(Some of my) FAVORITE COMICS OF 2015

They say that timing is everything, and in this age of nanosecond attention spans and constantly refreshing newsfeeds that's more true than ever. So it's with great delight that I present here a brief and certainly incomplete list of Some of My Favorite Comics of 2015.

Every year more and more cool comics are released in droves, and every year I have less time to read them. But I buy them, and they stack up in boxes and overflowing shelves waiting for that moment when I can retire from the daily grind and sit down and read all those DeForge books. And mark my words, friends -- That day shall come.

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Extra Good Stuff by Dennis Eichhorn and Various (Last Gasp) More from the genius storyteller Dennis P. Eichhorn, released shortly before his death. Extra Good Stuff (like 2014's Real Good Stuff) teams Eichhorn up with some of the hottest, brightest cartoonists going today (Noah Van Sciver, Max Clotfelter, Tom Van Deusen, Aaron Lange) as well as old time favorites like Mary Fleener and Triangle Slash. A blast from the past blowing open the doors of today! Or something. Excellent.

The Complete Hairy Who Publications edited by Dan Nadel (Matthew Marks Gallery) It's hard to wrap my mind around the sudden increase in interest, or at least in publication, of the Hairy Who, some of the most influential but underappreciated artists of the late 20th Century. Decidedly unhip at a time when conceptual and minimalist art was in fashion, in the late 60's and early 70's this Chicago based artists group produced work that was funky, emotional, bright, weird and graphic, drawing inspiration from everyday life, including comic books. For each of their exhibitions, they produced a catalog that was more of a comic, featuring work from each of the members, Jim Nutt, Karl Wirsum, Gladys Nillson, and this books collects 'em all in ravishing full color.

Big Pussy by Gina Wynbrandt (2D Cloud) A hilariously self-abasing and brilliantly acerbic comic from young wunderkind Wynbrandt depicts the artist negotiating life, lust, and love in the Internet Age. Smart, wickedly funny, and transgressive. More comics like this, please!

Remember This by Disa Wallander (KUŠ) This funny and gently sardonic story examines our memories: why do we have them, why don't we have them, what do they mean? How does art encapsulate time? That sounds stuffy, but this comic is anything but. A delight.

My Hot Date by Noah Van Sciver (Kilgore Books) This one could just as easily have been Noah's St. Cole or Fante Bukowski (Fantagraphics), I Don't Hate Your Guts (2D Cloud) or Blammo #8.5 (Kilgore). The fact is, no one in comics right now is blasting away skill-wise as breathlessly as Noah Van Sciver. His writing continues to get even better, his drawing effortlessly depicts a real, tangible, livable world with ease and understated power, and now that he's figured out his secret coloring technique, in which colors pop and ebb with distinct and beautiful shadowing and tonal effects, he's simply unstoppable. Noah will bury us all, but at least we get to come along for the ride.

Ikebana by (Retrofit/Big Planet Comics) The silent protagonist of Ikebana guides us through a humorous look at the foibles of art school and then moves into the "real world" with a ruthless clarity before climaxing in wonder and surreal ambiguity. This short comic is endlessly surprising and deeply affecting, and stayed with me long after I read it.

Terror Assaulter: OMWOT: One Man War On Terror by Benjamin Marra (Fantagraphics) Marra's ridiculous and pitch perfect satire of masculinity and violence is odd, funny, disturbing, idiotic, and brilliant.

Hey America! Wake the Fuck Up! by Ron Regé Jr. (Self-published online) As Amerika® descends deeper into cruel stupidity and vacuous self-absorption Art can still remind us of who we really are, and who we want to be. Regé's brief response to modern life does not mince words or ideas, but is still full of compassion and heart. Fantastic, powerful, and much-needed. Link

Stroppy by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly) Marc Bell's first extended foray into comix storytelling in some time is a savagely funny and absurd look at hyper-capitalism and corporate control. Poor Sap Stroppy unwittingly gets mixed up in a Capitalist Poetry scheme, while his evil boss Monsieur Moustache plots his fiendish creative coup. All with Bell's trademark nuttiness and surreal good humor, natch.
 

Recidivist IV by Zak Sally (La Mano 21) Harkening back to the fuck all days of alternative comics, when the integrity of one's personal expression was the all-consuming goal of our art, Recidivist IV is a deeply intense, dense, and difficult guide to one person's battle with his life and art. Reading the book requires that you sweat it out in the trenches with the author, and when you finally come out the other side you've had an undeniable taste of his struggle. A real achievement in a world where many cartoonists actually seek mediocrity, and ho-hum is often the most one can expect.

2015 YEAR IN REVIEW

So, there is still plenty of time left in 2015 for wonderful, terrible stuff to happen, but in the world of comics, things every year start to wind down about now. CAB was a few weeks ago, Milwaukee Zine Fest was last weekend [historically my last (and favorite) show each year]. The publishers are dropping their final holiday-hoped releases on us. So, time to pause and reflect.

