Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival 2010: What I bought

A little over a month ago was the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, a totally insane comics and art show that, per capita, was probably the highest quality of its kind that I've ever attended. Just nuts guests and publishers and new books all burbling up in a space that was (thank, God) much larger than the space used last year and on a day where the weather was much more manageable. Here's a picture snapped from the stage up front, as the show took place in a church basketball gym.



We skipped SPX this year, so I thought there was a lot of stuff I was hungry to buy, but it turned out I spent most of my cash on stuff that made its debut at BCGF. Here's what I bought at the show...

(above, clockwise from left)

• PROGRAM GUIDE - Features a chilling illustration by Anders Nilsen.
• BIGFOOT - A beautiful hardcover from Drawn & Quarterly by Pascal Girard, this was the first thing I bought at the show. The art has this fragile quality with its simple color palette and layout and I can't wait to read it! I should've by now, but I've been busy, so leave me alone.
• SCENES FROM AN IMPENDING MARRIAGE - Adrian Tomine's collection of short comics surrounding his upcoming wedding! Getting new Tomine comics is like getting new Coen Brothers films for me. Always waiting for the next gem.
• LA DIARY (yellow cover) and Diary (pink cover) - Did you know Tom Kaczynski has a small publishing company called Uncivilized Books and Gabrielle Bell puts out new autobio minis through it? I didn't, either, until a couple days before BCGF. Gabrielle was at the show selling these dense beauties.
• TRANS UTOPIA - Speaking of Kaczynski! The fourth issue of his Trans series debuted at the show! I've waited years for this! Yaaay! And it even had a surprise ending...

(above, clockwise from left)

• SMOKE SIGNAL #7 - Cover by Jordan Crane! Submissions by Marc Bell, Charles Burns, Michael DeForge, Domitille Collardey, Sammy Harkham, Jim Rugg and many many more.
• SNAKE OIL #6: THE GROUND IS SOFT - A new volume of Chuck Forsman's handmade comic series! The specific pace Forsman's stories move with is probably my favorite part of the books.
• ONLY SKIN #6 - This series from Sean Ford is so FANTASTIC and this volume reveals a lot about the mysteries that've been stirring since the start.
  
• THE INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC ADVENTURES OF MAUREEN DOWD #1 - Bullets, car explosions, knives, mustaches, eye-patches, dudes crashing through windows with guns in their hands - this book from Benjamin Marra has everything you need.
• TWO EYES OF THE BEAUTIFUL PART II - Ryan Cecil Smith based this series of hand-printed mini-comics on Umezu Kazuo's Blood Baptism horror manga and, yes, this book is as fun as that sounds.

(above, clockwise from left)

• SPOTTING DEER - Michael DeForge has become the kind of creator whose work stops me in my tracks when I come across it. If I see a link online to a new strip or sample, I stop what I'm doing and check it out right away. He's exciting and this 12-page, full-color story is unlike ANYTHING I've seen before. People like Annie Koyama - the publisher behind Koyama Press, who put this title out - are absolutely my heroes. Just working to help put good comics out in the world. That's some noble shit.
• SM - I was telling my friend David that I hoped to find a really great horror comic at the show. BAM: DeForge was selling this 12-page comic that I think debuted there. So so so disturbing.
• UPTIGHT #4 - New issue of Jordan Crane's periodical series! There's a segment in the "Dark Day" story where he shows movement in a dark space using some technique I've never even seen before. HOW DOES HE DO IT?
• Crickets #3 - Like with Uptight #4, I had no idea Sammy Harkham was going to debut Crickets #3, the newest issue of his one-man anthology. Larger in format and page count than previous issues, this new issue is PACKED with comics that're new to me. Ugh, I love comics.

So that's it. Beyond the main floor, there were panels on a below level. I usually skip those in favor of buying comics for as long as I can, but missed one featuring Sammy Harkham that I'd wanted to make. Otherwise, there was a selection of original art downstairs that just floored me. I've never seen one before, but they had this Jack Kirby page from an issue of OMAC:


I didn't buy it.

