Malachi Ward will be doing a Bay Area Double Header this Saturday, May 14th from 7pm. He will be signing copies of his brand new books From Now On (Alternative Comics) and Island #7 (Image Comics) at Mission Comics in San Francisco at 1PM and at our home base in Cupertino from around 7pm. There...
Read moreZak Sally is creating A Comic Book Biography of Philip K. Dick and He Needs Your Support
PKD by Zak Sally from zak sally on Vimeo. Zak Sally has been many things over the years… an artist, a musician, a publisher at La Mano 21, a printer, the cover model for Peter Bagge’s Hate, a roadie for Wow Cool… OK, that last one is probably not a big deal to very many
Read moreClosing Sale!
Just 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 moreTennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
The very first Tennessee Tuxedo, 1963. Forgotten. Neglected. Brilliant. Some Educational content.
Read moreWednesday is New Comics Day May 11, 2016
Today is Wednesday, May 11th and we have a ton of new books for you. We are now officially open until 7pm at the Cupertino shop; and, will start staying open until 8pm on Wednesdays in June. Recent issues of comics from the past year are now available in the store carefully arranged in...
Read moreReminder – One Week Left to Order
Just 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 moreSo, Free Comic Book Day Happened
That was quite a day. We are still recovering from our third Free Comic Book Day event at the Wow Cool Alternative Comics shop in Cupertino on Saturday. This was our biggest ever. More books, more people, more cookies and lemonade… More everything. We were very happy to have our neighbor...
Read moreFree Comic Book Day Sale and Yancey Labat Artist Signing This Saturday
The Wow Cool® Alternative Comics store in Cupertino is having it’s third annual Free Comic Book Day event from 10am-7pm on Saturday, May 7th. There will be tons of free comics for kids and adults, arts and crafts activities for kids, a lemonade stand, a voter registration booth, and everything...
Read moreThe Magic Whistle By Sam Henderson
Tons of New Books In the Wow Cool Shop
We have added hundred of new books to our online and Cupertino stores. Here’s just a recent selection. Wow Cool has been doing a massive re-cataloging of our inventory — new and re-stocked items are being added every day. New books arrive every week. Please follow us on our facebook page...
Read moreSunday Cage Liner
It has been an interesting weekend full of literary, cartoon and musical mysteries. Your recommended soundtrack is this collection of instrumental tracks from the Lick My Decals Off recording sessions by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. Brooklyn Magazine presents this look “Inside 11...
Read moreUpcoming Events!
Hey 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...
Read moreUpcoming Important Dates
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. ...
Read moreWhit Taylor on Slate’s Cartoonist Studio Prize Shortlist!
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!
Read moreJack Kirby | Thor | Parallax View
A series of frames from the Parallax Corporation training montage from the 1974 Alan J. Pakula film The Parallax View. “The montage also uses a drawing by Jack Kirby of the Marvel Comics character Thor. The drawing is a cropped image from the cover of Thor Annual #4 (December 1971), which...
Read moreA Wretch Like Me reviewed by Lambda Literary!
Lambda Literary published this great review of Ebin Lee’s A Wretch Like Me.
Read moreSparkplug in the news!
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 moreSparkplug at LA Zine Fest!
Hey 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 moreDrive Like Jehu 2-27-2016 The Ritz San Jose, CA
Drive Like Jehu played in San Jose. I took some distorto-loud video of most of the encore. Enjoy.
Read moreShirts on sale!
Hey 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 moreSparkplug Highlight: Ce/Ze
Ce/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...
Read moreThe Future of Sparkplug
Hello friends, It is with mixed feelings that I must announce that I will be shutting down Sparkplug this year. I appreciate the opportunities that running Sparkplug has given me and the wonderful people it has introduced me to. I know Sparkplug means a lot to many people and I want to...
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: Bird Girl and Fox Girl
This minicomic follows the threads of Bird Girl and Fox Girl’s lives after the dissolution of their friendship. Bird Girl moves from the desert to the city, where she works as a secretary, eventually saving up enough money for surgery to look like a human girl. Fox Girl becomes a daredevil...
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