Sparkplug Highlights: Danny Dutch, by David King

A brilliantly absurd collection of strips, David King's Danny Dutch features the eponymous Danny and his gang of friends going about their lives and pondering the various vagaries and truths of existence. Let me just prepare you right off the bat: the pictures and words don't line up. That's the beauty of it. Without the text in the perfectly placed speech bubbles, most of these strips could be in a newspaper; the characters' chubby, highly detailed bodies recall classic cartoons of yesteryear, though the occasional landscape or city scene is so finely rendered it puts the average comic strip to shame. The text, though, is all dull malaise, contemplations on life, death, and sex, soul-crushing observations of relationship politics, reflections on art and childhood--and more. Soon enough, however, through some strange alchemy, the two disparate elements (visual and verbal) begin to line up and inform each other, until suddenly you're laughing at your own mortality or feeling melancholy over your favorite childhood memory. It's a weird ride, one that will leave your stomach feeling wobbly for a while after you get off, but you'll want to hop back on again nonetheless.

 



Support Sparkplug and get fantastic original art - here's how!

Hi folks, Emily Nilsson here.  I'm throwing lots of art on eBay for the benefit of Sparkplug's future endeavors.  We had a few pieces left over from the Indiegogo upper donation tier gifts, for which the artists have granted permission for us to sell.  I'm also adding a lot of stuff that my husband, Dylan Williams, and I collected over the years.  There are great originals and a number of high-quality prints that are being added to the mix.  Work by Sparkplug alums Jeff Levine, Elijah Brubaker, Chris Cilla, and Aron Steinke have been featured.  Be sure and at least check it out! 

Link here to the auctions currently in full swing!

If you have any questions feel free to email: emily@sparkplugcomicbooks.com.  If you live in Portland, I'll waive shipping and work with you on a pick-up arrangement.

Thanks friends!  You're the best!

Active right now - "Crazy Legs" by Chris Cilla.  Start the insanity!

Sparkplug Highlights: Zebadiah, by Asher Z. Craw

It's actually a little difficult to express in words how wonderful and affecting Asher's Zebadiah is. It's not just the art, though it is breathtaking. Asher's artistic style recalls rough-but-intricate woodblock etchings and works equally well at depicting the deep woods of Appalachia and modern-day Portland, Oregon. Every character's face, even (especially) the animals', is infinitely expressive and intimately human. The religious iconography, ethereal supernatural entities, and visually referential characters blend seamlessly into the narrative to create a world that feels both rooted in very specific, portentous periods and, paradoxically, timeless. It's this amazing art in conjunction with a truly brilliant story, though, that makes Zebadiah such an incredible creative achievement that has won the adoration of everyone I know who's read it. Asher takes two stories--that of Zebadiah and Eula-Lee, a reclusive couple living in the Appalachians in the 1970s, and that of (somewhat fictionalized versions of) Asher and, later, his wife Lillie in the present day--and weaves them together with an overarching narrative that explores the intersection between rural and urban lifestyles, separated souls, Asher's character's trans experience, damnation versus salvation, and (most importantly) eternal love.

On top of it all: ANTHROPOMORPHIC GUARDIAN POSSUMS (possibly some relative of the Grumplords?!).

To say too much more is to deprive you of your own experience with the story, but trust me: you will feel changed after you finish reading it. It is a perfect example of everything a great comic should be; it hurts your heart, it's so good. Read it today, and don't forget to pick up Asher's contribution to our upcoming Sparkplug Minis series, due out on February 16th at LA Zine Fest--his will be the inaugural issue, and it's a modern tale of Baba Yaga. You're going to love it.

 

 

 



Sparkplug Highlights: Reich #1 and #2, by Elijah Brubaker

We hope that you've had a chance to see our awesome presale for Reich #11, which is the penultimate issue in Elijah Brubaker's comic biography of Wilhelm Reich. However, if you're just now coming to the series, you should definitely pick up the first issues! The biography does move chronologically and is much more powerful when read in order. To introduce our new readers to the series, we wanted to shine some light on the first two issues. Elijah writes in his intro,

"Most people who know of the man know him as a crazy character who battled the US government and paid the ultimate price. . . .Generally those that know or Reich seem to see him as nothing more than an accumulation of sound bites and weird ideas. Those privy to the minutia of Reich's life are dedicated to arguing the merit of Reich's science but often overlook him as a human being. All these conflicting viewpoints are equally intimidating to me and spur me to tell the story from my own point of view. I see Reich as human above all else. He was dedicated to the betterment of the human race and the advancement of his ideas. Reich the man was flawed and complex and that is what attracts me to him as a subject for biography."

