Monthly Archive for July, 2013

International Zine Month Roundup!

internationalzines

In honor of the end of International Zine Month, we wanted to share some of our favorite zines and such from around the globe. Take a gander at some of the imports you can score on the shelves at Quimby’s.

Otso, Mari Ahokoivu, Finland, Bilingual (Finnish/English)

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Finnish comic artist Mari Ahokoivu, details the existential journey of the titular bear (otso) in outer space. Things get pretty hairy, even for a bear, until the story comes to a rather beautiful celestial resolution. Ahokoivu’s drawings are infused with bright colorful swirls and a sense of fun, even with the subject matter gets dark. Most of the action takes place in the illustration. The sparsely applied written words are translated into her native Finnish from English.

 

Gang Bang Bong, Multiple artists, Canada/Mexico, Bilingual (Spanish/English)

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Edited by Ines Estrada in Mexico and Ginette Lapalme in Toronto, this bilingual comic anthology is in its third installment. Gang Bang Bong started out more lo-fi but has become glossy, towing the line between zine and magazine. Inside you’ll find avant garde comics that tend to eschew the traditional panel storytelling form for more fluid narratives. GBB is a publication that straddles the lines of language and breaches the disconnect of North America’s two primary linguistic modes. And, on a lighter note, it’s full of fun, sometimes silly illustrations.

 

The Life and Times of Butch Dykes, Eloisa Aquino, Montreal Quebec, (English)

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This series of mini-zines spotlights notable masculine lesbians around the world, including Chavela Vargas, JD Samson, Gladys Bentley, Gertrude Stein and Claude Cahun. Despite its Montreal-ness, Life and Times is written in English. Inside you’ll find a classy Spark Notes version of these women’s accomplishments, highlighting experiences of personal triumph, trauma and updates on their present day lives, (if they’re still living). Life and Times also features handsomely screen- printed covers.

School, Women and Japanese Culture, Multiple artists, Japan, (English)

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Japanese journal School contains interviews, essays, photography and artwork reporting on the lives of women specifically, Japanese women generally. School examines the tension between ancient and modern cultures in Japan. Its sparse design and academic prose make for intellectually stimulating reading. Topics include relationship with sense of place, the existential implications of architecture, personal accounts of depression and an interview with singer Minako Yoshida.

Frontier, Uno Moralez, San Francisco by way of Russia

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Frontier is the first analog release for Uno Moralez who works mainly in digital mediums. His haunting figure-based visions are set in the style of a pixilated video game screen. Moralez deals in visual archetypes of the Virgin Mary, sailors and femme fatales, among others. This comic is less narrative and more a dream-like stream of consciousness parade of catastrophic and sensual image associations. So far, two issues have been released.

You Won’t Find These International Zines In Our Webstore, But Rather, Our Brick and Mortar Store…Come on in to Quimby’s to check these out!

Word About Seeing Words Anything, Sergej Vutuc, San Jose, California by way of Germany

Photographer and visual artist Vutuc, who lives in Germany, made this zine as part of his show with Shawn Whisenant “Coincidence” at Seeing Things Gallery in San Jose California. Vutuc’s zine is a black-heavy collage that forms a  photographic abstraction of his travels . He deals in shadow and light, splices of celluloid and hand scrawled musings. Word About Seeing Words Anything is a mixture between an exhibition catalog, small art book and portfolio of Vutuc’s work.

Chomp, Mitsu Sucks, Japan,  Bilingual (English/Japanese)

When your cover features a dude wearing a Spurs hat and Black Flag t-shirt, you have has at least some affinity for the West, or just good taste. Chomp showcases queer street-culture from Japan with a heavy dosage of skater influence, mostly in the form of photography and illustration. Its tagline remarks “everyone is uncool!” but you’ll find plenty cool cats in this rag, not to mention penis drawings. Mitsu Sucks is the creative mastermind behind Chomp but its content features a rotating cast of artists, pals and photographers.

What Are You Collecting at the Moment Mark?, Mark Pawson, UK, (English)

Mark Pawson, British artist, writer and zine reviewer waxes whimsical on his stockpile of stuff.  Akin to Eric Bartholomew’s Junk Drawer zine here in the states, Pawson catalogs objects and trinkets. And it’s pretty straightforward. The mini-zine lets readers flip through a pantheon of figurines, novelty mugs and household objects. It would also do you well to check out Mark’s website. It is incoherent and crazy in the best possible way.

