HOORAY!! TWENTY YEARS OF KING-CAT COMIX -- 1989-2009! (John P. gets his first tattoo, on his 21st birthday, 9/18/89; Photo by Laura Mars)

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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, original artwork and zines, books and music by others that I help distribute!

-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 an archive of King-Cat Interviews, Reviews, Podcasts etc.

-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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"I got so much trouble on my mind... refuse to lose..." --Chuck D.

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KING-CAT NEWS NOSE:
Sniffing out King-Cat related news since June 2005

- - - - - JULY 2010- - - - -

JULY UPDATE:

At the time this is posted I will most likely be somewhere in Nebraska, sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the cab of a rental truck. Yes, Ol' John P. is homeless once more.

Why, you ask? It has something to do with chromosomes and lizards: I'm moving down to Florida, child. I figured any town named after the founder of Mad Magazine is OK with me.

Please continue to use the Denver PO Box for all orders and correspondence, unless you have personally heard otherwise from me... I'll be in Gainesville for a month or so, knocking out the new King-Cat (#71), which will be available just before I leave for my West Coast Tour in mid-August. West Coast Tour, you ask? Yes. Noah and I are gonna be hitting up Minneapolis (West Coast of the Mississippi!), followed by Portland, Seattle, Vancouver BC, Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Joshua Tree, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, before alighting once more in our fair city of Denver, where we're gonna shoot out the lights with a KC 71 Release/Tour-ending/Birthday/Farewell Denver Party at Kilgore. And then I'm going back to Gainesville. Details on all this will be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, thanks everybody! See you on the road!

John P.

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I've posted an in-depth tour diary from my Spring Tour up on my BLOG if you wanna check it out.

Here are some links to articles about that last tour:

Chicago Zine Fest article
Review of Houston signing
Austin illos
More to come!

As I mentioned a few months ago, I've started up my old Zine & Comix distro, SPIT AND A HALF again... you can check out the merch at the new Spit and a Half site. Feel free to add any of these to your King-Cat orders! (New stuff will be added within a few weeks, too!)

Lastly, an online archive of selections from KING-CAT COMICS is going up at Jordan Crane's new site, What Things Do. Look for new (old) comics to be added regularly, as well as some really new stuff now and then.

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Quick Links:
Photo Journal of my Fall 2009 tour.
Gabrielle Bell's fantastic comics Blog.
Profanity Hill
Comets Comets
Old Denver Photo Archive (1980s-90s)
Croatian Comics

In other news: My new book collection from D+Q, Map of My Heart, is AVAILABLE NOW! It contains most of the work that originally appeared in King-Cats #51-61, from 1996-2002; plus: notes, unpublished comics and otherwise "bonus" material. (More info here.)

Map of My Heart reviews:
High-Low Comics
Newsarama
Madinkbeard
Syndicate Product

RECENT INTERVIEWS ETC:
Banalization
We Are independently Wealthy
Rain Taxi
Newsarama
Le Vif: English / Français

Also available NOW: the brand new issue of KING-CAT (#70), a new zine collection of poetry I wrote during my "Elgin Years," 1997-2002, called ON RUBY HILL, and a reprinting of the classic KING-CAT SKETCHBOOK POSTCARD SET. Click on CATALOG for more info!

And lastly the long lost CLASSIC KING-CAT LOGO TEES are finally back in stock! More info here.

RECENT LINKS:

John Porcellino comics-form interview by Noah Van Sciver (Comics Journal #299)
New! Distributed Titles (click link and scroll down)
New Thoreau at Walden interview (Rain Taxi)
New Thoreau at Walden review (Newsarama)
Tour Photos
NEW Original Art for Sale!
Anthill at Walden Pond Video by John P.:

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MORE NEWS:

KING-CAT #70 AVAILABLE NOW: Marking the King-Cat 20th Anniversary, this brand new issue features: Depression, Meds, Alcohol; Them There Skweezils; Frustration, Diogenes, and Square-Head John (Return to Trinidad); plus: LOTS MORE. Not as sad as one might think. 36 digest pages, $3.00 in USA. See Ordering Page for instructions! Thanks.

KING-CAT TEE-SHIRTS BACK IN STOCK! Click here for info.

THE "SOCIAL NETWORKING" TREND: Hey kids, this old fart is getting with the program, and now I'm not only on Facebook, but there's a King-Cat Facebook Group and a MySpace page too! Check it out if u want and thx for the add u rock!!!!!

YOUTUBE DELITE: We recently got a high-speed connection, so now, after years of making fun of YouTube, I'm addicted. Here are my monthly recommendations:

December List: Too tired to post.......

