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October 23, 2008
Welcome to King-Cat.net
Hi everyone! And welcome to the King-Cat Comics website… here’s how to get around:
-This HOMEPAGE (please scroll down...) lists News, Notes, Old News and so on about King-Cat related stuff. It’s updated regularly, at the beginning of each month, so check back often!
-The CATALOG lists all items currently for sale. The KING-CAT COMICS sub-page lists subscription rates and available back issues of the King-Cat Comics zine. The OTHER PUBLICATIONS sub-page is for non-KC comics, Book Collections, and other printed merchandise. BUTTONS and T-SHIRTS lists, well… Buttons and T-Shirts... but also a selection of musical releases from the heyday of Spit and a Half Records!
-For complete ordering instructions, click on the HOW TO ORDER sub-page heading on the CATALOG pages
-For stores that carry King-Cat stuff, and other cool links, check the LINKS page
-Click MISC for King-Cat Interviews, Reviews, Podcasts etc, plus an archive of Zine World news
-The rest of the pages are hopefully self-explanatory!
-If you have any questions, want to be added to the mailing list, or simply want to say hello, find out how to get in touch by clicking CONTACT
That’s it! Thank you for visiting, and ROCK ON! --John P.
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"There is nothing to express, nothing with which to express, nothing from which to express, no power to express, no desire to express, together with the obligation to express."
-- Samuel Beckett
“Those who serve a revolution plough the sea.” -- Simón Bolivar
"All I know is, when I was like six, Amy Poston said: 'Look- Potato Bugs!'" -- Misun Oh
"If it smells like shit wherever you go, check your own shoes." -- Jack D. Pingo
"When playing solitaire, you always feel a bit lonelier as you start to win." -- Patrick Porter
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KING-CAT NEWS NOSE:
Sniffing out King-Cat related news since June 2005
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OCTOBER UPDATE:
9/18/08 - THE BIG 4-0: I'm officially an old man. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to say Happy Birthday, and to all who helped me survive for four beautiful decades on this planet. Now, stay out of my yard!!!
KING-CAT #69: If you're a subscriber, the new issue will be shipping out the week of Oct. 20! If you don’t have a subscription, but would like to order just one single copy of King-Cat 69, rates are as follows:
USA -- $3.00 postpaid ($3.21 via PayPal)
CANADA -- $4.00 postpaid ($4.28 via PayPal)
EUROPE & ELSEWHERE -- $5.00 ($5.35 via PayPal)
You can pay with well-concealed cash, or a check/MO payable to “John Porcellino”, mailed to the address below; or via PayPal to kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com. (PayPal is preferred for orders outside the USA.)
Mail orders to:
John Porcellino
P.O. Box 18888
Denver, CO 80218
USA
Also available: NOW WE ARE FORTY is a little illustrated zine I made to commemorate my recent 40th birthday. Navel gazing at its finest! 8 Mini pages; black ink on brown cardstock.
USA -- $1.50 postpaid ($1.60 via PayPal)
CANADA -- $2.00 postpaid ($2.14 via PayPal)
EUROPE & ELSEWHERE -- $2.00 postpaid ($2.14 via PayPal)
THOREAU AT WALDEN: A long time in the making, my new book, Thoreau at Walden, is available NOW through your local bookstore, comics shop, or online. It's also available direct from me! Please click here for info. Thank you for your support!
Thoreau at Walden reviews:
School Library Journal
Shelf Awareness
Storm the Barricade
Watermark Books
Madinkbeard
New reviews this month:
Literary Safari
Thoreau Today
School Library Journal (interview)
Online essay by John about the process of making this book.
Please also visit the website of the Center for Cartoon Studies.
FACEBOOK FUN: A couple King-Cat fans (including my wife) have created a King-Cat Comics Facebook page. I don't really know too much about this sort of thing, but if you wanna check it out, or become a "King-Cat Facebook Friend," here's the link.
PARTICLE ZOO: My old friend JULIE PEASLEY is slaving away making these adorable, educational, plush toys based on Particle Physics just for you! www.particlezoo.net
FLATTER!: Good ol' JAINA BEE (Remember the great FLATTER! zine from the '90s??) has a new website!
JOEY CHIPS INTERVIEW: online here.
DAVE LANSKY, P.I.: Brief interview about making zines with longtime King-Cat buddy DAVID LASKY. David has also recently announced he's working on a book-length comics biography of the Carter Family, so you know that's good news!
