Your daily dig into the alt comics firmament.
“In 2015 A Wolfgang Crowe was the target of a violent homophobic attack while working in his father’s shop. Inspired by that event, his four-part series, Fractures, tells the story of the physical, psychological and legal struggles that continue after cuts heal and bruises fade.”
A4. 48 pages. B&W. Perfect bound.
https://colossive.com/product/fractures-aaron-wolfgang-crowe-comic-lgbt/
***
Man, I love Nate Garcia. He and Hanselmann and maybe in a different way Josh Pettinger, that little crew, they’re the true modernized sons of the 60s underground. Nate’s work hits every mark: Funny. Gross. Clever as hell. Plus his artwork is so gorgeous and beautifully colored, you can spend time just basking in it. Plum Pocket includes a full page exclusive painting by Hanselmann.
Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia. 32 pages. Full color. 3 Stories.
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/plum-pocket
Extract ↓
https://www.instagram.com/nategarciascartoons
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com
*** Reposted from Feb ’23 for searchability, etc.
Ellice Weaver’s forthcoming book, Big Ugly, is a post coming of age comedy drama. Follow Mel as she deals with life, ruts, family expectations, and the complexities of adult sibling relationships.
Weaver comes from an illustration background. I suppose it shows. Mattisse or Gauguin as filtered through Marie Clare? Whatever, totes gorge. She also never falls into the trap, common to some with a history in illustration, of treating comics as a series of static set pieces.
Big Ugly by Ellice Weaver. Hardcover. 128 Pages. Full Colour. Avery Hill Publishing. Ships in May. Available for Pre-order.
https://averyhillpublishing.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-big-ugly-by-ellice-weaver
Extract. ↓
https://averyhillpublishing.com/
https://www.ellice-weaver.com/
***
The result of decades of aspiration, Aric Calfee has released his first print comic. It takes the form of a very old-school underground solo anthology called Space Fart. Gross. Funny. Very funny. Pretty clever. Like I said, old-school underground. Rafferty, the main character, is so familiar, I swear I know him from somewhere, like a kind of literary everyman, but with more penis jokes, of course.
Space Fart #1 by Aric Calfee. 28 pages. full colour.
https://spacefart.bigcartel.com/product/space-fart-1
You can also sign up to Aric’s Substack and check out some stickers and original artwork at his store.
https://spacefart.substack.com/
https://spacefart.bigcartel.com/
Space Fart Extract. ↓
*
https://www.instagram.com/space.fart
***
https://rodgerbinyone.bigcartel.com/
Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s latest is a bilingual chapbook featuring poetic combinations of word and image. Beautifully illustrated and coloured. Mixed media. Personal. An ode to the pleasures and pains of the corporeal soul.
You can read a review from Comics Beat here:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-reviews-golden-record-by-rosemary-valero-oconnell-is-a-fascinating-mixed-media-approach-to-comics/
Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. 40 pages. Full colour. 8.5” x 11”. Silver Sprocket.
store.silversprocket.net/products/golden-record-by-rosemary-valero-o-connell
Extract. ↓
www.silversprocket.net
www.instagram.com/hirosemaryhello
***
With the first Comfort Dungeon on its third printing in just over a year, Drew B. Hall has now brought out the second instalment of his solo anthology series. As it says on the tin: existentially anxious comics, goofs, gags, groans, and moans. Supreme underground goodness.
Comfort Dungeon 2 by Drew B. Hall. 6″ x 8″. 24 pages. Full colour covers. Black and white interior. Printed by Lone Crow Printing in Columbus, OH.
https://dontbeupset.bigcartel.com/product/the-comfort-dungeon-2
Some sample pages. ↓
*
*
https://dontbeupset.bigcartel.com
***
Reposting some content that got lumped in with a whole bunch of other stuff. For searchability and the like.
***
The latest instalment of Cameron Arthur’s one man anthology series. Swag 5 is like a throwback to the golden age of cinematic Westerns. Slow boil simmering. When the narrative cracks, its like a rifle round going off. The artwork, the dialogue, the pacing are all slightly on the sparse side, creating a sense of vastness, of solitary desert wilderness and pitch-black nights. Wonderful. Very engaging. 3 Stories. 80 pages.
You can get a copy of Swag 5 by emailing Cameron directly.
camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom
Extract ↓
camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom
***
Peter Conrad, cartoonist, coder and maker of artefacts, is serializing his work in progress graphic novel Move Fast And on Patreon. Move Fast And documents Peter’s time spent working at Facebook. A job he describes as the best and the worst. It got pretty weird, too, apparently.
