New in the Store: Sky in Stereo #2!

Sky in Stereo #2 picks up shortly after the incredible first issue left off, plunging the reader back into the tumultuous life of Iris, a teenage girl living in early 1990s Manchester. In this issue, Iris experiments with hallucinogens, pines over her crush, fights with her parents, and contemplates how she fits into the world. Also: David Bowie. This issue has a startling ending that will leave you anxious to find out what happens next. Mardou perfectly captures the feeling of being seventeen and at odds with everything; keep an eye out for her next installment of Sky in Stereo.

New in the Store: It's Snowing Down South and Retail Break #4!

We now have Andrice Arp's awesome grab bag of a zine, It's Snowing Down South. Featuring an ongoing minicomic, doodles and drawings, honest self-examinations, and drink recipes, this is a wry and funny collection that will give you a glimpse inside an artist's brain.

Retail Break #4 is a cringe-worthy look at customer service. Anyone who's worked retail or had to deal with ridiculous requests on the job will laugh (or groan) in recognition and commiseration. With an interesting blend of chunky cartoons and finely detailed drawings, Retail Break is a steal for only $1.00.

New in the Store: Pocket Party, Galactic Breakdown, and Zirp!

From Damien Jay, acclaimed creator of The Natural World, arrives Pocket Party #1. This mini-book is a strange, wonderful journey that features self-referential asides, sea monsters, and everything in between. Part sketchbook, part short story, Pocket Party is all entertainment.

Continuing Keenan M. Keller's bizarre series, Galactic Breakdown #3 and #4 kick the insanity up to new heights. If you like fighting, naked space ladies, and full-color craziness, don't miss these issues! #4 also includes an awesome guest artist gallery, featuring art from Jim Rugg, Pat Aulisio, and Tom Neely.

ull of fights, craziness, and an awesome guest artist gallery featuring Jim Rugg, Pat Aulisio, and Tom Neely! - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/comic-books/galactic-breakdown-4/#sthash.frgywnHi.dpuf

ull of fights, craziness, and an awesome guest artist gallery featuring Jim Rugg, Pat Aulisio, and Tom Neely! - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/comic-books/galactic-breakdown-4/#sthash.frgywnHi.dpuf

Zirp #3 and #4, from Till D. Thomas, feature the beginning of the ongoing story "Rezzo & Elisabeth." A whimsical, poignant look at a troubled relationship, this story is in German with an English translation provided at the bottom of each page. Zirp #4 was awarded the Independent Comic Award for Best Self-Published Comic at the Munich Comic Festival in 2011.

New In the Store: Master P's Theater and YDGTFH #23-25

For this year's Free Comic Book Day, we collaborated with several other micropresses to produce Master P's Theater.  Collecting the work of Ryan Iverson, John Isaacson, JFish, Alex Chiu, Patrick Keck and Amriel Simpson, it is a wild ride and a steal for only $.01 in our shop!

Rounding out our collection of Carrie McNinch's work, you'll now find You Don't Get There From Here #23, #24 and #25 available in our shop.  Carrie travels to the U.K., Portland, and Chicago, drinks espresso, has desert adventures, and battles depression in this always lovely and often poignant series.

New in the Store: The Big Feminist But Anthology!

The Big Feminist But is the newest anthology in our store, edited by Shannon O'Leary and Joan Reilly. It's a multi-faceted, thoughtful reflection upon modern feminism that entertains, provokes, and demands attention. Featuring a wide variety of talented artists and writers, including Gabrielle Bell, Corinne Mucha, Jeffrey Brown, Charlie Jane Anders, and Sparkplug's own Dylan Williams, The Big Feminist But is full of amazing stories that will stick in your head long after you've finished reading.

Gabrielle Bell, Corinne Mucha, Jeffrey Brown, Charlie Jane Anders, Vanessa Davis, and Dylan Williams - See more at: http://sparkplugcomicbooks.com/shop/comic-books/big-feminist-but/#sthash.D67BRAkZ.dpuf

Sparkplug at CAKE!

