Bughouse Sale!

Man, Daedalus just got a bunch of copies of Steve Lafler's Bughouse Vol. 1, for $1.00 plus postage each. The book is supposed to cost $15 so this is some kind of crazy bargain. While supplies last.

Art for sale!

I'm selling some old art on my blog.

The Airy Tales on High-Low

Rob Clough gives a really thoughtful review of Olga Volozova's Airy tales at High-Low his wonderful review blog.
http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2009/04/open-ended-airy-tales.html

Windy Corner Reviewed at Bookgasm

Well, I don't agree with this one about a few things but it is an interesting review of Windy Corner #2.

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/entertainment/windy-corner-magazine-2/

Once in a lifetime chance to buy Zak Sally artwork!

Zak is one of my all time favorite artists and he is selling his work for a limited time:

http://lamano21slog.blogspot.com/2009/03/art-for-sale.html

And he has an awesome blog.

Dunja Jankovic and Hellen Jo reading in Portland.

Zinesters Talking: Hellen Jo and Dunja Jankovic
Friday, April 17, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Central Library, U.S. Bank Room 801 S.W. 10th Ave., Portland

Celebrate the Stumptown Comics Fest with Hellen Jo and Dunja Jankovic. Hellen Jo is the author of Jin and Jam #1, a comic about surly teens trapped in the 'burbs. Dunja Jankovic is the author of Department of Art, a Kafka-esque story about time and procrastination.

Jin & Jam reviewed!

Jin and Jam #1 just got a write up at alltooflat.com
http://www.alltooflat.com/about/personal/sean/2009/03/comics_time_jin_jam_1.html

Comics Reading Event at GUAPO!

COMICS PARTY!
Friday April 17th, 7-11pm, FREE
Guapo Comics & Coffee, 6350 SE Foster Road, Portland
503-772-3638

Sparkplug Comic Books, Guapo Comics & Coffee, Tugboat Press, Teenage Dinosaur, MacTarnahan?s Brewing and the Kukoc Awards throw a party! This gala opening party for the Stumptown Comics Fest will include a comics reading, art show, multi-book premiere, and awards presentation. About as much as we could pack into one evening.

Eight cartoonists will be reading from their work, blown up large for the whole world to see. Readers will include Calvin Wong (2009 Kukoc Award nominee: Ramble On!), Tom Neely (2007 Igantz winner: The Blot), Corinne Mucha (Xeric Award winner: My Alaskan Summer), Hellen Jo (Jin & Jam #1), Jason Martin (Laterborn), Colleen Frakes (Xeric Award winner: Tragic Relief), Julia Gfrörer (All the Ancient Kings), and Jon Chadurjian (2008 Kukoc Award nominee: Leo Geo)

The Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration will be presented during the reading. This prestigious award recognizes self-publishers of small-press, hand-made comics (sometimes called "mini-comics"), and includes a cash prize of 450 bucks.

On display will be "Spaced Out," an art show on the theme of outer space, with works by local (and internationally recognized) artists Zack Soto, Dunja Jankovi?, Theo Ellsworth, Chris Cilla, Sean Christensen, and Andrice Arp.

Seven comic books will make their debut: Reich #6, Papercutter #9, Jag Off, Hey, 4-Eyes! #3, Department of Art #1, Dookieball Jones, and *FREE COMIC BOOK* Bird Hurdler--an anthology of Portland-based cartoonists who will all be present at the event.

Beer from MacTarnahan's Brewing and other drinks & eats from local businesses will be provided.

Take yourself out for a night. You deserve it.

Brilliantly Ham-fisted (New Edition)

NEW from I Will Destroy You!

I'm defying the downturn in the economy and it's effects on the comics industry by publishing a new comic book!

This is a collection of my comic strip poems. I previously had xeroxed minis of this book available at SDCC and APE, but this is a new official printing. Plus it has 4 new strips that were previously unavailable. That's 23 comic strip poems + a snazzy new cover for you to enjoy!

It will debut at the Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland, OR, later this month. I will be sharing a table with Teenage Dinosaur next to, or near, Sparkplug Comic Books. After that, I will be offering it for sale in my webstore and through select distributors.

Read reviews of the mini-comic version by Geek Magazine, The Daily Cross Hatch, Rob Clough and Sean Collins.

(thanks to Sparkplug for letting me hype my crap on their blog)

I got interviewed for Robot 6 blog.