July List:
Big Electric Cat
Screaming Jay
Unauthorized but Charming
Nick Lowe on TOTP
Tiny Tim - There'll Always Be An England
Cat's Miaow
Ain't With Bein' Broke

June List:
Quimby The Mouse
Hot Cars
Charlie Rich sings "Feel Like Goin' Home"
Soul Asylum Medley (1987)- Judge/"Comedy" Routine/Sun Don't Shine
Sid Hemphill & Lucius Smith -"Come On Boys, Let's Go to the Ball"
George The Animal Steele Falls in Love
Rosa Lee Hill - Bullyin' Well

May List:
Best Music Video Ever
2nd Best Music Video Ever
Goodnight, rockers
Lynda Barry - Boys & Girls!
Misc. Patrick Porter

IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY (GIVE OR TAKE):

My old band T.A.C. live at the Eagle's Club in DeKalb, 3/7/89; L-R Donal, John P., Jenke. Photo by Greg Dunlap.

I found this photo of my old band King Archie, circa 1989, on my friend Laura's blog
L-R: Donal, John P., Steve, Laura. Those were different days...

NEW JOHN P. COMIC AVAILABLE ONLINE: A comic I did about my fabled trip to Vancouver in 1994, is up on the Walrus Magazine website. Check it out, it's even got color!

A SWAN AT SMILEY'S: This amazing album by my good pal Patrick Porter has just been released in a DeLuxe Edition by Greyday Records of Portland. It features 16 whopping tales of Queen City madness, and I wrote the liner notes! Beautiful, sad, funny, one-man Colfax rock n roll. Do yourself a favor and buy this record! You won't be disappointed. Comes with an amazing full color fold-out booklet, PLUS the 12 song "Cry Me A River, Sing Me A Raft" LP is included in mp3 format at no additional charge!

Hear music samples at Patrick's Myspace page.
And More.

ORIGINAL ART FOR SALE! Please click here for info on getting some hand-crafted King-Cat artwork! My creditors thank you!

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KING-CAT EVENTS: June - July 2010

ABOVE: John P. at Boulder, Colo. signing; (photo by Delaine Derry Green).

NO EVENTS SCHEDULED

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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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COMING SOON-- King-Cat 71 (self-published), The Hospital Suite (all new graphic novel) Spring 2011 (D+Q) ... etc etc.

Time Warp 1

(John P., Jason Shiga, and Noah Van Sciver at Time Warp Boulder's Free Comic Book Day event, 5/2/09; photo ripped from Noah's blog; he ripped it from somebody's Facebook site)

(Some old troll draws a picture at FCBD; photo by Leila Del Duca)

(Noah Van Sciver and John P. at Denver Comicfest, 4/19/09; Photo by the guy who was checking wristbands at the entrance.)

Thanks to Dan and Luke, and everyone who came out to the KILGORE BOOKS 1st Anniversary party last Saturday! O Ho: turn your computer sideways!

TAW SALE LISTING:
THOREAU AT WALDEN SALE COPIES: I was able to get a bunch of cheaper copies of TAW, and I am passing the savings on to you! These are just the same as the copies listed above for $17, however they have a small black mark on the top of the book, and a sticker over the bar code (on the back cover). If you'd like one of these copies, please send $12.00 (Don't forget to add shipping costs! Click here for ordering instructions, and when figuring postage use $17 instead of $12. If that doesn't make sense, write first!) (ALSO: Please write first for availability, as quantities are limited! Thanks!)

ORDERING SALE COPIES TAW:

ORDERING CHECKLIST:

1. Make a list of everything you would like to order (EXCEPT Subscriptions) and enter the total cost here. (If ordering SALE copies of Thoreau at Walden, use $17 per copy to figure the amount on this line): _____________

2. Figure POSTAGE & HANDLING, as listed on the chart below, based on your Line 1 total, and your location. Enter POSTAGE & HANDLING amount here: _____________

3. Enter total cost of any SUBSCRIPTIONS you would like to order: _____________

4. Add Lines 1, 2 and 3. Enter total here: _____________

5. SUB-TOTAL: If ordering SALE copies of Thoreau at Walden, SUBTRACT $5 (per copy) from line 4, and enter that amount here. Otherwise, enter the amount from line 4: _____________

6. COLORADO RESIDENTS ONLY: Enter applicable SALES TAX (as specified above, based on your line 5 total) here: _____________

7. ORDER TOTAL: Add Lines 5 and 6: _____________. This is your total amount due when ordering by mail; please send your order and payment to the P.O. Box listed above. If paying via PayPal, please continue to Line 8.