The show was amazing, it was great to run into friends, and it's terrific to have so many shows showcasing this type of art and comics in an area so close to us. Comics!

Comic Shop Stop: Catching Up - Part Two

I used to do these every week - run down what new comics I'm excited enough about that I spent monies on them. But the less I bought the last few months, the less I could post, and I just fell outta the habit. So here's the second post in a series of posts catching up on some stuff I bought since the summer ended that I wanted to share. Here's a link to the first one. It's all rad and I recommend it 100-and-12 percent.

First up, some books I grabbed online:

FROM ONE PERCENT PRESS

SIMPLE ROUTINES #12 - JP Coovert first came to my attention as a CCS grad a couple years ago, and since then, I've been a fan of his work including his journal minicomic. He's a young, talented comics creator with an upbeat original voice and style and that shines through in his work.

THERE MUST BE MORE: THE SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT'S BOX - A great example of how fun JP makes his comics, this album-sized adventure features JP and two other oddball characters on a quest whose purpose you can figure out from the title of the book. This, I think, is JP's second album-sized book and his deceptively simple cartooning really benefits from the larger size.

TOO FAR - Anthology time! Joe Lambert edited (and contributed to) this collection of new comics by James Hindle, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Coovert, Jose-Luis Olivares, Dane Martin and Alex Kim. All killer, no filler. I missed SPX this year and when I found out this book debuted there, I worried I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a copy.

Luckily, all the above comics are available at the One Percent Press store. Click on any of the artists' names for more info on each.



Dustin Harbin decided to chronicle his life for a year in short, four-panel strips, and now you can get your hands on the thoughtful, densely illustrated results from Koyama Press for only six bones! It's a great value, Dustin's a great artist and letterer, the production's great, it's all just...GREAT. Go check out Dustin's blog and buy other great stuff from him in his store.



Before Netflix, Youtube, and instant-watch video services, if you were a suburban kid who wanted to see a movie, you had to work your way to a video store. And that's exactly what Brent Schoonover's 12-page minicomic is about - three friends scouring their small town's video shops for a copy of Peter Jackson's gore-classic, Dead Alive! They talk about girls, innocently fantasize pulling off a major crime and contemplate the future in a way that makes this short story comfortingly recognizable to any kid who grew up in a small town. The landscape format gives the story a widescreen feel and as a horror fan, a video fan, a comic fan, and a fan of stories about suburban kids on a quest, I was entertained like crazy. I just wish I had a whole series of these instead of the one.



A new Jeffrey Brown book where he draws comics about how outrageously awesome cats can be!!! The above picture shows how the rad cover has two die-cut panels. Even if you don't like cats, you'll be charmed by the smart comics. If you do like cats, WHY HAVE YOU NOT BOUGHT THIS BOOK ALREADY?! (click here to see Jeffrey talk about the cover process on his blog)



And that's it for the stuff I've bought online. Now for quick rundowns on the manga I recently purchased. With manga, I'm a finicky fan, only picking up more indie-minded titles with a focus on character. So please please please, if you haven't read manga for one reason or another, I promise you there's stuff out there for you, so give some stuff a try.



PEEPO CHOO VOL. 2 - On the surface, it's about sex, action, and an anime-obsessed fan accidentally uncovering corruption behind the comics industry. But beneath that, Peepo Choo explores the cultural differences between western and eastern cultures as mistaken by residents of each. Fast, fun, crazed, and only 3 volumes long, this is my kind of manga. Volume 3 is due out in December.



7 BILLION NEEDLES - A social outcast high school girl stumbles onto an alien invasion plot in this updated manga adaptation of Hal Clement's sci-fi story. Hikaru Takabe's version has tight art, an isolated mood, and a stirring, slow-burn pace. Fun fun fun (and only 4 volumes long).



SATURN APARTMENTS VOL. 2 - In the far future, Earth is abandoned and humans live in a structure circling the planet. It's there that a young boy works as a window washer, a dangerous job that killed his dad a few years prior, but that allows the young boy to rediscover his father through the job. This look at blue-collar workers in a sci-fi setting is a knock-out, but the low-key art is the real draw for me.

