We’ve struggled to simply stay in business. And to this day, we are still fighting for our life. As flawed as it was, Diamond was a chance for publishers like us. Navigating distribution after they went belly up has been challenging to put it mildly. We have three distribution channels right now but none of them is as strong as what we had in the past. You would think that with awards, critical and commercial success it would be easy to land a new major distribution deal, but it’s definitely not the case. We found a lot of closed doors or predatory offers that we couldn’t accept. As a result, the vast majority of retail stores don’t carry our titles anymore. We’ve been pushed to the fringes of our industry. 

Fortunately, the public keeps supporting us. We increased our presence at conventions and found success there. Our crowdfunding campaigns are still mostly successful. But all those efforts to stay afloat come with a lot of stress and sacrifices.

There’s also a climate, right now in the United States, that doesn’t favor immigrant and minority publishers like ourselves and our catalog. No one’s going to say it to you flat out, but your “spider-sense” isn’t playing tricks on you. Everything is so polarized right now that producing books that are not divisive is almost an act of rebellion!

CA: I can see how the political climate might affect your publishing, Sad to say.

CA: What are some of the hard lessons and harsh realities of independent publishing people should be aware of?

FS: Publishing is brutal. Nobody cares about you or what you publish. Our job is to make people care. Can’t let gatekeepers win. As indie publishers, we’re also held to higher standards than the big corporations. They get away with a lot. But for us? Everything’s harder. Whether it’s earning respect, getting your voice heard or gain access to distribution. But we’re resilient and we’ll keep fighting for as long as we can. We owe it to our creators. We owe it to ourselves. FairSquare Graphics is not a vanity project. We don’t come from money. I became a publisher because no one wanted to publish my stories. 

KS: On the other side of the significant losses we have faced is having to explain them to our fans and the public. People ask, “where is x,y,z book?” or “how do I get into comics?” or “what advice do we have for people just getting into comics?” I pause. Take a deep breath. And re-tell our story of strength in the face of extreme loss. About how we show up and smile at every convention, at every person that walks past our table, because tears don’t sell comics. While there is a lot of opportunity right now, there are also a lot of people, projects and companies that are struggling because the traditional spaces for them are no longer ideal. And I think only those who are willing to exist a bit (or a lot) outside the traditional systems will ultimately win.

CA: Any upcoming projects you’d like to mention or campaigns that you’ll be running?

FS: 2026 is a year of consolidation. We need to clear our debt and bounce back. So we’re releasing less titles than we used to. THE WINTERFIELDS and LITTLE ROCK FILES as standalone. MUTINY BLACK GIRL MAGIK and NO FUTURE will come back for their respective third issues. Then we’ll launch INTERTWINED SIJI, an anthology one shot celebrating the 10th anniversary of my biggest creator owned series. 

We’re currently crowdfunding the last issue of NOIR IS THE NEW BLACK Season 2! The KickStarter runs until 7/1. The series also being nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Anthology this year, this is a big deal!

CA: I know you do a lot of conventions-where can fans meet you in the coming months.

KS: We’ll be all over the map! 

FS: We should end the year with 35 conventions and events.This Summer, I’ll also be in several bookstores and comic book shops in Massachusetts to meet fans and talk about our experience as a small publisher.

CA: People can follow FairSquare on all of the platforms IG,FB and LinkedIN @fairsquaregraphics.

@fabricesapolsky on the same platforms 

@thedarkkristal on IG and Threads 

Store: www.fairsquaregraphics.com

Some of our titles are also on Kindle/Amazon in digital form only.

CA: Thanks to you both for your time and the important work you do in amplifying the voices of the often times forgotten communities in the comics publishing world.