Uninsured Crisis
Karen Wilson Wehrle, wife of Joe Wehrle, Jr. of Cauliflower Catnip and Arkham House/Mirage Press fame, and talented creative in her own right, has just undergone a serious operation and has no health insurance. If you would like to help the family with a donation at this difficult time, please send whatever you can directly to Karen's PayPal Account (gift checkbox) or via regular mail to:

Joe Wehrle, Jr.
P. O. Box 41
Punxsutawney, Pa 15767

Karen is out of danger, but for the foreseeable future, the Wehrle's will only have a monthly income of $947 to rely on, while their medical bills are now in the thousands. All from a single emergency. I'll post an update on the situation when I hear anything more.

Harvey Pekar RIP
I had the pleasure of hearing Harvey Pekar speak for an hour or so in 2006. I think he was in town as part of a book tour for Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story. His delivery was casual and he seemed very relaxed in front of a crowd of about 100 (if memory serves). He shared the story of his life in comix and talked about his upcoming projects, which were numerous. The shock wave of his death this week rippled through the comix web. There are many tributes and summations of his place in comix history, as well as recollections of his work, his appearances on Letterman, his movie, and his impact on the medium. Jim Ottaviani and Steve Lieber interviewed Pekar and his wife Joyce Brabner for Hogan's Alley a while back. Here's the report from his hometown newspaper. They called him Cleveland's comic-book legend. Sounds right to me. May he rest in peace.

Zoey Woodward
At the other end of the spectrum, congratulations to Anthony Woodward and family on the birth of their daughter, Zoey Clara, born on July 15th. He reports all is well!

Steve Lafler at Reading Frenzy
Proprietress of Portland's premier indie press emporium, Chloe Eudaly, held a launch party for Steve Lafler's El Vocho book on Thursday evening here at Reading Frenzy.

Steve signed books, chatted with the crowd and played Oaxacabilly tunes accompanied by David Perkin (I hope I got that right) on bass and JR Williams on electric uke. The songs included Jack Black Song, the El Vocho theme song, and several others.

Green energy comes to the comics. El Vocho offers a crackling urban romance pairing Rosa, a brilliant inventor, with laconic Eddie, boy/man artist. Can love blossom in this tense thriller pitting big oil against budding genius Rosa?

Rosa and Eddie meet in a fender bender and tempers flare, but cupid shoots his arrow and the two fall for each other. It takes their combined smarts and intuition to create the perfect clean energy engine.

“Vocho” is the nickname of the Volkswagon Bug in Mexico, where there are still millions on the road. The 100 page graphic novel is available now for $12 from Lulu.com, where you can also read a preview of the book. Steve's next stop in at the Mercury Cafe in San Francisco on July 22.

Free PDF Zines
TwoMorrows Publishing is offering free PDFs of seven of their current titles including Alter Ego, Jack Kirby Collector, Write Now, and four others. You can also download a copy of their full catalog. They reported the volume of downloads caused a few glitches, so if you're having problems try again a little later.

Buzzpop #4 Now Out
Matt Chicorel has published the fourth edition of his Buzzpop comics. The new collection from Night Light Comics includes parts 7-9 (the conclusion) of the Origins story and lots more. It's available for $4 from the shop at Night Light Comics.

Alec Longstreth Interview
Derek Neuland posted a great interview with Alec Longstreth this week on Overglued. It's loaded with links, cartoons, and photographs. Longstreth is one of the shinning stars of today's small press scene. If you haven't seen any of his Basewood work, look into it. it's a visual treat.

Short Pants Sale
Sarah Becan of Short Pants Press is offering 15% off her comics. Enter the code word ESCROW to get the discount during checkout. This would be an awesome time to get the Ouija Interviews (a Midnight Fiction Favorite). Just sayin'.

