A Wretch Like Me review!

"This is hard art. Unrelenting and necessary." Daniel Elkin has written a wonderful review of Ebin Lee's A Wretch Like Me, which debuted last month.  Check out the full review here.

Sparkplug Pop Up This Weekend!

We'll be doing a pop up shop this weekend in Portland.  Screaming Sky Gallery is a lovely little collectible toy shop and local art gallery and we're honored to be hosted by them!  Please stop by to check out the shop and pick up some books!  The pop up is this Sunday, November 22nd from noon to 2pm.

Sparkplug at Short Run! New book debut!

Sparkplug will be at Short Run this weekend! It's on Saturday, October 31st (spooky!) from 11am-6pm at Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center. We'll have kid-friendly postcard packs for trick-or-treaters and plenty of books, including the debut of our next book, A Wretch Like Me by Ebin Lee!  More details about the fest here. Come see us! 

The Anthropologists in Best American Comics 2015 Notables List!

We're so proud to tell you that Whit Taylor's The Anthropologists was included in the 2015 Best American Comics notables list.  If you haven't checked out this excellent autobiographical examination of race and self, you can find it here in our webstore!

There are so many great artists in the collection and notables list this year - including Yumi Sakugawa (author of the Sparkplug book Bird Girl and Fox Girl).  Congratulations to everyone and thank you to Bill Kartalopoulos for his work on this anthology.

A Wretch Like Me now available for PRE-ORDER

The next book in the Sparkplug Minis Series is now available for pre-order.  A Wretch Like Me is a gorgeous visual journal by Portland artist Ebin Lee.  Pre-ordered copies will ship out the week of November 2nd.  The book will debut at Short Run in Seattle!

SPX Reminder!

Just a reminder!
Sparkplug will be at SPX this year! It takes place September 19th and 20th at the Bethesda Marriott.  More details here!
William Cardini, author of Vortex, and Sparkplug superstar Jenny Flax will be at the table with postcards for free and plenty of books for you to check out!
In addition Whit Taylor (author of the Sparkplug Minis Series book The Anthropologists) will be tabling and on a panel moderated by Keith Knight!  Also be sure to check out Sparkplug artists Katie Skelly, Julia Gfrörer and Rob Sergel's tables!

Sparkplug at SPX!

Sparkplug will be at SPX this year! It takes place September 19 and 20th at the Bethesda Marriott.  More details here!
William Cardini, author of Vortex, and Sparkplug superstar Jenny Flax will be at the table with postcards for free and plenty of books for you to check out!
In addition Whit Taylor (author of the Sparkplug Minis Series book The Anthropologists) will be tabling and on a panel moderated by Keith Knight!  Also be sure to check out Sparkplug artists Katie Skelly and Rob Sergel's tables!

SALE CONTINUES!

Have you checked out our summer sale yet?  Lots of great items like those shown above!  Check out the full list here!

Sparkplug Highlight: Hot Breath of War by Trevor Alixopulos

Sparkplug Highlight: Golem of Gabirol

Set in the Medieval Middle East, this minicomic tells the story of the love triangle between Zuleicha, her cousin Nusret, and Reb Solomon, a poet and scholar who is revealed to be a sorcerer.  When Zuleicha and Nusret marry, Reb Solomon creates a golem with Zuleicha’s features, bringing it to life by inscribing certain Hebrew letters on its forehead. Each page of the comic is entirely filled with drawing; ink washes, doodles, geometric designs. Panels are either nonexistent or bleed together organically. In retelling the legends surrounding an 11^th century scholar and kabbalist, Volozova creates a compelling story about the life-giving and transformative powers of language.

Buy The Golem of Gabirol here!

Coming Soon: A Wretch Like Me: Sad/Black/Ugly/Queer by Ebin Lee

We are excited to announce the fifth book in the Sparkplug Minis Series!  A Wretch Like Me: Sad/Black/Ugly/Queer is by Portland artist Ebin Lee.  Lee describes the book as "A Wretch Like Me is my visual journal of Depression/Anxiety/ and Body Dysphoria."  The book will debut Short Run in October but will be available for pre-order sometime in September, so keep an eye out!

Sparkplug Highlight: Fleep by Jason Shiga

Jimmy Yee awakes in a phone booth encased in concrete with no memory of how he got there. What follows is a slow unraveling of the truth as Jimmy puzzles out the preceding events based on his knowledge of scientific principles and the contents of his pockets. With its captivating, expertly paced plot and genuinely surprising revelations, Fleep is a mystery comic that should not be missed.

(44 interior pgs, 9″ x 6″, black and white, Sparkplug Books)

Buy it here!

Jason's website

Our Summer Sale Continues!

After a brief break to get our website fixed up, the summer sale continues!  Select books, minis and zines are 50% off in the store, including both Sparkplug and distro titles.  You can find the complete list here.  There's a lot of good stuff in there, please check it out.