I feel like I was on the road non-stop this year, but actually I did a few less shows than usual. That goes to show you how many festivals there are now. Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter reflected recently on the unavoidable scheduling conflicts coming up nowadays, with two, sometimes three competing shows all scheduled for the same weekend sometimes. C'est la guerre.

I LOVE shows. I rarely feel more alive than I do while behind the Spit and a Half table putting great comix directly into the hands of readers. But the ceaseless travelling wearies. In a practical sense an artist or a publisher travelling great distances, paying for a table, paying for lodging, food, gas etc all to sell a comic book to someone is not exactly the most efficient way of doing business. But what else do we have? Aside from our handful of generous, open-minded retail outlets, from Desert Island in Brooklyn, to Copacetic in Pittsburgh, to Quimby's in Chicago, to Seite Books in LA, the general comics shop market continues to remain ignorant or even downright hostile to "Art Comics." Most people looking for unusual or challenging or non-sexist comics fled the comics shops a generation or two ago, but nothing substantial has risen up since to cater to those folks. So the shows fill a gap in the market.

Let me pause to suggest that good old-fashioned mailorder is maybe the best way to get these comics if you can't make it to the shows, or don't want to wait for a show to pick up a new title. I'm biased of course. I've run the Spit and a Half distro off and on for over 20 years now. One of my biggest accomplishments this year was bringing the website into the 20th Century (!) (Thank you Fran López!) with a cart, automated postage calculator, online checkout, etc, and the results have been great. More customers come through all the time, but I would say my total business is still about a third of what it was in the 90's, when mailorder was generally the only way to get these comics. I think and hope the distro will continue to grow as more people find out about it. (And of course there are plenty of other comix mailorder distros out there-- see the sidebar on my site.)

Looking back I feel like I barely got anything done this year.  I'm STILL adding books to the distro site that I picked up at SPX or earlier, and all the travelling left little time or energy for drawing. When I really think about it though, over the course of the past year and a half I drew almost 300 pages of comics (producing both The Hospital Suite and King-Cat #75) -- still, the creative work seemed to get swallowed by the busy work this year.

I do have a head start on #76 and hope to have it out "early"-ish in 2016. I'll be travelling a bunch in 2016 too, but I'm trying to visit some of the shows and cities I've missed in recent years. We'll see how it all goes.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone who came out to signings, picked up a King-Cat somewhere along the line, visited my table at shows, and so on. Once the tired fog clears from my eyes, I realize what an amazing time for comics we live in. Here's to next year!

-John P.

EXTRA SPX NOTES, ETC.

Photo of John P. at SPX, by Phoebe Gloeckner

After filing my post-SPX/STL report last week, I realized I hadn't given full attention there to my time at SPX, probably the biggest show of the year for most, so I thought I would add in some additional comments.

First of all, don't get me wrong. SPX was a weird show for many of us, but it was also, at least for me, a great show. I had my best SPX ever this year, narrowly edging out 2012 in terms of sales. This is especially exciting because at a show like SPX, where many of my distribution clients are exhibiting (I don't overlap by selling their work at my table), I'm often down to bringing the more obscure items in my stock list. This year I focused on a bunch of French and Belgian imports, recent publications from the Latvian publisher KUŠ, Conundrum and Pow Pow titles from Canada, and so on. And people responded. I even sold an untranslated copy of Nylso's Jérôme et la Route!

From a personal angle, I sold plenty of copies of my newest zine, King-Cat #75, and met a lot of wonderful readers and artists. I had great conversations with buddies Noah Van Sciver, Melissa Mendes, Rob Kirby, and even Dylan Horrocks, who I finally got to meet in person!!!

So what did I mean when I said last week, "SPX is no longer the show we once knew"? I don't even know exactly, I'm still trying to put it all together. I was talking to Bill Kartalopoulos when he was at my table, and was trying to explain how I choose what books to bring to what show. Having done enough shows I do have a feel for the crowds at each one. Some crowds are looking for the weirdest, most out there stuff; others are more middle of the road. (I don't do the shows where people are looking for superheroes, or digital prints of Star Trek characters anymore.) Some crowds are looking for nicely produced book editions, some are looking for low-budget zines. With SPX, I really was at a loss for what to expect. What's clear is that it's no longer strictly what you would call an "Art Comics Show". (Was it ever? My memory fails me, but it did feel more like that in the past.) There are tons of webcomics artists exhibiting now, with their own set of aesthetics and creative goals. There are lots of very young artists exhibiting, who also have different sets of goals and approaches. The politics are different (in approach, if not in essence). But us traditional (?) (!) Art Comics creators were still there in force, we're just more diluted, spread out more in the sea of banners and comics.