NOT MY SMALL DIARY T-Shirts by John P. I designed this cat picture T-Shirt for Delaine's amazing auto-bio comix anthology, Not My Small Diary. Check them out at Cafepress.com (available in four ink colors): Black Red Blue Brown
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YESTERDAY'S NEWS:
Homepage posts from recent months--
THOREAU AT WALDEN RELEASE PARTY: And thanks to everybody who came out to the Thoreau at Walden Release Party held in July at Wax Trax/Kilgore Books here in Denver! Thanks also to Andy Falconetti and Rotaree for providing musical entertainment, and to Wax Trax/Kilgore for hosting. Here are a couple reviews etc with photos for those of you who couldn’t make it:
Westword (Review with photos)
Hatchibombitar (Photo)
Mile Hive.com (Review)
And for grainy video evidence of the kind of fireworks that can happen when I step up and speak in public, click here.
(Left: window sign by John P., at Kilgore Books, Denver)
KC IN THE ONION: “Old Lady” a sad old story of mine, available now in the King-Cat Classix book, was number 17 on the AV Club’s recent list of 22 Most Unflattering Moments in Autobiographical Comics. Here’s the link.
KING-CAT EN ESPAÑOL: And for those Spanish speaking King-Cat readers out there, Ponent Mon has just released a Spanish language edition of my book Perfect Example, as Ejemplo Perfecto. Look too for a Spanish translation of Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man coming soon from Apa Apa!
NEWSHOLE MEMORIES: One of the first friends I made in Denver when I moved here in ’92 was Good Ol’ Jon Pinnow, who was publishing his zine Newshole at the time. Here’s a link to the cover I did for Newshole #4 in 1992, an homage to Michelangelo’s Last Judgement.
GABRIELLE BELL INTERVIEW: Gabrielle is my new favorite cartoonist. Please check out her Lucky book collection, as well as her two recent Lucky Voume Two pamphlet releases, all from D+Q. Here’s an interview with her from the Daily Crosshatch: Part One Part Two
ILLINOIS COUGAR WATCH: Some of you may know that in 1991 or 1992 (I can’t remember exactly) I saw a cougar walking up Rte. 83 in Buffalo Grove IL one morning around 1 AM. For real. Of course there haven’t been mountain lions in Illinois since the 1800’s. Wrong! Check out Illinois Cougar Watch for more info.
A SWAN AT SMILEY'S: Smiley's is the World's Largest Discount Laundromat, located right here in Denver. A Swan at Smiley's is my dear friend Patrick Porter's new CD of amazing one-man rock n roll. Patrick's one of my favorite people, so obviously I'm biased, but even so I must say his art brings tears to my eyes. In a world filled with phoniness, Patrick is the real deal. And I wrote the liner notes. Buy a copy here. And while you're at it, check out Patrick's Myspace page for downloads etc.
ZINE WORLD #25.5 OUT NOW! This stopgap issue of the indispensible Zine Review Zine is available now for $1 or stamp equivalent from: Zine World PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN, 37133-0150. Visit www.undergroundpress.org for more info!
SWEDISH COMIX RULE: Coverage (in English) of the recent 10th Annual Swedish Small Press Expo from the Forbidden Planet blog. Sweden has a great Comix Underground, similar in a lot of ways to the US one... check it out!
OK, everybody-- Take it easy, and thanks for everything,
John P.
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I've been hard at work on this here website too, tidying things up and trying to make it more organized. I've finally added hyperlinks to all the listings on the LINKS page, and moved a bunch of King-Cat online resources, like Interviews, Reviews and Podcasts to the MISC page, which also now holds an archive of old Zine News listings. For international readers I've included a list of KC comics in translation on the HISTORY page. And if you scroll down, this HOMEPAGE lists recent reviews and contact info for cool zines that have come my way recently.
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"Society always moves without direction. Within such a society it is the greatest contribution to sit immovably by oneself." --Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, The Wholehearted Way
FOX COUNT: stopped counting at 14!
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KING-CAT EVENTS: August -September 2008
ABOVE: John P. at Boulder, Colo. signing; (photo by Delaine Derry Green).
NO EVENTS CURRENTLY SCHEDULED
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2008: YEAR IN PREVIEW
Well I hope to knuckle down and get myself together after the long funk that was 2007... so I hope to have a couple new issues of King-Cat finished this year, as well as finishing The Hospital Suite, an all-new "Graphic Novel" about my Summer of '97. My most recent book, the all-new Thoreau at Walden , will be released in April '08. So here we go!
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IT CAME IN THE MAIL:
Zine News & Reviews by John P.