You Can’t Find These International Zines at Quimby’s But They’re Still Awesome!

Koukijin-teki-Shaku: Japan, http://koukijinteki-shaku.blogspot.com/

Spill the Zine, UK Zine Review  http://spillthezines.blogspot.com/

The Treasure Fleet, Minicomic, Germany http://www.treasure-fleet.com/

Tetanos, Abraham Diaz, Mexico http://gatosaurio.com/tetanos2.html

Did we forget anything? Share some of your picks with us.

 

Article by our intrepid Quimby’s reporter and SPOC founder Nicki Yowell.

Self-Publishers of Chicago (SPOC) is a community organization for zinesters, artists, writers and any who publish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elwin Cotman Reads From Hard Times Blues With Patty Templeton 8/23

Aug ’13
23
7:00 pm

HardTimes

In Elwin Cotman’s new book Hard Times Blues (Six Gallery Press), zombies, elves, hobos, Martians, dragons; musical ghosts and sorcerous retail managers wreak havoc. These five lyrical and satirical fables look at the lives of the alienated and dispossessed through a fabulist lens. Drawing inspiration from the Gothic, pulp fiction, rock’n’roll, the Bible, and anime (to name a few), Cotman writes American fairy tales for a 21st century audience. For more info: http://lookmanoagent.blogspot.com/

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“Elwin Cotman writes like a brilliant maniac, as if he’s afraid someone will take his pen away too soon.”–Timothy Schaffert, author of The Coffins of Little Hope

Patty Templeton (below, right) writes hellpunk in a handbasket full of ghosts, freaks and fools. Her work has appeared in PseudopodPodCastleSteam Powered II and Criminal Class Review. She won the first ever Naked Girls Reading Literary Honors Award and has been a runner-up for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. For more info: http://pattytempleton.livejournal.com/

PattyTempletonAuthor

New Stuff This Week

girlwhowasmostlyThe Girl Who Was Mostly Attracted to Ghosts by Corinne Mucha $5.00 – Samantha just can’t seem to stop dating ghosts. A fictional story about the hazards of a haunted romantic life. Translucent vellum overlay, hand painted cardstock cover.

Zines
Unbuilt Skyscrapers by Anne Elizabeth Moore $5.00
Well Never Have Paris vol 10 2013 X $4.00
Freewheelin Andy Hood #2 Sum 13 by Andy Hood $4.00
No Millers #1 $3.00
Different Thoughts Different People by Ant Oine $3.50
Put a Egg On It #7 Sum 13 $7.00
Shameless Spr Sum 13 $6.95
Two Skunks For Valentines Day: A Trip to Awesome Fest Six by Mike Faloon $2.00

Comics & Comix
Mid Nite Tongue by White Swallows (Star Gods Press) $8.00
Sammiches #1 by Daniel Giantomaso (Star Gods Press) $30.00
Sequential Vacation #2 $6.00
Stripburger #61 $8.00
Tiger Beat Exclusive Jun 13 by Gina Wynbrandt $5.00
Bitter Sweet #1 by Krystal DiFronzo $5.00
Raw Power #2 Giant Size Retrofit Iamwar Special Jun 13 by Josh Bayer $6.00
MS Kingdom  by Gabriel Corbera $3.00
Making Tide and Other Stories by Eroyn Franklin $4.00
Rena Rouge vol 37 color edition $10.00
Gone Anthology by Ryan Burns $10.00

Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks
Brandon Graham: Walrus: Brandon Graham’s All Bum Album (Picturebox) $19.95 – Art book from the artist of King City.
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The Daniel Clowes Reader/Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories (Fantagraphics) $35.00 – with Essays Interviews and Annotations.
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics ed. by Justin Hall (Fantagraphics) $35.00 – Now in soft cover.
In the Sounds and Seas Book vol 1 by Marnie Galloway $12.95
Goddamn This War by Tardi and Jean Pierre Verney (Fantagraphics) $24.99
TEOTFW (The End Of The Fucking World) by Charles Forsman (Fantagraphics) $19.99 – Now collected in one book!
Black Orchid TPB by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean $16.99 – Back in print and back in stock.
Strange World of Your Dreams: Comics Meet Dali and Freud ed. by Craig Yoe $29.99
Adventures of Dr. McNinja Omnibus vol 1 by Christopher Hastings et al. $24.99
Beirut 1990:Snapshots of a Civil War by Sylvain Ricard et al. (Humanoids) $29.95
Adventure Time Encyclopaedia $19.95