More soon, including some single issues I picked up at the actual store...

Comic Shop Stop

Promising myself to stop spending too much on comics that then clutter my apartment, I've held off getting much at the comic shop lately, which has made these posts pretty much nonexistent.

But I went to Midtown Comics a couple weeks back and then Jim Hanley's Universe this week! Fuck self-promises; here's what I snagged...

Midtown purchase list first, where I visited along with David and Darren:



BRAIN CAMP - I'm a slut for stories set at summer camps and this quirky camp story from First Second grabbed me the second I scoped that dope cover. I dig Faith Erin Hicks's art, though I'm not familiar with the writing team of Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan. I NEVER buy OGNs at cover price sight unseen. You win, First Second. Mathnet on “Square One TV.” I’m SUPER gonna marry this book.



SEEDLESS - A new OGN from Corey Lewis!!! About evil grapes?!? Ahhhh!! Comics are rarely this kinetically exuberant...

Now for my Hanley's haul. I'd actually hit the store looking for Michael DeForge's Lose #2. I got #1 at MoCCA but recently read that Sean had a copy of the new issue - so I’ve been looking for it. Even though they didn't have it, Hanley's has a stellar mini-comics section, so I knew the trip would still be worth my time. I even ran into Alejandro at the shop - New York City comics scene! I'm missing SPX this year (boooo!), so I was even more open to grabbing some new stuff to TRY (pffft) and make up for what I'll miss...



CROOKED TEETH #5 - A new issue of Nate Doyle's ongoing mini-comic series is always too sweet. And this has been done since June!! I'm slacking.



TRAFFIC & WEATHER (two issues) - It's been full YEARS since I've been able to buy a new sequential comic from Robert Ullman (since Lunch Hour Comix and Grand Gestures), so I was giddy to find two issues (!!!) of this journal comic mini. Comic book surprise!



RAMBO 3.5 - Here’s some math: Jim Rugg + Sequel to Rambo 3 = Me smiling so big I rip my lips off with sheer force of joy.



BLAMMO #5 - A new issue of Noah Van Sciver’s full-color, one-man anthology series! I love his squiggle line-work and how the panels look to meticulous until you pull back and look at a full page and see even MORE meticulousness.



THREE #1 - A story by Joey Alison Sayers urged me to flip through this new color anthology series, but the autobio feel of the other two stories and the fact that it was a new venture helped make me decide to buy it. It’s odd that Sayers’s story is the only one making FULL use of the full-color, as the other two are only green and blue-toned, respectively. Hope that extra cost with little exploration doesn’t cause any financially motivated publishing problems down the road. I wanna see more books like this do well!



EVERYTHING DIES #3 - I’ve only just started reading Box Brown’s work since MoCCA 2010, but this series exploring religion with accessible art and a thoughtful tone is really interesting. The cover’s pretty, too.



SAVAGE DRAGON #163 - I’ve got a crush on Rachel Freire’s art from FCHS (go get a copy after reading this free sample and also look here for info on Rachel!), so seeing ANYTHING she’s drawn, even if it’s the Savage Dragon characters - which I know almost nothing about - means I need to buy it in a showing of support. Sooooo clean.

And that’s it for now. What’d you get lately?

Comic Shop Stop: What I Bought The Last Few Weeks - Plus FCBD!

I've fallen behind a bit on the Comic Shop Stop postings! Here goes for the last few weeks!

Here's what I been buying, ya'll:



WILSON - I've only just started reading Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Ice Haven) in the last year, so I showed up in his fan club just in time to grab this new standalone graphic novel (his first to not be a collection from an earlier work) from Drawn & Quarterly! And thanks to a sale at Jim Hanley's Universe, I was able to get it for 40% off, too!



GIRL FUCK - Guide to the sex lives of lesbians by Erika Moen. It caught my eye after I read about it over here.



TEN THOUSAND THINGS TO DO #6 - Finally found the sixth issue of Jesse Recklaw's diary comic after hunting for it the past 3 months!



WALKING DEAD #71 - Kirkman zombies!



