Typhon Haiyan (Yolanda) relief benefit!

Rina Ayuyang of YAM Books put together a bunch of ebay auctions to help out survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. There is tons of great original art & comics, including a lot of six books from us at Birdcage Bottom Books.

The auction ends soon, so please go bid now!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281211774844?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

BIG NEWS, Y'ALL!

BIG NEWS, Y'ALL!

From here on out, Birdcage Bottom Books will be publishing Jamie Vayda's "LOUD COMIX". Jamie is insane, so he wanted to put out a new 32 page issue each month. We were able to subdue him with tranquilizers and with gentle brain-washing methods involving a harmonium and free vegan food, got him to chill the f**k out and agree to a new issue every two months. 

LOUD COMIX is a collection of stories authored by members of various rock bands & music enthusiasts (with an emphasis on southern punk luminaries). The first issue features stories by Sonny Joe Harlan (Murder Junkies, Shitcan Dirtbag, The Sonny Joe Harlan Band), Frankie Nowhere (The Chumps, Eastside Suicides, Faster Disasters, Flash Boys), Erika Lane (DISAPpointed PARents, Early Graves, KILLZALL, The Stovebolts) and Alan King (Hellstomper, Polecat Boogie Revival, The Beer Drinking Christians). 

Also, Losers Weepers #1 is back in print (3rd printing). Hopefully the pink cover will offset the depressing nature of this first issue. 

In Losers Weepers #1, J.T. Yost has found a novel way to show off the bizarre and seemingly unrelated detritus he has scavenged from the streets by incorporating found letters, notes and journals directly into an ongoing comic narrative. In issue #1, a newly sober homeless heroin addict relapses after bumping into an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. 

* In other news, you may have noticed that this blog is no longer updated very often. We've pretty much moved everything to Tumblr, Facebook & Twitter. So, please follow us there!

The Grand Comics Festival 2013!

Intimidation tactics

The Grand Comics Festival last weekend was stupendous. I used a thesaurus to find a word other than “awesome”, and “stupendous” seemed pretty good. Plus “Fred the Baker™” on my 1986 Dunkin’ Donuts Merchandising Training video uses the word, and I try to be like him in every way except the Hitler moustache. 

The show was small enough for anyone browsing to check out every table without being overwhelmed, and there was a good variety of style & subject matter. I had the good fortune to be flanked by Pat Dorian (the organizer of the show) whose clean brushwork and excellent character design I greatly admire and Jess Ruliffson, whose ongoing series of interviews with veterans is truly engrossing.

Saturday was very well attended (with a lot of other cartoonists stopping by to jibber-jabber and/or shop). Sunday was much slower, which can surely be attributed to a combination of hangovers and brunch plans, but it gave all of us time to go check out each others work and do some jibber-jabbering of our own. I imagine the show will be cut down to just one day if it happens again (Pat mentioned doing another in the future).

The proximity to Foodswings (vegan fast-food) proved irresistible, and I ended up eating there twice a day, both days. I only mention it because it's sometimes hard to find decent veg options at shows, so this was another feather in GCF's cap for me. 

It turns out that this white male was a minority at the show in that I didn’t go to SVA. Apparently SVA is cranking out talented cartoonists. I mean, I guess I already knew that, but it was interesting to see so many in one place. 

All in all, I would consider it a stupendous success. Stupendous. 

Suspect Device #3 anthology

Here's another short comic I did for the Suspect Device #3 anthology. In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, editor Josh Bayer sends you a bunch of panels from two different comic strips (this go-round was Little Orphan Annie & Popeye). Traditionally, you're expected to use one of the panels at the beginning of your new comic and another at the end. What you do in-between to connect the dots is up to you.

I ended up using several of the original panels instead of just two (other artists used one, none, altered the existing panels or whatever else they felt like doing).

In related news, we carry both Suspect Device #3 and Suspect Device #2 in the Birdcage Bottom Books store!

Arbuckles

Phew, finally sent out the last of the pre-orders for "Snake Pit Gets Old" and lugged six 40 pound boxes full of them (for Diamond Distribution) to the post-office on my little hand-truck. Now I can get back to drawing.

Speaking of, here's a comic I did for the upcoming issue of "Mutant Funnies" that Atomic Books puts out for free comic book day. I haven't posted any of my own comics in a while, so here's one that I'm not particularly proud of but gets the job done. Enjoy!

25% OFF COMICS SALE at Birdcage Bottom Books

Just a heads up to you not signed up on the mailing list, Birdcage Bottom Books is having a 25% OFF sale on select books to promote our greatly expanded distro service, including:

mammoth Digestate food & eating themed anthology, edited by J.T. Yost

Aron Nels Steinke's Big Plans collects all five mini-comics and more!

Lauren Barnett's Me Likes You Very Much, published by Hic & Hoc

Jeff Zwirek's Burning Building Comix collects all five minis in an unusual format and in full color!

Suspect Device #2 anthology, edited by Josh Bayer

...and if that weren't enough, there's other books at an even steeper discount. Plus, we now carry tons of handmade comics by lots of wonderful indie comic artists. 

Check out the sale (and get the coupon code) here!

Bayer & Yost at MoCCA Fest 2013!

Bayer (drawn by Box Brown) & Yost: Don't look them in the eyes.

We just got our table assignment from MoCCA. I'll be representing Birdcage Bottom Books and sharing a table with Mr. Josh Bayer. Our drawing styles don't have much in common, but we do both have beards.