8. PAYPAL ORDERS ONLY: When making payment through PayPal, mulitply Line 7 by 1.07, and enter that amount here: _____________. This is your total amount due when paying via PayPal. Please send PayPal orders to kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com. Thank you!

current postage chart:
POSTAGE AND HANDLING CHART

Order Total:	USA	CANADA / MEXICO	EVERYWHERE ELSE
$3.00 or less	$1.00	All amounts add 10% of order total plus $1.00	$3.00
$3.01 - $15.00	$2.00		75% of order total
$15.01 - $50.00	$3.00		65% of order total
$50.01 and up	$4.00		50% of order total
		(minimum $2.00)	(minimum $3.00)

Map of My Heart collects selections from King-Cats 51-54 as well as issues 55-61 in their (near) entirety, including such classic KC strips as "I Saw Where the Root Hog Lives," "Psalm," "Forgiveness," "Introduction to the Night Sky," and "Punt No Tell," among many, many others. Over seventy-five individual comics and stories are included, PLUS: extensive endnotes, maps, bonus comics, journal entries, and the complete 24 page mini-zine, The Kukoc Cat Named Maisie! 360 pages, softcover, $25.00. AVAILABLE NOW!

THOREAU AT WALDEN (CCS/Hyperion Books for Children, New York: 2008)

BACK IN STOCK! On Independence Day in 1845, the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin, built by his own hands, on the shore of Walden Pond outside Concord Massachusetts. He lived there for two years, two months and two days, and wrote a book about his experience called Walden, which has gone on to become one of the most influential philosophical works in the world.


Walden's message of self-reliance, self-reflection, social criticism, and harmony with nature has resonated with readers for over 150 years. Thoreau at Walden is an impression of Thoreau's time at the pond, with text taken directly from Thoreau's own published writings. Henry David Thoreau is one of my biggest inspirations as an artist and human being, so this project was very near and dear to my heart.

110 page graphic novel by John Porcellino, from the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Introduction by author D.B. Johnson, coloring by JP Coovert; with endnotes and a quotational cross-reference. Printed in brown and black ink. Hardcover: $17.00.

KING-CAT CLASSIX (Drawn and Quarterly Books, Montreal: 2007)

This 384 page hardcover collection compiles the "best of" the first fifty issues of King-Cat, 1989 - 1996. It features such classic strips as "Hold Everything" and "Ringtail Revenge" (starring Racky Raccoon), "Three Balls," "Ed, the Happy Trucker," "October," "Justify My Love," "Desperation Angels," and much much more, including the All Sam issue and the Violent Garden, Ranks of the Damned, and Cadillac March series in their entirety.

Rounding things out are a generous selection of King-Cat articles, essays, "Snornose Pages," Top 40s, letters columns, cover images, and an extensive set of endnotes by yours truly, John P.

Beautifully designed by Tom Devlin, this book is a giant chunk of King-Cat history, much of it unseen for over fifteen years!

6" x 9" hardcover book with dust jacket, 384 pages. Over 140 individual comics and stories, $30.00.

DIARY OF A MOSQUITO ABATEMENT MAN (La Mano, Minneapolis: 2005)

In my younger days I worked for five years as an exterminator - a Mosquito Abatement Man, and wrote about my on-the-job experiences in King-Cat. This new collection contains all the Mosquito Abatement stories as they originally appeared in King-Cat from 1989 - 1999, plus 30 pages of new comics (drawn in 2004) to round things out. Nicely designed by Tom Devlin, this book received the 2005 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology or Collection. Two color covers, 106 pages, squarebound. $12.00

PERFECT EXAMPLE (Drawn and Quarterly Books, Montreal: 2005)

This collection contains all the King-Cat stories taking place in the year 1986: Live Evil (from King-Cat 50), Belmont Harbor (KC 47), Perfect Example (52 - 53) and Escape to Wisconsin (from issue #50). An epic story of teenage confusion: Girls, friends, girlfriends, guitars and punk rock. Full color covers, nice multi-color interiors, squarebound. 124 pgs, $17.00

NOTE: This is a new edition of Perfect Example (originally published by Highwater Books in 2000). The content is the same as the Highwater edition, however the "bio" at the end has been updated to 2005, and the covers have been re-designed.

This new zine collects poetry written by yours truly from 1997-2002, and acts as a kind of supplement to the new King-Cat collection, Map of My Heart. Includes 30 short poems (text only, no illustrations). 16 digest pages, $2.00.

KING-CAT SKETCHBOOK POSTCARD SET

Set of sixteen 5.5" x 4.25" postcards with images from my sketchbooks circa 1999. Printed in eye-catching black toner on cream colored cardstock. (I'll post an image ASAP!) $3.00.