Digested #1 & 2
Gestalt Comics announced the release of the first two issues of Australian cartoonist Bobby N.'s Digested. From the press release: The artist draws together a series of short form sequential art with crisp, pen-and-ink drawings, combining an ongoing serial tale [that means they're comix fer christsakes], Oxygen with poignant observation and slice-of-life stories that cut close to the bone. Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter, says, “The serial Oxygen processes its science fiction through an autobiographical comics template: spying on the neighbors, remembering strange moments from the past, dreamscapes." Digested #1 (24pp) & #2 (64pp) are offered in the current Diamond Previews catalog priced at $2.95 and $9.95 respectively.

Flashshot
Flash fiction has been around since the early 90s. From what I understand there isn't a universally accepted length; suffice to say flash fiction is very short. Publisher/editor/writer GW Thomas has created Flashshot, an online magazine, that provides a daily dose of genre (science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, or surreal) flash fiction of 100 words or less. He's collecting the best for a print anthology scheduled to be available soon.

Inside Midnight Fiction
I guess I was wonky ealier, about my RSS service, RapidFeeds. From their communications I thought they were going entirely fee-based from July 1 on. But I guess they grandfathered their old clients, so I'm still onboard with them for the MF.com feed. Sorry for any concern I caused to current subscribers. If you'd like to add our RSS Feed to your reader, I've put the buttons back in the right sidebar.

Also new this week is a Google Search box on the homepage. I'm not sure how useful this will be, but it provides an alternative way to navigate when you're not in the mood to browse.

A new section page header was added this week. This one is a replacement for the About section. I'm slowly migrating some of the About content to the more appropriate sections: History and Interviews, so the header needed an update. The characters shown are the detective from Satyr #9, caricatures of me and Nick Fury from Not My Small Diary #15, and one of Brian Buniak's imaginary assistants (bottled blonde).

Rip Haywire Originals
Fans of Dan Thompson's adventure/humor comic strip Rip Haywire will be glad to know he's now selling original black and white (no color or shading) dailies on the Rip Haywire website. You can choose from a large selection of strips from 2009 and 2010. The original artwork is 4.75" x 16" and go for $100 each plus shipping. The digital lettering is printed out first, then the strip is inked. Allow a couple of weeks for the cartoonist to package up and ship your order. To buy them, simply navigate your way to the strip you want and click the "$" button (circled in red above). Payment is made via PayPal.

R. Crumb Genesis Exhibit
Portland was lucky enough to score Crumb's Genesis for several months at the Portland Art Museum. I went with friends last Saturday. It was a singular experience. Crumb is certainly at the top of his game. The drawings are extremely detailed with layers of cross hatching that give the artwork an amazing depth and richness. In fact, I couldn't help but think of Basil Wolverton's drawings of the bible as I looked at Crumb's.

I won't go into a review of the book. There have already been plenty, like DK Row's from The Oregonian. But I will add a few comments about the exhibit experience itself. This was unlike any museum visit I've ever encountered. Besides the excitement of seeing comic art in such a mainstream setting and observing the variety of people in attendance, there was something else. Everyone was reading. Obviously the comics medium combines words and pictures to tell a story, but I'd never been part of a group experience like this. The words gave everyone reason to linger over each page of artwork. The entire book was on display and many people read it from start to finish. They weren't chatting or milling around. Everyone was completely absorbed by the comics experience—for hours. In that way, it was like seeing a movie at a theatre. A shared, but individual experience. Just amazing. If you haven't already seen the book, it's well worth the effort to seek it out.

SDCC Freakshow
Ape Entertainment will preview their new title, Freakshow, at the San Diego Comic Con this year. Freakshow is a three-issue series co-created by David Server and Jackson Lanzing with art by Joe Suitor. The series won't arrive in comic shops until 2001, but advance copies of issue #1 will be for sale at Ape Entertainment (booth 2104) at SDCC. Cover options include one by Suitor and one by Darick Robertson.