Sparkplug will be at CAKE this weekend!  This show was really enjoyable last year and I'm looking forward to it.  We'll be at table 2 right near the entrance.  There's no admission fee and a ton of great artists.  Hope to see you there!

Olympia Comics Fest this weekend!

Hey all!  Emily will be manning the Sparkplug table at Olympia Comics Fest this weekend.  The festival takes place at the Olympia Center on Saturday June 8th.  Please join us, we'll have a ton of books including some new distro stock!

New Books in the Store!

We've picked up a bunch of new distro books in the last couple weeks and put them in the store!  First up, we've restocked Ed Luce's Wuvable Oaf #0-2 and added Wuvable Oaf #3 and #4.

The Portland comics performance group Gridlords released an anthology this spring called I'm Not Afraid To Love.  It includes work from Julia Gfrörer, Eroyn Franklin, Theo Ellsworth, Daria Tessler and many others!

We got the new issue of Eschew from Robert Sergel.  Sergel's precise style provides a great counterpoint to the everyday weirdness of the stories he tells.

Also fresh off the presses:  Tom Lechner has done another issue of his quiet series of graphic dream journal, Nightlife 12:03.

And finally, Asher Craw's Zebadiah, Part 2.  I have trouble describing how great this series is!  This book shifts focus from Zebadiah and Eula-Lee to an autobiographical story of a young person growing up in small-town Midwest and their struggles with gender, suicide and love.  Absolutely stunning!

Stumptown Comics Fest and Beyond!

Hey folks!  We are gearing up for Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend and hope to see you there!  It takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center here in Portland.  We also hope you will join moderator Milo George for the Dylan Williams Tribute panel on Saturday from 5-5:45.  Here is a brief description:
Everyone's invited to share some time with the friends and colleagues of comics' best friend as we all recount our favorite stories about the late Sparkplug publisher's life and celebrate his philosophy and work as an artist, scholar and publisher. Time permitting, we will also attempt to make sense of his passion for unsettling any and everyone who dared point a camera at him at festivals like this one.

We are planning a pretty busy schedule this summer, and hope to catch you at one of these shows:

June 8 - Olympia Comics Fest
June 15 & 16 - CAKE (Chicago)
Aug. 10 & 11 - Portland Zine Symposium
Aug. 18 - Autoptic (Minneapolis)
Aug. 31 & Sept. 1 - SF Zine Fest
Sept. 14 & 15 - SPX (Maryland)

Some Sparkplug Changes for 2013

Dear Friends of Sparkplug:

2012 was a huge year for us.  As many of you know, we moved our central location of business, which has led to a more recent development.  As of the beginning of February, I have transferred ownership of Sparkplug Books to Virginia Paine, formerly my employee and business partner.  Tom Neely and I plan to continue helping in many of the same ways as we have been, but Virginia will be in charge.  This was a decision I made many months ago and that we've finally made for real.  I knew that this was the right thing to do, as I have other goals I want to reach.  Virginia has been a dedicated partner in Sparkplug for three years and a close friend to the comics and zine community.  Business will continue much as it has been, and we're looking forward to our new projects and seeing what else the future holds.

Emily Nilsson

Hello friends,

Emily handed ownership of Sparkplug to me at the beginning of February, a few days before I turned 32.  I think there is kind of a neat symmetry to that: a new year for me, and a new adventure for Sparkplug.  We've gone through a lot of changes in the past year and a half and had a lot of obstacles to overcome.  I'm proud of the work Emily, Tom and I have done, and I am proud to be taking the reins of Sparkplug with two wonderful people to advise and help me.  I am looking forward to smoother sailing and am excited about finishing up many of Dylan's projects, including Elijah Brubaker's Reich series and (finally!) Orchid 2.

Virginia Paine

Feel free to contact Virginia, Tom or Emily if you have any questions.  We'll see you at Stumptown on April 27th & 28th!!

Free Comic, "Master P's Theatre", available to stores now!

