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I’ve been emailing people today whose orders are still waiting to be filled. If you haven’t heard from me, it’s because I’m expecting your books within the next week! Please feel free to contact me with any questions – virginia (at) sparkplugcomicbooks (dot) com. Thanks for your continued patience and support!

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Sparkplug will be at APE in San Francisco this weekend! Please stop by to say hi, buy books and chat with our artists! APE takes place at the Concourse Exhibition Center on Saturday, October 1st and Sunday October 2nd.

Also, Tom Neely, Landry Walker and others will be participating in the panel “Remembering Dylan Williams” on Sunday at 12:45. Please join us in celebrating Dylan’s life and work.
Here is the panel description:
12:45 Remembering Dylan Williams—The indie comics world lost one of our own on September 10 when Dylan Williams passed away. Dylan was a tireless champion of creators with unique visions, and promoted their work through his career, starting with the mini-comics coop Puppy Toss and a stint behind the counter at Comic Relief. He is best known as the publisher of Sparkplug Comic Books. Artists, publishers, and friends who were touched by Dylan’s influence — including Tom Devlin, Todd Martinez, Tom Neely, Virginia Paine, Landry Walker, and others — join together to remember Dylan and his passion for comics in this special tribute panel. Please attend and share your memories.

>Hello friends of Sparkplug,

I am just writing to check in, and thank everyone who has ordered something for their continued patience. Sparkplug has always been a small company – I have been Dylan’s only employee for the last year. I have a lot of help right now, but things are still going slowly with order processing. I’m waiting on many titles to be restocked in order to ship several dozen orders. Again, if you have any questions about your order, please contact me (virginia (at) sparkplugcomicbooks (dot) com) and I will do my best to help.

I’d also like to confirm that there WILL be a Sparkplug table at APE, the Minneapolis Indie Expo and Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest. We look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks again for your continued support of Sparkplug and Dylan.

-Virginia

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I have been having a lot of trouble articulating what I’ve been feeling the last couple days, but I’m going to try. Many, many people have written beautiful things about Dylan’s passing. I urge you to read their loving tributes; everyone’s perspective is slightly different, but all agree that there wasn’t a kinder, more passionate soul than Dylan.

I don’t know what to say about him. I feel like I didn’t know him as well as I could have, even though I was his student and his employee. He means a lot to the comics community, as does Sparkplug. I’m going to miss talking to him about feminism, veganism and queer issues. I’m going to miss listening to late 90s emo with him. I’m going to miss him disrupting my work so we could talk, because he cared more about talking to me than he did about squeezing every last bit of work out of me. I’m going to miss him apologizing when I complained about being tired, and apologizing about everything else.

I was so, so grateful when he gave me this job. I hope he knew how thankful I am, and how honored I am to be his employee and friend.

I think that’s all I have to say for now. My heart goes out to everyone who loved Dylan. Please let me know if you need anything.

I do feel like I should mention to folks who have ordered things from us that I am doing my best to get us back on track, but filling orders is going rather slowly. I’ve got some people coming to help this week and I’m going to try to get a lot done this week. Thank you for your continued patience. If you have any questions about your order, please contact me: virginia (at) sparkplugcomicbooks (dot) com

We are welcoming new orders as well, if you don’t mind the wait. I’m not sure what the costs are looking like for Emily, but I think this is a good way to contribute.

Thank you everyone for supporting Dylan and Sparkplug.

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Tom Neely will be covering his own I Will Destroy You table as well as Sparkplug’s this weekend at SPX. Please stop and say hi if you are there! He’ll have have plenty of copies of our Ignatz-nominated books!

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I’m reposting this, because I wanted to say thank you to everyone again, and also to say, if you have any questions about your order and its status, please feel free to contact me: virginia (at) sparkplugcomicbooks (dot) com.

Thanks again. I appreciate your patience!

An Additional Thank You, and a Note

Hey All, Virginia here.

First of all, thank you everyone for your support! I’m so gratified at the response and obviously Dylan appreciates it enormously. Y’all are wonderful.

Second, a little note about your orders.
Again, thank you SO much! It’s amazing to see so much support. I’ve been plugging away at orders as fast as I can, but we have been running out of stock of several books. They have been ordered, but it may add a little delay to some orders while we wait for the books to come in. I want to thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we work our way through your orders! <3

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Sparkplug will be tabling (thanks to the wonderful Annie Murphy) at SF Zine Fest tomorrow and Sunday. Please stop by if you are in the Bay Area and check out our books!