Top June 2010 May 2010

July 10, 2010

Free Big Book of Small Press #1
After careful consideration, small press publisher Jim Main has decided to make his massive Big Book of Small Press #1 available as a free PDF download in place of a print edition. As a free digital publication, the book will have a wider distribution and each contributor's work will gain the opportunity for greater exposure.

The free PDF provides a chance to sample the work of a huge roster of indie cartoonists including Terry Pavlet (cover), Hal Jones, Jim Siergey, Jennifer Walker, Bill Shut, Josh Blair, Al Limacher, Andy Nukes, Matt Levin, Martin Oakley, Miguel Guerra, Brien Wayne Powell, John Lambert, Tim Temmel, myself, Sam Gafford, BeBop, Barry Southworth, Charles Kelly, Rock Baker, Jeff Austin, Lauren Barnett, Rick Limacher, Carl Alessi, Dave Farley, Dan Taylor, Michael Grassia, Laurence DuCheny, Kevin Duncan, Marc Haines, Larry Tisch, Brad Foster (back cover), Robert J. Sodaro, Jack Bertram, April Kurowski, George Leon, Cliff Kurowski, Noor Hafizah, Mike Pascale, Nate Corrigan, Robert Sumner, Larry Blake, and Jason DeGroot.

Edited by Jim Main, the book is available exclusively here on MF.com. Marc Haines provided production management. The book was produced by Main Enterprises. The volume is dedicated to the memory of newaver, and long-time small press cartoonist, Jamie Alder (aka Bill Shut), who passed away in February 2010.

The PDF of this massive volume has been divided into halves, which can be downloaded here:
Big Book of Small Press #1 pages 1-106 (37 MB)
Big Book of Small Press #1 pages 107-212 (47 MB)

Lafler in Stumptown
Steve Lafler returns to Portland next week at Reading Frenzy to promote his latest graphic novel, El Vocho. Lafter was featured this week on This Zine Will Change Your Life with a comic narrative of the story behind the story and one of his Oaxacabilly tunes: Jack Black Song.

Floid's Saga
Adam Jakes has published the first two editions of a four part series that follow the adventures of Floid, a physical manifestation created from the subconscious mind of a girl named Suzi. The first episode is Dark Dreams, and the second is Simpler Times. (Send for availability info.) Adam Jakes, 16 The Brache, Maulden, Bedfordshire, MK45 2DR, England.

Yoe Books
Craig Yoe has a great batch of books either in the works or already out. There are others, but the ones that grabbed me are: Klassic Krazy Kool Kids' Komics, a 300 page collection with work by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Walt Kelly, Dr. Seuss, Syd Hoff, Jules Feiffer, George Carlson, John Stanley, Dan deCarlo, Sheldon Mayer, Carl Barks, and myriad other brilliant geniuses created during the heyday of kids comics in the '40s, '50s, and beyond. Astute comics fans and their eager kids will love the funny and beautiful full-color stories of slap-stick superheroes, fantastic fairy tales, and awesome anthropomorphic animals.

Felix the Cat's Greatest Comic Book Tails, by Otto Messmer, penned brilliant stories for Dell and Harvey during comic books' Golden Age. Well over two-hundred pages showcase Felix's magic carpet trips to surreal lands, time's past, and into Toy Land, as well as his hilarious domestic adventures. Foreword by Don Oriolo, son of Joe Oriolo, whose wonderful stories ran alongside Messmer's are also included in the book. Comic Historian Craig Yoe sets the stage in his introduction with revealing behind-the-scenes insight complemented by rare original art and ephemera.

Popeye: The Great Comic Book Tales features the brilliant 1940s and 50s comic book stories by Bud Sangendorf. Editor Craig Yoe collects and beautifully packages the best of the best of Sangendorf's thrilling and roll-on-the-floor comics stories.