Again, as I took pains to say in my last post, this isn't a bad thing. It's good! Comics has grown so much, so quickly, that now there are a zillion different people coming at it from a zillion different angles. But it does make it kind of hard for old-timers to keep up. I say old-timers with my tongue in cheek a little, but damn, let's face it, a lot of us are pushing 50 now, not to mention those fogies like the Hernandezes and Cloweses.

As many have pointed out, comics are in a real Golden Age. Many of the greatest comics ever made are being made right now. There's no shortage of amazing work available, from photocopied zines to lush hardcover books (to, I am told, webcomics, though I admit almost complete ignorance of that scene) and beyond. I've been in comics since the number of good, challenging, literary cartoonists could be counted on two hands, through the rise of the self-published revolution, the emergence of the Graphic Novel ™, the internet, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and whatever's next. Some of us are in it for the long haul, and I guess what we need to keep in mind is that above it all, it comes down to the work. Platforms, festivals, methods come and go. We ride those things out, keep our heads down, and try to create the best work we can; put it out into the world however we choose, and continue to hope for that human connection.

John P.

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PS: The latest Comics Books Are Burning in Hell podcast discusses many of these points better than I can, and is well worth the listen for those interested.

SPX and STL 2015

Jim Rugg's cat Kirby helps staple zines for SPX.

Well, I had promised myself I would only do one long-distance comics convention this year, and gave that slot to TCAF, but it turned out King-Cat #75 was nominated for an Ignatz Award, and Noah Van Sciver was a Special Guest at this year's SPX.  So I decided to go at the last minute.  I made plans to get to Pittsburgh Thursday night and stay with my old pal Jim Rugg and his family.

Aw! This is moments after he slashed me so hard I still have a gash.

Friday we got up and drove to Denny's so I could get my free Grand Slam (It was my 47th birthday). Then we headed over to Ed Piskor's to pick him up for the drive to the show.  I got to not only pee in his bathroom, but managed to check out his ink-encrusted studio. Inspiring!

Where the Magic™ Happens: Ed Piskor's drawing table.

South Central Pennsylvania

The ever-present psychedelic SPX carpeting.

Amazingly there was no traffic, and we made it into Bethesda earlier than I ever have before.  Which meant I got to say a few quick 'hi's", take a shower, and go to bed early.  Late in the night, Noah stumbled into the room and we shot the breeze into the wee hours.

If there was one thing old people took away from this year's SPX it's that this is no longer the show we once knew.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it's a good thing, but for some of us it's also a weird thing.  To the generation before mine, the Clowes's, the Hernandez's, the Wares, these shows didn't mean a lick.  (Not a diss, it's just -- there weren't shows like SPX when they were developing, so I think they had less of a connection once they started).  Cartoonists of my generation also came up before the alt-convention circuit began, but in a way we have a special connection to these shows.  We helped build and develop them, helped build and develop the structure that underlies the current alt-comics community.  So maybe we're the first generation of alt-cartoonists to see that infrastructure pull away from us, to change away from us.  Again, not a bad thing. Comics is growing by leaps and bounds, and there are whole worlds of comics and comics artists that have sprung up now that we are not necessarily party to, close to. That's understandable. But I think for those of us who worked hard to develop this world, there are some emotional juggernaughts for us to run, as we get older and try to understand our current place in that world, as it evolves.

As weird as I felt Saturday (brought on no doubt by a few days of lack of sleep and decent food), on Sunday I entered a kind of almost hallucinatory euphoria (brought on no doubt by a few days of lack of sleep and decent food).  The last hours of a con are often a whirlwind for me, as I coordinate with artists and publishers to pick up new work for the distro.  As each person walked up to my table with another box of amazing comics, I regained my footing, and remembered what this is all about.  For me, at least, comics is as much about art as it is about making connections with people, supporting and encouraging artists to go deep, find themselves, and stay true to what they find.  I felt that connection so strongly Sunday that I almost wept.

We drove back to Pittsburgh Sunday night and on Monday morning Kirby was packed and ready to go to Beloit to meet his cousins.

In Chicago Monday evening I got lost in my own hometown and ended up confused in the Loop.  This is the corner of State and Van Buren.  Where are all the people?  They're walking their dogs at that new mall on Roosevelt Road.

At SPX I caught the dreaded Con Crud, and by Monday night I was sick as a dog.  I basically slept Tuesday and Wednesday straight through, only forcing myself out of bed to unpack the car and repack it for my next trip, to St. Louis.