INVINCIBLE #71 - The Viltrimite War begins!!!



FCHS - A fairly easy-going high school drama comic, FCHS has a major strength in its distinct art from Rachel Freire. I remember digging the AdHouse Free Comic Book Day single issue of this book in 2009, but after something fell through with AdHouse distributing the book (I'm not sure what happened there since the book is still on their site), FCHS fell off my radar until this morning when I found a digest-sized volume at Hanley's on the shelf published by "FCHS Comix."
Added bonus: While checking out, the nice girl ringing me up, who I recognized from past trips to the shop, politely revealed she was Rachel (!), offered to sign my copy, and said I was the first person she witnessed buying a copy who she didn't already know. I didn't tell her about how her slick, clean art with its impossibly simple sense of space was my favorite part. I'd have been embarrassed.



ORC STAIN #3 - Goblins! It's like someone dropped a rainbow Bomb Pop in the woods and a troop of ants moved in, evolved into humanoid creatures, and started having explosively rockin' adventures!



THE GUILD #2 - Jim Rugg Jim Rugg Jim Rugg!



HELLBOY IN MEXICO #1 - I almost skipped buying this issue and then I betrayed my waller and opened the thing up to see Hellboy fighting a demon Luchadore who looks like this. Sorry, wallet.

As for my Free Comic Book Day 2010 - IT WAS THE BEST EVER. I hit three NYC shops on May 5 (Hanley's, Cosmic Comics, and Forbidden Planet), and got all the FCBD issues I wanted. My girlfriend Sam even got all the ones SHE wanted! And I bought stuffs so as to show my support for the stores! I wish FCBD was quarterly. Yeah, I said it!



MOME 12 & 14 - Thanks to Hanley's month-long anniversary sale of 25% off everything in the store, I'm catching up on Fantagraphic's constantly entertaining anthology starting with vol. 12 and vol. 14.



BOOK OF GRICKLE - Graham Annable is one of my favorite comic creators and, I find, one of the best gateway drugs for bringing friends into comics. I already have the 2 collections this book collects, but having a hardcover that holds all the stories in one place (along with it being 30% off at Cosmic Comics) was too good a deal to pass up. I loaned it to a friend SECONDS after buying it. GO NOW AND GET THIS THING!

The FCBD books I'm most looking forward to sitting and reading (other than THIS, which I read already and loved) are right here:



G.I. JOE #155 1/2 - Oh fuck oh shit oh fuck! This IDW book takes place moments after the end of the original Marvel Joe series (hence the #155 1/2)!



YOW! - It's not so much the content of this issue from Drawn & Quarterly that has me so excited so much as the ad in the back for a collection I had no idea was coming! In Fall 2010, D&Q plans on publishing annuals of Doug Wright's Nipper comic strip series about mid-'60s Canadian middle-class suburban life! That's what I'm talking aboot!



WEATHERCRAFT - I've never read a Jim Woodring comic before. NEVER EVER. I think I'm finally ready for his signature brand of cartoon dementia and absurdity and this free sample is PROBABLY about to set me on a path of Woodring fanaticism. Well played, Fantagraphics.



DOPE FLOUNDER - Sparkplug Comic Books, Teenage Dinosaur, and Tugboat Press team up again for the third in a series of free anthology mini-comics with dope production quality spotlighting up-and-coming talent. Right off the bat, contributors in this issue who caught my attention were Jesse Recklaw (whose mini-diaries I adore) Sean Chistensen (whose Miranda Baby mini-comic I adore), and Nicole Georges (whose diary mini-comic I adore)!

What've you guys been buying?

(Quick disclaimer: I borrow a LOT of stuff from Ben each week from Marvel, so I don't always buy single issues of the Marvel books. And I get everything from DC, WildStorm, Vertigo, and Zuda for free, so I never really buy anything from them unless I'm picking up for somebody else. So don't take my exclusion of DC stuff as a sign that the books aren't good enough to buy. They are. So there.)