I was kind of into what I was saying but I accidentally sent it out before editing it so you get a pretty unrestrained bout of stupidty at the Comic Book Resources "Robot 6" blog.

Rina Ayuyang at the Cartoon Art Museum in SF

CARTOON ART MUSEUM
SMALL PRESS SPOTLIGHT ON RINA AYUYANG
655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
March 14 - June 14, 2009
http://cartoonart. org

Beginning on March 14, 2009, the Cartoon Art Museum's ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the art of Rina Ayuyang.

Rina Ayuyang first became interested in cartooning while growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she spent mornings watching Merrie Melodies cartoons, afternoons reading the newspaper funnies and Mad magazine, and evenings scrutinizing illustrations in various children's books right before she'd fall asleep.

After focusing many years on painting and conceptual art in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, she reunited with her first love--comics- -in 2001, and began self-publishing Namby Pamby, a semi-autobiographic al series which focused on the humorous side of the ordinary, everyday moments of one's life.

This Small Press Spotlight exhibit showcases original art for Ayuyang's soon-to-be released graphic novel which will include new stories and old favorites from the Namby Pamby mini-comic series. The book will be co-published by Sparkplug Comic Books and Tugboat Press in Fall 2009.

Also included in this exhibit are samples of her sketchbook strips which she posts daily on her web blog, Doodle Bug Central. She recently self-published a minicomic entitled "doodle daze" that collected favorite strips and illustrations from the web blog in a pocket-sized print format which was nominated for the 2008 Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration.

More of Rina's comics work can be found in various comic anthologies, notably SPX 2005, True Porn 2, Friends of Lulu's Girls Guide to Guys Stuff, Stripburger, Unicorn Mountain, and the upcoming Snow Stories anthology.

Besides drawing comics, she has co-founded an online magazine called Creative Skin (creativeskin. net) which has showcased the work of writers, photographers and cartoonists from around the globe. She currently co-hosts The Comix Claptrap, a comics podcast with fellow Bay Area cartoonist Thien Pham in which they interview influential cartoonists and discuss various issues concerning the comics and small press community.

Rina currently resides in Oakland, California, with her husband and cat. You can view more of her work at her website and blog, www.rinaayuyang.com.


About the Small Press Spotlight:

San Francisco has been a hotbed of innovative, groundbreaking comic art since the late 1800s with the advent of the modern comic strip. In the1960s, the Bay Area gained further notoriety when cartoonists like Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson and Trina Robbins launched the underground comix movement from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Today, some of the biggest names in alternative and small-press comics hail from the Bay Area, and the Cartoon Art Museum's Small Press Spotlight will focus on these talented individuals.

The Small Press Spotlight is funded in part by The Zellerbach Family Foundation and The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

Chris Wright on Inkstuds

Man, this is totally one of my favorite interviews I've heard recently. Chris Wright is really is really open about his process and life. Take a listen at Inkstuds here.

New Sparkplug Reviews

We've gotten a few books reviewed recently:

The Airy Tales at Indie Street Radio
Danny Dutch and Jin & Jam at High-Low
Reich #5 at High-Low

All really good. It is so cool to hear that people appreciate the books!

Guapo on the News!

A really awesome story about Micro-loans, and Sparkplug next door neighbors at Guapo Comics & Coffee was just on the local news. Megan is totally heroic.

Tom Neely's Creepy #46

Following Jim Rugg's awesome cover of Tales to Demolish on Covered, go see my version of Creepy #46 alongside the original cover by Spanish artist Sanjulian.

Slabbed: Tales To Demolish #3

The amazing Jim Rugg did this totally amazing rendition of the Tales To Demolish #3 cover for "covered" a great blog project. Thanks Jim, from all of us at the Sparkplug Bullpen.

http://jimrugg.livejournal.com/17881.html?style=mine

reviews

This week seems to be a good one for Sparkplug,
We just got a write up on Thought Balloonists of Inkweed and Reich:
http://www.thoughtballoonists.com/2009/02/more-highlights-of-2008.html
Then, there is a giant review of Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio in the Comics Journal #295:
http://www.amazon.com/Comics-Journal-295-Gary-Groth
And then there is a good listing for Sparkplug and a picture of Austin's T-shirt on Gabrielle Bell in the new (and sadly last) issue of Comics Foundry:
http://www.comicfoundry.com/

Olga Volozova interviewed by Emily Nilsson

the cover of the Airy Tales by Olga Volozova

How did you conceive of the stories and art for The Airy Tales and what was the process of creating it like for you?

