Alt Comics: Josh Pettinger + News & Links.

Power Wash by Josh Pettinger

Josh Pettinger has been putting out Goiter, his one man anthology series, for the better part of a decade now. Using it to ink up an increasingly accomplished series of screwball but brilliantly observed takes on modern living.

Power Wash follows Tedward, much loved Goiter staple and ever earnest underachiever, as he deals with heartbreak, courts success, encounters orgies and takes up high-pressure cleaning.

You can read a review here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/last-temptation-71334663

Seriously, though, everyone who knows about these things agrees: Pettinger is just getting stronger and stronger as a cartoonist. If you haven’t checked him out before, now is a great time to do so.

Power Wash by Josh Pettinger. 32 Pages. Color covers. B/W interior.
https://goiter.bigcartel.com/product/powerwash

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Is this Tedward’s chance to dream the American dream? Will he succeed? Or will he end up sleeping with the lights on and wake up screaming? Read Power Wash and find out.

https://www.goitercomics.com/

News & Links

Our Stories Carried Us Here anthology reviewed on Broken Frontier
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/our-stories-carried-us-here-green-card-voices/

Review: THE RE-UP #2 : Now I’m Sellin’ Dope, And I Know Why
https://www.patreon.com/posts/re-up-2-now-im-i-77707258

Comics Beat reviews Paul B. Rainey’s Why Don’t You Love Me?.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/graphic-novel-reviews-whats-up-with-why-dont-you-love-me/

Why Don’t You Love Me? is getting A LOT of good press, seriously.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/30/why-dont-you-love-me-by-paul-b-rainey-a-marriage-made-in-hell-veers-into-the-unknown

Interview with Deena Mohamed (the cartoonist behind Shubeik Lubeik) on TCJ.
https://www.tcj.com/storytelling-is-controlling-the-emotions-you-want-to-evoke-an-interview-with-deena-mohamed-artist-of-shubeik-lubeik/

Kickstarter: Death Candy #2. Alt horror anthology.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/spookydoom/death-candy-2

Another impressive (in both volume and tastefulness) comics haul trawl with Lars Ingebrigtsen.
https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2023/01/29/comics-daze-64/

Audio Interview with Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151725563/gilbert-and-jaime-hernandez-of-love-and-rockets

Why not check out Doug Cueva?

https://www.instagram.com/cave.art/
https://cavecomix.wordpress.com/

London, UK: Sat 4th Feb 2023. @ Gosh Comics: Paul B. Rainey (Why Don’t You Love Me?) 1 – 2pm, plus Patrick Kyle at 7 – 9pm.
https://goshlondon.com/the-gosh-blog/the-gosh-authority-010223/

Top tier industry news source Comics Beat has a Patreon. If you feel so inclined, you might want to help them reach their goals.
https://www.patreon.com/comicsbeat

https://twitter.com/michael_deforge/status/1619744979412475904

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Alt Comics #1.3: Marvels of Fauna, Maggie Umber + News & Links.

Marvels of Fauna Cover

Marvels of Fauna by Marieeve Ariey-Bonnet

In a town ravaged by a neurological disease, Fanny Fontanel, an emotionally blunted social worker, begins to experience bizarre physical symptoms that mimic her patients’ feelings. With the help of her sister and a dead woman’s memoirs, she must find the cause of her ailment before the damage to her body becomes irreversible.

Social realism meets off-kilter, ominous horror. Wonderful.

40pgs. Available via Amazon.

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Process with Maggie Umber

Maggie Umber is currently hard at work using scratchboard to color Bunworld, her new graphic novel. According to Umber, Bunworld is the story of a baker, a pipe smoking snake and a runaway birthday bun named—wait for it—Bun. The baker and the snake decide to bake a cake for Bun, but have no idea what cake tastes like, adventure ensues.

It all sounds dizzyingly existential to me.

Ms. Umber has graciously allowed us to share a few Bunworld process photos from her Patreon. Since the work is still at least a year away from publication, it’s probably a good time to sign up to the Patreon account in question, support a staggeringly talented voice in art comics, and follow Bunworld as it develops. Tiered benefits also include blog posts, pdf downloads and discounts.

https://www.patreon.com/maggieumber

And so we present to you, Bunworld in progress….