Wraparound cover by Donal DeLay for Candy or Medicine #10

CorM 10
Josh Blair just released the tenth issue of his quarterly mini comix anthology Candy or Medicine. The latest edition features Homesick by newcomer Tori Holder, O Cicla Da Vida, a beautifully illustrated tale of youth gone by from Brazilian artist Alberto Pessoa, City Kids, an autobiographical comic describing a six-year-old city kid’s discovery of horse poop by Katie Omberg, another Lunarcy strip about our lonely lunar neighbor by editor Blair, The Seeker by underground artist Carl Alessi and a wraparound Apothecary cover by Donal DeLay. All for a mere $1, plus 50¢ for postage and enveloping from Candy or Medicine.

Denis Kitchen
Publishers Weekly interviewed Denis Kitchen this week about his career and his new Darkhorse book, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen.

Feedback
The Willamette Week newsweekly has begun running John Isaacson's Feedback comic strip on their Local Cut online music journal. The weekly comic features Isaacson's commentary and quips on Portland's local music scene. Under the arrangement, Feedback will debut on Local Cut, prior to its appearance on Isaacson's own Feedback Comics blog. The comic will also appear from time to time in the print edition of Willamette Week.

Booth
Robin McConnell interviewed historian Catherine Clinton about her new book about John Wilkes Booth this week on Inkstuds. A preview of Booth is available at First Second Books.

Timmy Olsen
Dan Burke has just completed Superalien's Pal Timmy Olson. The 24-page black and white comic is available for $3.99 from IndyPlanet. For more of Burke's inspired loonacy check out his website Attack Earth aka the Art Studio Show. (Thanks to Allen Freeman for the tip.)

Exquisite Things
Matthew Dick runs a review blog in the UK. He tries to focus on reviewing works that seem to deserve attention, things that he feels a connection with, that motivate him to review. He was lucky enough to get a copy of the preliminary version of the Good Minnesotan #4 recently and wrote a terrific review of it. Check it out on Exquisite Things and consider making a donation on Kickstarter to cap off the book's funding.

Inside MF.com
It was another busy week here at MF.com world headquarters. The highlight of the week was having dinner with newaver Bruce Chrislip and his wife Joan. I think Bruce must know every newave cartoonist who ever made a mini comix. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get him to contribute a bit of the era's history to Midnight Fiction.

I've also joined the affilitate program of my favorite online comic shop, MyComicShop.com. When you click through from one of the links here and purchase something, MF.com will get a small percentage of the sale. I tried this with Amazon about a year ago and it was a bust. But maybe MyComicShop will be an improvement. I really do like the folks there and they have a great selection of the type of things I'm interested in like Giant Size Mini Comics.

Fianlly, this week I completed one more section header. This time for the Interviews Index page. Hope you like it!

Top June 2010 May 2010

July 3, 2010

Noah Van Sciver
Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest and we welcome the month of July with Noah Van Sciver's calendar cartoon, a cross between a lizard and a young chap. (Download the 2010 Desk Calendar PDF.) Noah's been as busy as usual lately. He recently completed the sixth issue of his comix, Blammo, which was published by Kilgore Used Books and Comics in Denver. Since Kilgore became the publisher with issue #5, the comix's paper stock and print quality has improved nicely. Contents for Blammo #6 include the lead story called Abby's Road, a collaboration with Ethan Van Sciver called As I Remember I.T., another adventure of the Chicken Strips (I love those sick bastards), and many others. You can order Blammo from Kilgore, directly from Noah Van Sciver, and lots of other places that carry indie books.

Noah's been working on his first graphic novel, called The Hypo. He's posted several preview pages on his blog, including this chilling excerpt of the duel. Noah provided a guest strip at The Daily Cross Hatch in June and was interviewed for MF.com by Anthony Davies around the time Blammo #3 hit the newsstands. My thanks to Noah for his calendar cartoon and for sending in the lovely watercolor of the main character from Blammo's Abby's Road (shown above).

50% Off Main Enterprises Sale
Jim Main is having a 50% off sale on all of the publications at the Main Enterprises Shop, except mini comics, now through July 16th. This is a great opportunity to fill in your collection or try something new. When placing an order, just go through the regular PayPal process. When Jim receives your order he will refund 50% of the order (except mini comics) to your PayPal account.

