The second anthology from Portland comics-performance phenom Gridlords does not disappoint! As implied by the title, the stories within mostly deal with other planets, alternate realities and strange universes. There is some great work in here, including stories from Theo Ellsworth, ...
Read moreKickstart This: Study Group Comics
Help fund Study Group Comics’ upcoming slate of super awesome print editions by pre-ordering your copies today! Study Group is running a Kickstarter for pre-orders on their 2014 books. It is one hell of a lineup, with the best ever looking issue of Study Group Magazine (#3!) – now in...
Read moreSuport This: Suspect Device 4 Kickstarter
Suspect Device 4. Anthology of collage based comics dedicated to linking comics history with its future. Cover by Raymond Pettibon. Suspect Device 4 is the 4th installment in a series of comics first begun in 2011. Its principal conceit is that the artists work on comics based on older...
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: Whirlwind Wonderland by Rina Ayuyang
Diary and journal comics are addicting. There is something magical about glimpsing into someone else’s life and seeing what drives them, what worries them and what they daydream about. This collection of stories by Rina Ayuyang is a perfect little dose of her life. The...
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: The Shortest Interval by David King
The Shortest Interval is a bizarre, hilarious little jaunt through the Planck Epoch, filled with questionable “facts” and quirky personifications. Visit the researchers working at Gash Mountain Lab on Beaver Island. Let the squeal of Gravity’s tires ring in your ears as he...
Read moreNew In The Shop Frontier Three and More
Newly added to the shop is the latest issue of Youth in Decline’s Frontier — issue number three — featuring the work of rarely seen in the states German artist Sascha Hommer, who fuses the sensibilities and styles of Jon ‘Learn to Draw’ Gnagy and László Moholy-Nagy...
Read moreSupport This: Seth Kushner’s Schmuck Kickstarter
A semi-autobio graphic novel anthology about one schmuck’s quest for love and the meaning of life in New York City. SCHMUCK is a 168-page trade paperback autobio graphic novel about one man’s awkward coming-of-age-quest to find love in New York City, written by SETH KUSHNER with design by...
Read moreLinework NW Seeks Volunteers for Event!!
Hi friends, this is Emily Nilsson with a special request. Linework NW needs volunteers for the event, Saturday April 12th, for various jobs: setting up, taking down, helping people find their tables, to name a few. We’re hosting an after-party as well, at which we’ll need some...
Read moreReading at Powell’s!
Just to let y’all know, I (Virginia) will be reading from Milkyboots #14 for Powell’s Books Smallpressapalooza on Monday, March 17th. It should be fun, and there will be lots of other talented folks reading as well. Hope to see you there!
Read moreCover preview of our next book!
Here’s a peek at the next book in the Sparkplug Minis Series, The Anthropologists by Whit Taylor. The Anthropologists follows the author’s trip to Australia and subsequent reevaluation of her chosen field of study. It will debut at this year’s CAKE in Chicago. Get...
Read moreKickstart This: Matt Howarth’s Myriad Quest
Matt Howarth brings you a graphic novel of two star-crossed adventurers braving the dangers of the Myriad Song. Myriad Quest will be a self-contained, 48-page graphic novel written and drawn by Matt Howarth and produced by Sanguine Games, makers of the Myriad Song role-playing game. With your...
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: The Virtuous by Fiona Smyth
The Virtuous is visceral in both senses of the word; provoking a strong emotional reaction and having to do with guts. Intestines pour from torsos and crotches on every page. It sounds grotesque, and it is, but also beautiful. Bodies in this art zine are distorted, elongated...
Read moreJoe Brainard Would Be Nearly 20 Years Older Now
If he was not dead. Today is reported to be his birthday. Joe Brainard was born some 72 years ago. He was one of the most legendary of the Nancy boys (as seen above). I hold onto that otherwise very boring book for his cover art. Thank you to my old band mate Steve Dore
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: Dream Grant by Sean Christensen
How much do I love Sean Christensen’s Church of Awesome Thought books? I can’t even explain it. It’s so much fun to read about everyday, almost mundane life in this strange universe and Dream Grant is one of my favorites. The loose psychedelia of the art, the...
Read moreNew books from this month!
Just a reminder! This month we added two new books to Sparkplug’s published catalog. Reich #11 is the second to last book in Elijah Brubaker’s Reich series. Reich’s world is beginning to crumble in this not-to-be-missed issue! Also out this month, we added the...
Read moreSome Boxes
I had some time to kill with the kids yesterday evening and we happened to be near the “Comic Collector” shop (yes, that’s it’s name) in Sunnyvale, CA. They have many bins of strange old comics, typically for a dollar. In one stack of beat up coverless comic books I found...
Read moreWhat The Hell We’ve Been Up To
Although this here blog has been pretty quiet for a week or so, we have been far from idle at Wow Cool / Alternative Comics HQ. Most recently we have upgraded our web servers, so WowCool.com, IndyWorld.com, MagicWhistle.com and several other sites we host should be running much faster now. A...
Read moreKickstart This: Graphic novel thriller PAIN 1 by Noah Xifr
Noah Xifr’s Kickstarter campaign for his new book is mere hours from it’s end and he could use your help.
Read moreRadiohead release PolyFauna Tablet App
Follow the red dot… enter new worlds. With surprisingly less fanfare than usual, Radiohead has released something new into the world. PolyFauna is a mobile and tablet app that takes audio elements from the King of Limbs sessions and visuals from Stanley Donwood’s jagged tree-limb...
Read moreLA Zine Fest this weekend!
Hey all! Sparkplug will be tabling at LA Zine Fest this Sunday, February 16th, at Helms Bakery in Los Angeles. For more info on the fest, click here. We’ll have our normal, awesome collection of books and zines PLUS the new issue of Reich and the first of the...
Read moreSparkplug Highlight: Intergalactic Telepathic Pen Pal by Yumi Sakugawa
A friend of a friend said that she found another of Sakugawa‘s comics to be very sad. I agree, but I think they are my favorite kind of melancholy: the kind that reminds you that, however impermanent this world is, there is a place for you in the universe. You belong here...
Read moreSimon Hanselmann’s Life Zone Now In The Shop
Simon Hanselmann’s full color, 64 page book Life Zone is now in our shop. Also back in stock from Space Face Books is Michael DeForge’s The Boy in Question and the Rat Hex anthology.
Read moreHenriette Valium Great Success 1983-2013
As noted recently, newly added to our shop is the greatest career retrospective yet released of Quebec’s ‘Pope of Comics’ Henriette Valium. This book comes from a new publisher from the little heard from country of Macedonia. Our old friend Janelle Hessig got the full scoop...
Read moreBook Announcements and Convention Schedule!
HELLO ALL! Hope you are enjoying your winter and New Year so far! Sparkplug has a couple announcements for you. First, due to some paper mix ups, Reich #11 is taking a little longer than expected to print. It is still available to pre-order here. I am expecting to have it in...
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