Our goal for the paper is that it will be accessible to everyone, but our target demographic is 13+, and we will communicate that on the front cover of the paper.

We have very few guidelines on subject or thematic elements, but there are a few hard rules.

• No Hate Speech. We do not accept work that promotes hate of any kind.

• No Excessive Cursing. Some colorful language is allowed, but please keep it to a minimum. Better yet, self-censor with comic cussing (#@$%!), or explore alternative text whenever possible.

• No Graphic Sexual or Obscene Acts. The human body is beautiful, and sex is a part of life, so to some degree we will allow it in the magazine, but there is a limit as to what we can publish. For visual art, tasteful nudity, or comical nudity, may be accepted, as well as some bodily-function gags, within reason. If something would be too grotesque for 90’s era Liquid Television or Ren & Stimpy, it probably won’t fly with us, but art goes in brave directions, so we will judge on a case by case basis. Sexual themes in poetry and fiction are allowed, but but if things get to explicit we may ask you to edit your piece, or we may simply have to pass on publishing the work.

• No Extreme Violence. This is the most difficult rule to qualify, as we do allow stories with violence and physical conflict. Cartoonish violence, even over-the-top examples like One Punch Man, are allowed, as are dramatic portrayals of conflict like you might see in a western or martial arts film. We also accept body horror and / or pulpy violence like you might see in Tales From the Crypt or Junji Ito stories. With violence, it’s mostly about tone. We do not allow depictions of extreme shock-value violence like you might see in the comic Red Room, or extreme gore comics like Panorama of Hell, and works portraying sexual violence will not be accepted under any circumstances. For fiction and poetry, most things short of splatter-punk would likely be eligible for publication.

• Nothing Explicitly Political. As a nonprofit, there are guidelines for what we can do in the political space while maintaining our nonprofit status. As such, we do not publish explicitly political works.

• No Inclusion of Real People Without Their Consent. Some folks like to make art about their real life, or fictionalized stories of public figures. While we enjoy these kinds of comics and writing, they come with potential liability. If you include depictions of real people in your submissions, you will need to provide signed consent forms from the individuals depicted in order to have your comic or story included in our Newspaper.

If you have a piece of work that you want to contribute, but you’re unsure about if it fits our guidelines, just submit it anyway and we’ll have a conversation! Our focus as a nonprofit is to help as many artists as possible to finish and distribute their original work, and we are always happy to take a look at something you’ve made.