Midnight Fiction Site News
I've been working on artwork for several section homepage headers. This week I finished an update for the new MF Favorites header (added characters from Dirt Nap, Chase, Ouija Interviews, and Rashy Rabbit).
I also added a header to the History section with characters from the work of Michael Roden, Bob Vojtko, and Kerry Lochner.

My formerly free RSS Feed host has begun charging for their service as of July 1st, so needless to say on my budget, I'm left feedless. I can't see adding yet another subscription fee to my monthly bills. If anyone knows of a good, free service please send email.

Maxx Graphix
Macedonio Garcia started creating mini comix in the early 80's. He produced twelve issues of Tales from the Inside, little stories about life in the Texas prison system. The comix were published by Clay Geerdes' Comix World. Five pages of Macedonio's prison comix were featured in Weirdo #5, published by Last Gasp Eco Funnies in 1982. You can still get back issues from Rick Bradford at the Poopsheet Shop.

After a 23 year absence from mini comix, he started self-publishing a few titles again in 2006. These were digest-sized, full color editions printed on heavy, glossy paper. Last Call Comix #1 and 2 take place in a tavern. Other titles published in 2007 include D'dsrp (D'pressed) Comix #2 and Bird on a Wire.

His most recent work is a new digest-sized series, printed in b&w, called ?-Able (Questionable) Comix, featuring cartoons of political and cultural commentary. Issue #3 includes a mini CD of music by Pat Sloan. Individual issues of ?-Able Comix #1-3 are $3 each (postage paid), or he's offering a special deal of all seven comix shown above for $15 (postage paid). Macedonio can be reached at 11722 Dorrance Lane, Meadows Place, TX 77477. To see more of his cartoons check out his page on flickr.

Marcedonio Garcia also has four pages of cartoons in the latest issue of Pork Belly #2, which is just out from Weird Muse Productions. Editor and keeper of the muse, Dan W. Taylor, drew the front and back covers, while Meeah D'zasteur contributed a two-page comix. Pork Belly is a new title from Taylor, that's modeled after Clay Geerdes' long running title Babyfat. Almost anything goes in these little 8-pagers, so bring an open mind and dollar bill to partake. Pork Belly is available from Weird Muse Productions for $1 a copy plus 50¢ for postage.

Wildside Press
John Betancourt reports Wildside Press has a lot of interesting new books this month. He's very excited by Sasscer Hill's mystery novel, Full Mortality. Sasscer (who breeds and races horses) is an amazing new talent about to burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel. If you like Dick Francis, she's a must-read author. Her novel launches in October, but Wildside ran off a few hundred advance copies for promotional purposes, and you can still get one.

Wildside's third "Ace Double" style 2-in-1 science fiction book is just out—by Ed Lerner—features Countdown to Armageddon and A Stranger in Paradise.

Wildside is working their way through the Rick Brant young adult series and have seven volumes available. If you have fond childhood memories of the series, you may want to introduce a new generation of young friends or relatives to Rick and Scotty and their adventures by John Blaine.

On the Pulp front, Wildside has a ton of new books, including new titles by Edmond Hamilton, Paul Ernst, Leigh Brackett, Johnston McCulley (a new Thubway Tham collection), and many more. There are 14 titles on the front page of the Wildside Books website.

More Cragmore
Pat Lewis reports he's nearly finished with his mini epic Cragmore. The first three issues of the four part series are available from his website, Lunchbreak Comics. He's posted a lengthy preview on his site if you'd like to feast your eyes on a sample of his expert cartoon work.

Wannabes
The latest mini comic from Jim Main's publishing empire is Zeroes! Main asked a group of talented cartoonists to create the lamest super heroes and villains they could dream up and make a trading card for them. He collected all the "cards" into this mini anthology. Contributors include Jim Siergey, Dan W. Taylor, Larned Justin, Brad Foster, and George Leon. it's $1.50 from Main Enterprises.