Sparkplug Books is pleased to announce a brand new Free Comic Book Day comic, Master P's Theatre.  The publishing and editing job was split among Portland small press wizards Teenage Dinosaur, Floating World Comics, Snake Bomb Comix, and Sparkplug.  

We are currently seeking stores that want to pre-order copies for their May 4th Free Comic in-store events.  This issue is fantastic, and as is usual in this yearly co-publishing partnership, we have selected all local artists who have never yet appeared in a free comic:

Front cover: August Lipp

Inside cover: Tony Remple

Stories by:

John Isaacson

Amriel Simpson

Alex Chiu 

Ryan Iverson

Pat Keck

Jason "JFish" Fischer

 

24 pages (not incl. covers), black and white interior, color cover exterior.  Newsprint stock. For mature readers.

Please contact virginia(at)sparkplugcomicbooks(dot)com to place orders, and prepay shipping to the same email via Paypal.

Domestic mail prices:

$4.00 for 1-30 units (media mail)

$10.00 for 100 (media mail

$12.35 for medium flat rate box Priority mail (about 50 copies)

Email us about shipping rates to Canada or overseas.

 

Order now - we need to send them as soon as possible to get them there on time!

New Books: Small Noises #3 and For The Record...

Couple new minicomics in the store today!  A collection of Sarah Glidden's autobio comics, Small Noises #3, and Eroyn Franklin's bizarre menagerie of short stories For The Record I Know This is a Bad Idea.  Please give them a gander!

Drawn Words reviews Golem of Gabirol

Kevin over at Drawn Words has written a lovely review of Olga Volozova's Golem of Gabirol.  Please click here to read it!

Katie Skelly interview on Boing Boing

Katie Skelly, author of Nurse Nurse, was interviewed by Boing Boing earlier this week about her creative process.  Please check it out!

New Books in the Store: Buzz #3 and Yeah, It Is!

We've added a couple new books to the store today!  Buzz #3, a mini collecting Corinne Mucha's always hilarious comics and Yeah, It Is!, a tale of angsty adolescence by Leslie Anne Mackenzie Stein.
Please check them out and have a great weekend!

New Books: Big Plans Collection and Take a Picture

Hello friends!  We've added two books to our store.  First is the Big Plans collection by Aron Nels Steinke, published by Bridge City Comics!  If you've been a fan of Big Plans for awhile (like we have) this is a real treat; it contains Big Plans 1-5 plus a bunch of extras from other work Aron has done.
The other book is Asher Craw's zine Take a Picture.  Asher's art - rough but detailed - is excellent as always in the two pieces in the zine.  The first is about the most famous Parisian death mask and the second is an adaptation of an Adrienne Rich story.  Good stuff!

Also, mark your calendars - Sparkplug will be in LA for the LA Zine Fest on February 17th!  See you there!

Reviews and Top Tens

Tom, Emily and I have done our Top Ten Comics lists again, but first...please check out this excellent review of Riech #9 by Rob Clough!  Also, Nurse Nurse made it onto CBR's Top 100 comics of 2012, so congrats to Katie Skelly!  And now, the lists:

Emily:
My top 10, in no particular order:

• Cebolla Con Chocolate: surprise comics/zine find of 2012, by art collective Cafe Con Leche.  The covers are all one of a kind magic marker drawings, Spanish language text, artistic wizardry throughout!   
• Love & Rockets #4
• Zebediah by Asher Craw.  One of Sparkplug's newest distro books, by a super fine talent. Spooky and thrilling!
• Forming Vol. 1 - Jesse Moynihan.
• Hello, Me Pretty - Line Gamache.  I keep re-reading this.  It gives me hope for humanity.
• Golem of Gabirol - Olga Volozova.  Hauntingly beautiful.
• Nurse Nurse - Katie Skelly.  Hard to describe how great this book is, our first book under the new ownership!
• Reich #9 - Elijah Brubaker.  This series just gets better and weirder!    
• Short Run - a great event by and for small press weirdoes. 
• Big Plans collection - Aron Nels Steinke.  Bridge City Comics has made the leap to comics publishing! Excellent book to start with!
• Sparkplug 2012 - We did it!

