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Because the print run of the second issue of Comics Comics has sold out, we are now making it available for free downloading over at the sidebar.

So if you missed out on getting your own copy (and unfortunately, this one really does work best in its oversize paper form), you can now finally enjoy:

Peter Bagge on Spider-Man!

An interview with PShaw! (He has posted a nice color variation of this issue’s cover on his own site, by the way.)

Part one of a far-too-long essay on Steve Gerber‘s cult ’70s Marvel comics (Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown, etc.)! (By the way, don’t forget to read the article’s accidentally excised footnotes.)

Kevin Nowlan on color separations!

Dan on Dave Sim‘s Collected Letters 2004!

Mark Newgarden on Michael Kupperman!

A beautiful “perpetual calendar” by the legendary Justin Green!

Comics and cartoons by PShaw, Matthew Thurber, and Lauren R. Weinstein!

And more!

P.S. When you’re done, drop us a line. There’s still time to make the letters page for issue three.

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Remember when we used to sometimes post reviews and little essays on here. Well, we’re sort of too busy pulling together Comics Comics 3, our biggest and best issue yet and features a collaborative cover by Sammy Harkham and Guy Davis, as well as Kim Deitch on the meaning of life and a list by Renee French. Tim is slowly (?) losing his mind while finishing his essay on Steve Gerber and I’m having paranoid thoughts while finishing my “What Went Wrong With the Masters of American Comics Exhibition” diatribe. It’ll be out in June, debut at MoCCA, and blow your minds.

In the meantime, I’m please to write that last Wednesday’s event at the fabulous Issue Project Room was amazing. Amy Lockhart’s films wowed the crowd and then Matthew Thurber’s Ambergris blew the doors off the place. While Thurber and compatriot Rebecca Bird warbled and whistled I unrolled a spectacular scroll drawn by the Thurber himself. Those of you who haven’t bought the first issue of his 1-800 MICE should run out and get it now.

After Ambergris came Gary Panter and Devin Flynn. Now, Gary hadn’t played in public in a few decades, but as some of you may know, has released a couple of records and a handful of seven inches. Fun fact: Ian McClagen of The Faces played in Gary’s first record, Pray for Smurph (1983). It’s a stone cold classic of skronk psych-country music. Devin Flynn is half of Pixeltan and an accomplished animator whose work can be seen on big and small screens. Together, well, they laid it down, man. While Devin thumped and keyed and bass-ed Gary let loose on the guitar with some serious Texas-style chops and a dry, high plains yelp. When he sings “I fought the Lord” I kinda think he might’ve, inbetween painting, drawing, and duding. One audience member called the performance “masculine”, and I think it kinda was. Well, when his big books comes out maybe we’ll send him on tour with his gee-tar.

Anyhow, it was a fine night, and we hope to do it again real soon!

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From Dan’s press release:

It’s the rock-n-art event of the year! Or at least the month!

Yes, PictureBox, together with Issue Project Room, presents an evening of book/art related entertainment.

Musical sets by:

–Gary Panter and Devin Flynn
This is Gary’s first live show since before you were born. You know Cream? It’ll be like that.

–Matthew Thurber/Ambergris
Thurber put together a rock combo for this one. You know Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd? It’ll be like that.

And films by Amy Lockhart! Do you know goodness? It will be so.

All happening at 8 pm, April 18th.

Issue Project Room
400 Carroll Street
between Bond and Nevins
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Telephone: 718-330-0313

$10

Come rock with us. (Oh and posters by Gary will be for sale, as well as other goodies!)

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Minicomics master Matthew Thurber has posted a portfolio. Check it out.

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NOTE: As the second issue of Comics Comics is just now being distributed to many comics stores for the first time, this is a special encore presentation of an earlier post.

Well, it’s finally here in all its glory. The second issue of Comics Comics debuted at SPX, and it’s a pretty terrific bargain.

We’ve switched to a much larger size—the second issue is a broadsheet—and though we’ll probably have it available for downloading fairly soon, this is one you’re going to want to own and hold in your hands, if only for the beautiful, giant Justin Green “Perpetual Calendar” on the back cover.

Incidentally, I was surprised at how many people at SPX (ostensibly big fans of “alternative” comics) didn’t recognize Justin Green‘s name. All I can say to that is that he basically invented the modern conception of autobiographical comics, and he is easily one of the dozen or so most important comic book creators of the last fifty years. If you haven’t read his Binky Brown stories, you should buy them and read them immediately. Seriously. Don’t buy a single other comic until you’ve found the Binky Brown Sampler. It is better than anything else you could possibly be considering.

Of course, Green’s not the only contributor in this issue. Did you ever wonder how Peter “Hate” Bagge really feels about Spider-Man, and about the single issue of that superhero’s adventures he created for Marvel? You can find out in Comics Comics #2!

Do you like the strange and wonderful work of Matthew Thurber, recently named minicomics artist of the year by the Comics Journal? You’ll read more here, in Comics Comics #2!

Also, Frank “Storeyville” Santoro discusses the lost art of color separation with mainstream legend Kevin Nowlan!

Comics and a very rare interview from our cover artist, the enigmatic PShaw!

Dan on Dave Sim, Mark Newgarden on Michael Kupperman, gag cartoons by Lauren R. Weinstein, and the first installment in an epic, New Yorker-style (ha) exploration of the 1970s Marvel stories of Steve Gerber!

