During a time when the price of comic books seems to be constantly increasing, Red Flag Publishing has decided to offer its next anthology for FREE!

Over the coming weeks, RFP will present the second issue of Red Flags, the anthology of new comics talent, for FREE at WebComicsNation.com. When uploaded in its entirety, the free on-line comic book will feature three eight-page stories with twisted endings that live up to the company's tagline of "Funnybooks for serious readers."

The company will offer the book for free until the printed version is solicited in 2008.

"We decided the best advertising was to simply let people read our stuff," said Biff Humble, founder and publisher of RFP. "We believe that the product we're creating is top quality, while at the same time different from what everybody else is putting out there.

"We know there's an audience out there for comics that don't treat readers as if they are too dense to grasp subtle points and must be beaten over the head with the message. That's who we aim to reach: readers for whom fiction is a way of reexamining what they know about the world around them.

"Unfortunately, with the bottleneck created by today's comics distribution system, if you don't fit into a formulaic pigeonhole, your work is ignored," Humble said.

Red Flags artistic director Joe Williams, who drew the first story posted, "The Copy Editors," noted that even good reviews don't pique the interest of monopolistic comics distributors.

"Our premiere issue of Red Flags received some good reviews but, as both an anthology and a vehicle for unknown creators, our book wasn't exactly what the comics book direct market wanted to see," Williams said.

"In the same way bands are circumventing the major labels and the big box stores by releasing their music on MySpace or through iTunes, Red Flag Publishing has always sought to find ways to directly reach the audience that wants to see something new and different. This is just another part of that effort. It's our goal to not only create great comics for fans who want something different but also to find new ways to reach that audience," he said.

Writer/editor James Hitchcock noted that the original idea behind Red Flag Publishing was to widen the perception of what a comic book was, and draw in audiences that are turned off by the broad brush with which comics have been painted as either "kid-lit" or boring art with no point - criticisms that are not always too far off-base.

"Comics can be anything, but, even in today's supposedly diverse market, most exist only at two opposite poles," Hitchcock said. "We're trying to bridge that gap and find the vast audience that's heard about a new age of graphic novels but still hasn't found much that interests them. Unlike a lot of publishers who see comics as a way to get a deal in Hollywood or to test the waters for toy merchandizing, RFP is serious about creating quality comics for a literate, adult audience that wants something between deconstructed superheroes or pretentious drivel."

To read the second issue of Red Flags for FREE, go to WebComicsNation.com/redflag. For more information about Red Flags or Red Flag Publishing, go to RedFlagPublishing.com. To contact the publisher or any of the creative talent, email Biff Humble