Art & Design
The Gay 90s by Mark Ryden $39.95
Lust for the Devil: The Erotic Satanic Art of Felicien Rops $24.95
Animation Sketchbooks by Laura Heit $50.00

Mayhem, Miscreants, Memoirs, Music & Misc
Diableries
Diableries: A Trip To the Underworld 19th Century Images of Satan and Hell ed. by Candice Black (Sun Vision Press) $22.95
Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present by David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello $16.00 – DFW and Mark Costello were roommates in Cambridge Boston years before DFW’s passing. This book is back in print, exploring the authors’ “distinctively white enthusiasm for a certain music called rap/hip-hop.” Gee, how um, quaint. Or something.

Politics & Revolution
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Titles published by Little Black Cart: Defacing the Currancy: Selected Writings 1992-2012 by Bob Black $12.00 – Bob Black’s first book in sixteen years. 350+ pages. Anarchist International $7.00 – Self-titled, from this anarchist collective. Occupy Everything: Anarchists In the Occupy Movement 2009-2011 $15.00
Anti-Capitalism: A Beginner’s Guide by Simon Torney (One World Classics) $14.95 – The puncture of the great banking bubble has breathed new life into protest movements and brought anti-capitalist values to the forefront. But what does it mean to be anti-capitalist? Tormey introduces us to all the eclectic groups — anarchists, Marxists, autonomists, environmentalists — and thought that make up the anti-capitalist movement. Global and historical context includes the 1994 Zapatista insurrection through the 1999 Seattle protests right up to Occupy Wall Street, the Indignados of Spain and the current Greek uprisings.

Fiction
How To Swim by Heather Momyer $12.00

Sex, Sexy
Not Your Mothers Meatloaf: A Sex Education Comic Book, ed. by Saiya Miller and Liza Bley (Soft Skull) $15.95 – Comics from a varied group of artists, challening hetero and gender normative practices in sex education. Addresses topics like body image, safer sex, consent, and relationships, from positions that have historically been left out of sex education.
Subliminally Exposed by Steven Dayan MD $14.95
In My Bed Magazine vol 4 #1 $9.95
Handbook vol 7 #3 2013 $6.00

Gender Identity
GLQ vol 19 #3 Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies $12.00
OP Original Plumbing #11 Trans Male Quarterly $9.00
Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide Jul Aug 13 $4.95
Transformation #85 $12.50

Magazines
Bust Aug Sep 13 $5.99
2600 Hacker Quarterly vol 30 #2 $6.95
Skeptical Inquirer Jul Aug 13 vol 37 #4 $4.95
Make vol 35 $14.99
Skeptic vol 18 #2 $6.95
Treating Yourself #41 $7.99
Cannabis Now Magazine #7 $7.99
Mass Appeal #52 $9.99
The Witches Almanac #33 Spr 14 to Spr 15 $12.95
Gup #37 $14.99
Design Bureau Jul 13 $8.00
Dwell Prefab Sourcebook Special Sum 13 $12.99
IdN vol 20 #2 $19.95
Girls Like Us vol 2 #4 $12.00
Makeshift #6 Sum 13 Journal of Hidden Creativity  $10.00
True Crime Special Sum 13 20 All True Murder Stories $6.99
Survivalist #11 $7.95
Laphams Quarterly vol 6 #3 Sum 13 $16.00
Fangoria #325 $9.99
Horror Hound #42 Jul Aug 13 $6.99
Ink Fashion Jul 13 $8.99
Under the Radar #46 $5.99
Shindig #33 $12.99
Ghetto Blaster #35 $3.95
Maximumrocknroll #362 Jul 13 $4.00
Dissent Sum 13 $10.00
Harpers Magazine Aug 13 $6.99
Radical Philosophy #180 $13.00
Against the Current #165 Jul Aug 13 $5.00
In These Times Aug 13 $3.50
Tabu Tattoo #53 $6.99
CCI vol 9 Central City Ink Magazine Special Lmited Edition $4.95