Issues 1 and 2 cover Reich's early life at the tail end of his service in Italy during WWI and at the University of Vienna immediately after the war's end. In Vienna as a young medical student, he becomes swept up in the promise of psychoanalysis and sexology, leading him to take control of his academic seminars and become a protégé of Sigmund Freud. We see early on, though, behaviors that will continue to plague his relationships throughout his life: philandering, egomania, verbal abuse. For all his brilliance, Reich is a man filled with dark potential.

Elijah's series only gets better from here, we promise! Do yourself a favor and check out issues 1-10 before you grab a presale copy of issue 11, and then with bated breath for the explosive last issue!

 

 

New In the Store: Vantage!

Everyone, listen up, and listen like crazy: we have a new Eroyn Franklin book in the store! Vantage is an incredible addition to both her creative oeuvre and your personal comics collection. This fold-out book documents The Long Walk, a socially engaged project in which Susan Robb leads fifty people on a four-day, fourth-five-mile walk from Puget Sound to Snoqualmie Falls using the Regional Trails System. Franklin's art, of course, is as excellent as ever, but Vantage stands out as a totally unique work of art and narrative, simultaneously tiny and vast in size and scope. You see, Vantage is a 2.5" x 2.5" square -- little enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It's real impact comes when it is opened: a series of pages fold out into beautiful 10.5" landscapes that are absolutely breathtaking. See:

$5.00 is a small price for something so innovative and lovely. Get it today!

Reich #11 Preorders and a Year End Announcement

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Hello friends of Sparkplug!

We hope you’ve had a good 2013. It’s been another year of big changes for us—the most significant, of course, being my coming into ownership of Sparkplug. This year has been a reflective one; though our publishing output was smaller than past seasons, we have made some great additions to our distro catalog, attended a lot of fantastic shows, and given a lot of thought to the future of Sparkplug.

As I am writing this in November, however, we are not in good shape financially. I’ve had to stop paying myself, and though I wasn’t paying myself much, that money did make a significant contribution to my income; it’s going to be more difficult to continue as a publisher when I’m relying solely on my minimum wage retail job.

But I’ll be fine—I’m more concerned about our publishing schedule for next year. We have some awesome books planned! We’re going to finish Elijah Brubaker’s Reich series, hopefully by fall 2014. I would like for Orchid 2 to (finally) be released by then as well.

In addition to completing two of Dylan’s projects, I am looking forward to starting some projects of my own. In February, we are planning to launch the Sparkplug Minis series, a collection of limited edition short-run minicomics by up-and-coming artists. The first book will be Portland artist Asher Craw’s Hungry Summer, which will finally answer the question of what happens when a bro-dude meets Baba Yoga. Hungry Summer will be ready in time to debut at LA Zine Fest in February. The second book, Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi’s Smoking Spaceships #1, will debut at CAKE in late May. Suvarnasuddhi sent me some preliminary sketches, and let me tell you, they are gorgeous!

I have two more issues in this series tentatively planned for summer and fall. Get them while you can, because once they run out, we won’t be reprinting them. If this series does well enough, I will likely add a subscription option in 2015.

Finally, if you’ve been following William Cardini’s Vortex series, you’ll be excited to know that we’ll be publishing a collection of all four minis in the summer of 2014. Cardini’s work is great—a weird mash-up of psychedelia and 8-bit sci-fi—and I’m so stoked to be doing this book.

So those are our plans, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. To make these books happen, though, we are going to need a lot of support from our fans and friends. As always, you can make a donation directly to us via the Donate button on the right-hand side of our blog (http://sparkplugcomicbooks.blogspot.com/). These donations are so greatly appreciated and go directly toward producing our books. I’m also going to offer preorders for our books, which will be the best way for you to help us and add some great comics to your library simultaneously. Reich #11 preorders start today! Please, just look at that cover and tell me it’s not one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen. Visit http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/comic-books/reich-11-pre-order/ to get your issue and contribute to a good cause: keeping us in business so we can continue to publish these amazing independent comics.