>Hey All, Virginia here.

First of all, thank you everyone for your support! I’m so gratified at the response and obviously Dylan appreciates it enormously. Y’all are wonderful.

Second, a little note about your orders.

Again, thank you SO much! It’s amazing to see so much support. I’ve been plugging away at orders as fast as I can, but we have been running out of stock of several books. They have been ordered, but it may add a little delay to some orders while we wait for the books to come in. I want to thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we work our way through your orders! <3

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I figure I should check in and let people know I’m doing okay. I’ve got more treatments ahead but I’m doing well. And me and Sparkplug owe a giant thank you for all the help everyone has given us during me being conked out. I’m a lot less worried about the way things will go now.
Dylan

>Hey everybody, I just launched this Kickstarter project to fund issue five in my autobiographical comic series, Big Plans. You can check out my video, and then watch and laugh with friends. Ho, ho. But seriously, it’s a fun book. Plus, my wolfman character makes several more appearances than before. I’ve also thought up some rewards that include original artwork from the book. Just click here.

For reals!

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A couple new books for y’all to check out today. First: Minty Lewis’ PS Comics, which is chock-full of stories of betrayed yorkie dog friendships and disgruntled fruit office workers.

In a slightly more serious vein, but still hilarious, we have Susie Cagle’s Notes on Conflict, which documents her trip to Israel and the conflicted feelings the journey provoked.

Also new today is Theo Ellsworth’s Sleeper Car, which collects several short stories from this (deservedly) acclaimed comics artist.

And finally, the British comics anthology Gin Palace #1. Though not all alcohol-related, the stories are entertaining and the variety of artistic styles make an entertaining read.

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Sparkplug is well-represented in 2011′s Ignatz Awards nominees! Gay Genius, The Heavy Hand, Habitat #2 and the Reich series have all been nominated along with a bunch of other great artists and books. Read the full list of nominees here.

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Sparkplug has several new titles for you to peruse today! First, Matthew Thurber’s enthralling, complex, surreal series 1-800-Mice. We’ve got all five issues.

Also new today is Dave Kiersh’s Neverland, a poetic examination of having to grow up, with densely textured panels and heavy lines. A beautiful book!

And finally, Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man by John Porcellino. The author’s love of nature is rendered profound with simple, graceful linework and perfectly paced text.

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Matt over at Exquisite Things has written a scintillating review of Reich #8! Please check it out.

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Sean T. Collins has written a great review of The Heavy Hand by Chris Cilla. Check out the full article here.



“Fascinating book, this. It combines the textural, noise-based visual aesthetic of caves and monsters and melty stuff that you may have seen from many of Chris Cilla’s fellow contributors to the Paper Rodeo and Kramers Ergot anthologies with the down’n’out beer-swillin’ shit-talkin’ big-schnozzed characters of ’90s altcomix (big noses are to alternative what big feet were to the underground), so right off the top it’s doing something unexpected. And in the same way that the art is both densely intense and breezily funny, the story somehow coheres from jokey banter, grand-guignol monster attacks, and surreal non sequitur splash pages into an utterly convincing world.” -Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly.

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Sparkplug will have a (small) table at the Portland Zine Symposium this weekend! It’s happening Saturday and Sunday at Refuge in SE Portland. Click on the link for more details!

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Paul Houston at Coverless has posted a good but confused review of David King’s Lemon Styles:
http://www.renderwrx.net/apps/blog/show/7912197-review-lemon-styles

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Today we’ve added seven (seven!) of Tom Lechner’s dream-themed, darkly strange comics to the Sparkplug store. Take a look at Cold Fusion, Consumption #11 and #12, Nightlife, Nightlife 12:01 and Tales of Inertia #2 and #3.

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Many new comics for y’all to check out today! Above is Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi’s Tales of Tiger Balm. It’s gorgeously detailed, full of exuberant energy and hilarious.

Next are two of Eamon Espey’s minis: Death Deals and Ishi’s Brain. Espey’s art is dense, dark and heavy (literally and figuratively). I especially enjoy his use of symbolism and Mayan-art-reminiscent pictography.

Then we have Eroyn Franklin’s Sorry Sheets. Eroyn’s drawing is stunning in this apparently simple story about a woman trying to take a bath.

And finally, another deconstructionist comic from Jason Overby: Exploding Head Man. Jason takes on the superhero mythos as the titular character comes to terms with his new identity and abilities.

That’s all I got for ya today! Have a good one.