Check the little extract below, shiver at the traffic, then head over to Patreon and scope out all the extras, comics, zines, etc. available for patrons.
Conrad also does some amazing comic objects that are well worth taking a look at. Think comics shaped like cassette tapes, cigarette packs and Rubik’s cubes.
https://www.patreon.com/stymied
https://www.peterconrad.com/comics/
Extract from Move Fast And. ↓
https://www.patreon.com/stymied
***
His winning the best horror category in the 2023 Mini Comic Awards reminded me that Bhanu Pratap, creator of Dear Mother and Other Stories, one of the most interesting works of 2021, is serializing his new comic Afternoon Pockets on Substack. Check out chapter one, part one below and then go sign up to read the rest. Or you can follow along to a censored version on Instagram.
Plus, Dear Mother is apparently due back in print soon, which is good news, and Bhanu’s taking commissions via DM on Instagram. Also good.
https://substack.com/profile/962240-bhanu-pratap
https://www.instagram.com/hanabhanu
Afternoon Pockets by Bhanu Pratap. Chapter 1 Part 1. ↓
https://substack.com/profile/962240-bhanu-pratap
https://www.instagram.com/hanabhanu
***
Broken Frontier recently posted a good review of the Collected John G. Miller books. If you haven’t checked out Miller, a sub-underground cartoonist from Glasgow, you definitely should. He’s been working for decades and his style is something else. Comix Report ran an extract from the Collected John G. Miller 1980/1989 back in January. Now, in case you needed another nudge, here’s a selection of one pagers from the book covering Miller’s 2000s work.
The Collected John G. Miller 2000/2011. 160 pages. 8.25″ x 12″. B/W interiors throughout. Braw Books.
Available via Braw or Spit and a Half.
Extract. ↓
https://brawbooks.blogspot.com
***
Ryan Morris has done a full reworking of his B’GOK – Foodge is the Future comic. New art, new pages, rejigged story. You can get it in his store for $5 or download a pdf to try before you buy.
B’GOK – Foodge is the Future (vol 1) by Ryan Morris. 28 Pages. Staple Bound.
https://cityofgiants.storenvy.com/products/21010109-b-gok-foodge-is-the-future-vol-1-comic
http://cityofgiants.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BGOK-Read-final.pdf
At the heart of Live Rock 1 we find an aquarium, a lump of ominous choral, and a slacker roommate’s declaration of the interconnectedness of all things. From there, various narrative strands stretch out and around a mid-sized Florida city, taking in teens, defunct developments, the natural world, security guards and control freaks. Order vs. wildness. Sterility vs. creativity. Interesting. Nice sense of propulsion. Feels like everything’s going somewhere. Friendly and easy going.
Live Rock Part 1: Aquarium Life by Ross Jackson. 52 pages. 7.25” x 10.5”. Riso printed in bright olive green, melon, light lime, bubble-gum, and cornflower ink on off-white paper.
https://www.secretroompress.com/shop/p/live-rock
Ross Jackson is a founding member of the Secret Room risograph printing studio in Portland, Oregon.
Patrick Kyle’s series of self published Baby comics are set to be collected in a single 144 page volume by Breakdown Press. Kyle is so good at dealing with big-strange ideas in the most engagingly absurd way. This time around, he tackles the recurring twists and squeezes of the human(?) life cycle.
Baby by Patrick Kyle. 160 x 200mm. 144 pages. Offset printed. Softcover. Available March 24th. Pre-orders open.
https://www.breakdownpress.com/store/baby-by-patrick-kyle
Thanks to Mr. Kyle and the good people at Breakdown, here’s a preview. ↓
***
Nearly a month in, alternative-comics.com is rebranding. Henceforth, it shall be known as The Comix Report. Along with the name change comes a shift to a once-a-week posting schedule. Different name. Same address. Longer. Better. Once a week. Links at the top. Extracts and further joys after. Onward!
devin[@]alternative-comics[.]com
***
Links
Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia [Extract]
Andrew White Interview
Swag 5: Ballad of the Black Sun by Cameron Arthur [Extract]
Domino Books
All the Old Poisons
C.R.O.W.BAR 9 by Steve McArdle [Extract]
Doug Cueva
Czolgosz Syzygy Zine
Mailing List
***
News
• WOW COOL President Valentine Sale 20% off storewide — February 14–21.
• Fantagraphics Warehouse Sale 50% off selected titles. 14 – 21 Feb.
