Thursday, May 31, 2012

Optical Sloth Reviews The Heavy Hand





Kevin Bramer at Optical Sloth has posted a tantalizing review of The Heavy Hand, by Chris Cilla.

"Crikey, Chris has produced quite a show here. I don’t think I’ve ever referred to a graphic novel as a show before, but I’ll be damned if I know what else to call it."

Click here to read the full review!

PS Don't forget, Sparkplug will be at the Olympia Comics Fest on Saturday!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Olympia Comics Festival


So, Emily and I will be toting our books up to the Olympia Comics Fest this weekend!  This is a free festival, and there are a bunch of fun events scheduled around the con itself, including a reading by Jason Shiga (Fleep, Bookhunter).  Get more info on their webpage or facebook event page!

Friday, May 25, 2012





 Hey Portlanders, here's a fun activity for you to attend tonight!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Vortex #1 in the store!


Have you read William Cardini's Vortex yet?!  You should, and it's in our online store now!  Rob Clough (High-Low, TCJ) says: "I've enjoyed Cardini's development as an artist and the refinement of his heavily Mat Brinkman-influenced style. Cardini works big in this sci-fi/fantasy battle comic, but more interestingly, he uses a deliberately artificial-looking style of line. You can see the dots and pixels on the page, giving the whole thing a cold and digital quality that is trying to separate the reader from Brinkman's warm, organic and oozing imagery. That slight distance and primitiveness of the line quality (as opposed to the drawings themselves) adds a certain extra comical layer to a story that involves a wizard quite graphically and viscerally biting off the arm of a monster. The whole thing has a light-hearted feel, much like the rest of Cardini's work, odd as it may appear on the surface. Working bigger certainly suits him, and I enjoyed looking at the images as images."
 

 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bitch Magazine reviews Nurse Nurse!

Our friends at Bitch Magazine have written a great review of our latest book Nurse Nurse, as well as Julia Gfrörer's latest, Too Dark To See.  Please give it a read!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

CAKE needs your help!





Chicago Alternative Comics Expo is running an IndieGoGo campaign to cover some unexpected expenses.  It's the first year of this expo and we at Sparkplug are really looking forward to it.  Please consider donating; they have some pretty sweet prize packs as well!

(Poster by the inimitable Laura Park)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

New Books in the Store!





We've got a couple new books in the store for you today: Zebediah Part 1 by IPRC Comics Certificate Program student Asher Craw, Two Eyes of the Beautiful by Ryan Cecil Smith, Nightlife 12:02 by Tom Lechner and a beautiful print of a Stellar Sea Lion by T. Edward Bak.  Please check them out!

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

New Books in the Shop: Nurse Nurse and Brad Trip





We've got our two latest publishing efforts in the store now!  Nurse Nurse, a sci-fi epic by Katie Skelly and Brad Trip, an anthology of Portland Artists we put together with three other small press publishers for Free Comic Book Day.  Please check them out!

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

TCAF!




Sparkplug is happy to be tabling at TCAF in Toronto this year!  TCAF is a free show that takes place in the Toronto Reference Library.  Tom and Emily will be there, please visit them and pick up a copy of our new book, Nurse Nurse!  Click here for more info.






Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Nurse Nurse Release Party at Desert Island!



Hey East Coasters!
Please join Nurse Nurse artist Katie Skelly at Desert Island in Brooklyn for a book release and signing! The event starts at 8 p.m. on May 3rd. Desert Island is located at 540 Metropolitan in Brooklyn.