My MoCCA 2010

You know that giggly feeling you get in your belly when you find a comic on the shelf you thought might be sold out cause you couldn't get to the comic shop early enough on a Wednesday, but then it's there and you realize it even has a special guest appearance by someone awesome you didn't know was gonna show up like Deathlok or Kamandi or even FUCKING LOCKJAW?! That's what it's like for me CONSTANTLY when I wander the aisles at MoCCA, and this year's show had my big ol' belly all aflutter.

Unlike last year's oven-roasted death-trap, the show this year felt cool temperature-wise AND crowd-wise. I noticed there was a large hang-out area at the back of the hall I don't remember last year that made for a great meet-up/breather area, and with the show in early April, the weather meant the non-climate controlled Armory housing the event wasn't stuffed with heavy B.O. and WARMTH.

I also ran into an army of friends, co-workers and friend co-workers, which always helps make a show more fun thanks to the constant "Holy balls, what did you buy?!" or "Dude dude DUDE, lemme see the sketch you got from Lucy Knisley!" sorts of conversations. I know Frank Miller was at the show, but I never spotted him. And I didn't even try to break out my Watchmen sketchbook, though I now wish I had (re: Lucy Knisley).

The show was flowing with newsprint comics, which makes me wonder if that's a new grasp at nostalgia or if I was just NOT paying attention to past similarly formatted books. I literally doubled my newspaper-esque comic collection after this show. Meanwhile, I think I bought more comics from creators I'm not all that familiar with at this show than any other MoCCA, which was FUN. I skipped the panels, I took a break to eat (thanks for making me, Emily), I spent all the money I saved for this, and I want to roll the show up into a pillowcase so I can snuggle with it every night of the year. Here's what I bought:

pictured above:

SECRET PRISON - A free newsprint comic from a Philly-based comics collective with a rad yellow cover, this was the first comic I got at the show on newsprint. Flipping through, a creator named Art Baxter stood out.

HERO LAND #1-6 - Esther Pearl Watson's neat screen-printed superhero parody comics. NEON!

ESCHEW #2 - A new issue of Robert Sergel's creepy stark black and white comics!

DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL STICKER - This was available in support of the off-Broadway play based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gluckner. I'ma put it on your face!

pictured above:

EVERYTHING DIES #1-2 - Two great-looking minis from Box Brown, a creator I've only just started reading.

UNSYNDICATED PRESS - Box Brown's comic collection of his online strip Bellen!, this was the second comic I got at the show on newsprint.

HEAVEN ALL DAY - I'm so fucking excited about this book from John Martz that looks like it's about an alien and an average joe trying to find happiness. Reminded me of Jonathan Bennett, Graham Annable and Martin Cendreda all wrapped together!

MACHINE GUM #1 - A little anthology of John Martz's shorter works! Check this guy out!

THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THE COCAINE - My BFF Sean T. Collins wrote this based-on-true-events mini about a period in David Bowie's life where he did a lot of coke and had a pretty disturbing mental breakdown. Art by Isaac Moylan, you can find a copy here. This was the first book I bought at the show!

pictured above:

POOD #1 - ANOTHER newsprint comic! This time it's an anthology with Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca (the Street Angel guys) and a whole lot of others including Hans Rickheit. This makes 3...

PHASE 7 #7 - Creator Alec Longstreth's Phase 7 series is usually made up of standalone autobio issues, but the fictional "Basewood" storyline was taking him a while to complete, so he broke up the series by skipping the numbering of the rest of the story arc and left room in the middle of the series for the remaining chapters. Now, three years later, chapter three of "Basewood" has arrived! I'm so excited!

PHASE 7 #15 - See above for why there's a new issue of Phase 7 and it's 8 issues after the other new issue. Alec's comics are so fun to read.

SNAKE PIT 2009 - Ben White's daily autobio comics about hard-party living in Austin, Texas, are now being collected by Birdcage Bottom Books after their last run at Microcosm. I can't explain how much joy I've gotten out of these stories about a young rock-baller kicking ass back in my home-state. That's what made it kinda poopy to hear Ben's gonna stop making the book after 2010's collected - his 10th anniversary of diary comics. MADNESS.

MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY #12 - New Jacob Chabot fun!

