Weekly Top 10 Bestsellers

Published on October 26, 2011 0 Comments

1. 2012 Slingshot Large (Slingshot Collective) $12.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically. This large size is spiral-bound.

2. 2012 Slingshot Small (Slingshot Collective) $6.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically.  Perfect-bound pocket size.

3. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – 1. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – Two pitch-perfect stories of rejection, imperfection, and relationship drama, each ending on a surprisingly uplifting note. “Hortisculpture” pushes Tomine into a stylistic camp with Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Chuck Forsman and Kevin Huizenga – perhaps more than ever before. The story works with a “Chalky White”-ish suburban everyman and his tempered ambitions, but camps up the visual style into a Marmaduke-y newspaper strip aesthetic. The effect is similar to the trickiness of his wedding planning comics. The second half is a repolishing of his “Amber Sweet” college girl mistaken for porn star plot. Plus we get a glimpse into Tomine’s sad-sack mailbox, and some self-aware griping about putting out comics issue by issue.  -EF

4.  The Death Ray by Dan Clowes (D&Q) $19.95 – 2. The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes (D&Q) $19.95 – Coming-of-age-as-comic-book-parable-told-as-comic-book. Another Clowes mindfuck, conveniently in gorgeous hardcover.

5.  Ganges #4 by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics) $7.95 – From the author of Curses and Supermonster. The adventues of Glenn Ganges continues.

6.   My Aim is True #1 by Carrie $1.00 – My Aim Is True continues where Carrie’s perzine Brilliant Mistake ends (note the matching Elvis Costello titles). Funny musings on feeling guilty and not feeling guilty, book reviews, crushings and Truma Capote. -EF

7. Big Questions Extras Outtakes and Random Scraps Book Tour Zine Thing by Anders Nilsen $5.00 – Hey,  just in case the nearly 600 pages of collected Big Questions and accompanying adenda wasn’t enough for you, here’s another  24 pages of formative doodles, unpublished sketches, alternate draftings and bookplate designs! Eat until you’re full my completist friend! -EF

8. Savages Rab City $1.00 – Folds out to reveal 3 different drawings.

9. Wanderlust Herbal $2.00 – Scrapper witch Violet lays out a dense herbalist guide to 19 good friends in the plant kingdom….who they are what they do, and how you find ’em when you’re crawling around in the world. -EF

10. Butch Nor Femme #2 by Lynne $1.50 – Butch Nor Femme #2 begins and ends with sharp essays/musings about self-definition, assumption and gender labelling, tethered directly to the title. These bookend more laid back reports from a trip to Michigan and quitting the Facebook, thinking about internet socializer frameworks. Bright Queer Focus, Hella Articulated. -EF

New Stuff This Week

Published on October 21, 2011 0 Comments

Slingshot 2012 Planners are here! $6.00 for pocket-sized small ones and $12.00 for the larger spiral-bound edition. In a variety of colors. Get organized for 2012 with the help of Berkeley’s Slingshot anarchist collective.

Zines
East Village Inky #48 by Ayun Haliday $3.00 – The all music issue!
Your Secretary #1 Playing Victim #3 by Jami Sailor $1.00
Norent #1 a Guide to Life and Such by Sn@cki $8.00
Legends of the Silver Screen #1 by Owen Ashworth $3.00
Biking-related zines from Elyse Bennett Devan (from Microcosm): How Do You Bring the Souls of Black Folk Up From Slavery $1.75 Fascinating History of Nail Polish $1.50 Natalie and the Virgin a Tragic Tale of Love From the Annals of Time $2.00
Dirty Love and Fiberglass Smiles #4 Memphis A Rewriting of the Crew Change by Rust $10.00
2011 Twin Cities Zine Fest Encyclopedia $5.00
Hack This Zine #12 Spr 11 Exploit Code Not People by hackbloc $2.00
Transmissions From the Emperors Heavenly Ford vol 1 Notes on Life as an American by Thomas Kenning (Microcosm) $4.00
Taking the Lane vol 3 Unsung Heroes by Elly Blue $3.00
Taking the Lane vol 4 Sexy on the Inside by Elly Blue $3.00
Bikenomics: How Bicycling Will Save the Economy if We Let It by Elly Blue $5.00
Hack Sketches From a Chicago Cab by Dmitry Samarov $16.00