Poetry, Lit Mags, Lit Journals, Chap Books
The Paris Review #205 $15.00
Willow Springs #72 $10.00
Jubilat #23 $8.00
Knock #16 $10.00
Granta #124 Sum 13 Travel $16.99
Bomb #124 Sum 13 $7.95
Brittle Cambria by Ripley Bill $9.00
That Bird Your Heart by Tasha Cotter $14.00

BRAIN FRAME Performative Comix Series Celebrates Second Anniversary at the Co-Prosperity Sphere 7/28

BF13bradscanBRAIN FRAME is a series of performative comix readings. Every other month for two years, BRAIN FRAME has showcased an eclectic mix of sequential artists interpreting their work via projections, puppetry, music, costumes, props, lectures, and performance. In honor of its 2nd anniversary, BRAIN FRAME 13 will include a raffle, art exhibit, market, and four of the most ambitious performances yet.

Brain Frame 13 includes gallery show, mini-market, and four extraordinary performances.

“It’s made me cry tears of joy and laugh food into my nose and I look forward to it every month as if it were Halloween or something.” -The Comics Journal

On Sunday, July 28th, 5p, at the Co-Prosperity Sphere (3221 S Morgan St) ($8), Lyra Hill’s BRAIN FRAME celebrates its second birthday.

BRAIN FRAME 13 will feature the comics art collective Trubble Club; Jeremy Tinder; Sara Drake; and a collaboration by BRAIN FRAME accompanist Night Terror (Tyson Torstensen) and Lyra Hill. A limited edition poster co-designed by Hill and Ignatz-Award winning NYC cartoonist Lale Westvind will also be unveiled at the show. Previously, the show has featured high-profile artists like Anne Elizabeth Moore, Edie Fake, and Jim Trainor, as well as up-and-comers like Andy Burkholder, Halle Butler, and Kevin Budnik.

Hill, a comics artist and experimental filmmaker recently featured on Community Cinema’s Wonderwomen panel at the Cultural Center, doesn’t just curate BRAIN FRAME — she hosts, does tech and promo, and co-designs each poster. At BRAIN FRAME 13, she’ll be performing on stilts in full costume, with a smoke machine and three analog projectors. “I encourage the readers to be as weird and ambitious as possible,” she says, “I try to lead by good example.”

Trubble Club will debut a similarly zealous performance at BRAIN FRAME 13. The jam-comics collective will begin the show with an interactive presentation of The Infinite Corpse, a revolutionary open-submission online comic with no beginning and no end. Following the adventures of everyman skeleton Corpsey, the path of The Infinite Corpse will be dictated by the audience as Trubble Club members try to keep up.

Guests at BRAIN FRAME 13 can look forward to a mini-market with comics, zines, and t-shirts from BRAIN FRAME artists; a gallery show; and raffle with prizes like a set of BRAIN FRAME posters, a deer pelt, a certificate to Bang Bang Pie Co., a portrait by Trubble Club, and more.

BRAIN FRAME has grown steadily since the first show, in scope as well as audience. Saturday, July 27th at 11:30am, a day prior to BRAIN FRAME 13, the MCA will host BRAIN FRAME LIT, a writing-focused comix reading, as part of its Comics Day activities. BRAIN FRAME is “the world’s most exciting comic book reading series,” Edie Fake told The Comics Journal. This coming year, Chicago will export a native gem as Hill tours around the country, hosting one-off shows with local cartoonists.

Contact: brainframecomix(at)gmail(dot)com

Chicago Zine Fest Organizer & Volunteer Opportunities

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A word from Chicago Zine Fest (which usually happens in the spring):

“The Chicago Zine Fest is looking for volunteers interested in helping us gear up for CZF 2014! All levels of involvement are available, including full-time organizer positions and new lead volunteer roles created this year to help streamline the organizing process! Please email us at chicagozinefest(at)gmail(dot)com if you’re interested in being involved and having a hand in a great and rewarding event! Thanks!”