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https://maggieumber.com/

News & Links

Andrew White begins serializing his work-in-progress adaptation of 12 Italo Calvino stories via newsletter.

This is an interesting project for a couple of reasons. 1) Italo Calvino (the late Italian novelist), has cited E.C. Segar’s Popeye cartoons as an influence on his storytelling and narrative style, and 2) In his short story The Origin of the Birds, Calvino explicitly asks the reader to imagine panels and other plays on cartoon formalism as they read.

So, if there ever was an author ripe for reverse engineered admiration from a cartoonist of Andrew White’s calibre, Italo Calvino is it, surely.

Anyway, you can catch up on White’s first instalment here and then join his mailing list here to read the rest as they become available.

Check it out. Original Comic Art for sale.
https://www.athenaeumcomicart.com/

Drawn and Quarterly Fall Catalog.
https://drawnandquarterly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CAT-FALL-2023.pdf

In case you missed it: Back in November, Bhanu Pratap (the cartoonist behind Dear Mother) began serializing his second comic, Afternoon Pockets, on Instagram and Substack. The Substack version is running uncensored. Part one posted so far.
https://www.instagram.com/hanabhanu/
https://substack.com/profile/962240-bhanu-pratap

Fantagraphics’s NOW #12 anthology due out 24 Feb 2023.
https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/now-12-the-new-comics-anthology

Four new titles from kuš! coming Feb 23rd.
http://www.komikss.lv/

Floyd Tangeman (A.K.A. Deadcrow) deals with criticism. (Sound up.)

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Alt Comics #1.2: John G. Miller + News & Links.

The Collected John G. Miller 1980/1989

From the wildernesses of Glasgow, Scotland comes the dense, expressively angular works of John G. Miller, one of the rather more under-the-radar talents in alternative and underground cartooning. Published by Braw Books, the Collected John G. Miller 1980/89 draws together Miller’s early works, charting his development and stabilization as an artist, while putting his signature style and intense approach to storytelling on full display.

The Collected John G. Miller 1980/1989. 118 pages. 8.25″ x 11.75″. B/W interiors throughout. Braw Books.

Available via Braw or Spit and a Half.

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https://brawbooks.blogspot.com/

News & Links

Tommi Parrish’s (Men I Trust) signing and conversation tour, taking in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, & New York, Jan 28 – Feb 10th 2023.
https://blog.fantagraphics.com/events/

You can read a Comics Journal review of Men I Trust here.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/men-i-trust-2/

UK Comic & Zine event listings from Broken Frontier.
https://www.brokenfrontier.com/events-competitions/

Fantagraphics Summer & Winter 2023 Catalogs available.
https://www.fantagraphics.com/pages/catalogs

Review of Hanselmann’s Below Ambition on the Comics Journal.
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/below-ambition/

Remembering Michael Dougan on the Comics Journal.
https://www.tcj.com/remembering-michael-dougan/

Lars Ingebrigtsen peruses his latest comics haul.
https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2023/01/23/comics-daze-63/

Radiator Comics opens Escape from the Great American Novel
by Drew Lerman for pre-order.
https://www.radiatorcomics.com/shop/uncategorized/escape-from-the-great-american-novel/

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Alt Comics #1.1: Extract: Audra Stang’s The Audra Show #6 + News & Licks (Sorry, Links).

Audra Show Number 6 by Audra Stang Cover

The Audra Show # 6 by Audra Stang

As Austin English puts it: “I am really into these Audra Show comics…they feel half from the past, in some kind of lively Archie style universe, and half in the present of expressive art mini comics. It’s a really beautiful combination. These are unique and well told stories that are a thrill to look at, sharply printed. Great work, extremely worth checking out!”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Comics in this issue: I’ll meet you at the window, Margaux’s Mirror, Meanwhile in 2008, Girl Shows, Firework, and Stang Family Christmas Destinations.

The Audra Show 6 by Audra Stang. 32 pages / “standard comic book” / full color on white paper.