Comics & Comix
Monster Dudes #1 written by Dave Scheidt and drawn by Matt “Meniscus” Fagan $3.99 – Made by our buddies down the street at Brainstorm! Hilarous and charming. Well, what did you expect?
Ganges #4 by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics) $7.95 – The fourth issue of Kevin H.’s Glenn Ganges series, drawn with appetizing minimalism, written with mystical mind expansion. How is that possible? It just is. Part of Fantagraphics’ Ignatz series.
Crass Sophisticate #27 $2.00
Feedback #10 by John Isaacson $2.00 – Another stellar issue from John “DIY Screenprinting” Isaacson about shows he goes to. And he goes to a lot! How does he find time to do comics about them?
Short Stories of Lives Cut Short by Mitch Munster and Bryan Kotwica $5.00

Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks
Neonomicon TPB by Alan Moore (Avatar) $19.99 – Issues collected in one volume of Moore’s Lovecraftian epic series.
Walking Dead Survivors Guide by Robert Kirkman etc. (Vertigo) $12.99
Unwritten vol 4 Leviathan TPB by Mike Carey (Vertigo) $14.99
Underwire by Jennifer Hayden (Top Shelf) $9.95

Art Books
Print and Pattern vol 2 by Bowie Style (Laurence King) $29.95
A to Z of Visual Ideas How to Solve and Creative Brief by John Ingledew (Laurence) $30.00
DIY Furniture: A Step By Step Guide 30 Unique Projects from Designer Makers by C. Stuart (Laurence) $24.95

Fiction
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday) $24.95 – New book from the author of Fight Club. Here’s what the internet has to say about it: “Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison,” declares the whip-tongued thirteen-year-old narrator of Damned. She died, goes to Hell and is joined by characters that are not unlike the characters in the Breakfast Club. They go on a quest to confront Satan in his citadel. Coming of age book? Like maybe the same way Dead Like Me was a coming of age TV show? We shall see.

Dear Sun I am Real by SG Rainbolt $8.99
Facts of Winter by Paul Poissel (McSweeneys) $13.00 – New soft cover edition.
Mid Life by Bojan Pavlovic $9.95 – From the publishers of The First Line lit journal.

Mayhem, Miscreants, Memoirs, mEssays
Tylenol Mafia Marketing Murder and Johnson and Johnson by Scott Bartz $18.00
50 Funniest American Writers by Andy Borowitz (Penguin) $27.95
Why Am I a Five Percenter by Michael Muhammad Knight (Tarcher) $14.95 – Misrepresented in the media as a black parallel to the Hell’s Angels, portrayed as everything from a vicious street gang to quasi- Islamic revolutionaries, The Five Percenters are a movement that began as a breakaway sect from the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1960s Harlem and went on to impact the formation of hip-hop. References to Five Percent language and ideas are found in the lyrics of wide-ranging artists, such as Nas, Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, and even Jay-Z.
Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!: Of Playboys, Pigs, and Penthouse Paupers – An American Tale of Sex by Mike Edison (Soft Skull) $15.95 – wild and uncompromising history of four infamous magazines and the outlaws behind them, Dirty! Dirty! Dirty! is the first book to rip the sheet off of the sleazy myth-making machine of Hugh Hefner and Playboy, and reveal the doomed history of Hefner’s arch rival, Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, whose messiah complex and heedless spending — on a legendary flop of a movie paid for with bags of cash, a porn magazine for women, and a pie-in-the sky scheme for a portable nuclear reactor —fueled the greatest riches to rags story ever told. From the writer of I Have Fun Everywhere I Go.

Politics & Revolution
Inside This Place Not Of It: Narratives From Womens Prisons ed by Ayelet Waldman and Robin Levi (McSweeneys) $16.00 – People in U.S. prisons are routinely subjected to physical, sexual, and mental abuse. While this has been documented in male prisons, women in prison often suffer in relative anonymity. Women Inside addresses this critical social justice issue, empowering incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women to share the stories that have previously been silenced. Among the narrators include a woman sterlized without her consent and a woman undergoing toxic treatment for a HIV positive diagnoses she didn’t have and more. Part of the McSweeney’s Voice of Witness Series.

Magazines
Bizarre #181 Nov 11 $10.50
Wallpaper Nov 11 $10.00
True Crime Oct 11 $8.99
Make vol 28 $14.99 – Not the lit journal, but the DIY project mag.
Gentlewoman #4 Fall Win 11 $12.99
Another Man #13 Fall Win 11 $14.99
Color Skateboards vol 9 #3 $7.99
Harpers Magazine Nov 11 $6.99
Wire #332 Oct 11 $10.99
Perspectives on Anarchist Theory vol 13 #1 a Movement by The Insititute For Anarchist Studies (Microcosm) $6.00 – With contributions from folks like Josh MacPhee, Chris Borte and more.
Inked Nov 11 $7.99

Music Books
Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family Disco and Destiny by Nile Rodgers (Spiegal) $27.00 – By the architect of the “Chic Sound” that dominated the late seventies, but was also a hitmaker in the 80s for artists like David Bowie, INXS, Duran Duran, Madonna, and more.