Does YOUR favorite store carry Comics Comics?

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Well, it’s finally here in all its glory. The second issue of Comics Comics debuted this weekend at SPX, and it’s a pretty terrific bargain.

We’ve switched to a much larger size—the second issue is a broadsheet—and though we’ll probably have it available for downloading fairly soon, this is one you’re going to want to own and hold in your hands, if only for the beautiful, giant Justin Green “Perpetual Calendar” on the back cover.

Incidentally, I was surprised at how many people at SPX (ostensibly big fans of “alternative” comics) didn’t recognize Justin Green‘s name. All I can say to that is that he basically invented the modern conception of autobiographical comics, and he is easily one of the dozen or so most important comic book creators of the last fifty years. If you haven’t read his Binky Brown stories, you should buy them and read them immediately. Seriously. Don’t buy a single other comic until you’ve found the Binky Brown Sampler. It is better than anything else you could possibly be considering.

Of course, Green’s not the only contributor in this issue. Did you ever wonder how Peter “Hate” Bagge really feels about Spider-Man, and about the single issue of that superhero’s adventures he created for Marvel? You can find out in Comics Comics #2!

Do you like the strange and wonderful work of Matthew Thurber, recently named minicomics artist of the year by the Comics Journal? You’ll read more here, in Comics Comics #2!

Also, Frank “Storeyville” Santoro discusses the lost art of color separation with mainstream legend Kevin Nowlan!

Comics and a very rare interview from our cover artist, the enigmatic PShaw!

Dan on Dave Sim, Mark Newgarden on Michael Kupperman, gag cartoons by Lauren R. Weinstein, and the first installment in an epic, New Yorker-style (ha) exploration of the 1970s Marvel stories of Steve Gerber!

Does YOUR favorite store carry Comics Comics?

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Sorry about the extremely light posting over the past few weeks. We just finally sent the second issue of Comics Comics to the printers and, fingers crossed, it should debut at the SPX convention in Bethesda this weekend.

Thanks, by the way, to everyone who came out to the Comics Comics event in Philadelphia on Saturday. It was a lot of fun, at least for us. The conversation between David Heatley and Lauren went extremely well, I thought; if our tape recorder worked properly, look for a transcription either in a future issue or here on the blog. Matthew Thurber blew my mind with his performance—Frank unrolled a giant scroll of pretty elaborate Thurber illustrations while Thurber played a tiny guitar and sang apparently related lyrics. And I don’t think I’ll ever look at PShaw‘s Strings the same way after his thorough, hilarious presentation. What once was dark is now light—and vice versa. Anyway, thanks again to all who came, and to the 215 Festival for inviting us.

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If you’re going to be in the Philadephia area this weekend, please stop by for the first official Comics Comics magazine event.

As part of the city’s annual 215 Festival, Dan, CC editor-at-large Frank Santoro (of Cold Heat and Storeyville fame), and I will be hosting maybe the greatest, most mind-blowing comics-type extravaganza around.

David Heatley and Lauren R. Weinstein in conversation!

A musical performance by minicomics great Matthew Thurber!

A digital presentation of the meaning behind Strings, by PShaw!

And it’s all FREE!

Tell your friends, please.

Comics! Comics! Comics!
4:30-6:30pm, Rocket Cat Cafe, 2001 Frankford Ave., Fishtown, Philadelphia, FREE

The editors of the comics journal, Comics Comics, present a conversation between David Heatley and Lauren Weinstein. Heatley is the author of Deadpan and Weinstein is the author of Inside Vineyland. Plus, a performance by artist Matthew Thurber and a guide to Comics Comics by Dan Nadel, Timothy Hodler and Frank Santoro.

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You’ve read the blog, you’ve absorbed the hype, now it’s time to actually see what Comics Comics is all about. Could Dan be the new generation’s Art Spiegelman?! (Wha’!?) Only one way to find out – come out this weekend and buy all his junk!

This weekend, Comics Comics will debut at the MoCCA Art Festival in New York City’s Puck Building. Stop by and pick up the premiere issue, t-shirts, and the latest PictureBox releases. Many great artists and cartoonists will be at our table throughout the weekend, including Paper Rad, Frank Santoro, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Gary Panter, Matthew Thurber, David Sandlin, Taylor McKimens, and Jonathon Rosen.

Besides the magazine, PictureBox will be releasing:

Two new comic books: Cold Heat #1, by Ben (Paper Rad) Jones & Frank Santoro, and Incanto by Frank Santoro.

Two new books: Gore by Black Dice and Jason Frank Rothenberg, and Me a Mound by Trenton Doyle Hancock.

Jessica (Paper Rad) Ciocci’s limited run artists’ book, Pig Tales.

A series of large offset “posters for your dorm room or crash pad” by Brian Chippendale, Gary Panter, BJ & Frank Santoro.

And of course, Dan’s amazing new anthology, Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969, just published by Abrams.

If you can only pick one day to attend, make it Sunday, as Dan will be presenting a slide show based on his book at 4 pm.

(Personally, if I didn’t have to be at the convention all weekend, I’d spend Saturday at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in Madison Square Park or the Phil Karlson double feature at the Film Forum. You can do whatever you want.)

Then, this Saturday night, between 7 and 9 pm, join us for our magazine’s launch party at Participant Inc in the Lower East Side.

Beer and other beverages provided.

PARTICIPANT INC
95 Rivington Street
NYC, NY 10002