I've been writing tales all my life- I guess since I was 4 years old- and I have many of those in my notebooks, in the drawers and old bags or elsewhere. For "The Airy Tales" I selected a few tales that I meant to fit into the "airy tales" category: tales that don't give a straight answer...tales where the meaning shows and vanishes in the air...tales with no clear endings...I think that the purpose of any tale is to deal with the unexplainable, and this matches the feeling we get most often from our experience in the world. I believe that "the answer is blowing in the wind" IS the real answer... So, "airy tales" are stories where the elusiveness of meaning (which is an innate quality of a fairy tale) is slightly emphasized.

"Tree of Life" by Olga Volozova (acrylics and ink)

Your book has a lot of fairy tale elements in its stories, yet it seems more geared towards grown-up readers. Did you have an audience in mind when you created it?

Fairy tales weren't a children's genre for a long time through history; they were told by grown-ups to grown-ups, and children sneaked into listening to them, the same way as now grown-ups sneak into reading fairy tales, that are considered to be the children's stuff. Tales tempt our reasoning limits; that's why the age target is sort of indefinite for most tales, both folk and literary ones. I'd like to write tales "for everybody”. Some of them seem more childish, the others, more adult-oriented; I see the age target only after the tale is composed. I didn't separate them in "The Airy Tales”; I really want to see a possibility of a "tale" as a "grown-ups'" reading. The graphic stories of Neil Gaiman and Dame Darcy were very inspirational in this regard. It looks that comic books might resurrect the fairy tales as a reading for adults!



Art by Remedos Varo

Who are your greatest artistic influences? What writers also influenced you?

I am very fond of medieval miniature and illumination art both in Western and Oriental traditions. I am fascinated by the Flemish painters: primitivists, Pieter Breugel the Elder, Hieronymus Bosch...I love mostly all the surrealists; my favorite artist is Remedios Varo, a Spanish-born amazing woman of true integrity and deep mystical mind. My soul is greedy for some grotesque element and expressive lines, always eager to devour works of Francsico de Goya, Jacques Callot, Albrecht Durer, Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec... I love Russian art of the "silver age", beginning of the 20th century, especially the theatre art and illustration of that time (Alexandre Benois, Sergey Sudejkin, Nikolai Sapunov, Leon Bakst, etc.) I can't even say all these masters influenced me as an artist- I still have to grow as an artist! I can say they influenced my perception and my mind a lot. Among the writers which resonate with my soul I should name Jonathan Swift, E.T.A. Hoffman, Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Hauff, Maurice Maeterlinck, Attar, Rumi, Hermann Hesse, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Umberto Eco, Per Lagerquist, Yuri Olesha, Isaac Babel, Alexander Grin, many others...

What comics do you read?

I usually seek for the comics produced by Fantagraphics of Seattle, WA, and Slave Labor Graphics of San Jose, CA; now of course the Sparkplug books have been added to my list. In general, my preference is alternative comics, books of a very individual approach, unique style; I see a new hilarious genre of literature growing out of this branch of comics.

Lake Zyb Illustration to the stories "Zybari Zelenyje" by Olga Volozova (Acrylics)

Please talk about your childhood a little and how you developed as an artist. Is your storytelling method similar to stories you heard while growing up?

I lived in Moscow since I was 16 years old, all the time before I moved to L.A.; I was born in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, then part of the former USSR. The Baku of my childhood, even under the Soviet power, somehow preserved a character of an independent city, with a free spirit, eastern hospitality, and “the law of the land” - an ancient, pristine moral code that shone through many historical layers. In my mind my hometown takes the place of a paradise, with its ships that are reflected in the sea and almonds that fall off the trees in the parks. Our home was filled with books; as a kid I had been reading lots of tales of different cultures; I felt at home with all of them. Later I became passionate about any studies in mythology and subconscious. I always wanted to be a tale-teller who doesn't construct tales as stories but knocks and waits until a tale would fall down, as a poem. The most captivating for me in literary tales is the quality of “lightness” and “magical” ease that makes them seem as if, before having been written, they pre-existed somewhere in the world ‘s universal memory… such as books of Tove Jansson (Norway), Donald Bisset (England), Gianni Rodari (Italy), Daniil Kharms (Russia of the 1920s-30s) who influenced my heart’s desire to be a tale-teller...

