| | So one of my many goals for the new year is to start a zine. I've been reading and I want to keep it DIY. Can I just go to a copy store and tell them that I want Digest style and just set up the copier to do it? I have 6 pages thus far and so the first issue is just to prove to myself I can do it and then I will build from there. It's called OH OH YEAH! and filled with stories and photos from my friends and I. Our cultural experience through our eyes all that shit. any advice would be much appreciated. PS if anyone is looking for a place to carry their zine, I work at a non for profit bookstore in my town called Boxcar Books we have two huge shelves of zines, and are always looking for more. Get at me for more info on that! | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment   |
| Just a reminder that the LAST ISSUE of Nick Magazine is still available for sale on the newsstand. It's your final chance to walk into a physical store and purchase a MAGAZINE for kids that has an amazing comic section. Do it for the nostalgic thrill of enjoying print publications! Buy one for your kids to show them that magazines (besides celebrity/fashion/tabloids) once existed!
The cover is by Sherm Cohen and you can see an earlier version of the image on his website. We actually had a lot of discussion about whether it was good or bad to admit to kids that this was in fact the last issue.
Other great stuff in the last issue include:
A goodbye letter!
A Twilight/Highlights parody by R.Sikoryak.
2 new Spongebob comics by various awesome people including Joey Weiser, Jacob Chabot, Gregg Schigiel, Adam Dekraker, David Lewman. Wes Dzioba, Chris Duffy
"Monkey Boy" by Brent Engstrom.
"The Dumbles" by Johnny Ryan.
"Bow Wow" by Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash.
"Scene But Not Heard" by Sam Henderson.
"Teeny Weeny" by Mark Martin.
"Fiona of the Felines" by Terry Laban.
"Pet Pals" by David McGuire
A round up of what Nick Mag's ongoing characters will be doing with their futures.
Our usual assortment of great gag cartoons including ones by Jesse Reklaw, Karen Sneider, Gary Fields, Feggo, Martin, Alec Longstreth, Bob Vojtko,and Jacob Lambert.
crossposted to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nickmag_comics | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Daily-OCD-1-7-10.html&Itemid=113 Online Commentary & Diversions • List: Any best-of list that leads off with a Maria Bamford reference is all right with me. NPR's Glen Weldon rounds up his best graphic novels of 2009, including You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("...Tyler lets her warm, fluid art draw the parallels between herself and her father, and hint at a darker story behind it all") and Low Moon by Jason ("The deadest of deadpan humor. Jason's cartoony, utterly affectless characters interact is ways that are horrible, hilarious and sad — often at the same time.") • List: At Ain't It Cool News, Mark L. Miller names I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason to his Top Ten Independent Comics of the 2000s • List: Josh Flanagan of iFanboy names The Best Comics of the Decade, including Palestine by Joe Sacco: "More than any of the documentaries or news stories I've seen, Palestine shaped my view about what things are like in the Palestinean territories. Joe Sacco spent time with the people who live there, and explored the sticky, nearly untenable situation that persists today. Sacco's cartoons put a human face on the people involved, and it's a stunning work, comics or otherwise." • List: Library Journal knows that no list of 24 Graphic Novels for African American History Month would be complete without King: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson: "Widely acknowledged as a masterpiece, this award-winning biography invokes King’s flaws, tragedies, and triumphs." • List: The owner of the Love & Maggie blog lists a personal Top 10 All-Time Issues of The Comics Journal; the ones that are still in print are #59, #71, #238, #250, and #298 • List: Online Universities judges Jordan Crane's The Last Lonely Saturday to have one of the 50 Most Captivating Covers of All Time • Commentary: The Hooded Utilitarian's Noah Berlatsky tells a funny anecdote about Peanuts and spiritual enlightenment | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Where did all the Seattle zinesters go? Well, you could meet a number of them on Profanity Hill, a new site curated by the unpredictable Jason T. Miles. Buy comix and zines, learn about local events, communicate!
