New Alternative and Small Press Comix Arrivals (February Week 4)

 1. RELUCTANT SADIST #8 (Hal Weaver) bluesky

35 years since the last issue. Never say never in small press comics.

2. THIS DREAD DISEASE WE CALL SKIN (Erika Price) bluesky

3. UNDERGROUND KINGDOM COMIX PRESENTS: ROMANCE (Underground Kingdom Comix) bluesky

On kickstarter until March 15th, with physical and digital copies and original art rewards. I've pledged for physical copies of all three UKC releases. This one has well-known UK weirdos Adam Falp and Anna Readman among the other talented cartoonists within!

4. Anke Feuchtenberger Collection (Domino Books)

That top W THE WHORE book is the earliest book I remember catching my eye at Domino Books back in my early days of twitter, I believe. These usually sell out quickly.

5. CLUSTERFUX COMIX #6 (Partners and Son)

Cameron (FUGU COMIX, LORD BUTTONCHOPS) Hatheway has gathered a stunning 156 magazine-sized pages of underground-type cartoonists that are new to me (except for the wonderful Nate Garcia cover). Check out the samples linked to above.

6. READY AMERICA by Anna Haifisch (Rotopol Press)

Hopefully one of our favorite North American outlets will pick up this German publication when it comes out. Hint, hint.

7. NP by Ed Firth (Silver Sprocket)

Love this cover by UK talent Ed Firth. Take this rare opportunity to order his books from a US source. Silver Sprocket also has his hardcover collection POUND SHOP: DECADE.

8.  UN AN by Mazen Kerbaj (All The Old Poisons)

Mazen Kerbaj is a Lebanese cartoonist/musician

9. GRIXLY #63 and #64 by Nate McDonough (The Copacetic Comics Company)

 

10. SE VIENEN COSAS GRANDES (Gatoshop)

Mexico City artist Cumi D. Tamayo one-person anthology. Ines Estrada has a sharp eye for finding unique comics worldwide.

Comix Reading List #33: Ted McKeever Library Book 1: Transit

33. TED McKEEVER LIBRARY BOOK 1: TRANSIT (Image Comics, OOP) Library

I've somehow never read any Ted Mckeever comics, this collects his first series from Canadian publisher Vortex in 1987. 

       promotional art for the original run

The storytelling in the early going is a little bumpy and two of the main characters look similar in the beginning. However, if you stick with the whole series you'll see Mckeever is working into a very unique style of writing and drawing comics. Wildly exaggerated character design and a genre-bending story make for a great start to a highly individual comics career. I definitely want to seek out more Ted Mckeever work in the future.

The covers of the series are even more unique. Check out full-color versions at comics.org.

New Alternative and Small Press Comix Arrivals (February Week 3)

 1. TONGUE TIED by Benni (Wiggle Bird Mailing Club) bluesky

2. GABRIELLE BELL SPOTLIGHT (Spit and a Half)

John Porcellino has a wide selection of Uncivilized Books collecting classic Gabrielle Bell diary comics:

3. 3-D HELL by Pakito Bolino (Domino Books)

Pakito Bolino (along with Caroline Sury) is the founder of publishing house Le Dernier Cri. One of his early published works was included in the 1991 THE NEW COMICS ANTHOLOGY, covered on the blog recently.

4. ELECTRIC CHAIR VOLUME 2 by Adam Falp (Gosh Comics)

Newest Adam Falp publication. Check out his other new releases at the 23:00 mark on this ILLflips video:

5. STRAMASH #3 by James Corcaron (Strangers Publishing)

They also carry the first two issues of UK artist Corcoran's solo series.

6. RUMBLING CHAPTER 1 by Kevin Huizenga (Partners and Son)

CHAPTER 2 and 3 available, also some classic Huizenga from the vaults.

7. HARRISON WYRICK'S ORBS (Wigshop Webshop)

8. SMOKE SIGNAL #42 (Desert Island)

This anthology of New York-based cartoonists is up for pre-orders until February 29, you might recognize many of the names below if you frequent the Domino Books site...

9. DRIVEN BY LEMONS by Joshua W. Cotter (joshuawcotter.com) bluesky

Originally published by Adhouse Books in 2009, Joshua W. Cotter has posted his graphic novel DRIVEN BY LEMONS on his blog in six parts. one two three four five six

Joshua W. Cotter is also selling a PDF version of DRIVEN BY LEMONS in his shop. Check out the shop for many other rare books, PDFs, and original art.

10. SUNK A DINK #0 by Max Huffman (Howling Pages)

Comix Reading List #32: The New Comics Anthology (1991)

32. THE NEW COMICS ANTHOLOGY (Collier Books/Macmillan Publishing, OOP) Krypton Comics

Bob Callahan edited this comprehensive gathering of over six dozen alternative and underground cartoonists ranging from 1974-1991. 