Thursday night I spoke to a group of 40-50 students and faculty at Washington University (where my St. Louis host, the amazing cartoonist Tim Lane teaches), plus a few civilians.  After the lecture we showed the King-Cat movie and one by one the audience slunk out.  I kept director Dan Stafford updated on their departures via text, until there was only one person left in the audience.  Would he make it all the way through?  Hey! Not only did he make it through, but he was practically trembling with excitement afterwards. His name was Viktor, from Belarus, who had left the USSR in the 1980's.  He had never read my comics or even heard of them, but he loved the movie so much he implored us to try to show it around the former Soviet Union.  He said over there the view of America is diamond heists, explosions, gun shootouts, because that's all they ever see, via the movies.  He said, though, that was not the "real America," but that Dan's film actually depicted his experience of America, and Americans.  Wow.

It's an old cliché, that if some project just reaches one person, then it was all worth it. I believe that to be true, and this screening was just more proof of it for me.  The whole thing was for Viktor.  I thanked him, and gave him a copy of the Maisie issue, and walked out of the auditorium high as a kite.

My host Tim Lane working on an illustration of Ross Macdonald for The Baffler.

Friday I had the day off.  Tim had illustration work to do, and it occurred to me that I had a comfy couch, a sweet dog, and a houseful of comics at my disposal.  So I sat there and caught up on Terry and the Pirates, Spain Rodriguez, and re-read The Death Ray.  And blew my nose.

Jo Jo, my couchmate for Friday.

Saturday was the 2nd Annual St. Louis Small Press Expo (I do think they need to change the name, it's too confusing), held at the beautifully refurbished downtown library.  From the minute I walked in the door, the show was pumping.  The only time I was able to get away from my table was to pee a few times and feed the parking meter, and for a well-attended panel/conversation I did in the downstairs auditorium with Tim.

The few instances I had a spare moment, I ran over to one of the tables in my vicinity to check out the wares. All kinds of cool stuff: comics, zines, magazines, prints, you name it.  All super high quality and interesting. I had no idea what to expect of the show, but I can say it blew whatever kind of expectations I may have had out of the water.  Sales were about as good as one day of SPX in Bethesda.

Scenes from the STL SPEx venue.

Tim Lane is one of the most talented, unique, and sadly undersung cartoonists working today, so it was heartening to see he had a line of fans at his table all day long.

Afterwards I packed up and drove home to Beloit, exhausted and sick, but stoked on comics, and zines, and people.

The bridge back into Illinois.

Ol' Man River

(Ninny, back at home, Midnight.)

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Many thanks to Jim Rugg, Natalie, Kirby, Noah Van Sciver, Dan Stafford, Stephanie, Tim Lane, Angela, Jo Jo, and Nick Kuntz for support and hospitality!

FALL TRAVELS: SPX and Beyond

So, gearing up for the last big splash of 2015.  Fall is a major time for comics shows, and here's where I'll be:

Sat./Sun. September 19-20

SPX, Besthesda, MD

Table I-9, with Noah Van Sciver and Kilgore Books

King-Cat #75 is up for an Ignatz!

Thursday September 24

Lecture and Film Screening

Washington University, St. Louis MO

6:30 PM, Open to the Public

Saturday September 26

St. Louis Small Press Expo

Central Branch, STL Public Library

Thursday October 29

Slideshow and Q+A

Madison, WI

Rainbow Books Co-op

(Tentative)

Saturday October 31

Madison Print and Resist

Madison Public Library (Downtown)

Saturday November 14

Milwaukee Zine Fest

Falcon Bowl, Riverwest, MKE

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After that I'm gonna hunker down and get the new King-Cat done. See you soon!

John P.

2015: YEAR IN PREVIEW

King Crayon!  Photo by Olive Booger.

2014 was a long, busy year for ol' John P., and in 2015 I'm looking forward to hunkering down a bit more and getting a lot of drawing done.

First thing on my plate is King-Cat #75, the All-Maisie Issue, which I'm aiming to have out by TCAF or at least CAKE.  It will be a double-sized issue.

Following that I plan on finally releasing South Beloit Journal, my daily diary comics from 2011.  And working on the Strange Growths collection by Jenny Zervakis, which I hope to have out in 2016 -- the first non- John P. Spit and a Half release since 1997!

Travel-wise, I'm cutting way down, with my longest trip likely being TCAF in May, where I hope to table with Zak Sally and Noah Van Sciver.  Otherwise I'm concentrating on more local, easy-to-get-to events, like CAKE, the various Midwestern zine fests, and Autoptic in Minneapolis.

I also hope to spend less time online in the coming months, which paradoxically means (I hope) I can keep this blog updated more regularly with full-length entries.  I have a lot of stuff backed up that I just haven't had the time to post, including bird-banding adventures, two (TWO!) trips to Okefenokee Swamp, the Pierre Feuille Ciseaux event, and a travel diary from my recently completed 25th Anniversary Tour.  So.

Thanks everyone for all your support in 2014 and beyond!  It was wonderful getting out and meeting so many people, both new friends and old.  My best to you--  see you soon!

John P.