Sex & Sexy
Handbook vol 5 #4 2011 The Masked Issue $6.00
Model Men Gay Erotic Stories by N. Placky (Cleis) $14.95
Women in Lust Erotic Stories by RK Bussel (Cleis) $14.95
Ellen Von Unwerth Fraulein (Taschen) $69.99
Big Book of Pussy ed. by Dian Hanson (Taschen) $59.99 – Editor Dian Hanson delves into the historical significance of this humble os, to show how the yoni has been coveted, feared, reviled, and worshipped by civilizations worldwide, from New Guinea to old Ireland. The text is supported by playful photographs of women exposing their vulvas, from 1900 to the present day, images both naturally furry and stylishly groomed. Interviews with Vanessa del Rio, squirter Flower Tucci, vaginal performance artist Mouse the singular Buck Angel and more.

Other Stuff
More Moleskine blank journals and 2012 planners. In a variety of sizes, colors, lined, unlined, week at a glance, day at a glance etc.
2 new Build Your Own Postcards from Matt Bergstrom (artist of the Build Your Own Chicago and New York Postcards): *Build Your Own San Francisco Postcard and Build Your Own St. Louis Postcard. $2.00 each

Craig Thompson Celebrates Habibi 11/17

Published on October 20, 2011 0 Comments
Nov ’11
17
7:00 pm

Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, Habibi (Pantheon Books) tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, circumstance, and love. We follow them as their lives unfold together and apart; as they struggle to make a place for themselves in a world fueled by fear and greed.  At once contemporary and timeless, Habibi gives us a love story of astounding resonance; a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and the magic of storytelling.

“Habibi is a remarkable feat of research, care, and black ink, and a reminder that all “People of the book,” despite the division of their individual traditions, share a mosaic of stories.”—Zadie Smith, Harper’s Magazine

“A fantastical love story of a harem girl and the slave boy she rescues, inspired by the Arabian Nights, ancient calligraphy, and modern environmental catastrophe.”—Dan Kois, New York Magazine

Craig Thompson is the award-winning author of the graphic novels Blankets  and Good-bye, Chunky Rice.

For more info:
http://www.facebook.com/CraigThompsonAuthor
www.pantheonbooks.com

 

 

 

 

Click here to download a copy of the press release for this event.

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Quimby’s Backs Chromazoid Comics Anthology & Mix Tape Kickstarter Project. So should you.

Published on October 20, 2011 1 Comment

We backed the Chromazoid Comics Anthology & Mix Tape Kickstarter project by Lale Westvind in Harlem, NY. It’s a book with color comics by nine FRESH Comics by Nine FRESH Artists, handpicked, like flowers, IN VIBRANT COLOR! Each comic is totally unique in its aesthetic and medium. The artists are Ben Bertin, Robert Calzone, William Cleveland, Lisa Cline, Lyra Hill, Nick Jackson, Ian McDuffie, Jeremy Tinder and Lale Westvind.

Editor Lale Westvind says, “The Mix Tape that comes with the book is an eclectic mix of genres and styles, with songs and sounds influenced and inspired directly by the comics in the book. I made this book to showcase friends and peers of mine that I thought were making incredible work and wild music, stuff that would look and sound even better if PRINTED IN COLOR and ON TAPE and COMBINED! Kickstarter donations fund the expensive color printing of these books and tapes, then we get to carry the chromazoids all over the u.s. to get our work seen, read and heard.”

For more info:
Chromazoid on Kickstarter
Chromazoid Blog (to see comics pages from the book and links to the individual artists’ websites)

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Chicago Zine Fest Fundraiser 10/24

Published on October 19, 2011 0 Comments

 

ZINE READING FUNDRAISER!
An evening of zine and comics readings
at The Moving Castle
Monday, October 24, 7:30pm
3317 N Kedzie

Readers include:
Ben Spies (no more coffee zine)
Corinne Mucha (Is it the future yet?)
Dave Roche (On Subbing)
Sarah Palin/aka C-Span (Jayonce fan fiction)
Marian Runk (Inbox)
Ben Bertin (MIOK)
suggested donation $3 – $5

Chicago Zine Fest will be March 9th-10th, 2012 at places around town, including Columbia’s Conaway Center. More info at chicagozinefest.org

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