Comics Comics #3 Available Online

The third issue of Comics Comics is now available as a free PDF download via the magazine’s blog. The issue includes a jam cover by Guy Davis and Sammy Harkham (who interviews Davis in the issue), writing by Kim Deitch, and a conversation between David Heatley and Lauren Weinstein, among other features. The issue also includes my own review of David Sandlin’s The Avengelist and Swamp Preacher. Comics Comics is published by Picturebox.

New Publications Round-Up

Recent weeks have seen the debuts of several comics-related publications.

Gene Kannenberg, Jr. announces the debut issue of European Comic Art, a new biannual English-language academic journal published by Liverpool University Press. A table of contents is available online and links to article abstracts; full online access is available to subscribers. The journal is edited by Laurence Grove, Mark McKinney and Ann Miller. The first issue includes contributions by Paul Gravett and Thierry Groensteen, among others.

The fourth issue of Comics Comics is now available via publisher Picturebox. The issue includes contributions from Brian Chippendale, Sammy Harkham, Joe McCullough and others on subjects including Woody Gelman, Shaky Kane, and the “declining profile of traditional comic books.” The issue also includes original work by artists including Pshaw!, Jon Vermilyea and Dan Zettwoch.

Jerry Beck reports that the latest issue of The Comics Journal debuted at the recent International Comic-Con in San Diego, California. Beck calls the issue “essentially a book length interview (well over 150 pages) with the Deitch family – writer Seth, artists Simon and Kim and their dad, animator Gene Deitch.” According to publisher Fantagraphics’ website, The Comics Journal #292 also includes “an historical essay and highlights from the turn-of-the-19th-century work of Puck cartoonist F. M. Howarth.”

Mike Rhode notes the recent launch of Bash Magazine, a new monthly alternative comics magazine available freely in the Washington, DC area. Edited by Jonathan T. Hampton, the issue includes comics by Pascal Blanchet, Theo Ellsworth, Eamon Espey, Keith Knight, Jesse Reklaw, and Jen Sorenson, among others. The issue is also available as a free PDF download via the publisher’s website.

Finally, Rick Bradford reports the availability of a new issue of The HoLLywood Eclectern, described as “Ed Buchman’s fanzine dedicated to Little Lulu (and all things John Stanley).” According to Bradford, The HoLLywood Eclectern #47 is primarily comprised of “a six-page Hy Eisman Lulu story intended for a mid ’80s issue of that title but never published due to cancellation.” The issue is freely available and must be requested via mail directed to publisher Ed Buchman.