• American Library Association releases best Adult GDs for 2022.
• Comics Beat Preview: Read an excerpt of TOKYOPOP’s GUARDIAN OF FUKUSHIMA.
• Portland, OR. Vendor Applications open for BWPCon.
• The Centre for Cartoon Studies opens applications for Cornish Residency Fellowship. CCS director James Sturm says they’re looking for a cartoonist who’s demonstrated a dedication to cartooning with a body of distinctive and compelling work.
• Birdcage Bottom Books launches spring crowdfunding campaign with slate of planned releases.
• Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair. August 10–13, 2023. Exhibitor applications are open.
• Seth Tobacman set to teach online course on comics as political expression.
Reviews
• BLAH BLAH BLAH #3 by Juliette Collet reviewed on TCJ.
• Andrew Neal’s Meeting Comics reviewed by Ryan Carey.
• Dan Hill’s The 50 Flip Experiment reviewed by Ryan Carey.
• Lewis Hancox’s Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure reviewed on Broken Frontier.
• Sam Wallman’s Our Members Be Unlimited reviewed on Broken Frontier.
• Vojtěch Mašek’s The Sisters Dietl reviewed on Broken Frontier
Interviews, etc.
• Lawrence Lindell talks to Broken Frontier about his graphic novel on Black Love, Joy, Rebellion and the Power of Community.
• TCJ Interview with Justin Hall and Vivian Kleiman re: No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics.
• Publishers Weekly interview with Youssef Daoudi and Adrian Matejka re: Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century.
• Michael Dougan tribute and profile on TCJ.
***
Man, I love Nate Garcia. He and Hanselmann and maybe in a different way Josh Pettinger, that little crew, they’re the true modernized sons of the 60s underground. Nate’s work hits every mark: Funny. Gross. Clever as hell. Plus his artwork is so gorgeous and beautifully colored, you can spend time just basking in it. Plum Pocket includes a full page exclusive painting by Hanselmann.
Plum Pocket by Nate Garcia. 32 pages. Full color. 3 Stories.
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/plum-pocket
Extract ↓
https://www.instagram.com/nategarciascartoons
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com
***
Back in January, Andrew White began posting a series of work-in-progress comics adaptations to his newsletter and website. The adaptations in question are various works from the canon of the late Italian novelist and short story writer Italo Calvino. Calvino is known for having had an interest in old newspaper cartoons, claiming them as an influence on his narrative style. His writings really burst off the page in the most joyous, quite moving way. Real moments of aesthetic wonder. For me, Andrew’s work often has that same kind of beautiful but hard-to-pin-down effect. So this should be great. The first instalments show a lot of promise.
Since this is such an interesting project, and maybe a comics-literature crossover made in heaven, I was thrilled when Andrew offered to answer a few questions via email. What an opportunity to try and get some insight into how and why one of the top names in poetry comics decided to tackle Calvino.
Andrew White on Italo Calvino, adaptation and process.
I.
I first came to Calvino through If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, many years ago, and his work has been an influence since that time. I’m inspired by the way many of his book-length works are essentially short story collections, where each chapter can be read individually but the whole is greater than the sum of those parts. I’m inspired by the way he integrated formal play into his fiction while retaining an emotional and narrative core that kept the work compelling.
I first adapted a Calvino story in 2012 (A Beautiful March Day, from the Numbers in the Dark collection) and have considered returning to Calvino over the years. As you noted in your initial write-up of this project, there are also a number of Calvino-comics connections that made the prospect even more appealing.
But I’m also skeptical of adaptation, both as a reader and as a cartoonist. Adaptations that I’ve read, that I’ve considering making, or that I’ve actually made often leave me wondering, even suspecting, that the exercise is pointless. What does the adaptation offer that can’t be found in the original work? Is it losing more than it’s gaining?
As some readers might know, I’ve worked intermittently over the last several years on comics biographies of Gertrude Stein, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Virginia Woolf. That work has been on my mind because I’m revising it for a forthcoming single volume collection, Together and Apart, to be published by Fieldmouse Press. Those comics have a strong element of adaptation as well, actually, because the text is drawn primarily from the subject’s own words in diaries, letters, etc. So I wondered if I was done with biographies, or if I could find some way to continue that project without repeating myself. Calvino, among many possible subjects, crossed my mind.