"Glowing Husk 2" by Olga Volozova (Acrylics and ink)

When did you move to L.A., and what brought you there? How has moving to the U.S. affected your aesthetic?

Here in US, I discovered the alternative comics' world! In 1992 I was on a visit to L.A.; I met someone whom I married; the most unusual human being I ever met, a child and a wizard together; that's how I stayed. We went together to Moscow and brought my little son here. My husband David passed away last year of a heart attack. I miss him terribly. We used to quarrel and come back together all the time. We scheduled a trip to Spain, to get some visuals for a story/legend that he so much wanted me to make into a book or film or something. Now I am working on that story... My aesthetic hasn't changed much after coming to the U.S.; I believe that "a person is a style", or vice versa; but on the other side, who knows! After having read “Ghost World”, by Daniel Clowes, I had this overwhelming feeling of a new door that had been opened for me.

How did you meet Dylan Williams of Sparkplug Comic Books, and what was it like to work together to publish your book?

I met Dylan at the International Comic-Con in San Diego two years ago; walking by his booth, I was surprised to see books exactly of the kind I am drawn to, and I asked him if he could publish some of my stories, too. Dylan Williams is magic. He says "yes" when other people say "no"; and this is perhaps a definition of magic. He seemed to like the story I showed to him (“The Moonbirds"), and then, after we corresponded for some time, he told me that he wanted to publish a book of my tales, which would be in the visual style of “The Moonbirds". I was very excited by this idea. It was like a dream; I was feeling free to do what I wanted within the space, but I always had clever advice and consult when I needed it. Everything was done by e-mail; at the end I sent the DVDs to Oregon and I was on time for the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco! I considered all this process a gift of fortune and a work of good sprites or spirits (who obeyed the will of Dylan Williams).

from the story "Tales of Giants" by Olga Volozova (pen and ink)

What experiences besides publishing The Airy Tales have you had with exhibiting your artwork and/or publishing your writing?

I had published some tales in Russia, in different magazines, newspapers, collections of stories...When living in Russia I also wrote plays for puppet theatres; I did it for a living for a while. I started showing some artwork recently with a group of L.A. artists called Carpe Arte; I also showed an "alternative” animated film at one of their events; and some other animation at student festivals. Before that, a few years ago, I showed some of my paper dioramas at the Brewery Art Walk in L.A.

What plans do you have for future work and exhibiting or publishing it?

Many plans for picture books and graphic novels; I have to organize myself to finish at least some of them! It’s the most important direction. I want to do more painting as well and also to follow through with my paper theatre projects.

Do you have another job right now?

I do web design freelance.

How would you describe your work ethic? Do you have a daily routine for working on your art?

I like to write plans of what I have to do, again on the scratches of paper, though I often lose them; but I am becoming less of a procrastinator now. From time to time I go on a quick walk and draw in my notebook the shapes I see when gazing into the bark of the trees, puddles or ground, it's always been the best creative stimulant.



Olga is currently the guest artist at the amazing Partyka website.

Olga's website

Drop In by Dave Lapp

I read this comic collection, Drop In, by Dave Lapp on my lunchbreak today. I can't say I love the art and the writing is oddly clunky at times---and yet Drop In is one of the better comics I've read in a while.

It's a very simple concept---Lapp has worked in "drop in" centers for years---places in Toronto where low income children literally drop in to make art. Lapp draws strips about stories the children tell him, stories he tells them, and little events that happen.

What's good about this book is how odd the stories come across, which means Lapp is working really hard here: instead of lazily retelling these stories and letting them fit into a normal mode (child says this, beat, response, coherent finale), Lapp does the work to make the interactions feel as disjointed and open ended as they probably were inr eal life. i feel a certain amount of kinship with this. The more I read comics (or books) with very clean writing, the more I feel that disjointed "experimental" writing is closer to "realism" then naturalistic fiction will ever be. Reading the weird exchanges in Drop In makes labored over "realistic" writing seem stilted.

I also love Drop In for its moral attitude. This is a book about poor children and Lapps interaction with them. Somehow---and this is a commendable accomplishment---Lapp shows care and feeling for this children and makes us angry for their plight without an ounce of heavy handedness. How does he do it?

Through his cartooning. He depicts the events so well and with such artistry that our sympathies can't help but be with these kids. Lapp depicts the action so well that he doesn't need to tell us to care---his drawing makes us care.

