Copacetic Comics Gift Guide:
We've been lurking the Pittsburgh-based Copacetic Comics site for years now, not quite making an order yet. They have a great 2025 Holiday Gift Guide this year with over 50 hand-picked books, some low stock and some on sale. The WWIII Illustrated set is a particularly nice idea!
Copacetic
Bud's Art Book Free Comics:
Bud Plant
Bud's Art Books has eight free items (with a purchase) including the Moebius postcard set (pictured above), Bob Foster items, First Kingdom #1, and old issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories.
Plant is also running a 30% off sale of over 200 items, with only one or two copies left in stock, until December 16th. You never know what you're going to find on BAB, like the last copy of Ron English's Greetings From Delusionville tabloid-sized hardcover.
It's been reported Bud Plant will be retiring next year, so order while you can!
The Comics Journal Spotlight Interview of the Month:
Books With Pictures
Zach Rabiroff interviews Books With Pictures, Portland OR comics shop, owner Katie Pryde. This is an in-depth talk about Pryde's early years in comics retail and the intense threadbare line between breaking even and being in the red in the modern landscape of comic shops. One of the best interviews on the site this year.
Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo 2025 Scene Report:
micexpo.org
More links from the show include a list of books debuting at MICE 2025, and a related list of all the 2025 MICE Mini Grant recipients.
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Katie Skelly and Sally Madden discuss Junko Mizuno's Pure Trance. More info on Mizuno here. Listen to Thick Lines here.
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Zine Freak News:
The UK underground comix and alternative zine distro, Zine Freak, sent out an update recently, including the cover to Matt Simmons' main publication, MZW. If you are a fan of comics that bite (or sometimes lick, according to that cover below), check out his Patreon and Discord, or stop by his comix stall at Lancaster's Assembly Rooms Emporium if you're in the UK.
Patreon
Black Comic Lords Virtual Convention:
The Beat
December 6th brought an entire days live programming of Black comics creators and publishers on the Black Comic Lords YouTube channel. Reported by George Carmona 3rd on The Beat. All 12 hours of programming have been archived on their channel!
Rob Clough's 31 Days of CCS Begins:
!Rob Clough, Looper
It's December, so Rob Clough brings us 31 days of reviews of comics from alumni of The Center for Cartoon Studies! First up was veteran cartoonist Colleen Frakes. Check out Clough's High-Low blog throughout December for more of this series.
Optical Sloth reviews the Bible:
Optical Sloth
Kevin Bramer comes up with some amazing finds. John Minkoff has a wild line, and Bible stories are always worthy of adaptation, imho. Check out the review or comic
1987: The Year That Ruined My Life:
GCD
.TCJ
My first new issue of The Comics Journal was #115. Maybe not coincidentally my first issue of Love and Rockets was #20. Both were (according to GCD) published in April 1987. I was 17 and a junior in high school, at the time. I was already a misanthropic weirdo, so I guess this just sealed the deal!
New Thick Lines Podcast by Katie Skelly and Sally Madden:
Scarred for Life by 2000 AD.:
2000 A.D.
Michael Molcher and (Trigger Warning favorite) Chloe Maveal interview the team behind the Scarred for Life book series, Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence.
.If you aren't familiar with the Scarred For Life series, it examines the weird and warped pop culture of the UK. They have a three book series covering the 70s, 80s, and 90s, as well as live presentations and a podcast.
Comix Reading List:
Speaking of Katie Skelly, I poured over all her books on Hoopla in one day (plus bonus story with Alex DeCampi in Twisted Romance). I loved all her work, although My Pretty Vampire may have been a slight favorite. Nothing quite like a good cartoony horror book.
all Hoopla
Comixology Unlimited had Volume Two of Fantagraphics Guido Crepax series, which I was totally not prepared for. This is probably some of the densest, most surreal comics narrative I've ever seen. I don't even know if I like it, but it's definitely an experience.
Comixology Unlimited
So, it seems I'm a year older than you. It's funny, I guess I'd always assumed you were a bit older because of all those research projects you did back in the olden days. And, if I haven't said so before, those had quite a positive influence on me!
ReplyDeleteI've always been impressed with your construction of a workable database for probably the most ephemeral comics ever made. As for those old indexes, I have to give all the credit to Steve Willis for giving my indexing mania an outlet!
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