Available direct from Audra Stang, also Domino and Radiator, and all good indie retailers, I presume.

Audra Show Number 6 by Audra Stang Excerpt 1
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Audra Show Number 6 by Audra Stang Excerpt 2

https://www.audrastang.com/

News & Links

Amazonian bloodbaths.

Oof. Amazon is apparently eliminating all jobs at its Comixology division. You can read about the supreme unpleasantness via Comics Beat: https://www.comicsbeat.com/inside-the-comixology-bloodbath/

Nate Garcia sells kisses.

Speaking of showering the comics community with love, Philadelphia wunderkind Nate Garcia is selling limited edition full color 8 x 10″ prints of his 2022 Alanzo Sneak one page Halloween Special. They come signed and sealed with a kiss. Now that’s love. https://nategarcia.bigcartel.com/product/2022-halloween-special-print

Not alt, but indie: Read Mercy, As Yet Through Blood by Sloane Leong online.

sloaneleong.com/2023/01/22/mercy-as-yet-through-blood/

New Zines, Comics, Minis, & Graphic Novels at Quimby’s.

www.quimbys.com/blog/new_stuff/new-stuff-this-week-599/

Coming up later in the week: John G. Miller, The Machine Detective, Gabrielle Bell, Deadcrow, and more….

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Alt Comics #1.0: Andy Barron’s Om

Printed in a limited edition of 500, fantastical and absolutely gorgeous, Andy Barron’s Om chronicles the adventures of Om, an archetypal innocent, as he pinballs his way through an uncompromising world of primal cause and effect.

A wonderful addition to a long line of esoteric fable comics and cartoons that stretches from Jim Woodring all the way back to Bimbo’s Initiation.

Om by Andy Barron, 252 Pages, Soft cover + Reversible Dust Jacket, 6,7″ x 8,7″. The Mansion Press.

€25,00 from Mansion Press or $26.00 from Silver Sprocket.

https://omcomics.com/

Shorts

Fantagraphics late January releases

Children of Palomar and Other Tales by Mario and Gilbert Hernandez, the fifteenth volume in the Complete Love and Rockets Library and the eighth Gilbert volume, includes the graphic novels Julio’s Day and The Children of Palomar, as well as never-before-collected work. $24.99. 280 Pages, Paperback / Softback, Black and white, 7.6″ × 9.3″.

The Chuckling Whatsit by Richard Sala. Sala at his spooky peak, back in print and in hardcover. $29.99. 200 Pages, Hardback, Full-color, 7.4″ × 10.3″.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers In the 21st Century and Other Follies by Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides. The second collection of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics stories, featuring the Brothers’ trip to the 21st century and two Fat Freddy’s Cat solo escapades. $22.99. 144 Pages, Hardback, Full-color, 8.3″ × 10.6″. Available January 24th.

The Reddest Rose: Romantic Love from the Ancient Greeks to Reality TV by  Liv Strömquist (translation by Melissa Bowers). A collection of humorous comics essays about how historical and societal shifts have altered — and perhaps destroyed — “romantic love.” $24.99. 184 Pages, Paperback / Softback, Black and white, 6.9″ × 9.7″. Available January 31.

New at Domino Books

Meditations on First Philosophy by Goda Trakumaite. A ‘metaphysical science fiction adjacent story about time and matter.’ Well, there you go. $6.00. 22 Pages.

The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium

The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium schedule of events is now available. All events are online. Register by email, one week before event, comicssymposium@gmail.com. Talks start at 7pm ET, except for Feb. 7th and May 9th begin at 5pm ET.

Ooh, Ron Rege on March 28th, lovely.

Coming Monday, 23rd of January: Alt Comics #1.2, featuring Audra Stang.

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Coming Soon

Nancy, Amy, Jimbo, & Frank.

The Alt & Art Comic Buyer’s Guide: Dedicated to showcasing the best new (and not so new) publications, prints, merch, and artwork from the world of alternative and art comics.

Coming up: Gabrielle Bell, Daria Tessler, Andy Barron, Deadcrow, Rich Tommaso, Nate Garcia, Steve McArdle, and more….

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