So this comic has a leg up on most anything else out there right now. even though the art is a bit dull (although it has a foundation of greatness and an interesting design sense...which will inevitably get better as Lapp keeps cartooning. This is his debut so serviceable artwork is quite an accomplishment actually---and there are touches of greatness in hi pattern making and some of his less tight drawing) I admire the ambition of Drop In so much. Not many comics are so fresh and so right in their approach to storytelling---and even fewer are as important to read for their subject matter.

You can get it here:

http://www.conundrumpress.com/nt_lapp.html

the Horse.

My inspiration (thanks to Jason for the image).

Benjamin Marra's new Night Business

You have to check his stuff out. From Ben:

"Night Business, Issue 2, is debuting at NY Comic Con this weekend, Feb. 6 to 8, at the Javits Center!! But it's available in advance here, on my website's shop!! Also! I'm now taking orders for hand-painted, airbrush Night Business T-Shirts depicting Johnny Timothy (see attached)! The shirts are 80s-neon green, from American Apparel, and each one painted by expert fashion airbrush artist Jennifer Ginchereau! They are ... esspensive ($60 + shipping) and may take a few weeks to get to you (because Jen will be painting them as orders come in), but you'll no doubt be the coolest kid on the block. Order yours today! NY Comic Con this weekend!! Be sure to swing by our booth (1056), wave hello to the Nerdcore dudes, and punch my Mammal pals in the arm, to test their machoness. You'll find Nerdcore calendars (va-voom) n'other Nerdcore stuff for sale. Issues of Mammal, Mammal t-shirts and issues of Night Business will be for sale as well. Hope to see you there!! I'll sign copies of Night Biz for you."

The Bad Apple

Well, besides now having a Sparkplug Office, Tim Goodyear and I have opened a store in the front of the office (6340 SE Foster Rd.) called the Bad Apple. No website but we do have a blog:
http://thebadapplestore.blogspot.com/
We sell books, dvds, art and t-shirts. And we're located right next to Guapo Comics and Coffee. I expect you in the store soon. I'll be repainting the sign every 15 minutes.

Self Publishing on the rise.

In the midst of a downturn in big corporations publishing, self-publishing has increased. Shannon O'Leary passed this story on to me. I've always wanted to look into more Print on Demand places.

Austin English on Inkstuds

Blaze on the left and Austin on the right.

Our favorite radio interview program from Canada presents an interview with Austin English. It is a pretty eye opening show, even if they are way too nice.
http://www.inkstuds.com/?p=415

See-Saw - Sara Edward-Corbett: This is the most genius comic I've ever read to use "fartknocker" in almost every other strip. See-Saw plays out the schoolyard antics of four little kids- Chuckie, the bully; Georgie, the brainy wuss; Olga, the shy girl; and Meals, the girl with the inexplicable crush on Chuckie. The strip balances the kids' fears, insecurities, and understanding of the world around them with a childish crass streak, resulting in either really funny social commentary or hilarious fart jokes. The book itself is a beautiful silkscreened & hand-sewn work of art, and comes with a fortune teller tucked in the back. Worth every cent. 

greenfog.com

All things Sparkplug at Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet NYC now carries all the Sparkplug distro items---those hard to find minis that you see at our table during SPX and MOCCA...now you can waltz into your local comic shop and buy 'em at your leisure. Forbidden Planet currently has in stock: In the Tall grass #3, Blister, Sausage hand, Cryptic Wit #'s 1-2, all issues of Papercutter, super hard to find Anke Feuchtenberger books and much, much more (including all the past and present Sparkplug books)! 840 Broadway, at the corner of 13th, New York, NY.

Hot Breath of War Review!

The Hot Breath of War by Trevor Alixopulos just got a write up at Newsarama here. Take a look.

A new office place and store!

Sparkplug will be moving to 6340 SE Foster Road in Portland. It is an office space that also has a storefront, where Tim Goodyear and I will be opening a t-shirt, book (no comics) and dvd store called "The Bad Apple" soon. The space used to be a Cricket office and a tanning salon and is right next to the new Guapo Comics & Coffee. I'll be updating with pictures and such as we move in. I think we'll have a party or something in February.

Book Publishing is scared.

Shannon just sent me this awesomely scary article from Salon. I haven't read it all yet. It is interesting that panic is sort of affecting a lot of people. More later.
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2008/12/23/publishing/index.html

Reich is Killing It!