Profanity Hill | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| paper trail distro is open again now that the holidays are over, but the break i took made me realize that the distro isn't where i want to put my energy anymore. i knew when i started out seven years ago that the distro had an expiration date--i couldn't keep running it forever. & i think the time has come to shut it down. it's been a while since i really enjoyed the process of running a zine distro, even though i had many good years of reading great zines, meeting interesting people, & satisfying a demand for zines. but all good things must come to and end.
the distro is currently still open. i want to try to sell down as many of the zines i still have as i possibly can. & i have A LOT. though they are going fast--i've sold out of like twelve different zines just in the last few hours. i am doing my best to keep up with everything & make sure the catalogue stays updated. i am only selling zines now--i won't be doing any re-orders or taking on new zines. what i have is what i have, & when it's gone...it's gone. that is why i am sending out this announcement: if you want zines, i suggest that you act quickly, because i expect stuff to just keep selling out.
everything is pretty much the same. the catalogue is up, the shopping cart is up, & you can order stuff, same as always. if you happen to order something that is sold out, i will refund you for the amount of the sold out zine(s).
you can even still subscribe to the distro, though i have changed it up a little. i expect the process of closing down the distro to take a few months...maybe even a year, once the initial feeding frenzy dies down. subscriptions now cost $30 in the u.s. & $40 everywhere else. they're good for two packages over the course of six months (i'm currently accepting subscriptions for april & july). each package will contain ten zines. if the distro closes before your subscription period ends, you will be refunded for whatever packages you did not receive. this is also true for current subscribers.
i'm also going to be introducing some new postage-paid collections as the catalogue whittles away. they'll be up on the distro site. i'm also still posting interviews while i'm closing down. an interview with maranda elizabeth, of "telegram ma'am" zine, will be going up in the next few days.
once the distro is closed, i expect to continue to contribute to zine culture in various ways. i will probably still make zines. but my time as a distributer is drawing to a close.
xo, ciara
http://www.papertraildistro.com | | comments: Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=KING-of-the-Bookcase-Shelf-Porn-.html&Itemid=113 
The advance copies of the King Special Edition came into the office recently. They look SO killer. Eric put them on our shelf, and now everybody who walks by stops to gawk at the awesomeness. I consider this a true WIN for designer Adam Grano. And, people say that the book is dying. Well, take that eBook readers. This is not only an amazing piece of nonfiction comics, but also a beautiful art object. I dare anyone to pick out King Special Edition and not marvel at its beauty. Just try it. I triple dog dare you. Yeah, that's right. What are you going to do now, Chump? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| A few weeks ago, the ToonSeum--Pittsburgh's own cartoon/comics/animation museum--asked me to design their annual New Year's card. Here's what I came up with!
 | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Dive-Mask-by-Gary-Panter.html&Itemid=113 
Take a couple of minutes to read Gary Panter 's short prose story for the Significant Objects project — you won't regret it. Here's a taste: "I needed two masks in order to navigate downstream and surprise a canoe-load of moonlit necking teens. The rubber Mole Man mask I ordered from the back of Famous Monsters was my major expense, $39.95, so I had to skimp on the scuba gear. I traded my hand-cranked tin helicopter and Flintstone Village to my goofy uncle for a rubber diving mask. It was a good one, by Dacor, makers of fine snorkeling gear since 1953. I wanted flippers and a snorkel, but no luck. I scared the teens silly." | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Zine World #28 will be released at the end of January.
This issue should have been out months ago but has been delayed repeatedly for a number of reasons. Because all the content in this issue was collected and written in the summer and early fall of 2009, we are giving ourselves the rest of this month to update it a bit. We're writing some new reviews and we'll be expanding the review section.
We'd like your help in pulling together updates for some of the other sections. If you have something you'd like to contribute, please email it to jerianne at undergroundpress.org no later than January 15. Please send us your:
* address changes
* classified ads for zines, distros, or DIY projects (50 words or less)
* display ads (see our ad rates)
* new listings for zine review zines/website or zine libraries
* listings for zine events happening in the first half of 2010
* your stories, comments, or feedback about zine events that happened in 2009
* listings for zine resources, postal tips, etc.
See you in your mailbox soon! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Sorry for the limited amount of effort and time put into this post. No pictures, no updates, nothing.
I did want to post for those that don't follow twitter or facebook or whatever else you use...those that lurk the website waiting for info and those that only read livejournal (are there any of those?)
