Sparkplug Books cornerstone author Trevor Alixopulos is branching out on his own and needs your help with his new book Lipstick Traces. Go get on that right now. We say those were the days but the night is when everything happens! A big collection of after-midnight comics. Much of my work...
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(This review was originally published in 2007.) Reading Windy Corner Magazine #1 was a special pleasure because I’ve always found Austin English’s taste to be impeccable as a critic and now as an editor. It was a bonus to see so much of his new work as an artist as well. What makes...
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Those that follow the minicomics scene will observe that geography plays a large part in forming artist support groups. These groups provide encouragement and critique for young artists and play a part in their development. The recent development of a sustained book publishing beachhead in the...
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There’s little that’s quiet about Hellen Jo’s Jin and Jam, a Sparkplug Comic Books release. In the tradition of cartoonists like Charles Schulz, she’s clearly exploring different aspects of her self through her various characters. Jo’s characters are very much...
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In small press comics, the output from a publisher tends to reflect their own personal aesthetic, even when they exert no editorial control over them. That shows through in things like design and format, creating a sort of house style, especially when a publisher puts out a limited number of...
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What I like best about Austin English’s Windy Corner Magazine is that it seeks to clarify the artist’s relationship with memory and the narrative that we form from our memories, and how this is different from nostalgia. That theme was particularly evident in this issue. We are given...
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Reading Chris Cilla’s The Heavy Hand, I felt a tremendous sense of déjà vu. Each page felt like one I had already read somewhere, even though I hadn’t. One reason it may have felt so familiar is that The Heavy Hand is the ultimate “fusion” comic...
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One reason why I love comics is that I occasionally run into a creator producing art that would only work as comics. I prefer not to use reductive terms like “pure cartooning”, but I have a great appreciation for many artists who rethink this idea of making marks on paper for a...
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Something I’ve noticed as a recent trend in comics is a style that somewhat trades in primitivism or outsider art on the surface, but in reality is a sophisticated integration of word and text. The plastic qualities of text are not something separate to be read in the comic, but instead...
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Revisiting another Sparkplug classic, here’s my original review of Julia Gfrörer’s debut book, Flesh and Bone, from 2010. Julia Gfrörer’s Flesh And Bone takes fairy-tale and folk legend tropes and both turns them on their heads and gets at their true roots. The plot of the...
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Hello y’all! Sparkplug is heading to the Midwest for one final show. We’ll be exhibiting at CAKE Chicago with Suzette Smith. This is one of our favorite fests and it’s free and open to the public, so be sure to check it out! Info below: Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE)...
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SPARKPLUG BOOKS IS NO LONGER OPEN. Please visit Alternative Comics for updates and to purchase our books. THANK YOU FOR YOUR YEARS OF SUPPORT! {If you have any questions, please email virginia (at) sparkplugcomicbooks (dot) com.} June 11th & 12th – Sparkplug will be at CAKE in Chicago...
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Sparkplug will be at Linework NW this weekend! Linework is free and open to the public. There is a different group of tablers each day, so be sure you visit both days. We’ll be selling our books with Suzette Smith (Ce/Ze) on Sunday from 1pm-8pm. Hope to see you there!
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Hey y’all, tomorrow’s the last day to place orders! May 17th – This is the last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders. Marc Arsenault is picking up the books from me the weekend of Linework. I’ll be taking the shop part of the site down after this.It...
Read moreJust a reminder: May 17th – This is the last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders. Marc Arsenault is picking up the books from me the weekend of Linework. I’ll be taking the shop part of the site down after this. It would be really wonderful if you wanted to...
Read moreJust a reminder: May 17th – This is the last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders. Marc Arsenault is picking up the books from me the weekend of Linework. I’ll be taking the shop part of the site down after this. It would be really wonderful if you...
Read moreHey friends! Sparkplug is attending a couple of our favorite events in the upcoming months! Linework is in our hometown of Portland, Oregon, and will take place May 21 and 22 at Norse Hall. AND it’s free to attend! CAKE is in Chicago, and is set for June 11 and 12. It’s also free to...
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Hello again friends! I hope you are having a good spring. I wanted to let you know a couple upcoming dates for Sparkplug. May 17th – This is the last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders. Marc Arsenault is picking up the books from me the weekend of Linework. ...
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Whit Taylor, author of Sparkplug Mini The Anthropologists, has been nominated for the Slate Book Review‘s fourth annual Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Webcomic of 2015 for The Fabric of Appropriation! See the rest of the list and read more here!
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Lambda Literary published this great review of Ebin Lee’s A Wretch Like Me.
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Suzette Smith gave us a shout out in her Portland Mercury article about Vision Quest #4, a free paper that features a comic by former Sparkplug publisher Emily Nilsson. And Comic Book Resources did a spotlight on Whit Taylor, author of The Anthropologists.
Read moreHey LA! Sparkplug will have a table at LA Zine Fest this Sunday, March 6! It’s at the Majestic Downtown at 650 S. Spring St from 11am-6pm and is free to attend! We’ll be at booth 165. We hope to see you there!
Read moreHey friends! Lots of Sparkplug t-shirts just went on sale in the shop. Featuring illustrations by Dylan Williams, Renee French, and more! Check ’em out here!
Read moreCe/Ze, Suzette Smith’s dreamy take on science fiction/fantasy, follows two 7th graders who share a psychic link. Amelia Smith and Honey Czarny discover that they share fragmented memories of their past lives in another universe as powerful beings named Ce and Ze. A rival king’s plot to kill Ze...
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