Sparkplug at CAKE!

Hello Chicago!  Sparkplug will have a table at CAKE this weekend, June 16th & 17th.  This is a new show and we're very excited about it!  There will be a ton of awesome artists and publishers there.  Click here for more info.

Also, Rob Clough has written a wonderful review of Nurse Nurse.  Please check it out!

New YDGTFH!

Hey all, we just added You Don't Get There From Here #22 to the store!  If you love diary comics, Carrie McNinch will totally be your jam.

Nurse Nurse reviewed on Thirteen Minutes!

Justin Giampaoli has written a lovely review of Nurse Nurse on his blog, Thirteen Minutes.  Check it out!

"There’s unexpected danger and unpredictability lurking around every corner that fuels the narrative and always keeps pushing it forward."

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!

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!

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

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."
 

 

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!

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)

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!

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!

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.

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.

Happy Birthday to Emily!

Today is Emily's birthday, and the best present we can give her is really sending our IndieGoGo campaign over the top!  Please click here to contribute to our next publishing ventures!  And happy birthday to a truly amazing person.

Nurse Nurse Release Party - West Coast Edition

We're teaming up with the Henry & Glenn Forever and Ever release party to release our latest book! The party will be from 6-8 p.m. on April 27th. Floating World Comics in lovely downtown Portland is hosting.
We'll have copies of Nurse Nurse and a limited number of bookmark printed and signed by artist Katie Skelly! Katie can't make it, but Henry & Glenn artists Tom Neely, Benjamin Marra and Ed Luce will be there. It's going to be a great time and we hope you can make it!

Other news:
Emily and I will be at Stumptown Comics Fest! It's this weekend, April 28th and 29th at the convention center in Portland. Click here for more info!
Katie Skelly will be at MoCCA in New York April 28th and 29th as well, with copies of Nurse Nurse for sale.

We've added a couple new minicomics to the store!


-Crime World #3: Another installment of David King's dark spirited crime comix.


-Dear Dear: More understated storytelling and precise line work from Eroyn Franklin.


-Galactic Breakdown #1 & 2: Keenan M. Keller's wild, weird and colorful scifi series!

Our Campaign's Last Push

Our IndieGoGo campaign is doing great.  We owe many thanks to our friends and supporters everywhere for spreading the word!  Thank you, Jason T. Miles, Rob Clough, Austin English and many others!  Thanks to all our Facebook pals for sharing the link every day!
I also wanted to direct your attention to a beautiful, heartfelt article written by our friend Shannon at The Comics Beat.  I highly recommend reading it.
Thanks everyone (I can't say that enough)!  Let's make these last twelve days AWESOME!

-Virginia

Donate Today to Sparkplug's Fundraiser

Hi friends, don't forget to donate to our fundraiser on Indiegogo.  We're in the last couple weeks and we are getting closer and closer by the hour, but we need to keep up the momentum!!  Be sure to share the site with your friends, family, and small press lovers everywhere. 

 With the donations we accumulate, our goals of publishing three books will become a reality!  We already have the newest title, Nurse Nurse by Katie Skelly, at the printers right now.  We'll have it in our hands in about a week, and out to stores and readers soon afterwards.  Yay!!

Pinay Lives & Voices

The truly amazing Rina Ayuyang will be reading from Whirlwind Wonderland this Sunday at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Here is a description of the event:

PINAY LIVES & VOICES:

An afternoon of Pinay literature and storytelling, in celebration of Women's History Month!

Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Oakland, CA
Sunday, April 1, 2012 - 3:00pm-5:00pm
Free and open to public

FEATURED PINAY ARTISTS: Vangie Buell, Barbara Jane Reyes, Camille Robles, Rina Ayuyang

View more about the event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/188914204557155/

View more about the Oakland Asian Cultural Center:
http://www.oacc.cc/

New Books and Prints!

Hello there! I've added a couple new books to the shop AND some really beautiful lino-block prints by T. Edward Bak. The books are: The City Troll, a debut graphic novel by Aaron Whitaker; The Sky In Stereo, an excellent new series from Mardou; and Sophia Wiedeman's dark and gorgeous The Deformitory. Please check them out!