Arthur Article on Shortest Interval!

David King's new book just got a great write up on the Aurthur blog, take a look here:
http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/07/24/the-smallest-interval-by-david-king/

New Books, Portland Zine Symposium and Comic Con International

Sparkplug Comic Books will be at two shows this week.
The Portland Zine Symposium (July 24-26)
and San Diego Comic Con (July 22-26)

We'll be premiering three new books:

• the Shortest Interval - by David King
• Sausage Hand - by Andrew Smith (published with Teenage Dinosaur)
• Neptune - by Aron Nels Steinke (published with Tugboat Press)

All of them are now available in the store section of the Sparkplug website.

At Portland Zine Symposium, we'll be offering a wide variety of self published books from around the country. Emily Nilsson will be running the table. Aron Steinke, Teenage Dinosaur and Sean Christensen will be sharing table with us and Tugboat Press

At Comic Con we are sharing booth 1531 with Tom Neely's I Will Destroy You.
http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/sandiegolayout.jpg

We'll have Sparkplug books as well as books published by Tugboat Press, Teenage Dinosaur, Secret Acres, Bodega Distribution, La Mano, Partyka and other publishers. And, as usual we'll have the self publishing flea-market in full effect with work by artists like Fiona Smyth, Noah Van Sciver, Steve Ditko, Rina Ayuyang, Shaky Kane, Jason Overby, Jason T. Miles, Jesse Reklaw, Vanessa Davis, Renee French, Bobby Madness, Al Frank, Theo Elsworth and many many more.

Artists such as Julia Wertz, Austin English, Damien Jay, Ben Catmull, Minty Lewis, David King, Ben Catmull, Chris Cilla, Andrew Smith and Tim Goodyear others will be hanging out at the booth.

http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/

New Show up August 1st at Guapo!

Make sure you save time for yourself in two weeks on Saturday August 1st. You owe it to yourself to treat yourself right. Come to Guapo and view art by all of your favorite Portland art.

More news on the IPRC program in Portland.

From an interview in the Mercury.

Fall Semester
1) Core Creative Writing workshop with Justin Hocking (fiction + nonfiction). Will meet once a week for 2-3 hours.
A) Intro intensive weekend with Justin Hocking and Alex Wrekk
B) Guest lectures by Kevin Sampsell, Ariel Gore, Cheryl Strayed and Alex Wrekk
2) Core Comics/Graphic Novel workshop with Jesse Recklaw. Will meet once a week for 2-3 hours.
A) Intro weekend intensive with Dylan Williams: Foundations in creating comics (making time, finding inspiration, drawing from life, history of comics, etc.)
B) Mid-semester: 2 hour workshop with Annie Murphy: comics and personal/historical visual narrative
C) More guest lectures and workshops with Craig Thompson, Nicole Georges, Shawn Granton and Todd Bak

Spring Semester
A) Intensive workshop in Production, Design, and Publication + New Media facilitated by Mark Searcy. Will meet once a week for 2-3 hours. Final project will be a collaborative anthology of work created during fall semester, published and perfect-bound at the IPRC.
Semester will also include:
1) Five hour letterpress workshop
2) Screenprinting workshop (taught at Em Space Book Arts Center)
3) Beginning and Advanced InDesign courses
4) Perfect binding machine workshop
5) Tours of local printing presses (e.g. Brown, Eberhardt, Stumptown, etc)
6) Pre-press comics class taught by Dylan Williams
7) Webdesign + social media instruction

24 HR Zine Challenge at Cosmic Monkey in Portland

You're invited to the PZS 24hr Zine Challenge!

Presented by the Portland Zine Symposium, Independent Publishing Resource Center, and Cosmic Monkey Comics...

Who: You and other ambitious zinesters!

When: Beginning July 18th at 10:00am and going until July 19th at 10:00am!

Where: Cosmic Monkey Comics (5335 NE Sandy Blvd. - Next to the Bike Gallery)

Why: Because zines are awesome and it's International Zine Month! And maybe also so that you've got one more zine for your PZS table...

What To Bring: Any supplies you like to make zines with! Also, maybe pillows, snacks, and blankets..

In order to meet the challenge, the PZS 24hr Zine Challengers MUST make 24-page zine of an original, on-the-spot conception straight up to the final product in 24 hours straight. The zine should be of suitable size and technical difficulty so that this truly is a challenge for individual zinesters. The PZS 24hr Zine Challenge is brought to you by Portland Zine Symposium, the IPRC, and Cosmic Monkey Comics.

We will be providing some supplies (paper, glue scissors, a copy machine), snacks, and drink - anything you can bring will help! We are rivaling the 24hr Zine Challenge ZAPP is hosting in Seattle, so we hope to have a live video feed set up between our two events.

Preregistration is REQUIRED as space is limited to 30 spots! Email pdxzines@gmail.com or call Blue at (503) 453-5839 to register!

An Amazing Interview with Chris Wright

Exquisite Things is one of the best blogs out there, and not just because of the interview with Chris Wright that is up now. Matt is just a really good writer and questioner.

The IPRC's Comics Program!

I'll be involved in the IPRC's new comic certificate program. This is the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland Oregon. It is kind of like an art school except way better because it costs less and teaches you real things. There are only a limited number of students places available in these first classes, so sign up soon. If you were looking for a reason to move to Portland, here it is:

www.iprc.org

Certificate Program

Join us for the IPRC’s next creative odyssey: a year-long certificate program in Independent Publishing. Participants will choose between one of two tracks, Creative Writing or Comics/Graphic Novels, and will spend two semesters creating and publishing their work.

Fall Semester will feature generative workshops with the following instructors, guest lecturers, and advisors:

Creative Writing: Justin Hocking, Ariel Gore, Kevin Sampsell, Alex Wrekk, and Cheryl Strayed.

Comics/Graphic Novel: Jesse Recklaw, Dylan Williams, Craig Thompson, Nicole J. Georges, Todd Bak, Annie Murphy, and Shawn Granton.

Spring Semester will be facilitated by former Portland Mercury Art Director Mark Searcy, and will include intensive instruction in book design and layout, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, use of our Bind-Fast bookbinding machine, letterpress and screen printing, as well as web design and New Media studies.

Students will publish a collaborative book that anthologizes their creative work, and will go on to produce their own books and start their own presses.

Many writing and cartooning programs cost roughly the price of a new BMW. Our program, on the other hand, costs about as much as a nice new bike. And as a program we are much like a bicycle: not flashy, but nimble. Human powered. Something old that is also new. The future.

For more information or to apply e-mail justin@iprc.org