Thank you for standing by us, and happy holidays!

-Virginia

New in the Store: Other Worlds!

Portland's comics performance collective, Gridlords, has seen fit to grace us with a second anthology, and it's bigger, slicker, and weirder than we could have hoped for! Other Worlds explores the myriad other dimensions, other places, and other experiences that exist alongside us and within us. Where does your dog really go when he runs off, and would you be brave enough to go after him -- no matter what? What kind of effort does an imagination vacation take to sustain, and is the payoff worth it? Will you really die if you see your doppelgänger? How do you best help an elderly woman losing her memories? WHAT IS A GRUMPLORD?! All these questions and more are asked and answered. Featuring work by Rebecca Artemisa, Max Clotfelter, Dunja Jankovic, Darin Shuler, Sophie Franz, Anna Ehrlemark, Elizabeth Pusack, Fiona Avocado, Ryan Iverson, Kelly Froh, Joel Statz, Matt Lock, Marsuplala, Luke Forsyth, Jesse McManus, Graham Kahler, Nusha Ashjaee, Kevin Hooyman, Theo Ellsworth, Sean Christensen A.B.T., Daria Tessler, and Lillie & Asher Craw, you won't want to miss this incredible collection for anything.

Sparkplug at Short Run This Weekend!

We are so excited for our upcoming attendance at Short Run in Seattle! Held on Saturday, November 30, from 11:00am to 6:00pm, Short Run is a one-day free event that showcases makers of art books, zines, comics, and animation. It was founded to strengthen and celebrate the Pacific Northwest's small press community and act as an alternative to large-scale commercial conventions. Short Run focuses on regional self-published works, limited editions, and handmade books. This year it will take place at Washington Hall, located on 153 14th Ave.; the event will be followed by a comics prom at 7:30pm. Sparkplug will be tabling with lots of great books, new and old, at table F-26, and our own Virginia Paine will be speaking on the panel "Women in Comics" at 12:20pm. We can't wait to be a part of this amazing event, and we hope to see you there!

 

 
 

Sparkplug Highlights: The Natural World, by Damien Jay

If you love stories about witch trials, medieval small-town politics, and religious hypocrisy, THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW NOT READING THE NATURAL WORLD?! Seriously -- do yourself a favor and pick up the first four issues as soon as you're done reading this blog. An entertaining and gripping account of a medieval hamlet's encounters with witches (real and imagined), forest spirits, and violent brigands and the convoluted relationships between the townspeople, The Natural World is at its heart a timeless story about people -- scared people, power-hungry people, people with secrets, and people just trying to get by.

Jay introduces a fascinating cast of characters who orbit around each other throughout the course of his four issues: a simpleton who understands more than people give him credit for, his brother who rails against licentious witches one hour and cheats on his wife the next, a man driven out of the town and left to fend for himself in the forest, a pack of thieves, a courageous woman who wants more out of her paramour than he's offering, a friendly dog, and a bizarre and otherworldly entity who lives in the woods and communicates incomprehensible messages. When the threat of witches in their midst arises, the town begins to turn on itself; meanwhile, something in the forest grows stronger. . .

Jay's art is wonderful to behold. He skillfully combines a classic cartoon aesthetic with delicate watercolors, his graywashes adding depth and sophistication to each panel. With a few lines, his character's expressions are rendered clear as day; his backgrounds range from nonexistent (used when drawing attention to the characters at the forefront) to lushly detailed (especially when he's depicting the forest or the rolling hills surrounding the town). Jay also has a serious flair for the comedic: there are so laugh-out-loud funny bits of dialogue, the adorable dog is the perfect goofy canine companion, and there are even a couple of classic cartoon fights, complete with disembodied eyes and fists in a giant cloud of dust and stars. This is a comic that moves smoothly between serious art and funnybook silliness with ease. Grab it today, and be on the lookout for issue #5!