Comic Book Religion
What will comic book fans think of next? Comic Book Religion is an index of comics characters and their religious affiliation. How deep does it go? Ever hear of Jonah Amittai? He's the lead character in Ancient Tales from the Future by James Rubino. (Rubino's TFTSG3 is a 2010 MF Favorite.) The comic is an adaptation of the Biblical Jonah with a science fiction bent. It's one of several comics available directly from James Rubino.

MYX Collected Works
Jamie Chase, creator of MYX, reports he's collecting the first four issues of his MYX comic book into a trade paperback. The volume will re-present the stories with the added effect of full color.

Homeopathy
Darryl Cunningham posted a 19-page comic story on Darryl Cunningham Investigates this week about homeopathy and the strange case of Penelope Dingle. The story has created quite a stir that Cunningham notes here, along with his references for the piece.

Rashy Seven
Josh Latta previewed three pages of pencils from the next adventure of Rashy Rabbit this week over at Lattaland. The as yet untitled comix takes place at sea. Latta reports he's about halfway through the thumbnail stage.

Digest Comix Classics
Harry Lee Green posted the entirety of three classic newave comix this week on the Hairy Green Eyeball II. It's a great chance to read The Funny Book #1, published in 1975 by Ful-Horne Productions. The 12-page comix is copyrighted by Lucie Severino and Larry Fuller. The second and third issues were called The New Funny Book and graduated to regular comic book size. Although the comix in issue #1 aren't signed, Lardo and company's adventures are all signed by Gary Figari in issue #2 (shown at right), which also includes work by Bob Vojtko, Danilo Bulanadi, Edna Jundis, Reggie Macabasco, Ken Maclin, Dan O'Neill, and sports an Alex Nino cover.

Captain Retro (1980) by Doug Bryson is only 4 pages, but it features one of the few recurring characters of the newave era.

It's followed by Windy City Comix (1978) by Gary Whitney, who contributed to my own Funny Paper #2, and started doing Phoebe and the Pigeon People with Jay Lynch in 1979.

Ed #6
Sean Azzopardi reports he's deep into production on Ed #6. He previewed the cover this week on Phat Comics and reports he plans to collect the full run of Ed's adventures into a book this winter.

Hogan's Alley #17
Tom Heintjes reports Hogan’s Alley #17 is at the printer and will ship later this month. You can read a preview of their SpongeBob SquarePants oral history online. To get the print edition, just subscribe at Hogan's Alley, where you can purchase a sample edition for a mere $3, and pick-up back issues at bargain prices as well. Hogan's Alley is Twittering at HoganMag.

Good Minnesotan #4
With around three weeks remaining on their Kickstarter fundraising drive, Raighne Hogan reports the effort is just over the halfway point of the goal. GM is a terrific experimental comix anthology that's well worth supporting. Hogan has posted several updates on the site. He's also started a new blog called Itchy Keen Art Friends, that features interviews with GM contributors like Joseph Nixon, Meghan Hogan, Kevin Cannon, Lupi, Lizardman, Steroid Party, Justin Skarhus, and several others.

Note: Covers shown are not to scale.

Important Comics
Dina Kelberman sent in a copy of her Important Comics collection. The perfect bound "collection of unquestionable merit" is filled with her cartoons, quips, and comics. It's available for $12 from Important Comics and a variety of indie shops, which are listed on her site. She also publishes a sort of foldy comic called The Regular Man, that you can subscribe to: $15 for twelve issues.

Tim Corrigan's Comics and Stories #47 front and back covers

TC's Comics & Stories #47
Tim Corrigan has just published Comics & Stories #47. This one features part one of a new story starring Roy Ritter and The Red River Wranglers by Larned Justin and Corrigan. Subscriptions to this small press monthly are just $15 for twelve issues at New Voice Media Publications.