We'll be debuting a new book by Ben Snakepit ("Snake Pit Gets Old: Daily Diary Comics 2010 - 2012") and running some sales, so please drop by table B-58!

Shout-out: Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

LISA ROSALIE EISENBERG!

Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg is a cartoonist and educator living in Portland, Oregon.  She teaches comics workshops and classes to youth in schools throughout the Portland area.  (If you ask nicely, she will share the latest in cool teen slang with you, but she promises to sound very un-cool in the telling).  

Lisa's work has been published in the anthologies Bird Hurdler, Runner Runner, Papercutter, Bearfight!, and TheStrumpet.  She is illustrating a script by Jonathan Baylis for Digestate, and that story will also appear in Jonathan's series So...Buttons.  

Lisa self-publishes the comic series I Cut My Hair, a combination of autobiographical, fiction, and historical fiction comics stories.  A new page is published weekly at ICutMyHairComics.com, and the zine version of I Cut My Hair can be purchased through sparkplugcomicbooks.com.  

Lisa can also be found on the social media platforms Twitter: @lisa_rosalie and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lisa.Rosalie.Eisenberg.Comics.Illustration

Editor's note: Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg was the only artist I didn't personally choose/harass to be in the Digestate anthology (she drew the comic written by Jonathan Baylis), but I'm really glad that Jonathan selected her. There must be something in the water up there in Portland, OR. There's just so many great cartoonists coming out of that city! If I weren't a sun junkie, I'd try to convince my wife to move there. 

Anyhow, I highly recommend checking out her auto-bio and experimental comics posted every Monday on her site!

Shout-out: William Cardini

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

WILLIAM CARDINI!

William Cardini is currently serializing his psychedelic sf graphic novel Vortex in self-published minicomics. His comic have published in the Image Comics tribute anthology RUBTHE BLOOD, the 3D comic MathFiction, the newsprint anthologies SmokeSignal and SecretPrison, and on the online sites for ArthurMagazine and Squidface& the Meddler.

http://hypercastle.com

Editor's note: I can't claim to understand William Cardini's work, but it's fun & compelling enough that I don't have to. Obviously his comics deal in science fiction, but there's a humor to them that is absent in most sci-fi that I've read. Maybe if I'd done more drugs as a kid I'd be better equipped to comment at length, but as it stands I'll just recommend picking up some issues of Vortex!

New comic for CRINGE! anthology

Here’s a sneak-peek (more peeky than sneaky) at a some pages from “Purple Rain”, a comic I’m working on for Peter S. Conrad’s upcoming “CRINGE!” anthology. 

25% off VALENTINE'S DAY SALE!

BIG OL' VALENTINE'S DAY SALE in my Etsy shop!
25% off with coupon code VDAY13

Lots of hand-carved, hand-painted block prints of dogs, livestock & more plus silk-screened SNOOP shirts!

Pre-order the new SNAKE PIT book & save!

It is on.

Pre-order the new Snake Pit book now!

Pay less than the retail cost ($17) for the new Snakepit diary comic collection, and get some limited edition goodies thrown in:

“Snake Pit Gets Old: Daily Diary Comics 2010 – 2012″ - Ben Snakepit returns with an all-new book of daily diary comics, three years in the making. As the title implies, Ben transitions from the pants-pooping idiocy of youth to the dark, sobering responsibilites of adulthood. Read along in amazement as he quits his bands, gets a real job, has a kidney stone removed and much much more. It’s 18+ fun for the whole family!
6″ x 8.5″, 288 pages.
Full-color cover with b&w interior. 

PLUS: one limited edition sticker and button!

Pre-sale price is just $15 plus shipping! Click here to order.
Books expected to ship in April 2013. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------OR-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Save tons of money when you pre-order the new Snake Pit book, and get lots of goodies:

“Snake Pit Gets Old: Daily Diary Comics 2010 – 2012″ - Ben Snakepit returns with an all-new book of daily diary comics, three years in the making. As the title implies, Ben transitions from the pants-pooping idiocy of youth to the dark, sobering responsibilites of adulthood. Read along in amazement as he quits his bands, gets a real job, has a kidney stone removed and much much more. It’s 18+ fun for the whole family!
6″ x 8.5″, 288 pages. Retail cost $16.95
Perfect Bound with Full-color cover, B&W interior

“Snake Pit 2009″ – Ben Snakepit’s ninth year of diary comics sees him slipping further into domesticity and responsibility. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of overindulgence, partying and punk rock!
6″ x 8.5″, 96 pages. Retail cost$6.00
Perfect Bound with Full-Color Cover, B&W interior

PLUS: one limited edition button & two stickers!

Pre-sale price is just $18 plus shipping! Click here to order.
Books expected to ship in April 2013.

New Snake Pit diary comic book by Ben Snakepit!

Guess we can let the cat out of the bag now that it’s official…

Birdcage Bottom Books will be publishing Ben Snakepit’s next comic diary collection (three years worth!), “Snake Pit Gets Old: Daily Diary Comics 2010-2012”. 

Release date is April 6th, 2013 (at the MoCCA Festival). We will be offering discounted pre-sales of the book along with limited edition goodies. Please sign up on our mailing list to receive the details as they are released. 

New year, new reviews!

A few new Digestate reviews:

Jason Das‘ glowing review on SuperVegan. Click here to read it!

Dan Murphy’s review on Juniperbug. Click here to read it!

Xaviar Xerexes review on Altertainment. Click here to read it!