New in the Store: Making Tide and Just Noise!

We have two new additions to the store today from the incomparable Eroyn Franklin: Making Tide and Just Noise. Vastly different in execution, they are both amazing works of art and storytelling.

Just Noise is a tiny marvel of intricacy. A dialogue between a couple whose actions speak louder than words, the speech bubbles between them are are cut-out voids, leaving it up to the reader to intuit what is being said a creating a beautifully layered effect as the pages stack on top of each other. This is a must read for not only fans of Franlklin's work but also aficionados of cut paper.

Making Tide, on the other hand, is a departure from Franklin's wordless, high-concept comics. It stands on its own, however, as a testament to Franklin's prowess in many different media. A selection of stories that deal with a trip to Vietnam, the creative process, serious bodily harm, and love, her dreamily painted landscapes and carefully inked characters will draw you in and take your breath away.

Just Noise is a tiny marvel of intricacy. A dialogue between a couple whose actions speak louder than words, the speech bubbles between them are cut-out voids, leaving it up to the reader to intuit their meanings and creating a beautifully layered effect as the pages stack on top of each other. This is a must read for fans of Franklin's and aficionados of cut paper. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/just-noise/#sthash.TZf5io0i.dpuf

Just Noise is a tiny marvel of intricacy. A dialogue between a couple whose actions speak louder than words, the speech bubbles between them are cut-out voids, leaving it up to the reader to intuit their meanings and creating a beautifully layered effect as the pages stack on top of each other. This is a must read for fans of Franklin's and aficionados of cut paper. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/just-noise/#sthash.TZf5io0i.dpuf

Just Noise is a tiny marvel of intricacy. A dialogue between a couple whose actions speak louder than words, the speech bubbles between them are cut-out voids, leaving it up to the reader to intuit their meanings and creating a beautifully layered effect as the pages stack on top of each other. This is a must read for fans of Franklin's and aficionados of cut paper. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/just-noise/#sthash.TZf5io0i.dpuf

New in the Store: Cavities Sampler!

Please join me in welcoming cartoonist Erin Griffin to Sparkplug's shop! Her comic, Cavities Sampler, is too cute for words. Showcasing glimpses of Griffin's life, her round and cheery style is adorable, even if her stories sometimes hint at a sadness below the surface. Though Cavities Sampler occasionally recalls the lighter stories of Lynda Barry or the more sadsack episodes of Charlie Brown, Griffin's style is undeniably her own. Lovingly handcrafted, bound with purple wire, and hand-numbered as part of a limited run of fifty-six, you definitely don't want to wait to get your copy!

Sparkplug Highlights: Crooked Teeth, by Nate Doyle

Nate Doyle has a style and a life that makes for great comics -- the stories in Crooked Teeth are fast, engrossing, and heartfelt, and his art manages to come across brilliantly whether it leans more towards classic cartoon or dashed-off sketch. The issues we have in stock contain pieces from his ongoing fantasy story, "Bowl of Flies," miscellaneous sketches, and autobio comics.

"Bowl of Flies" is a hauntingly atmospheric story about a traveler, mysteriously marked, who encounters a terrifying spirit in the woods and is then shunned by the townsfolk he encounters . . . until he meets a woman in a pub who implores him to share his story. Its amazing character design and high fantasy feel will have you eager to read the next installment!

His autobio comics are joys to read, in a completely different way: spanning both sides of the country and exploring different punk subcultures, old friendship, crushes and love, the touring life and live shows, and fighting through uncertainty and depression, they contain episodes that almost anyone will relate to. Nate's stories make you feel like you're not alone in your experiences, and for that alone, they are worth reading.

Sparkplug Highlights: The Would-Be Bridegrooms, by Shawn Cheng

The first thing that catches your eye about The Would-Be Bridegrooms is the fact that it's hand bound. How often do you see that anymore? The red thread binding is set off by the intensely yellow cover and striking single cover image; these things, combined with the book's slightly unusual size, make for an incredibly enjoyable tactile experience that sets it apart from a sea of minicomics.