(If you are a buyer for a store, a bunch of the wholesale list has been marked down as well.  Check out the details here!)

Sparkplug Highlight: Tales to Demolish #2 by Eric Haven

While driving around Oakland, ruminating on the history of underground comics in the Bay Area, the main character fatally hits Dan Clowes. After convincing his partner to help him hide the body, he immediately goes on to accidentally kill another indie comics darling. The two spirits meet in the afterlife and, because God likes their comics, are able to return to Earth to exact revenge. “I Killed Dan Clowes” is Haven’s hilarious, self-reflexive (and superbly rendered) jab at himself and the independent comics scene.

(24 pages, black and white with color cover, Sparkplug Comics, 2003)

Buy it here!

Eric's Website

Small Press Payday features Vortex!

Vortex was recommended on Broken Frontier's Small Press Payday last week, along with a bunch of other great small press titles.   
"Kirby in terms of concepts, Ditko in the sheer otherness of its confines, and yet quite unlike either in delivery, Vortex is a mesmerising conceptual triumph. This is a book that will buckle and warp your perceptions.”

Read the full article here.  Also, this isn't the first time Broken Frontier has reviewed Vortex!

Sparkplug will be at Autoptic in Minneapolis this weekend!  We'll have a full stock of our titles, including a bunch of sale books!  Autoptic takes place August 8th and 9th at Aria.  More details here!

Reich #12 Reviewed by Rob Clough!

Rob Clough wrote a wonderful review of the final Reich issue over at High-Low: "Reich was a fantastic series about the ways in which ego and personality conflict with seeking the truth, and how those conflicts affect those around us."
Read the full review here.

Sparkplug at Portland Zine Symposium!

Sparkplug will be tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium this weekend, July 18 and 19. The event will be held at the Ambridge Event Center at 1313 NE MLK from 11am - 5pm both days.  It's free and open to the public. We're super excited to be attending this awesome small press and DIY-oriented event in our very own hometown! We hope to see you there!

Our Website is Down!

Sorry everyone! Our website is super-messed up right now. Please don't go to it. We'll let you know when we are up and running again.

SUMMER SALE!!!

We're having a big summer sale!  Select books, minis and zines are 50% off in the store, including both Sparkplug and distro titles.  You can find the complete list here.  There's a lot of good stuff in there, please check it out.
The sale will go until after the Portland Zine Symposium, so if you're broke right now, you'll have plenty of time to pick up books before July 20th!
(If you are a buyer for a store, a bunch of the wholesale list has been marked down as well.  Check out the details here!)

Reminder - Sparkplug will be at CAKE this weekend!

Just a reminder - Sparkplug has a table at CAKE this weekend!  Please stop by and say hi, check out our books!  We'll have cute (free) postcards for you and plenty of good vibes.

Sparkplug at CAKE!

CHICAGO!  Sparkplug will have a table at CAKE this weekend, June 6th and 7th.  CAKE takes place at the Center on Halstead and is free and open to the public, 11am - 6pm both days.  We'll have good selection of books to sell to you and postcards to hand out.  This is one of our favorite shows and we hope to see you there!

Sparkplug Highlight: Ce/Ze by Suzette Smith

Ce/Ze, the fourth book in the Sparkplug Minis Series, is Suzette Smith’s dreamlike take on Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Amelia Smith and Honey Czarny are 7th grade girls who discover that they share fragmented memories of another world in which they were powerful beings names Ce and Ze. When a rival king’s plot to kill Ze nearly succeeded, Ce and Ze were forced to escape to our world. Honey and Amelia study and emulate human behavior but feel no real connection with humanity. Smith’s dreamy, loose style further blurs the line between dreams, memories, and reality.

(28 pages, black and white with color cover, 5.5" x 8.5", Sparkplug Comics, $5)
Ce/Ze is available for purchase here.
See more of Suzette's work on her website.

Sparkplug Highlight: Dumb by Georgia Webber

The Dumb series is Georgia Webber’s multi-disciplinary exploration of what it means to live without a voice after sustaining a vocal chord injury that required her to speak less than thirty minutes a day for months. Each issue addresses an aspect of the difficulties involved in living without a voice, from the vocal chord pain itself, to communication methods, to dealing with the Canadian welfare system.

The comic is printed in black, white, and red. It’s used for speech bubbles and ambient noise; red also indicates the speaking version of herself with which Georgia struggles in Dumb #2. In Dumb #5, the red version of Georgia is the one doing the talking and interacting that she’d normally be doing, if not for her injury.

(Dumb #1: 16 interior pages; 6.75"x9"; black, white, and red cover and interior; self-published, 2014)

Dumb #1-5 are available for purchase here.

Visit Georgia's Website for more information about Dumb.