Cyber Monday Sale on comics & more (FREE SHIPPING)!

Birdcage Bottom Books is having a Cyber Monday sale now through midnight 11/26/12. FREE SHIPPING on orders over $15 (within the U.S.). Just use the coupon code: CYBERMONDAY12 at check out.

You can see more details here.

We're carrying lots of new comics in our shop from the likes of James Kochalka, Kevin Cannon, Josh Burggraf, Danny Hellman, Victor Kerlow & William Cardini as well as old classics from Ben Snakepit, J.T. Yost & Noah Van Sciver!

DIGESTATE Kickstarter campaign is aLIVE!

Alright, folks.
This is do or die for me. I've been working my butt off (along with over 50 contributing artists) to put together a huge collection of food & eating themed comics called "DIGESTATE". I can't afford to publish it without a little help, so I've put together a Kickstarter campaign to fund the base cost of printing.    It'll cost a lot more than what I'm asking, but I don't want to get greedy since Kickstarter is all or nothing!

Anyhow, please check out the campaign here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/birdcagebottombooks/digestate-a-food-and-eating-themed-comic-anthology

There's a video and sample pages, along with a contributor list. Actually, here's the contributor list, just to pique your interest:

• Darryl Ayo
• Josh Bayer
• Jonathan Baylis
• Marc Bell
• Marek Bennett
• Berkeley Breathed
• Neil Brideau
• Box Brown
• Jeffrey Brown
• Josh Burggraf
• C. M. Butzer
• Kevin Cannon
• William Cardini 
• Cha
• Sungyoon Choi
• J.T. Dockery
• Nate Doyle
• Renee French
• Nicole J. Georges
• Ayun Halliday
• Danny Hellman
• Sam Henderson
• Adam Hines
• Paul Hoppe
• K. Thor Jensen
• Victor Kerlow
• John Kerschbaum
• Keith Knight
• James Kochalka
• Hawk Krall
• Minty Lewis
• Jonas Madden-Connor
• Aaron Mew
• Pranas T. Naujokaitis
• Hazel Reed Newlevant
• L. Nichols
• Al Ortiz
• Tod C. Parkhill
• Dan Piraro
• Liz Prince
• Brian Ralph
• Alex Robinson
• Jungyeon Roh
• Jess Ruliffson
• Anuj Shrestha
• Ben Snakepit
• Aron Nels Steinke
• Jeremy Tinder
• James Turek
• Noah Van Sciver
• Sophia Wiedeman
• J.T. Yost
• Jeff Zwirek

Sample Pages from DIGESTATE comic anthology!

Hey y'all,

The comics for our upcoming anthology are starting to roll in, and I'm getting more and more excited. I can't contain it any more, so please share in our elation by taking a gander at some sample pages...

Cha

Jeffrey Brown

Alex Robinson

Box Brown

Josh Burggraf

Noah Van Sciver

Victor Kerlow

Dolla Dolla Billz at MoCCA 2012

Fairly accurate in representing our respective profits. Note the self-destructing t-shirt display. 

Another MoCCA fest under my belt (no wonder my pants no longer fit). As always, it was a privilege and a pleasure to share a table with Mr. Victor Kerlow, and to be flanked by my Rabid Rabbit peeps Josh Burggraf, Sungyoon Choi & Eric Watkins.

I tried to keep my spending to a minimum, but I did pick up a few comics: Josh Bayer's amazing anthology "Suspect Device", Rich Tommaso's "Pete & Miriam" and Box Brown's "The Survivalist" among others. Also got my contributor copies of Rabid Rabbit #14, which is unsurprisingly fantastic.

Anyhow, gotta get back to work!

See you at MoCCA (?/!)

Bromancing the Stone.

Me (J.T. Yost) & Victor Kerlow will be holdin' it down at table A17 at the MoCCA comics festival this weekend, so c'mon by and help keep us in beans and rice. We're right next to the fine folks at Rabid Rabbit, so you can holler at them, too.

Shout-out: VICTOR KERLOW

DIGESTATE contributor:
 VICTOR KERLOW!

Victor Kerlow was born, raised and educated in Manhattan and still lives there, drawing full-time. Clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, Fantagraphics, MTV, IFC Films, Random House, The Believer, Bloomberg, J Walter Thompson, The National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico City and many more. He also draws the weekly illustrations for The Metro Diary in The New York Times, and has a few exciting projects coming out soon, but not soon enough to mention right now, so please Google him frequently. Like every ten minutes.

victorkerlow.com
choppedintwo.blogspot.com

http://spaceadventurecomic.blogspot.com/

Editor's note: Victor is one of the most unassuming guys I've ever met considering his immense talent. He's one of those guys who's just always drawing, and I'm glad his talent is being both recognized and rewarded (did you see that client list up there?!). 

I'm especially impressed by the way his written words integrate into his drawings. I think a lot of cartoonists forget that the written word is a form of drawing and should be treated as such (im my opinion). There's nothing more jarring to me than a computer font paired with an obviously hand-drawn image. 

He is also unafraid to wear some of the sorriest looking promotional baseball caps I've ever seen. And he hangs out with undercover cops, so be careful. 

Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival: A smashing success

This photo pretty much sums it up.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table, and extra kudos to those who shelled out a few bucks to keep us in beans & rice. Thanks to my tablemate Victor Kerlow who was entertaining as always and didn't smell too bad this time. I think he had fun, but I'm sure he's anxious to get back to hanging out with his undercover cop friends.

