Kramers Ergot 7

So Buenaventura Press has listed all the participants in Sammy Harkham's much-ballyhooed Kramers Ergot 7.

A complete list of artists include: Rick Altergott, Gabrielle Bell, Jonathan Bennett, Blanquet, Blex Bolex,
Conrad Botes, Shary Boyle, Mat Brinkman, John Brodowski, Ivan Brunetti, C.F., Chris Cilla, Jacob Ciocci, Dan Clowes, Martin Cendreda, Joe Daly, Kim Deitch, Matt Furie, Tom Gauld, Leif Goldberg, Matt Groening, John Hankiewicz, Sammy Harkham, Eric Haven, David Heatley, Tim Hensley, Jaime Hernandez, Walt Holcombe, Kevin Huizenga, J. Bradley Johnson, Ben Jones & Pshaw, Ben Katchor, Ted May, Geoff McFetridge, Jesse McManus, James McShane, Jerry Moriarty, Anders Nilsen, John Pham, Aapo Rapi, Ron Rege Jr.,
Xavier Robel, Helge Reumann, Ruppert & Mulot, Johnny Ryan, Richard Sala, Souther Salazar, Frank Santoro, Seth, Shoboshobo, Josh Simmons, Anna Sommer, Will Sweeney, Matthew Thurber, Adrian Tomine, C. Tyler, Chris Ware, and Dan Zettwoch.

Funny I remember Mart Cendreda when he was sending out stapled issues of his little mini Random Milk to be reviewed in my own sloppily stapled zine edition of TCI. His style was all over the place then. Meanwhile TCI dissed Josh Simmon's early minis only to make an about-face based on his fine story in the True Porn anthology and since then he's gone on to be published by the evil Fanta empire. Finally Tom Gauld was another unknown on these shores but I remember my pal Nick Abadzis really touting Gauld's talents when we hung out at SPX, as well as several other British artists struggling in the very small pool of the UK indie scene. So it's nice to see Gauld getting some recognition these days as well.

PUBLISHER WANTED (apply within)

I'm looking for a book publisher for a collection of The Comics Interpreter's interviews, and that means conversations with a dozen of the most talented and influential creators in the medium, many of whom gave their first print interviews to TCI. Try David Choe, James Jean, Paul Pope, Tomer & Asaf Hanuka, Dash Shaw, Jamie Delano, and kozyndan for starters.

As a comics fan I'd want to buy that book. Hell, I'd still read it multiple times even though I conducted the interviews.

In these days when all manner of comics instructionals litter book store shelves and GN's are all the rage, there's still a paucity of good criticism and certainly interviews in book form. Although I've become well aware that non-fiction book publishers have a decided preference for "narrative non-fiction", it seems ludicrous that there are so few collected interviews along the lines of the Paris Review, but with comics luminaries instead of novelists. Especially when you consider that many of the interview subjects are wildly in-demand by both comics and book publishers.

Of course now that I've floated this (obvious) idea some savvy publisher will probably swoop in and publish an interview collection featuring many of the same artists. TCI has been poached so relentlessly by far more well-heeled late-comers that its almost become a sick joke.

Anyway...contact me. comicsmag at yahoo.com

Author David Foster Wallace Dead

The New York Times' literary critic Michiko Kakutani writes an absolutely brilliant remembrance to Foster Wallace who apparently committed suicide Friday Sept. 12.

A prose magician, Mr. Wallace was capable of writing — in both his fiction and nonfiction — about everything from tennis to politics to lobsters, from the horrors of drug withdrawal to the small terrors of life aboard a luxury cruise ship, with humor and fervor and verve. At his best, he could write funny, write sad, write sardonic and write serious. He could map the infinite and infinitesimal, the mythic and mundane.

Like Mr. DeLillo and Salman Rushdie, and like Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith and other younger authors, Mr. Wallace transcended both Philip Rahv’s famous division of writers into “palefaces” (like Henry James and T.S. Eliot, who specialized in heady, cultivated works rich in symbolism and allegory) and “redskins” (like Whitman and Dreiser, who embraced an earthier, more emotional naturalism), and Cyril Connolly’s division of writers into “mandarins” (like Proust, who favored ornate, even byzantine prose) and “vernacular” stylists (like Hemingway, who leaned toward more conversational tropes).

McPherson, Choe, & JJ jam

They should probably call this band TOO BIG FOR COMICS

David Mack, James Jean, Ken Tanaka, very happy!

David Mack and James Jean help interesting fellow Ken Tanaka complete Jacob The Happy Rabbit 2. I just wonder if Tanaka knows that this comic is now almost priceless?

Souther Salazar: rubber-armed, B-boy, magician

Seanna Hong is a dream.