Elijah Brubaker's Reich made it onto the Forbidden Planet (the English one) blog, on Dan Goldman's best of the year! Wonderful news as Elijah is right now wrapping up work on #6.

Points to keep in mind, by Alex Toth.

Points to keep in mind.
As I try to do! (and often fail, I might add!)
By Alex Toth

• Eliminate the Superfluous, the unnecessary. Be lazy!
• Edit your art continuously, at every stage. Save work!
• Focus on the remaining (important) picture elements.
• Emphasize what is important in a scene. Save drawing!
• Isolate such key elements (as one does in a view finder).
• Closeups only when needed: face(s)-for mood and expression, and objects-small, difficult to distinguish in other ways.
• To set a scene, a place, to establish a locale, etc., go to a wide shot, angles okay (down/up, etc.)-but again, simplify.
• Then, cut to tighter shots-pace them, for interest, etc.... (wide/one shot/two shot/group/close-up/tight close-up).
• Establish light source, if need be, for dramatic mood and for blacks, drop shadows, etc., on figures & objects and walls, as correctly placed as you can make 'em!
• Eliminate such light/shadow work in other shots.
• Simplify, simplify, simplify, throughout!
• Remember, some scenes will and must be pedestrian, unimportant, and dull-because they are "bridges" between key storytelling scenes. As in any storytelling form, movies, TV, books, plays, music, opera painting, etc., you can't knock 'em dead with every shot. Remember, this is what gives pace to a story, visual commas and periods in a pictorial "paragraph" or "sentence"! These are the resting places in an otherwise moving storm! Use them! Without fear!
• Some such "rests" or "pauses" can be heightened in pictorial interest by way of a pretty scene of quiet mood-if your locale allows! Don't stretch logic to do it!
• By learning to eliminate unnecessary objects, figures, and backgrounds, etc., you cna focus on what is left to draw in the shot-and draw it well enough to "carry" the shot.
• In other words: strip it all down to essentials and draw the hell out of what is left!
• All of this advice is based on Roy Crane's critiques of my work-and he is absolutely correct, on all points!
• In the Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy strips and in Buz Sawyer, with Sundays focused on pal Roscoe Sweeny, his work of fifty-odd years demonstrates its validity! In his work, as in no other of his contemporaries' offerings, you will find an extraordinary sense of balance, in his design of space within a panel frame, a strip, or a page! His simplicity allows us to see the use of shapes within his pictures, how they create tension, action or repose... clearly!
• He avoided confusing details!
• To quote something just read: "To add to the truth only subtracts from it!!! (Isn't that beautifully put?)
• Authenticate devices, objects, machines, locales, furniture, buildings, etc. ... to lend credibility!
• As Sickles put it: "Understand how a thing is built and you'll have no trouble drawing it through!"
• Spend more time thinking-about what and what not to draw, and how-and you'll do less drawing!
• Pre-plan, pre-think...Thus, save work and time!
• But-whatever you do, do it well!
• Tell the story as best you can! Bend to the storm!
• Be honest to it. Give it all you've got! Enhance it!
• Study films, photographs, paintings, etc. for composition! For cutting, cropping out of non-essentials, pacing, punch, economy, forceful and direct impact. But also for beauty and subtlety-tension, suspense, action, humor, light and dark, balance, line vs. mass, ad infinitum! Use it all!
• Analyze everything you see-be critical! Positively so!
• See-observe-remember! Build up your memory file!
• Good Luck-

Best Alex

Sequart, temporary new home

From Rob Clough:

This is a note to let everyone know that since the sequart.com website is down due to server issues, I decided to temporarily move my High-Low column to this url:

http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/


I apologize for any inconvenience. When sequart.com is back up and running, I'll move anything I post on this website back over there. I've already posted my first column, a review of Jeff Lemire's THE COUNTRY NURSE. I'll have a number of other columns up shortly.

All-woman autobio apocalypse!