I refrained from spending too much money (my kid can't eat comics, though lord knows I've tried), but I did buy a few books. I've been waiting to buy Tom Neely's "The Wolf" directly from him 'cause he always draws something amazing inside, but I was too busy chatting to remember to ask him to draw something in it! I also picked up Mike Dawson's "Troop 142". He & Alex Robinson entertain me through many an hour of inking with their podcast (The Ink Panthers Show), so I wanted to support him by buying his new book. Not to mention that I loved "Freddie & Me" (another of his books).

Besides that, I picked up a few minis here and there including Domitille Collardey's "What Had Happened Was II" and John Porcellino's newest "King Cat".

I am ALWAYS up for trading comics, but not too many people asked to this time. Maybe it's the recession's fault? A few people did, though. Sam Henderson gave me his "Free Ice Cream and Other Cartoons You Could Have Drawn", good ol' Josh Burggraf gave "Kid Space Heater", Maggie Prendergast gave "Over And (Over)" and "Old Men" (hope that wasn't a dig), Max Clotfelter gave "Andros #5", Hazel Newlevant gave "168 Hour Week" and "Evil Bus Driver" and of course Victor Kerlow gave me his newest "Something Big" which almost didn't get printed 'cause the printer "doesn't print pornography".

There were a bunch of folks I didn't get to talk to since I'm strangely averse to leaving my table (to the point where I usually get faint with hunger before running out to get food), but all in all a good time.

MoCCA 2011

For some reason I've had an allergic aversion to posting anything this month, so for the three of you out there who care (talkin' to you, mom!) here's, uh, something:

The MoCCA comic fest was MoCCA-y. Losts of great comic artists and comics all crammed in a huge military armory. Usually I get up and walk around quite a bit to holler at my brethren and pick up some new comics. This year, however, I didn't. I think it was mostly due to not having money to spend (baby often needs a new pair of shoes) and possibly because my table-mate Victor is endlessly entertaining.

I did do some trading, though. I'm still working through what I got at SPX last year, believe it or not. Oh well, I can't complain about having too many comics to read.



Here are some dueling portraits Victor and I did of each other. They look crappy because we were each wearing the other's glasses while drawing them. You can see what we look like unfiltered through incorrect ocular correctors in the accompanying photo (Jonathan Baylis on the left, Victor Kerlow in the middle, and me screwing up the hand-chain format on the right). 

Oh, and thanks to everyone who bought stuff. The Snoop shirts sold really well, and I sold completely out of the new issue of Losers Weepers! 

Ohhhhhhh Yeahhhhhhh!

Losers Weepers #3 is finished! The proof is in the pudding.

This little gem will be debuting at MoCCA this weekend (April 9 & 10), but we'll have them up on the Birdcage Bottom Books website for preorder in the next day or so.

Victor Kerlow & myself can be found at table B8 if you care to come give us terrorist fist-bumps and/or cold hard cash. 

It's on!

Okay, so international playboy Victor Kerlow and myself will once again be sharing a table at the MoCCA indie-comic fest this year. Hopefully we will NOT be sharing any communicable diseases this year (last time I accept an offer to "take a pull" from his Rockstar Pink energy drink for ladies).

Sadly, me and Sophia Wiedeman didn't get our application for SPX in in time to get a table. BUT my local neighborhood comic buddy Jonathan Baylis has been kind enough to offer to share his half-table with me. I'm not sure how I'll fit everything on 1/4 table, but I'm more than willing to go vertical.

I'm moving full-steam-ahead on the third issue of 'Losers Weepers'. Just finished inking the whole thing, and now I'm starting the tedious task of coloring and laying it out. Here's a peek at the cover (uplifting as always!!)...

MoCCA 2010

This was my second year selling at MoCCA (and 9th year attending). Seems like they worked out a lot of the kinks from last year. For the record, I didn't mind the heat last year, but since most everyone else did, it was a wise move to change the fest to April. My biggest complaint this year was the astronomical cost of the tables. Fortunately, it seems that the organizers took this into consideration since next year's tables cost nearly $50 less. I just hope that doesn't translate into higher ticket costs for attendees.

I didn't get to attend any of the panels, but since Brian Heater was at the helm I'm sure they were fantastic. I get paranoid about leaving my table, because I feel like that's when someone I want to see will stop by. Luckily, I was there when one of my favorite babies came by for a visit. Lulu is a much more savvy business person than I am, and her visit lead to increased sales until she needed to nurse. I guess comic geeks can't handle a little discreet bosom bearing.

As you may know, Birdcage Bottom Books put out this year's collection of Ben Snakepit's diary comic. Since Ben doesn't put his name on the front of the books, this led to many misidentifications. I guess it's the fact that we both have chin-strap beards, because we aren't really similar in any other way, physically. One kid insisted that I sign a copy of Snakepit even though I repeatedly insisted that I wasn't Ben.

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun hanging out with Victor, the Supertalk crew and the Rabid Rabbit crew. As always, I met lots of talented and friendly folks and left with a healthy stack of new comics.

Nora Yost is two!

Still scrambling to get Losers Weepers #2 finished in time for MoCCA. I'm about four pages away from being done! Me n' the indomitable Victor Kerlow will be sharing a table again, and we are lucky enough to be neighbors with Supertalk Enterprises and Rabid Rabbit! All talented and somewhat hygenic individuals!

In other news, my little niece Nora turned two years old last week. I made her this little card: