Monthly Archive for July, 2011

Save the Date! Chicago Zine Fest 2012 Dates Announced!

The 2012 Chicago Zine Fest will take place Friday and Saturday, March 9th & 10th of 2012!  For Saturday’s Zine Exhibition, it will return to Columbia’s Conaway Center as the first two years.

Stay tuned to chicagozinefest.org for updates.

Also, perhaps you attended last years? Fill out a short survey to provide feedback to help make 2012′s extra awesome here: http://bit.ly/kL7sIz

And hey! Here’s some highlights from Chicago Zine Fest 2011:

flickr.com/groups/czf11/pool/

youtube.com/watch?v=sPscJYW_7Ak

New Stuff This Week

Some cool stuff this week: A new mini from Alec Longstreth, a new LOEG from Alan Moore, The Comics Journal back in action, a whole mess of awesome stuff from Sparkplug, a book of postcards by local artist Paul Hornschemeier, Adbusters and more.

ZINES & ZINE BOOKS!
She’s So Unusual #1 by Toots La Rue (Sparkplug) $2.00 – This is a super awesome zine about Cyndi Lauper!
Franziskas Bike Zine #2 $1.00
Many Many Make One Bit By Bit #1 by Jim Swill $4.99
Lair Molt Selected Works 2008-2011 by Brian Uhl (Now Is The Time) $10.00 – 28p, b&w, silkscreen cover, 8.5″x11″, comes with patch, button and key, edition of 250.

Calypso Zine #2 Featuring Marissa Paternoster Robo Sexism Hairy Pits $2.00
Faux Cal Point Press vol 1 #2 Jun 11 and #3 Jul 11 $3.00 each

COMICS & MINI COMIX!
Phase 7 #016 by Alec Longstreth $5.00
Drip by C Cilla (Sparkplug) $4.00
Any Anyway #1 by Darryl Ayo (Sparkplug) $2.00
In The Tall Grass #3 and #4 by Tessa Brunton $3.00 each
Too Dark to See by Julia Gfrorer (Sparkplug) $5.00
Nurse Nurse #7 by Katie Skelly (Sparkplug) $3.00
Play Overlord by var. (Sparkplug) $5.00
Inventez des Nouvelles Positions Sexuelles Invent New Sexual Positions by Gwenaelle (Sparkplug) $5.00
Dream Grant the Church of Awesome Thought by Sean ABT Christensen (Sparkplug) $3.00
Flesh and Bone – A Colouring Concertina by John Sibbick $18.00
Big Mother #1 by McBess $30.00
Fight Comic by Jack Teagle $8.00
New Ghost by Robert Hunter $11.00
Badaboom Twist: Comics in English Drawn By a French Speaking Guy Married to an American issues #1-#3 by David Libens $3.00 each

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 3 Century #2 1969  by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (Top Shelf) $9.95
The Comics Journal #301 (Fantagraphics) $30.00 – Yes! Finally a new issue and it looks hot. This volume features a focus on R. Crumb plus an interview with Joe Sacco, a peek into the private sketchbooks of (and accompanying interviews with) Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, and the novelist Stephen Dixon, a conversation between Mad Fold-Out creator Al Jaffee and Thrizzle auteur Michael Kupperman, and more!
Band by Mawil (Blank Slate) $12.99
Snaps by Rebecca Kraatz (Conundrum) $15.00
Suddenly Something Happened by Jimmy Beaulieu (Conundrum) $20.00
Collected John G Miller 1990-1999 (Spit and a Half) $20.00
Setting the Standard 1952-1954 by ALex Toth (Fantagraphics) $39.99
Wormwood Gentleman Corpse HC vol 3 Calamari Rising Deviant Edition by Ben Templesmith (IDW) $24.99
Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti: Treasury of XXth Century Murder by Rick Geary (NBM) $15.99
Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson $20.00

ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
So So Heroes 30 Postcards by Paul Hornschemeier (Chronicle) $9.95
Untitled III This is Street Art (Carpet Bombing Culture) $34.95
Graffiti Burners ed. by Björn Almqvist (Dokument) $29.95 – The most eye-popping graffiti of today! New times, new ideas. In cities worldwide, graffiti art is constantly being taken to higher levels. The will to burn all resistance, to outdo all the others, brings about unexpected and amazing results. Graffiti Burners shows us how techniques have been refined and letter construction distorted, how colour combinations have blossomed and concepts developed. The competition for mastery is burning hot! In addition to amazing pictorial material, several of the writers talk about their pieces and what burners mean to them. Moreover, they offer tips and guidance to those who want to do a burner of their own. Graffiti Burners offers a unique opportunity to acquaint oneself with the progress of the last few years; to be inspired and impressed. In Graffiti Burners the world’s foremost writers show us their favourite works. In short, the best of the best! Aroe (UK), Bates (DK), Bio (USA), Kacao77 (D), Rime (USA), Scan (CA) and Suiko (JP) are just a few of the contributors to the book.

Conseil Juridique et Artistique Legal and Artistic Counsel by Audrey Chan $15.00
Curiosities of Janice Lowry (Grand Cent) $45.00
Big Poster Book of Hindu Dieties: 12 Removable Prints by Sanjay Patel (Chronicle) $24.95
Lowrider Coloring Book by Oscar Nilsson (Dokument) $9.95
OFFF, Year Zero: Artwork and Designs from the OFFF Festival ed. by Rob Chiu (MBP) $60.00 – OFFF is a post-digital culture festival, featuring some of the world’s most relevant contemporary artists, designers, and media mavens. This anual collection features artwork and essays created specifically for the festival and only available in this book. This edition has an exclusive DVD, and every page is die-cut, so the artworks can be hung on the walls. Contributing artists and designers includes Stefan Sagmeister, Rick Poyner, Erik Spiekermann, Keetra Dean Dixon, and Vimeo founder Blake Whitman.

FICTION!
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath And Other Oneiric Works by HP Lovecraft (Creation) $14.95
Too Young To Fall Asleep by Sally Weigle (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography) $20.00 – Why would a poetry-writing high-school emo girl from suburban Chicago volunteer for the Iraq War? And when both of her legs are blown off in a non-combat IED explosion, how will she ever recover?
Salt Creek Anthology: A Hyper Fiction Project (Chicago Center for Literature and Photography) by Jason Fisk $20.00 – A couple meet in a mental institution, have six kids, and devolve into violent alcoholism. An elderly Polish woman with Alzheimer’s goes insane in front of our eyes. A frazzled empty-nester has her bruiser son move back in, along with a scheming girlfriend planning a surprise pregnancy to get them both back out. And an abusive, overweight, racist monster of a man psychologically lords over them all, a total of twenty-odd characters all living on the same cul-de-sac in the far rural suburbs of Chicago. This “micro-story” collection breaks these families’ adventures down into a series of 75 linguistic nuggets. Each story is a different piece of paper in a box, and you can read them in any order you want.
Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding (Ballantine) $16.00
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (Ballantine) $16.00 – Back in print! 20th Anniversary edition of this classic text of an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.
The Chicago Landmark Project: 12 World Premiere Plays About Chicago Places by var. (Theatre Seven of Chicago) $16.00 – Using distinct locations in zip codes from Rogers Park to the South Side, The Chicago Landmark Project offers twelve diverse snapshots of Chicago life from present day to the distant past.

LITERARY JOURNALS, CHAP BOOKS & POETRY!
Man Who Juggeld His Balls by Aarib Wooten $14.99
Overtime Hour 20 Above the Line by Suzanne Ushie $2.00

DIY!
Psychedelic Shamanism, Updated Edition: The Cultivation, Preparation, and Shamanic Use of Psychotropic Plants by Jim DeKorne (North Atlantic Books) $19.95
Remedy Quarterly #5 Community $7.50

CHILDRENS!
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, with illustrations by Laura Park (Littlebrown) $15.99 – With charming illustrations by local illustrator-comics-Trubble Clubber super-star Laura Park.

MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes (Akashic) $14.95
Girls of Murder City: Fame Lust and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry (Penguin) $16.00 – Now in soft cover.
Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow by var. (Prairie) $24.99
911: The Simple Facts Why the Official Story Can’t Possibly Be True by var. (Soft Skull) $12.00
Finding My Place: One Man’s Journey From Cleveland to Boston and Beyond by Judah Leblang $15.95
Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs Most Americans Won’t Do by Gabriel Thompson (Nation) $14.99
Be Honest and Other Advice From Students Across the Country From 826 National by Ninive Calegari (New Press) $25.95
Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism by David Folkenflik (Public Affairs) $15.99

POLITICS & REVOLUTION!
Unruly Women: T he Politics of Confinement and Resistance by Karlene Faith (Seven Stories) $19.95
Weaponizing Anthropology by David Price (AK) $15.95
Complaints and Distorders (Second Edition) Sexual Politics of Sickness by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English (Feminist Press) $9.95

MAGAZINES!
Bizarre #178 Aug 11 $10.50
AdBusters #97 Sep Oct 11 $8.95
In These Times Aug 11 $3.50
World Explorer vol 6 #1 $8.95
IdN vol 18 #3 $17.50
Pinstriping #27 Kustom Graphics Magazine $9.95
Wow Magazine #1 $24.99
Gothic & Lolita Bible #38 $33.00
Ack Ack Ack #3 by Matt Average $3.00 – Average’s California photo files take you for a ride in their way-back machine: Spazz, Die Monitor Bats, Epileptic Terror Attack, Glass Candy, Tragedy, Reality Crisis, Limp Wrist, Go Go Go Airheart, Red Dons and Life’s Halt.

Under the Radar #37 $5.99
Maximumrocknroll #339 Aug 11 $4.00
Me Magazine #21 Sum 11 $7.50
Skin and Ink Sep 11 $6.99

SEX & SEXY!
Sweets Magazine vol 4 #17 $5.99
Psychopathia Sexualis – Classic Study of Deviant Sex (Complete English Language Translation) by Richard Von Krafft-Ebing (Arcade) $16.95

Weekly Top 10

1. Lucky Peach #1 Sum 11 $10.00 – McSweeney’s food periodical. Issue #1.

2. Hi Fructose #20 $6.95

3. 8-Track Mind #101 Zines vs Blogs ed. by F.R. Russ Forster $3.00 – WELCOME BACK 8-TRACK MIND!!!! Holy Moly! After a 10-year hiatus 8-Track Mind heeds the call of the Revenge of Print and pulls a fresh new issue out of the oven! Man, this was the zine that I remember reading way-back-when that REALLY made me think, “Woah, you really can make a great zine about ANYTHING.” Truly. This issue goes light on the 8-trackology but stays true to its analog-obsessed roots with a well-rounded symposium all about “Zines Versus Blogs”. -EF — Contributors: Chris Barrows, Peter Bergman, Joe Carducci, Kim Cooper, Brendan DeVallance, Tony DuShane, Sam Green, Lance Laurie, Alison Levy, Tom Lynch, Danny Plotnick, Dan Sutherland, V Vale and Lucien Williams.

4. Monocle vol 5 #45 Jul Aug 11 $10.00

5. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco) $16.00

6. Fine Fine Music by Cassie J. Sneider (Raw Art) $15.00 – “FINE FINE MUSIC is a collection of stories about the other side of rock and roll and coming of age in the land that time forgot. Lake Ronkonkoma is stuck in 1981, an alcoholic blackout of unnatually tan people waxing their Camaros to Foreigner on cassette and knowing the words to every Billy Joel song whether you want to or not. From an internship making Seamonkey costumes, a childhood fear of My Buddy dolls, and a heartbreaking crush on Aerosmith, funny lady Cassie J. Sneider delivers her tales of growing up in a land of fist-pumping Snookies with the antagonistic wit of a record store clerk.”

7. The First Line vol 13 #2 $3.00

8. Dazed & Confused #99 Jul 11 $9.99

9. East Village Inky #47 by Ayun Halliday $3.00 – Ayun gives us a Mermaid Parade 101 and plenty of scrapper parent scene reportage. Topped with tales of a sourdough starter (you know how New Yorkers like to brag about how cultured they are). -EF

10. Handbook vol 5 #3 2011 ed. by Darren Ankenbauer $6.00 – Lots of intriguing mesh garments in this issue, a back-by-popular demand culling of the creme-de-la-creme of online ads, East Village Boys interview, queer politics, long hard reader dick, and let’s not forget the meat of the issue: Derek, Joey and coverman Caedon.

Brain Frame Comics Reading at Happy Dog 7/28

This Thursday be sure to check out the Brain Frame Performative Comics Reading at Happy Dog Gallery, right around the corner from us at 1542 N Milwaukee, starting at 8pm. It’s a great lineup of local linework from Lyra Hill, Ian McDuffie and Sara Drake and special outta-sight outta-town guest Otto Splotch, and who knows what from Nick Jackson. Maybe you should give a call and see what he’s thinking about?

Ian McDuffie – www.violetmice.com
Sara Drake – sara-drake.blogspot.com
Lyra Hill – www.lyrahill.com
otto Splotch – www.squishthefish.net
NIck Jackson – 757-284-9293

New Stuff This Week

Tonight Cassie Sneider reads from Fine Fine Music with the always entertaining Dave Roche and Danny “Ratso” Rathbun at 7pm.

And now, new stuff this week…

Look at this cool thing we got this week: The Wolf by Tom Neely. It’s a love story in a painted novel form with horror, lore and werewolves. $25.00

ZINES!
Grabbing Good Health By the Balls by var. $7.00
BETCH Rag #1 and #2 $3.00 each
various issues of Dont Tread On Me by Ratso $1.00 each
IAM1 by var. $3.00
Beast a la Nude Coloring Book Edition $1.25
Severely Quirky Infomative Prolonged Informational Instructions by var. $6.00
Damaged Stories of Chicago No Remorse by var. $2.00
Fresh Sloth Jerkin #1 $2.00
You Should Do These Things When It’s Hot So We Can Make Money $2.00
Welcome to the Innovative Future $.01
Quitter by Rachel Tusler $1.50
Art of Ash HG #1 by ASH HG $10.00
Many Many Make One Bit By Bit #1 by Jim Swill (Now Is the Time Publications)  $4.99
Lair Molt Selected Works 2008 2011 by Brian Uhl (Now Is the Time Publications) $10.00

COMICS & (MINI) COMIX!
Issues of Future Funk #0 Exploring the Best of the Black Age of Comics and Beyond $3.00-$5.00
Lets Go Green in Da City by Turtel Onli $3.00
Alphabeta Puke: An Alphabetical Treasury for the Hour of Need by var. $1.00
Red Rogue Classics by Chad Woody $1.00
Bad Seed #1 by Marcus Howell and Chad Woody $1.00
Red Rogue Super Special #1 Pick a Path Adventure by var. $2.00
Farm Break #1 $1.00
Drama Trauma the Problem with Teen Relationships by var. $2.00
Rocketbot Demo by Ian Endsley $5.00 – Comes with a CD.
Small Advices 2010 by Sara Drake $5.00

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPER BACKS!
Alan Moore Story Teller by Gary Spencer Millidge (Universe) $45.00
Will and Joe books (Fantagraphics) $29.99- $39.99
Gil Jordan Private Detective: Murder by High Tide by M. Tillieux (Fantagraphics) $18.99
Sibyl Anne vs Ratticus by R. Macherot (Fantagraphics) $16.99
World of Smurfs: A Celebration of Tiny Blue Proportions by Matt Murray (Abrams) $24.95
Two different authorized adaptions of Ray Bradbury books: Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Martian Chronicles (Hill & Wang) $15.95 – $24.95
Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human by Grant Morrison (Spiegel) $28.00 – OK, strictly speaking, this is not a graphic novel. But it is by Grant Morrison and is very autobiographical.
Origins of Team Blanga Heroes of the Black Age by Turtel Onli $15.00 – Includes Blanga Beatz CD Sound Track from Hard Headz.
Maffilu Chapter 1 Maffilu in the Castle of the Bees by Dafne Nesti $12.99
Krazy Kat and the Art of George Herriman a Celebration by Craig Yoe and Bill Watterson (Abrams) $29.95
Seeds by Ross Mackintosh (ComX) $10.99
Homeland Directive by Robert Venditti and Mike Huddleston (Top Shelf) $14.95

ART & DESIGN & PHOTO BOOKS!
Behind Every Curtain by Marcel Dzama (Zwirner) $22.00
Instead of Eros Avenged by Mark Gonzales (Nieves) $38.00
I Guess I Shouldn’t be Telling You by Stefan Marx (JRP) $39.95
Alice Cooper Suzi Simpson by Brian Kennon $18.00
Remembering 911 by Martha Cooper (MBP) $10.95 – Photographs and words from this hip hop and street art photographer.
How To Be the Best Bubble Writer In the World Ever ed. by Linda Scott (Laurence King) $14.95 – When we think of bubble writing we think of middle school and note passing. Well, you’re wrong. Street artists use it too.