The entirety of Punish the Dead, chapter 14 is up free for the rest of the week. Go read some stuff in the middle of some other stuff. I think it's a strong chapter. It can be read on its own too. Every plate, every chapter, each book can all be read on their own. They are all just ingredients to a whole. I don't know if that helps with any understanding, but maybe it'll help even if you can't see it all at once.
http://www.moderntales.com//comics/punishthedead.php?view=archive&chapter=14924
The first installment of chapter 15 will start on 1/8 and be available completely on 2/13.
And so on. (you are also encouraged to subscribe to MT and get your fill of PTD and other comics on there).
---
I'm confirmed for STAPLE in 2010. So, go there. I cannot confirm at this moment what I'll have with me though. (hah).
Still waiting on other exhibitor applications to become available. If you know of any smallish shows I should try to attend, let me know. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=FANTAGRAPHICS-2010-PREVIEW-Exhibition-this-Saturday.html&Itemid=113 
Don't miss an opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the great books you'll be reading later this year at the FANTAGRAPHICS 2010 PREVIEW event this Saturday, January 9 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle. On display will be work from Fantagraphics favorites like Peter Bagge (HATE ANNUAL #8), Tony Millionaire (BILLY HAZELNUTS AND THE CRAZY BIRD), Jim Woodring (WEATHERCRAFT), Jason (WEREWOLVES OF MONTPELLIER), Michael Kupperman (TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #6), Richard Sala (THE HIDDEN), and Gilbert Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS NEW STORIES #3), as well as new offerings from masters like Jacques Tardi and Carol Tyler and relative newcomers like Joe Daly and Nate Neal, among many others. 2010 promises more of the amazingly diverse yet cohesive line of compelling comics you've come to expect from Fantagraphics Books. See for yourself this Saturday. The opening from 6:00 to 9:00 PM coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations at several locations throughout the historic neighborhood. For details and a map visit www.georgetownartattack.com. Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) only minutes south of downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Daily-OCD-1-6-10.html&Itemid=113 By the way, multiple belated hat tips to Robot 6, whose roundups of end-of-year links have been invaluable to the last few installments of Online Commentary & Diversions. On with the links: • List: Publishers Weekly announced the results of their 2009 Comics Week Critic's Poll; among the top vote-getters are You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("I love this autobiographical family story as much for the way Tyler weaves between her own life and her father's, as for its painterly, illustrative panoramas of suburban neighborhoods and army scenes." – Sasha Watson) and Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman ("Milk and other liquids may come out your nose as you read one of the funniest comics ever put to paper. Kupperman's droll absurdism is matched by a stiff, woodcut-like art style that underplays the sometimes outre concepts. A comedy diamond." – Heidi MacDonald). Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman et al, Low Moon by Jason, Luba by Gilbert Hernandez, Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941, West Coast Blues Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi, and You Are There by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Claude Forest all received single votes in the poll • List: At comiXology, Tucker Stone counts down his top 25 Best Comics of 2009, with Grotesque #3 by Sergio Ponchione at #23 ("...every once in a while, I get a reminder how vast the world of comics really is. Grotesque — European, unusual, brilliant — was one of those, an experimental passport to another universe"), Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga at #7 ("...Ganges captured the thing that all of us spend a lifetime doing — thinking — and turned it into something deserving of examination") and, in the top spot, Prison Pit: Book 1 by Johnny Ryan ("Aggro, obscene, hilarious, compulsive: Prison Pit. It wasn't just the greatest comic of the year, it was one of those comics that operated like the end result of a math equation, a definitive answer to the question of what comics are, and what they should be...") • List: Johnny Bacardi's Personal Best of the Decade includes Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes • Review: "Each [panel] almost vibrates with the frenetic, desperate energy of the characters as they try to pull off their cons. That energy explodes in the final pages, as the story comes to a dramatic but ambiguous conclusion. In the end, the work offers an homage to B-movies while standing out as a graphic novel. The Troublemakers will please long-term Hernandez fans. It also should serve as a good introduction to newcomers looking to jump into the Love and Rockets universe." – Publishers Weekly • Review: "...Giraffes [in My Hair], a collection of anecdotes from Bruce Paley's teens and twenties on America's countercultural fringe, is a breezy read. ... Swain's art rarely calls attention to or gets in the way of itself, and in that it meshes seamlessly with Paley's deadpan 'here's what happened' narrative style, his reluctance to overstate or oversell the import of the anecdote reminiscent of Harvey Pekar's." – Sean T. Collins • Review: "...