NOW WE ARE FORTY (self-published, Sept. '08)

I made this little illustrated mini-zine to commemorate my recent 40th birthday. A brief look back at four decades of my life; navel-gazing at its finest! 8 mini-pages, black ink on brown cardstock; $1.00.

THROUGH THE YEAR WITH GORDON THE FOX (Little Otsu, San Francisco; 2007)

This FULL COLOR Mini-Book features the lovable GORDON THE FOX making his way through the seasons of the year. Drawn by John Porcellino, colored by Yvonne Chen, and published by Little Otsu. Dimensions: full color soy-based inks on recycled paper; spiral bound. Available from the publisher.

THE ONES THAT EVERYBODY KNOWS (self-published, April 2006)

Brand new micro comic features a brief poem / comic (4 pages) about stars. 8 mini sized pages total, $1.00.

3 POEMS ABOUT FOG (self-published: March '06)

This new little booklet features... you guessed it... 3 short poems about fog, in comics form (4 pages of comics), wrapped in nice fog colored paper, with hand-cut fog shaped cardstock covers. A total of 12 digest pages (4 pages of comics), $1.50

MY WORD! by Missy Kulik and John Porcellino (2004)

For this little booklet, Missy came up with five words for me and I came up with five words for Missy, then we each drew short comics based on the words we were given... so this time you get: Camels, Violets, Postage, Clouds, Catsup Clocks and more! The first in a series??? 16 mini-sized pages, SOLD OUT.

ESPAÑOL Spanish language edition of Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, from Apa Apa Comics in Barcelona. En Español, 104 págs., blanco y negro.

EJEMPLO PERFECTO (Ponent Mon, Tarragona, 2008)

ESPAÑOL New Spanish Language edition of Perfect Example, from Ponent Mon, Tarragona Spain. En Español, 144 págs., blanco y negro.

MOON LAKE TRAILS (Ego Comme X, Angouleme: 2006)

FRANÇAIS New French language collection includes the stories Forgiveness, Punt No Tell, I Saw Where the Root Hog Lives, Introduction to the Night Sky, Perfect Example, and Escape to Wisconsin. En Français, 192 pages; AVAILABLE FROM THE PUBLISHER: www.ego-comme-x.com.

KING-CAT NUMMER EINS (Reprodukt, Berlin: 1998)

DEUTSCHE German language collection gathers the best of the mid-1990s issues including Belmont Harbor, Mountain Song, Desperation Angels and many others. Squarebound, full color covers. Im Deutsche, 60 digest pages.


My copies are SOLD OUT, but this book is still available from the publisher: www.reprodukt.com

THE KING-CAT COLLECTION (B.ü.L.b. Comix, Geneva: 1998)

FRANÇAIS Nicely crafted Swiss (French language) import collects Belmont Harbor (#47), Mountain Song (#49), plus many shorter, harder to find strips like Utah, Ghost of a Man and lots more. Hand screened perfect bound cardboard covers. 56 digest pages, en Français; $12.00

Amazing four song album by this six piece band from the UK. The songs, all instrumental, each approach the 20 minute mark... with layers upon layers of sound, repeated and subtly evolving themes carry you into a wordless yet emotionally rich musical landscape. Excellent.

For King-Cat readers: I designed the album artwork, with full color digipak sleeves, and a 12 page booklet featuring an exclusive 6 page comic story.

From the Bearos website:

"Souvaris are a six piece instrumental band. They [explore] tone, melody, rhythm and noise in vast and intricately constructed arrangements designed to envelop and overwhelm the audience - you don't so much listen to their music as feel it.

The obvious reference points are gods of post-rock like Labradford, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, AerialM and Mogwai. In the presence of such big boys of the scene it's something of a feat in itself that Souvaris have managed to carve their initials into the playground post-rock tree. They impressed John Peel with their debut demo CD-R which went straight from post tray to play list.

Since this the band have released singles for Telesphere Records and a split 7" with The Workhouse on Awkward Silence."

"[a] rare essence of complete vastness and beauty that‚s almost untranslatable."

--Andy Robbins, dosomethingpretty.com

Imported 4 song digipak CD (approx 80 minutes), with comic by John Porcellino -- NEW LOWER PRICE!!! was $15.00 NOW-- $12.00

"AFFIRM"

8 x 9 inch, three color letterpress print on Stonehenge cream paper. Signed and numbered edition of 100, available from Buenaventura Press. For more information, or to order, please visit http://www.buenaventurapress.com/prints/printBP-21.html

COMING SOON (Book Collections)

Map of My Heart - collecting KC issues 55-61, plus selections from 51-54 and bonus material.

The Hospital Suite - picks up where ...Abatement Man leaves off; this all new story documents my summer of 1997.

From Lone Mountain - collecting King-Cats 62-68.