SUMMER 2008 Edition (Click here for Archive)
Not My Small Diary #14: Editrix Delaine's long-running Auto-Bio Comix Anthology has become a staple of the small press scene, publiching great work from an amazing variety of cartoonists and self-publishers. Lately each issue has a theme, and for this latest one the theme is "Dating." This incredible two volume set includes comics by Max Clotfelter, JP Coovert, Kelly Froh, Nicole Georges, Dave Kiersh, Patty Leidy, Carrie McNinch, Dan Moynihan, Misun Oh, John P., Patrick Porter, Noah Van Sciver, Max Traffic, Geoff Vasile, Julia Wertz and many many others (a total of 53 Cartoonists over 138 pages!). And as usual the book is a steal at $7 postpaid! If you're a fan of self-published comics you need to be reading NMSD...
Delaine Derry Green: 1204 Cresthill Road, Birmingham, AL 35213
NMSD website with full info
P.S Comics #4: The latest issue of Minty Lewis' great comic-zine has her Chummy Animals attend an out-of-town craft fair with hilarious and thought provoking consequences. One of my favorite comics of late.
$4 ppd to Minty Lewis: 1155 Virgina Street, Berkeley, CA 94702
Website: www.pscomics.com
White Buffalo Gazette: This legendary "Obscuro Comics" zine is being published again by Mike Hill out of Pittsburgh. Contributors to the latest issue include Chad Woody, Steve Willis, Jaime Crespo, Andy Nukes, Tom Motley, Matt Feazell, Maximum Traffic, Tom Brinkmann, Clark Dissmeyer, Nils Hanczar, Shawn Atkins, Jim Siergey, Morgan Parducci, Delaine Derry Green, Mike Hill, Marc Myers, George Erling, Jeff Zenick, Edward Bolman and John Porcellino.
$3 ?? (seems fair) to Mike Hill: 463 Austin Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15243
You Don't Get There From Here #7: Since putting her long-running, much-beloved autobio comics zine, The Assassin and the Whiner, to rest several years back, Carrie McNinch has focussed on this small publication of daily diary strips in the vein of Snakepit. Carrie writes about her day-to-day life, her struggles with alcohol and anxiety/depression, and her cats in a charming low-key comics style. Transcendent moments of beauty are also fully represented. Carrie keeps crankin' 'em out, and they're all recomended, but my favorite one of late was her Italian Travel issue.
NEWS FLASH! #8 is out now too!
Only $2 each from Carrie McNinch: P.O. Box 49403 Los Angeles, CA 90049
Carrie's Myspace page with ordering info.
ZINE WORLD #25.5 OUT NOW! This stopgap issue of the indispensible Zine Review Zine is available now for $1 or stamp equivalent from: Zine World PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN, 37133-0150. Visit www.undergroundpress.org for more info!
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NOSTALGIA FOR SALE: I've added a listing for all the old Spit and a Half Records (from the Golden Age of the 90's) that are still available, on the CATALOG>HOW TO ORDER page of this website. Click here and scroll down to check it out!
DADDY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES: As I mentioned last month, we're goin' broke over here. I've never really advertised it before, but I will now-- that is, that I do commisioned artwork for people who are interested. I've done work anywhere from 5x7 to really big, and I'd be happy to do some for you if you're interested. Prices generally start around $35 for something small and black & white and go up from there (to around $100-$150), depending on the size and complexity. I'm happy to do something random or really specific, depending on what you're looking for. If anyone out there is interested in getting some artwork drawn for them, please get in touch, and we'll go from there.
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COMICS ANTHOLOGIES: King-Cat material can be found in the following "recent" comic anthologies: Kramer's Ergot #6 (Buenaventura Press) (all new comic); What'Cha Mean, What's a Zine (Houghton Mifflin, ed. Mark Todd & E.P. Watson) (all new comic); Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons and True Stories (Vols. 1 & 2) (Yale University Press, edited by Ivan Brunetti) (reprints selections from King-Cat #63, etc); Best American Comics 2006 & 2007 (Houghton Mifflin) (reprints "Chemical Plant / Another World" from the Mosquito Abatement Man book and "Country Roads - Brighton from King-Cat 65).
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"RECENT" REVIEWS
Village Voice
Boston Globe
Comics Reporter
The Comics Journal
Baltimore City Paper
PopMatters
MadInkBeard
OC Weekly
Broken Frontier
Everything2.com
madinkbeard.com
Library Journal
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COMING SOON-- The Hospital Suite (all new graphic novel; self-published?), King-Cat 69... etc etc.
Posted by David at October 23, 2008 04:09 PM