First off, ever heard of The Chemistry Set? I hadn’t either, so this write-up might serve to get some more eyeballs on this two-year-old webcomic collective.

Containing nearly twenty different comics, this collective (which, with numbers like that, should really be considered more of a service) certainly looks to exhibit some great talents, with a little bit of something for everyone featured right on the home page.

So, what do you do when you have this many various works under one umbrella? What might you create to make sure they all get the attention each so rightly deserves? If you said an anthology celebrating the diversity and depth of your collective works, congratulations! After the break, check out a word or two from original ChemSetter, Jim Dougan, about the book, No Formula: Stories From The Chemistry Set, Vol. 1, and where you can find it!

“There’s no better way to celebrate our Terrible Twos than with a big release like this. The only problem was choosing from among the literally hundreds of pages of great comics we’ve got on the site. Joe [Pruett, of Desperado Publishing] wanted only self-contained stories, though, so while that unfortunately left out a lot of great stuff, it helped me narrow it down.

Are these the best 120 pages of comics ever to appear at the ChemSet? No. Are they the 120 pages that fit together best as a book? I think so.”

Jim’s doing such a great job of selling this thing, I’ll let him keep going:

“Joe Pruett has been an extraordinary supporter of the ChemSet virtually since its inception, and No Formula is just an outgrowth of that. […] The relationship with Desperado is something we’re thankful for, and hope will continue to grow (thus the perhaps-optimistic ‘Vol.1’ in the title).For that to happen, folks need to go out and buy the books, though – so please pre-order your copies!”

You heard the man! I’ve done all I can, so go get the June issue of Previews (comic book ordering guide), turn to page 256, and enter the code JUN083849 on your order form! Also, most comic shop folks are more than happy to assist you in these matters, so stop by and see if they can order the anthology for you!

I now leave you with a link to the roundtable discussion some of the ChemSetters did over on The Pulse as well as the official solicitation for the book:

Haunting. Humorous. Harrowing. Those are just some of the words to describe the short stories compiled in this inaugural collection from the international comics collective the Chemistry Set. Founded in 2006, the Chemistry Set has served as the breeding ground for tomorrow’s comic all-stars and includes three Xeric Award winners. Combining talents from America, Australia, Europe and Asia, their chemistry together is seen in stories that range from the heartfelt to the horrifying, from the mythological to the macabre.