Calvino was known for being reticent about his personal life and even misstating aspects of his biography (most notably, he often said he was born in San Remo, where he spent most of his childhood, rather than in Cuba, since the former felt more true to him even if it was factually incorrect). So, I suddenly realized, simply adapting a selection of his stories was the best way to produce a Calvino biography. While some of my adaptations will be fairly straightforward, I’m hoping the answer to question I posed above–what is gained by adaptation?–is that the juxtaposition of unrelated Calvino works masquerading as a biography will reveal, to readers and to me, new insights about his work and his life.
II.
The first step was (re)reading all of Calvino. I was reading in English which excludes a few things, very possibly some key piece of material that would have pushed the project in a different direction, though to be fair Calvino’s bibliography in translation is fairly complete.
I took notes and did a bit of drawing as I read, looking for stories or moments that seemed like a good fit. Phrases that suggested more than they said or sequences with a strong visual component, for example. Calvino was fairly open about the formal constraints he set for his work, so in reading about that I soon decided on a structure for the project as well. This meant that at a certain point I had some organizing principles in mind and began to seek out stories that filled specific gaps.
Once I knew which stories I wanted to adapt, I could–inspired by Calvino–simply tackle each one individually and let the work accumulate. I’m still engaged in that process now, using the self-imposed monthly newsletter deadline to keep myself on schedule as I finish up the latter stories and return intermittently to the earlier ones. One real advantage of comics, something that could work well here if I deploy it carefully, is the way that repeated, refracted images and sequences can convey a sense of synchronicity that’s also present in Calvino’s various texts. The way his ideas are repeated or rhyme, but also evolve, as he explores them over time. So I’m sometimes returning to the stories I’ve already completed with that goal in mind. But it’s a balance, one never wants to be too obtuse or overbearing with that sort of thing…
***
The latest instalment of Cameron Arthur’s one man anthology series. Swag 5 is like a throwback to the golden age of cinematic Westerns. Slow boil simmering. When the narrative cracks, its like a rifle round going off. The artwork, the dialogue, the pacing are all slightly on the sparse side, creating a sense of vastness, of solitary desert wilderness and pitch-black nights. Wonderful. Very engaging. 3 Stories. 80 pages.
You can get a copy of Swag 5 by emailing Cameron directly.
camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom
Extract ↓
camcom1228ATgmailDOTcom
***
Domino Books hit a number of milestones in 2022. $40,262.15 paid to artists. That’s up $6000 from 2021. Also $13,577.09 spent on postage. Austin English. The guy’s a one man old-school underground distro machine.
New @ Domino:
Fake Comics by Jason T. Miles
The Drifter by Anna Haifisch.
Restocked @ Domino:
Grip by Lale Westvind
The Glass Chamber 0 by Tia Roxae.
***
Online micro retailer. Owner says he tries to make everything available at prices that allow readers to take a shot on a book–even foreign language titles. He’s enjoyed bringing in various small collections of Japanese work from the likes of Suehiro Maruo, Shintaro Kago, Katsuhiro Otomo, Kazuo Umezu, Yoshikazu Ebisu, Takashi Nemoto, and Teruhiko Yumura. Plus some screen-printed books from publishers Le Dernier Cri and Bongoût. Great collection. Well curated. Gorgeous stuff.
https://alltheoldpoisons.myshopify.com/collections/comic-books
***
Gonzo genre brut: Republished 90s indie marginalia from partnership between Floating World and Power Comics. Metal sensibilities. Determinedly intense artwork. Bang-bang-bang story telling. The superheroes vs aliens genre stripped down to its adolescent core. Great fun.
80 pages. B&W.
https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/c-r-o-w-bar-9-80-page-giant-by-steve-mcardle
Extract ↓
https://floatingworldcomics.com
https://www.instagram.com/power_comics
***
Ohio based cartoonist Doug Cueva has started posting some of his mini comics online. Politics. Humor. Space Opera. Well worth keeping an eye on, I reckon.
https://cavecomix.wordpress.com
***
The first and so far only issue of off-and-on WW3 contributor and editor Ethan Heitner’s zine has been around for a few years now. It’s still hot and fresh. Politics. Comics. Interviews with Joe Sacco and Eleanor Davis. Yiddish modernist poets. Abolitionist writings paired with art. You’ll know whether or not this is your kind of thing. If it is, highly recommended. All profits donated to the Rawa Cultural Communities Fund.
36-page zine, magazine size (8.5 x 11), b & w, saddle-stitch stapled.
https://www.czolgoszsyzygy.com/product/the-czolgosz-syzygy-1
https://www.czolgoszsyzygy.com/
Get the weekly Comix Report (and the occasional bit of breaking news) delivered straight to your inbox.