[The Comics Journal] has reached issue 300 and is celebrating with a fascinating collection of creator-chats as industry tyros and giants come together to interview, share, bitch and generally shoot the breeze about graphic narrative: a tactic that makes this the most compelling read of the year for anyone truly interested in what we all do and why." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This! • Review: "Fantagraphics Books continues its series devoted to chronologically packaging [Peanuts] and has not missed a step along the way. ... I’m pleased to inform that the latest edition, the twelfth in the series, is as lovingly curated as the first... [I]t is nice to know that one of the form’s greatest achievements is being held up as the accomplishment it really is." – Dw. Dunphy, Popdose • Review: "It’s clear from editor/publisher Steffen P. Maarup’s survey [From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium] that, contradicting Horatio’s famous line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is nothing 'rotten' about the state of comics in Denmark today. If anything, it’s nurturing a number of major talents as well as sprouting exciting new shoots." – Paul Gravett (via Robot 6) • Review: "[In Sam's Strip] Walker and Dumas clearly take pleasure in working in callbacks to classic comic strips... [and] many of the metatextual gags are funny and fun. ... Dumas’s drawings of classic comic-strip characters are excellent... The result is a frustrating, compelling curiosity: the soul of an underground comic trapped in the mortal coil of a Hi and Lois." – Shaenon Garrity, The Comics Journal • Plugs: At Comics Alliance, Douglas Wolk's recommended comics of the week include The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez ("It's crazy, vivid, grindhouse-y stuff") and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw ("intriguing") • Plugs: The Gosh! Comics Blog also highlights The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw among the week's noteworthy releases • Plug: Rob Orange of Seduced by the New features Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams • Plug: Illustrator Joanna Barnum spotlights Nell Brinkley as an inspiration • Plug: Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy takes note of the upcoming Kim Deitch book The Search for Smilin' Ed • Analysis: Robert Boyd examines Popeye's propensity for cross-dressing, with evidence from Popeye Vol. 4 (via Jeet Heer) • Coming Attractions: Wayno, whose work appears in the forthcoming Newave: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, talks about the book and the (announcement!) upcoming exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery • Events: Star Clipper is sponsoring a screening of Ghost World at Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis tonight — oh jeez, in like half an hour! — and copies of the graphic novel and other Clowes books will be on sale • Things to see: Follow your nose to a new Kevin Huizenga-drawn Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip • Things to see: Finished pages from Robert Goodin's 19-page story "The Spritual Crisis of Carl Jung" | | comments: Leave a comment |
| http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Joe-Sacco-on-Tour.html&Itemid=113  Tuesday, January 12 Portland, OR
POWELL'S
7:30 - 8:30pm 1005 W. Burnside
READING/SIGNING Portland, OR 97209
Phone: 503-228-4651
Wednesday, January 13 Seattle, WA
7:00 - 8:00pm TOWN HALL SEATTLE
READING/SIGNING 1119 8th Avenue
Great Hall
Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: 206-652-4255
Thursday, January 14 Berkeley, CA
BOOKS INC.
7:00 - 8:00pm 1760 4th St.
READING/SIGNING Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 510-525-7777
Tuesday, January 19 Los Angeles, CA
SKYLIGHT BOOKS
7:30 - 8:30pm 1818 North Vermont Avenue
READING/SIGNING Los Angeles, CA 90027
Phone: 323-660-1175 Wednesday, January 20 New York, NY
MCNALLY ROBINSON BOOKSELLERS
7:00 - 8:00pm 52 Prince Street
READING/BOOK SIGNING New York, NY
Phone: 212- 274-1160
Thursday, January 21 Brooklyn, NY
BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY
7:00 - 8:00pm Willendorf Division
READING/BOOK SIGNING 431 Sixth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: 718-832-1853 | | comments: Leave a comment |
|
Been meaning to post this for some time, never got around to it, kept misplacing the page. This is the Artists Alley list for the 1987 San Diego Comicon. Click on it once or twice to read it clearly.
I find this list fascinating for a number of reasons, one being the memories it triggers. This was my first Comicon, I went to promote Pirate Corp$! #1 from Eternity Comics, which debuted at the show (to no fanfare, as deserved). My friend and Eternity publisher Brian Marshall took care of my hotel room (the Eternity folks crashed together, iirc, it was Brian, Tony Eng and I) ) and my mom paid for my flight as a gift (because I never went on family trips and couldn't afford the airfare myself).