5 COMING OF AGE STORIES #1-10 - I've never heard of CCS student Max de Radigues, but his cute series of French-translated diary comics - each packaged as 5-issue bundles with a color band - are BOSS.

pictured above:

FRANCIS SHARP IN THE GRIP OF THE UNCANNY CHAPTER 1 - Like something out of a long-lost volume of Flight, this 84-page story about a boy battling back against the unknown looks so AWESOME! Artist B. Sabo also gave me a mer-people print!

INVINCIBLE SUMMER #16/CLUTCH #21 - A new issue of Clutch I didn't know came out last year! I hear there's a big-ole "lost stories" collection coming this year?

WEIRD BUT TRUE TOON FACTOIDS - I got this Craig Yoe book poppin' with useless comics facts for free.

INKDICK #2-7 - Never heard of this diary comic till MoCCA! Unique book dimensions and fresh art style hooked me in for all the issues creator Pranas Naujokaitis had.

BEARD - Another book by Pranas, this time it's about BEARDS! Fun comic flap in the front, too.

pictured above:

MOCCA PROGRAM GUIDE - Cover by Dash Shaw.

THE GLOW - Swedish Comic Fun #1! Creepy-bonkers story about a guy zapping himself on a roof while fixing the TV antennae. Nuttiness ensues. From Shamila Banerjee.

POOR PINKI - Swedish Comic Fun #2! Also from Banerjee comes this (creepy?) kitty tale.

YOU'RE TALKING WITH THE WRONG PERSON #2 - Swedish Comic Fun #3! A Martin Ernstsen autobio comic! Bought the first issue last year at a comic shop in the city. Clean, crisp art.

TRIGGER #1 - Mike Bertino's new mini looks like an ice cream tastes on a hot summer day and he's packed three stories in for maximum flavor fun. Reminded me a lot of Ted May if Ted May had a Cartoon Network show.

HOT TOWN - A summer of diary comics set in New York City from Robyn Jordan.

PEDAL PUSH - Also from Robyn Jordan - a roadtrip comic!!!

GETTING THERE - A comic about the interesting folks who perform in the NYC subways from Robyn Jordan! That's three minis about topics right up my alley and all for cheap! REALLY like this cover.

pictured above:

CABOOSE - MORE newsprint comics?!?! This one from the CCS folks. My 4th at the show and it was free!

CCS FLYER - I've got the last three of these, but this one's from the previously mentioned Max de Radigues and laid out like a letter home from a current student.

LITTLE WOLVES - James Hindle comic starring a kid's book artist who goes through a little bit of a tough time. BEAUTIFUL cover.

EVERYDAY - A narrative comic (of sorts) by Joe Lambert!! Lookit his art lookit his art lookit his art.

HEAVY HANDED - JP Coovert is one of my favorite CCS grads and he had this new comic about a dude getting fired and going on a nuts adventure involving a wizard and some monsters. YEAH.

ONLY SKIN #5 - Do you like small-town mysteries, hand-made comics, ghosts, spooky forests, awkward interactions with your dead dad's secret lover and MURDER? Go right now and find copies of this series from Sean Ford, which is possibly my favorite series to pick up at MoCCA and SPX whenever it comes out.

FUTURE - New volume of the standalone 4-Square anthology series from a rotating crew of creators and I Know Joe Kimpel.


And that's it! Possibly the best thing of all was hanging out with and seeing all my best friends. TJ wrote up the show from his perspective over here and Sean did the same here. Otherwise, it was coooool to see Emily and Amy, Jesse, Ryan, Alex, David, Matt, Alejandro, Jon, Heather, Adam S., Darren, Rex, Rachel and John, Paul M. Adam P, Pornsak, Sal, and more and more and more. Comics and friends!

And this weekend? C2E2 - see you in Chicago!