The fourth issue of Austin English and August Lipp’s intermittent magazine of comics culture, But is it…Comic Aht?, is due for dropping sometime in April (or thereabouts).
Unsurprisingly, given the names behind it, But is it…Comic Aht? is a periodical with a purpose and a lot of thought behind it.
In starting a new print magazine about comics, it’s my hope that some ideas and conversations might be preserved with an ounce of the dignity that the mediums art offers. Online criticism and discussion is important, but fades away extremely quickly and seems driven by argument rather than reflection. Early issues of The Comics Journal offered quiet pages for artists to study, piecing together the practices and ideas of favorite artists in lengthy interviews. After a month of thinking about what a cartoonist said in a discussion, some debate of those ideas would appear in the next months letter column. The weight of a cartoonists words could be digested, embraced, rejected and most importantly THOUGHT about, rather then reacted to.
Issue #4 is set to feature original comics and art, as well as written pieces, long form interviews, et cetera. Including: covers by August Lipp and Mollie Goldstrom, comics by David King, Victor Cayro, Chaia Stratz, John Mejias, a long interview with Chris Cilla by Tim Goodyear, a feature on David Lasky by Megan Kelso, and lots more besides.
Yes, please.
But is it…Comic Aht? #4, edited by Austin English and August Lipp. $8, 72 pages, newsprint, 8.5″ x 11″.
Pre-order now at Domino: http://dominobooks.org/comicaht4.html
The Machine Detective: A Friendly Wager is a heart-warming comedic tale of murder, mystery and dystopia, the outcome of an art and printmaking collaboration between brothers Dustin and Nick Holland. Writing for TCJ, Ryan Carey called it “…a comic absolutely bristling with creative energy and intent…” And so it is.
The second edition, I’m told, is selling out quickly.
Who says punk’s dead?
The Machine Detective: A Friendly Wager by Dustin and Nick Holland. 60 pages. 8.5″ x 11″. Black and White interiors with color covers. Handmade.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1308446386/machine-detective-a-friendly-wager
The Rust Belt Review is accepting submissions for Volume 6.
https://www.seanknickerbocker.com/submit
Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell opens for pre-order on Silver Sprocket.
https://store.silversprocket.net/products/pre-order-golden-record-by-rosemary-valero-o-connell
Nate Garcia’s Plum Pocket is dropping within the next 24 hours and includes a one page painting by Simon Hanselmann.
https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/plum-pocket
Read Consumption and Transformation by Jason Novak on TCJ.
https://www.tcj.com/dialogue-balloons/
The Centre for Cartoon Studies opens applications for Cornish Residency Fellowship.
https://www.cartoonstudies.org/cornishfellowship/
Kate Beaton (Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands) interviewed on BBC radio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct34x9
Silver Sprocket releases list of their top 200 selling indie titles of 2022.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/sales-chart-silver-sprocket-top-200-indie-bestsellers-of-2022/
Quimby’s Feb Newsletter.
https://mailchi.mp/quimbys/epybccdgzv-3136964?e=54f6dee088
Los Bros Hernandez interviewed on Broken Frontier.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/jaime-gilbert-hernandez-love-rockets-fantagraphics-first-fifty/
Another Comics Daze with Lars Ingebrigtsen.
https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2023/02/06/comics-daze-65/
Uncivilized Books newsletter.
https://mailchi.mp/uncivilizedbooks/uncivilized-territories-6026461
Desperate Measures by M.S. Harkness reviewed on Optical Sloth.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27657
Supplement by Ben Cherry reviewed on Optical Sloth.
http://www.opticalsloth.com/?p=27651
Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld on TCJ.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/revenge-of-the-librarians/
Forget my Name by Zerocalcare, translated by Carla Roncalli Di Montorio reviewed on TJC.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/forget-my-name/
Tedward Classic Moves by Josh Pettinger & Simon Hanselmann reviewed by Ryan Carey.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tedward-classic-78432733
Ashling Larkin’s Estrela d’Oeste on Broken Frontier.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/estrela-doeste-ashling-larkin/
Drew Lerman’s Tales of Old Snake Creek reviewed by Ryan Carey.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/wild-witty-dare-78386865
Maus Now: Selected Writing, edited by Hillary Chute reviewed by the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/06/maus-now-selected-writing-edited-by-hillary-chute-art-spiegelman-review-the-maus-that-made-history
All copyrighted materials used with permission or through Fair Use and are ©2023 their respective copyright holders.
