Three news pieces.
Firstly, we are saddnend to hear of the passing of Sparkplug publisher Dylan Williams. Williams had been battling cancer. We send our condolences to his family and friends.
Congratulations to our own Edie Fake, who won a 2011 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel for his book Gaylord Phoenix.
Billy McCall (aka Billy Da Bunny) of Proof I Exist zine moved to New Mexico and got involved with the ABQ Zine Fest 9/30-10/2, and as part of the fest, he’s hosting The First Annual ABQ Zine Fest OLYMPICS on 10/1 with events like Speed Stapling, Precision Folding, and Synchronized Zining. Yes, you read that correctly. So, if you’re in Albuquerque in a few weeks, go and git yer zine on.
Here are the top 10 bestsellers of last week:
1. F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel by Dan Sinker and Biz Stone (Simon) $12.00
2. Tiki Magazine vol 7 #2 $5.99
3. The Believer #83 Sep 11 $8.00
4. Wrongful Convictions: Causes, Solutions, and How You Can Get Involved by The Innocence Project $2.50 - This zine outlines the basic ways wrongful convictions easily happen in the current American justice model, develops solutions and talks to activists about what their approaches are towards changing the system. Clear, informative, hopeful and helpful.
5. I Dont Understand Farming #6 $.75
6. I Will Bite You and Other Stories by Joseph Lambert $14.00 – 2011 Ignatz Winner for Outstanding Artist! Weird and toothsome stories of child-planetary interaction, monsterous consumption, ants-in-the-pants urgency and geometric breakdown. Lambert’s drawings have an assured mischieviousness like Steve Weissman’s early Lemon Kids, and these tales operate in a cosmic system that eschews outright snark and didactic symbolism in favor of suprising solutions and original visions. -EF
7. Chicago Street Art by Joseph J. Depre, Oscar Arriola, etc. $15.00 – Text by Joseph J Depre and photos by Oscar Arriola, Chris Diers, Thomas Fennell IV and Patrick Hershberger. A love letter of sorts to Chicago and its many street artists, photos published here so that when the art gets graffiti blasted they’ve been documented somewhere. With work by such artists as Tiptoe, Artillery, The Viking and more. Traverlers, fuck bringing home a snowglobe from the souvenir stand. Get this book instead.
8. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco) $16.00
9. Exxxtinction: 1st Known Circle Jirk by Sy Loady $3.00
10. Warmer by Aiden Koch (Sparkplug) $5.00 – Koch’s moody, pencilled mini builds itself out of vaguely nihilist non-events. Pregnant pauses dwell on crumpled clothes and antique light fixtures, limbs and patterns. The structure plays itself long and loose, the slow clues that build narrative poignancy do an equal turn at washing away any meaning so we’re left with the dissolution of an empty visit to an empty day. -EF