Venus in Blue Jeans, Venus in Furs /All the Ancient Kings- Julia Gfrorer: These two I picked up because the covers looked gorgeous, and then I got home and opened them up and the insides were not as enchanting. Venus has a few pages that show off some cool looking sketchbook pages, crammed in between a lot of small panels where nothing really happens. All the Ancient Kings is a series of short comics starring Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan and a whole bunch of musicians and counter-cultural celebrities interacting. They might be roommates? It's the more entertaining of the two.

thorazos.net

Estrus Comics #6 : More Kiss & Tell Stories - MariNaomi: This is like getting drunk with your girlfriends and talking about your exes, the comic. I loved it. Brutally honest, perfectly concise, with blowjobs.

marinaomi.com

The Marty Chronicles - Liz Dunning & Teppei Ando: Basically a story about Liz's interactions with an awkward guy, Marty, centered around playing and watching college volleyball tournaments. Marty is somewhat awkward, and does odd things throughout the nearly 60 page story, but aside from being weird there's nothing hugely criminal happening. Teppei's art has this sketchy energy that carried the whole comic, though occaisionally it's hard to tell what's happening. The pacing could be better, and the dialogue can get a little tedious at times, but it's not a terrible effort.

teppeiando.com

In the tall grass #3 - Tessa Brunton: "Look, there's this girl I want you to meet, she's not the biggest looker in the bunch, but she is funny as hell! Great personality." Tessa's style is still getting there, but she seems to have found her voice. There's a bunch of short, funny strips that range from finding free stuff on the street to watching drunks on the BART, and two longer, more introspective/emotional pieces about dating and deaths at a water park. Add her blog to your rss or whatever, Tessa's got game.

tessasbraces.blogspot.com

Spaniel Rage- Vanessa Davis: Vanessa is totally the master of diary comics. She fits in more story in a panel than most people can do in a page, and she doesn't even use panels. You already know this is good.

spanielrage.com

Chris Cilla on Top Drawer

A must read interview with Chris Cilla on Top Drawer, by Luke P.
http://10drawerquestions.blogspot.com/2008/12/chris-cilla.html
Chris is one of my favorite comic artists.

Chronic Comix Claptrap

http://comixclaptrap.blogspot.com/
Wow, the Claptrap is rolling along. There have been a couple great episodes. And a lot of interesting commentary. In spite of the fact that Thien Pham is now trying to get in my pants like Daniel Meade from Ugly Betty, I still think this show has a lot of teeth and also, is really thoughtful. I'm listening to the new one with John P. but I'd suggest going back and listening to Jim Rugg and Jeff Brown.

Golden Tissues Rules!

Hey, so I'm part of a GREAT show that is currently up at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland, OR. There are some amazing artists in the show including a lot of Sparkplug published ones and people we distribute. Please go take a look at the show, if you can.

Dylan

Book Report!

Click on the picture to blow it up large...

Cooking Wine

So, in addition to MK and Nate's reviews we are going to start a new feature on the Sparkplug Blog: The Book Report.

Juliacks and Shannon O'Leary are going to hand-write up old fashioned style book reports on notable independent comic book releases. One will write the report and then the other will grade the report, writing notes and suggestions for improvement on it. They'll be sending these reports from coast to coast, in an effort to squash the East Coast/West Coast war going on in comics.


Shannon is the Sparkplug promtional Athena. She is a life long comics fan and California native, transplanted to the big city, New York. Shannon put together the anthology comic book Pet Noir for Manic D. Press and creates her own comics including the recent Crimes Against Shannon.


Juliacks is the creator of Swell, one of the best self-published comics of the past couple years. She makes comics, graphic novels, performance videos, installations and two-dimensional works of all kinds. She is also pretty amazing. Like Shannon, she left her side of the US and went to the other. She now lives in Los Angeles.

Mini Comics Reviews by Nate Doyle and MK Reed!

Our pals MK Reed and Nate Doyle have agreed to put their high falutin' comics know-how to the test and are going to start reviewing Sparkplug distributed mini comics on a fairly regular basis.

If you don't know anything about Nate or MK, then you should listen up right fucking now. Here's everything you need to know about them in semi propaganda format.

Nate is originally from a small, rural-farm town in Maine, Nate Doyle now resides and draws in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2008 with a BFA in Cartooning, he has worked on numerous mini-comics, contributed to several anthologies and is the creator of comics/zine Crooked Teeth.

MK Reed is the creator of Cross Country, I Will Feast On Your Whore Heart, Pale Fire, and Catfight. Her comic "Americus," which appeared in Papercutter #7 was nominated for a 2oo8 Ignatz for "Outstanding Story," and she is one of the founders of the prestigious Nerdlinger Awards. She currently lives in Brooklyn, and like everyone else, is working on a graphic novel. Her comics can be found at mkreed.com

Hear their critique-errific blogging roar in the days to come!