Okay: so the book is well-made and nice to hold. But this is just a hook to get you to look at the lovely story contained within it. Shawn Cheng's The Would-Be Bridegrooms is a tale reminiscent of ancient myths and classic fables. It tells of the rivalry between Rabbit and Fox, who are both in love with the same girl. Upon finding out about their competition with each other, they begin to transform into a series of ever-more outrageous monsters in order to defeat the other in battle . . . until they are finally stopped by an unexpected force! Using detailed, stylized work that pulls from First Nations influences, Cheng takes the reader on a timeless journey that is as perfect today as it would have been many hundreds of years ago. Check it out and let us know what you thought, and while you're at it, share with us your favorite fable or myth!

New in the Store: You Don't Get There From Here #26 and In Situ #2!

We've got two awesome new comics in the shop this week! First up, the long-awaited next installment in Carrie McNinch's bittersweet zine series, You Don't Get There From Here #26. In this issue, Carrie goes to Oaxaca to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, sightsee, and spend time with friends. When she gets home, she finds that the cold has set in, the city is changing, and her father's mind is deteriorating even further. As always, she brings to this issue an incredible playlist of songs and some cute scenes of her cats.

We also have the second issue of Montreal-based cartoonist Sophie Yanow's comic, In Situ. A diary told in sketchy, half-glimpsed moments, this comic follows Yanow as she couch-surfs in California, Canada, and New York as she figures out her life and waxes political about the tuition crisis. Her art is vague, even rushed, but strangely elegant and poetic. She is definitely an cartoonist to keep an eye on!

In Situ gives the readers faded snapshots, half-glimpsed moments of Yanow's life couch-surfing in Canada and California, spending time with friends and lovers, and trying to figure out what she's doing with her life. Vague but strikingly elegant, this beautifully-designed and put-together comic is worth multiple reads. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/in-situ-2/#sthash.kIke4EDJ.dpufA

In Situ gives the readers faded snapshots, half-glimpsed moments of Yanow's life couch-surfing in Canada and California, spending time with friends and lovers, and trying to figure out what she's doing with her life. Vague but strikingly elegant, this beautifully-designed and put-together comic is worth multiple reads. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/in-situ-2/#sthash.kIke4EDJ.dpuf

Carrie returns to Oaxaca to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, sightsee, and visit old friends. When she returns to California, the days are shorter, the roads have changed, and she has to deal with her father's continuing descent into Alzheimer's. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/you-dont-get-there-from-here-26/#sthash.c7Ir7TyD.dpuf

Carrie returns to Oaxaca to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, sightsee, and visit old friends. When she returns to California, the days are shorter, the roads have changed, and she has to deal with her father's continuing descent into Alzheimer's. - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/distro-books/you-dont-get-there-from-here-26/#sthash.c7Ir7TyD.dpuf

Sparkplug Highlights: Take a Picture, by Asher Z. Craw

No discussion of work from local artists and writers can possibly be considered complete without including the Craws, and Asher's Take a Picture is a lovely and thoughtful addition to Portland's creative body. The first story included, "Unknown: Life & Death; Paris & Portland; 19th & 21st Centuries," is a reflection on the enduringly mysterious and alluring L'Inconnue de la Seine. One version of the story says that in the late 1880's, a young woman, a suicide, washed up on the shores of the Seine. Somehow, miraculously, her lips were curved into a smile. Her visage was so lovely, so placid and beatific, that a pathologist at the morgue was inspired to make a plaster cast of her face -- a death mask. People were so taken with her face that reproductions of her death mask became incredibly popular: politicians, artists, writers, and the bourgeois all had her death mask on their walls. Young women even fashioned their hair and makeup after her. Asher discusses the story and ponders the meaning of this poignant, macabre fascination with an unknown dead girl while utilizing his signature detailed cross-hatching and skillful variation of line weights to draw the reader in visually.

The second story contained in this little book is called "The Ladder Is Always There". This is an adaptation of Adrienne Rich's "Diving Into the Wreck," a incredible poem about self-discovery, the power of myth and stories, gender roles, journey and transformation. Asher's illustrations wonderfully bring the poem to life, faithfully reproducing and playing with photographs from Jacques-Yves Cousteau's The Silent World.

Take a Picture is a dreamy rumination on death, the creative process, and identity, and it is sure to inspire and provoke you.