Comic Shop Stop: What I Bought This Week

Sometimes it's new stuff. Sometimes it's old stuff. Sometimes it'll be back issues or the same ol' thing I got 4 weeks ago. Whatever the case is, here's what I got at the shop this week (lemme know if you wanna borrow anything):

This is a late post detailing some dope comics I grabbed last week! Here's what I grabbed of note at Midtown:

PANOMRAMA COMICS SECTION - This all-comics supplement was a section in the newest McSweeney's volume, which itself published as a massive newspaper. It was unwieldy getting home, but the contributors include Jon Adams, Dan Clowes, Seth, Adrian Tomine and a WHOLE LOT MORE awesome people, so it was worth it. Dammit, this is cool.



RASL #7 - I'm backlogged on a lot of new titles, so I'm really glad to be so caught up on single issues of a Jeff Smith book that I can enjoy each new one when it comes out. The dimension-hopping sci-fi title is starting to really pick up momentum as we find out a connection between real-world science and Tesla-influenced super-concepts. AWESOME.

And here's what I picked up during a weekend trip to Baltimore and a side-excursion to Atomic Books, a fantastic boutique shop that carries a WIDE variety of alt comics and mini-comic back-issues. The store is the only one I've ever ordered from online, so I was excited to finally get a chance to walk inside. And Hampden, the neighborhood the shop is located in, was extra-neat!

NOT MY SMALL DIARY #15 - I actually contributed a story to volume 12 a few years ago to this anthology series packed with short auto-bio stories from dozens of creators. Each newer volume is actually a set of hand-bound books and issue #15 includes folks such as Noah Van Sciver, Lucy Knisley, Dave Kiersch, Box Brown and many more. I missed vol. 14 somewhere along the way, so I was giddy to grab this newest issue!



THE MARSH - I already own a copy of Mario Van Buren's thoughtful, surprise ending mini-comic starring a couple kids on a day-trip adventure (and so should you!), but I grabbed this one for a friend. The book's hard to find in the NYC area and sold out, from what I understand. Check out part two of the story in Dark Corners. All the above from I Know Joe Kimpel.



PRIZE #2 - I don't know dick about this book other than that the deceptively busy, well-balanced art caught my eye and when I flipped through it, I found a story about slackers working at a gas station. I generally love snapshots of middle class American lifestyles I don't live.



FRESH TO DEATH - I don't think I've ever heard of creator Sam Spina, but the art style inside this oblong mini about two jerk-faces going to a concert seemed too interesting to pass up.



SHARKER THE FORGOTTEN: THE STORY OF SEAN KERR - And then I saw this other book by Sam Spina about a dude who gets transformed into a fucking hammerhead shark and deals with life as an alienated weirdo! Comes with ANOTHER mini about a supporting character. Neeeeeat!



PAPERCUTTER #12 - I FUCKING THE LOVE THE PAPERCUTTER ANTHOLOGY! This issue features Rachel Bormann, Nate Powell, Joey Sayers, Mark Campos and Dalton Webb. I probably coulda waited to buy this at MoCCA (WHICH IS THIS WEEKEND!), but I saw it and couldn't resist. I don't think I've ever bought an issue of this book at a store before...



GANGSTA RAP POSSE #1 - I meant to buy Benjamin Marra's out-of-control tale of '90s gansta rapper life at SPX along with his other books, but I forgot. This thing looks bananas and a bunch of my friends speak highly of it, so I grabbed a copy off the shelf.



SLEAZY SLICE #3 - I ventured into the porn section looking for this, but forgot I'd also been looking for this issue of Sleazy Slice for its Jim Rugg cover and interior story by Josh Simmons. The Simmons story is maybe the most disturbing comic I've read since this, but the lead story in this adult anthology called "Human Cows" by Robin Bougie (that link NSFW) was surprisingly effective in its anti-animal cruelty focus. Disturbing stuff all around.

Heading to MoCCA this weekend in New York and then C2E2 in Chicago next week! Can't wait!


(Quick disclaimer: I borrow a LOT of stuff from Ben each week from Marvel, so I don't always buy single issues of the Marvel books. And I get everything from DC, WildStorm, Vertigo, and Zuda for free, so I never really buy anything from them unless I'm picking up for somebody else. So don't take my exclusion of DC stuff as a sign that the books aren't good enough to buy. They are. So there.)