Virginia:
Also not in order...

• Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
• Nurse Nurse by Katie Skelly
• In Situ #2 by Sophie Yanow
• Jade #1 by Fiona Avocado
• Zebediah #1 by Asher Craw
• Black is the Color by Julia Gfrorer
• Sleepwalking by Mel Stringer
• The Melinderly Volume 1 by Melinda Tracy Boyce
• 8th Grade (series) by Sam Alden
• Vortex #1 & 2 by William Cardini
• About a million people on Tumblr, esp. Georgia Capra, Aaron Whitaker & Noel Heimpel

Tom:
To be honest, I've picked up a lot of amazing books from some great new artists out there that I'm really excited to dig into. But this year has been really fucked up and I really haven't read much at all... So, here's my top 10 comic related things that kept me happy in 2012 (in no particular order):

1) The first L.A. Zinefest was by far the best show of the year for me... best show of the last several years. It's so great to finally have a good local show and community building in this city that I love.
2) Collaborative art and bookmaking with a bunch of artists and Le Dernier Cri at The Projects in Portland, OR. Actually, the entire festival was such a great experience. Makes me wonder why I'd ever wanna sit behind a table and sell books at a "convention," when I could be at a festival collaborating with other artists for a fun weekend celebrating this treacherous but wonderful life we all lead of trying to make the world a brighter place.
3) Sparkplug publishing Nurse Nurse, Reich #9 and Golem of Gabirol. We're still chugging along... I'm really proud we got these books out and thankful we get to work with such amazing artists.
4) Eamon Espey's Songs of the Abyss is everything I hoped it would be. He is seriously one of the most unique artists making books right now. This is one of the only books I've managed to read in the last 6 months. But I've devoured it several times already.
5) (non-comics related but...) Witchcraft "Legend" - possibly my favorite album of the year. I can't stop listening to it.
6) DREDD 3D - my favorite movie of the year. A flawless action/art film that does everything right. I wish they would make a series of these. Now someone needs to start reprinting classic Dredd comics.
7) Oily Comics and Retrofit Comics subscriptions - there's nothing better than getting mini-comics in the mail! I just re-upped for another 6 months!
8) SPX continues to get better every year. I used to have mixed feelings about that show, but this year made me love it. See you again next year!
9) Freak Scene Art Show at Synchronicity Gallery, Los Angeles - curated by Keenan Keller, and full of some of the raddest contemporary underground cartoonists. Also a super fun weekend hanging out with all those guys. And an honor to be included amongst such great artists.
10) Rededicating all of my time and energy to my art and comics career. Now that I no longer have a wife, I'm married to my art. I'm finally back to working on new projects. The world is a big beautiful place full of possibility and I wanna see it all. See ya soon.


Happy New Year from Sparkplug!

New Books in the Store: Vortex #2 and Jade #1

I added two new books to the store today; first, the second installment of William Cardini's Vortex!  Are you ready for some visually intense wizard battles?!

And second, the also visually stunning Jade Volume 1, by Portland's own Fiona Avocado.
Please check them out!

Reviews of The Airy Tales and Flesh & Bone

Julia Glosemeyer has been reviewing a couple Sparkplug books over at buyindiecomics.com.  Please check out her write-ups of Olga Volozova's The Airy Tales and Julia Gfrörer's Flesh and Bone!

The Golem of Gabirol and BCGF

After a couple hiccups, we are pleased to announce our latest book, The Golem of Gabirol by Olga Volozova, is now available for sale in our shop!  It's a beautiful story and we highly recommend it.

Also, Sparkplug will be around tomorrow for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest!  Austin English will be covering both our table and his own Domino Books.  Please be sure to check out them, as well as Aron Nels Steinke and Katie Skelly's tables.  It's really wonderful the festival is still happening despite how messy I'm sure Brooklyn must be right now.