Al Burian's Hell
A loose comic interpretation of Dante's Inferno; Burn Collector/Natural Disasters zinester Al Burian places himself as protagonist, journeying through a hell based around his person torments at the time: work, art school, the meaning of life, grazing in the bulk bins at Safeway, endless pontification on literary criticism, and the concept of making a college thesis about making a college thesis. The big question being "is marking up pieces of paper expressing something that 'was' in the artist or just marking up pieces of paper?" Al Burian Goes to Hell is a new comic available from Microcosm Publishing for $6.00.

Microcom also issued a catalog of their published and distributed books, zines, DVDs, Tees. stickers, patches, buttons, etc. It has such a wonderful cover by Alec Longstreth, I couldn't resist showing it here.

Top June 2010 May 2010

June 26, 2010

Gabriel Hunt #5
The fifth adventure of Gabriel Hunt is now available in a new paperback book by David J. Schow. Hunt Among the Killers of Men features a cover by Glen Orbik. The warlord's men came to New York to preserve a terrible secret—and left a dead body in their wake. Now Gabriel Hunt is on their trail, a path that will take him to the treacherous alleyways and rooftops of Shanghai and a showdown with a madman out to resurrect a deadly figure from Chain's past. See your local bookshop for details or read a sample chapter at Gabriel Hunt.

New Pile on Profanity Hill
Jason T. Miles who runs the Profanity Hill comix distro reports he's added 27 new titles to his inventory this week. The books include some old, some rare, and some new. Check out the good goods at Profanity Hill.

The Possum and the Pepper Spray front and back covers

Pepper Possum
Pete Hodapp just finished up another comix project. This one is called The Possum and the Pepper Spray. He made the whole 20 page comix in just 8 days. It's part of the Lutefisk Sushi mini comic box set. Check out the video of the box that houses the Vol. D collection on the group's FaceBook page. If Pete's contribution is any indication of the quality of the collection, this year's edition will be awesome. To keep tabs on Pete step into the Yawning Void.

Flying Pig Returns (sort of)
Jim Main has unearthed copies of several zines he published back in the 1980s under the Flying Pig Publications banner, and is making them available to his readers. He has several copies of the original print run of Larry Blake's Nightstar #7 and the inimitable *PPFSZT! #15. He's also made a second print run of five other small press classics featuring an impressive line-up of small pressers who went on to bigger print runs. You may not find these zines in the Main Enterprises shop, but they can be ordered directly from Main via check or via PayPal to Jim Main. All of these zines are digest-sized with saddle stitch binding.

Nightstar #7 (1990) is 24 pages from cover to cover, with a 19-page Nightstar comic featuring some amazing art and storytelling by Larry Blake. The issue was edited by Dale Sherman. $3.00

*PPFSZT! #15 (Aug. 1987) features comics by Larry Blake (10 pages) and Donnie Jupiter (6 pages); a prose story by Tim Corrigan (1 page); and artwork by Blake and Tracy (cover), Mike Harris & Steve Shipley, Tim Corrigan, Brian Waters, Larry Nibert, Francis Mao, Rick Bradford, Reggie Byers, and Don Martinec (back cover). $6.00

Ultrapowerfulman #1 (1988?) Originally created by Jim Main and Pete Fitzgerald for Spotlight Comics in 1987 the story languished and Main eventually printed it himself. In the meantime Fitzgerald headed off to the Joe Kubert school and wasn't able to participate in the second issue. Nevertheless this comic provides a great look at some early artwork by Fitzgerald in an eleven page comic, written by Main, inked by Steve Shipley, and lettered by Don Martinec. The interior pages are printed on white paper. $1.75

Ultrapowerfulman #2 (1989) features a cover by Tim Corrigan. Jim Main returns as writer and Steve Shipley handles the artwork of an eight page comic. The book includes a spot illustration by Pete Fitzgerald (?) and a back cover by Milton Knight. $1.50