                         Mariscal

Everything is covered from RAW (Gary Panter, Mariscal, Pascal Doury, Joost Swarte, Kaz); 

                  Aline Kominsky-Crumb 

    

WEIRDO (Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Peter Bagge, Drew Friedman, Michael Roden, Mark Zingarelli, Justin Green, Carol Lay, Dori Seda, Diane Noomin, Dennis Eichhorn/Michael Dougan); 

                          R. Sikoryak 

Fantagraphics (Daniel Clowes, J.R. Williams, R. Sikoryak, Mack White, Joe Sacco, Colin Upton, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Carol Tyler, Jay Pulga); DRAWN & QUARTERLY (Joe Matt, Julie Doucet, Richard Sala); underground publishers (Harvey Pekar, Robert Crumb, Lee Marrs, Spain Rodriguez, Cliff Harper, Paul Mavrides, Mary Fleener, Kristine Kryttre, Rory Hayes, S. Clay Wilson, Art Spiegelman, Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith, Jim Woodring, Howard Cruse, Robert Williams, Dan O'Neill); alternative weekly papers (Matt Groening. Lynda Barry, Ben Katchor, Lloyd Dangle); UK and European artists (Ed Pinsent,  Mokeit, Hunt Emerson, Francis Masse, Joe Schwind, Paquito Bolino, Y5/P5, Suehiro Maruo (Japan), Bruno Richard, Lorenzo Mattotti, Jacques Loustal, Gary and Warren Pleece, Willem, Carlos Sampayo/Jose Munoz, Marti, Marc Caro, Jacques Tardi, Eddie Campbell, Joost Swarte);

                         Mark Beyer

and, everybody else (Chris Ware, Charles Burns, Rick Geary, Mark Beyer, Bruce Hilvitz, Roy Tompkins, Jim Shaw, Peter Kuper, Jonathan Rosen, David Sandlin, Will Eisner, Mario Hernandez, Carel Moiseiwitsch).

                  Carel Moiseiwitsch

(Reference: comics.org) This is a solid overview of the alternative scene at the time, Callahan put together a good mix of styles and old and new cartoonists. The reproduction isn't perfect throughout, but it's hard to complain when you are getting stuff you wouldn't otherwise see outside of Colin Blanchette's collection.😉

Speaking of Colin Blanchette, he did a video on his Loading the Canon channel on Bob Callahan's other anthology THE NEW SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF COMIC-BOOK STORIES. Check it out here.

Comix Reading List #31: The Best American Comics 2015

31. THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2015 (harpercollins.com) Library

This has been sitting on the local library shelf for eight years, and I may even have checked it out before and returned it unread! Thankfully, I gave it another shot, as the combination of editors Jonathan Lethem and Bill Kartalopoulos and the sweet spot of covering an unknown (to me) period of alternative cartoonists with many of them still active today, combines for an excellent overview of a certain offshoot of non-commercial comics.

                     Henriette Valium 

The real highlight of this collection is the closer look at a number of artists I later discovered on the Domino Books website: Josh Bayer, Anders Nilsen, Julia Gfrorer, Henriette Valium, Ron Rege Jr., Jesse Jacob's, Gina Wynbrandt, Matthew Thurber, and A. Degen.

                           A. Degen

When Farel Freakin' Dalrymple is the most mainstream artist in your anthology you've set the bar just right. I also liked that Lethem wanted to include a Steve Ditko story, but Ditko (or Robin Snyder?) wouldn't allow it. Perfect.

I loved everything in this anthology, and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes what we cover on this site. 

New Alternative and Small Press Comix Arrivals (February Week 2)

 1. FACE VALUE by Carly Shooster (Silver Sprocket)

Gorgeous art style on display here and on their site

2. SCHNITTE - CARICATURE OF LOVE by Julie Doucet (Wow Cool)

Older Julie Doucet from German publisher Reprodukt

3. CRY by Yan Cong (Partners and Son)

Chinese artist Yan Cong interviewed on Hyperallergic

4. GOOD NIGHT by Leyan Wang (Gosh Comics London)

Leyan Wang is a Chinese artist based in London.

5. THE SWORDFISH IS JESUS by David Tea (Domino Books)

Newest comic from the Minnesota small press legend

6. LA OCARINA DE MANOS by Urbano Mato (Gatoshop)

An example of Mato interior work...

7. ILLUSIONS #1 by Floyd Tangeman (Atomic Books)

Solo comic by JAYWALK, TINFOIL, and COWLICK editor

8. LE JARDIN DE CANDIDATS by Dominique Goblet & Kai Pfeiffer (fremok.org)

I went to the trouble of translating the French description of this comic, and it's way out there! Just how we like our comics.

9. 13 VUES DE LA TABLE BASSE by Baptiste Virot (50 Watts Books)

An art object in itself, this folding comic offers a take on the famous series of prints "100 views of Mount Fiji".

10. MIGGY MOUSE'S SWEETS & TREATS by A.T. Pratt (fatbottombooks)

A very unique artist, and his art object comix, make their way to Spain. A.T. Pratt

BLUESKY: Stephen Pellnat final page of pencils on UPSTATE #4 (original post)

I've got the first three issues lined up to read this year, it's been great seeing the progress on the next issue on bluesky.