CHILDRENS BOOKS!
Adventures of Tintin: Cigars of the Pharaoh, Young Readers Edition by Hérge (LB) $8.99

MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring (FSG) $18.00
Retromania: Pop Cultures Addiction to Its Own Past by Simon Reynolds (Faber) $18.00
Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want To Fight For by Andrew Laties (Seven Stories) $16.95 – New edition with a foreword by Edward Morrow and an afterword Bill Ayers.
The Ultimate, Illustrated Beats Chronology  by Robert Niemi (Soft Skull) $15.95 – Did you know that less than two weeks after Jack Kerouac reported to the Newport, RI U.S. Naval Training Station (the same month that the German 6th Army was surrendering at Stalingrad), he was discharged, diagnosed with a “Constitutional Psychopathic State, Schizoid Personality”? That just a few months later, William Burroughs moved from Chicago to New York, where he took a small apartment at 69 Bedford Street and began a heroin addiction that was to last until 1956? That meanwhile, Gregory Corso, thirteen and homeless, was being arrested for petty larceny, while Hubert Selby, Jr., fifteen, joined the Merchant Marines? And that the very same year, Allen Ginsberg, a new graduate from Eastside High School in Patterson, New Jersey, began his first semester at Columbia University, where he first made the acquaintance of Herbert Gold and Jack Kerouac? Packed with month-by-month and week-by-week anecdotes, The Ultimate, Illustrated Beats Chronology is a meticulous timeline detailing the life events and literary accomplishments of the writers who became known as the Beat Generation. Covering an entire century and then some, this beautifully illustrated volume is certain to be an invaluable resource for anyone curious about the Beat Generation.

FICTION!
Lights Out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre (Norton) $25.95
Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham by Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse) $14.95 – A hilarious, shocking, terrifying thrill-ride across the American landscape, The Damned Highway combines two great flavors of weird: the gonzo journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and the uncanny terrors of H.P. Lovecraft! Horror legend Brian Keene and cult storytelling master Nick Matamas dredge up a tale of drug-fueled eldritch madness from the blackest depths of the American Nightmare. On a freaked-out bus journey to Arkham, Massachusetts and the 1972 Presidential primary, evidence mounts that sinister forces are on the rise, led by the Cult of Cthulhu and its most prominent member – Richard M. Nixon!
Happily Ever After: Fairytales Retold ed. by John Klima (Night Shade) $16.99 – Over thirty stories by, amongst others, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint,  Kelly Link, Garth Nix and Gregory Maguire.

POETRY & CHAP BOOKS!
Twinning by Meg Prichard $4.00
RSVP by var. $4.00
Facts of Light by Laura Goldstein $4.00
Some Were Awake by Connor Stratman  $4.00

POLITICS & REVOLUTION BOOKS!
Revolution at the Gates: Selected Writings of Lenin From 1917 Writings ed. by Zizek (Verso) $24.95

MAGAZINES!
Bust Aug Sep 11 $4.99
Tape Op #84 Jul Aug 11 $4.95
Razorcake #63 $4.00
Wallpaper Aug 11 $10.00
Cine Qua Non #4 $10.00
CNTRMTR #1 the Photo Issue $25.00
Make vol 27 $14.99 – The DIY hacking magazine, not the Chicago-based lit journal.
Colors #81 Sum 11 $8.95
Z Magazine Jul Aug 11 $6.95
Harpers Magazine Aug 11 $6.99

SEX & SEXY!
Obsessed Erotic Romance for Women ed. by Rachel Kramer Bussel $14.95
Handbook vol 5 #3 2011 $6.00
Heat Wave hot hot hot Erotica by Alison Tyler (Cleis) $15.95
Hot Daddies – Gay Erotic Fiction ed. by Richard Labonte (Cleis) $14.95
Days of the Cougar: Outrageous Visual Diary of Sexual Adventurer Liz Earls ed. by Dian Hanson (Taschen) $39.99 – This kitty has claws. Through the cougar’s eyes: the road to sexual liberation. ‘My life had become a playground, and it was exactly what I wanted,’ writes photographer Liz Earls in the introduction to this groundbreaking book detailing her transformation from middle-aged, overweight Human Resources director to sexual adventurer, self-portraitist, and unabashed cougar.
Whip Smart by Melissa Febos (TD) $14.955 – Febos’s candid, hard-slogging debut, now in soft cover, about her four years working as a dominatrix at a midtown Manhattan dungeon cuts a sharp line between prurience and feminist manifesto.
Ultimate Guide to Orgasm for Women: How to Become Orgasmic For a Lifetime by Mikaya Heart (Cleis) $17.95