Nuclear Spawned Martial Art Frogs? #1 (1987?) was another series co-created by Jim Main and Pete Fitzgerald. The comic features a 17-page story written by Main, drawn by Bill Reames, and lettered by Susan Dorne. Reames also contributed the front cover, while Milton Knight drew the back. $1.75

Fandom Feature #1 (1981, Spectrum Graphics) The big feature here is Jim Main's interview with the late Jim Aparo, who worked for Charlton and DC during his long career in comics. This issue is loaded with work by pros like Aparo (cover) Michael Golden, George Perez & Sam De La Rosa, Doug Hazlewood, Rich Buckler, Tom Sutton, Mike Grell and John Byrne (back cover). The zine also includes a Conan article by Neil Hansen and additional spot artwork by Rudi Franke, Rich Maruzio, John Beatty, Don Maitz, and William Neville. $2.00

Baron Hawk #1 (1981) This swashbuckling adventure was the result of a collaboration between Jim Main and Steve Lafler. The book features a 12-page story created and plotted by Main with art and dialogue by Lafler. The book also includes a cover by Don Maitz and some additional full page art by Lafler. $1.75

Ink Stains Rescheduled
Ken Meyer Jr. shows a few of his own illustrations in the latest installment of his excellent Ink Stains column on ComicAttack.net. If you scroll down to the comments you'll see he's been dealing with "some crazy bad developments" in his life. Very sorry to read that. But in a later post he reports the column will be rescheduled as a monthly.

Top May 2010 April 2010

Midnight Fiction Favorite

When I review small press comix, zines, or other works I try to emphasize the positives about them. In spite of the Judge Ed Flagstone cartoon on the Review Index header, I really try to avoid passing judgement. As a sometimes small press cartoonist myself, I can appreciate the emotional and financial investment creators' make when they put something out there. And I've been around long enough to see more than one beginner progress to professional level work. More than anything small pressers need to support and encourage each other along the way.

I've been tempted to use a rating system in my reviews, but ultimately I'm not comfortable grading someone else's creative effort as a C—or worse. Who am I to pass judgement? One person's C is another's A+. I see my reviewer's role as highlighting a book's strengths and providing enough information so my readers can make their own judgement on whether they want to buy it or not.

So far, I think it's been a successful approach. However, when something is outstanding (IMHO), I've always wanted to give it a little additional recognition. I've thought about doing a Top Ten for 2010, but it's pretty subjective to try to separate number 10 from number 11. And chances are number 11 through 20 are also pretty darn good. One day recently, my subconscious came up with an answer of how to balance all these factors.

Beginning with this edition of MF.com, I'm awarding the new Midnight Fiction Favorite designation to the most recent ten books I've read that are Favorites. These may be books I've reviewed—or not. They are simply favorites to me. The most recent ten MF Favorites will be highlighted on the Review Index page. When a new favorite is selected the oldest book in the spotlight will move to the new Favorites page. By the end of the year there may be twenty or there may be more. The number is irrelevant. A favorite is a favorite—a reading experience that delivers something extra.

So what about all the books that aren't selected? There will be more than not. An MF Favorite is simply one that holds extra appeal for me. There are plenty of other publications worth supporting. Many will be favorites on someone else's list. The individual reader is always the final judge anyway.

Enough already, let's get on with the favorites. I'm very happy to give the following books my unqualified recommendation. These ten are absolutely favorites of mine:

A Rabbit in King Arthur's Court by Josh Latta
Chase #1-10 by Jim Main and John Lambert
Dirt Nap #1 by Gabe Miller
Underground Comix Price Guide Supplement #1 by Dan Fogel
Customed Crimefighter Comics #1-4 by Josh Tonn
The Ouija Interviews by Sarah Becan
MYX #1-3 by Jamie Chase (Bram Meehan & Darryl Wellington)
Jack Ass by Jeremy Eaton
Comic Fan #5 edited by Jim Main
Tales from the Seventh Galaxy (TFTSG3) #3 by James Rubino