I was 22 years old, still very green, I'd never been to a non-hotel convention. I don't remember how I got on the Artist Alley table list, things were very different back then for newbie/fan artists, and you can see by the list how much smaller the space was. The convention was still helfd at the old convention center, across from the Westgate Hotel. We stayed at the San Diego Hilton or something like that, it was by the shore where the old tourist schooner boats are, and there was a liquor store next door, that I do remember , because we were in and out of there quite a bit. It was the first time I had a Cornoa beer, which at the time was very exotic, and not all over NYC as it soon was. It was also the first time I was away, on my own, and it was a very heady experience, meeting professionals, selling work, getting very drunk veery night, sketching with a hangover, trying to find work and a place in the scheme of things.
I could dredge up a few pages worth of SDCC memories from that first year, and that's not what I intended to do. I just wanted to show folks the Artists Alley list, and marvel at who was sitting there in 1987, sketching away and trying to sell their comics. And marvel at who is still around, 22 or so years later, and who isn't, and how the fortunes of the cartoonists exhibiting that week have gone. Some of these folks are quite well off now, many are household names, if your household is a comic shop. How much was a Mike Mignola sketch in 1987? How many people passed Jim Lee's table without a look? Who knew Laird and Eastman would become multi-millionaires? Crazy, huh?
I never met Mark Badger, but we ended up hanging out as part of the Instant Piano gang years later. I never met Jill Thompson, but I still remember noticing her across the aisle (how many flame-haired gals were drawing in that room? In that industry, at the time? Interesting that the ladies are all scheduled for one table. Fellowship? Choice? Protection?) Years later Jill and I would become friends after I crashed at her place on the way back from a Detroit Convention, and years after that we'd start working on Beasts of Burden. Crazy. And We'd both do strips for a MIke Mignola Hellboy anthology. And I'd finally meet Mike at MOCCA decades later.
Look - Dark Horse Comics and SLG are both in Artist's Alley, not at booths. I'm affiliated with both companies nowadays, and ended up working with both outfits largely because of events that happened at this show. Look -Sam Kieth, way pre-Maxx, etc. Look - you could've badgered Steve Purcell all day without a ton of Sam and Max fans bothering you yet. Look - Paul Chadwick. Scott McCloud. Future Fish Police tv show, future Image guys, proto-manga proponents, future video game artists, webcomics artists, editors, publishers, creators of characters that will be turned into movies and toys and franchises. Future Chuck Austen, even. Who the hell knew? Everyone was just trying to make comics, get their comics on shelves, get a mention in CBG or maybe The Journal. Get a free drink at the bar. Who knew how big things would blow up for some of the people on this list, who knew it was even possible to achieve some of the things they achieved? From comics? Small press comics? That most people weren't looking at in that small-ish section of that small-ish convention center? Crazy.
I wonder what the goals were amongst those folks in those days, mine were to make comics, and keep making comics. In that I've succeeded. My dreams were small. Was anyone thinking Turtles empire, designing motion pictures and video games, optioning their properties for films that would actually get made? Never passed my mind, that's for sure. I was praying for a penciling gig on a DC back-up feature. Anything.
And, of course, some of these folks disappeared, some to move on to other fields, some burnt out, some faded away from credit boxes, solicitations and artists alley lists. And some of them are still chugging away.
Chug...chug...chug...... | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| Hi! I updated my website pretty heavily. Want to see?
http://goraina.com/
The overall design is similar to what it was before, but the content has been entirely revised, new sections of the site were added, and it is finally living in the 21st century, with pretty links to Twitter and a Wordpress blog and all that good stuff.
My thanks to Stephanie Yue for her coding and design skills--Steph was also the colorist for SMILE, and she is equally good with html as she is with color palettes.
Less than a month till my book is in stores...I'm having a hard time thinking about anything else! | | comments: 10 comments or Leave a comment |
| |
I'm a secret life-long video game junkie* and found this feature at the Cracked website very entertaining. The twisted naïveté of the drawings is a perfect fit for the subject matter. I wish this is what I AM 8-BIT had been.
