Midnight Ramblings - October 2008

Jim Main just released the second issues of two of his titles published under the Main Enterprises banner. Dark Corridor, his weird fiction anthology, and the latest issue of his new mini comic series, Chase. Dark Corridor features stories by Michael Vance, Sam Gafford, and Mark Orr. Chase is written by Main himself and drawn by John Lambert.

Covers of Chase #2 and Candy or Medicine #5

Josh Blair announced the fifth issue of Candy or Medicine this week. Sporting a cover by Cayetano Valenzuela, Blair is also adding a little surprise courtesy of J&J. CorM #5 is $1 plus 50¢ postage. Order here.

Monster World #1 & 2 covers

When he's not contributing to Main Enterprises small press zines, Sam Gafford is working on his own new mini comic called Monster World. Formatted in classic 8-page, quarter-size pages Gafford has set an ambitious goal of publishing a new issue every week. Sample issues are $1 each, or $10 for a 12 issue subscription. (He's well on his way to #10, already.) Send your dough to Sam at 624 Metacom Ave., #103, Warren, RI 02885.

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October 18, 2008 Blog Entry

Custom Badges for Poopsheet
Over at the Poopsheet Foundation social networking site, Rick Bradford is offering new icons that include member's own avatars. All it takes is a free membership and once you're logged in, the code for your custom badge is automatically generated. Then just cut and paste the code onto your site to display your support for the best mini comic haven on the web.

Blammo #2
Noah Van Sciver announced the second issue of his Blammo small press magazine this week. It features comics and stories by Sciver along with comic strip interviews with Anton Newcombe and Joe Matt. Check out his website for more details.

Crime Fiction in a Flash
I just ran across a fun site this week called Powder Burn Flash. It features flash fiction of the crime and mystery variety. You can read each 1000-words-or-less story on-screen or download PDF files to print for hard copy.

String #8
Comic Collective 7000 BC announced the eighth issue of their club zine String this week. This issue includes jam comics by club members and previews to several other projects. It's available as a free PDFdownload here.

LCL #10
The horror-filled tenth issue of Lost Continent Library is now available for download from the Mottimorphic website. This Halloween special edition includes stories by Robert E. Howard, Rudyard Kipling, HP Lovecraft, as well as new fiction from writers like Wm. Michael Mott.

If They Did It
One of my favorite indie cartoonists, Jim Siergey, has partnered with fellow Cubs fan Greg Simetz on a dream project. Together they've figured out a way for long-suffering Cubs fans to rejoice. Just pretend, pretend the Cubs are no longer loveable losers. Instead, imagine how Chicago's beleaguered ball club won the World Series for the last 100 years! Find out how here.

Birthdays and Anniversaries
This must be the beginning of the holiday season. Congratulations to Josh Blair on the first anniversary of his mini comic Candy or Medicine and Happy Birthday to Warren Magazine's scripter, T. Casey Brennan who just turned 60.

Midnight Fiction.com is Two
On October 21st MF.com turns two. It's been fun working on the site this year and I'm looking forward to getting started on the next one. Here's a summary of some of the ways the site has grown over the past 52 updates:

Pages: from 80 to 140+
Average daily visits: from 30 to 60
Revenue from Amazon search boxes: $0
Best month total visits: July 2,122
Best month total pages viewed: August 5,555

Part of the fun of working on a website like this, is all of the great people you meet, either in person or through the internets. Many thanks to all the folks who helped make the site better and helped get the word out about it:

Dozens of friends that mentioned the site or linked to it
Small press publishers who sent review copies of their mini comics or zines

For ongoing support during the year:
Joe Gordon
Tom Spurgeon
Chuck Moore
Rick Bradford
Jim Main

For interviews:
Charlito
Joe Wehrle Jr.
DC McNamara
Steve Willis and Chelsea Baker
Doc Boucher

For the special feature on Suzy:
Richard O'Brien

For extra encouragement:
Brian Buniak and the rest of the cartoon loons

Extra special thanks to my friend Bob Vojtko, gag cartoonist, mini comiker, and all around great guy for all your extra support and encouragement throughout the year.

And most important of all, thanks to you, the regular readers of the comix, reviews, and ramblings that go on here every week. Thanks for your continuing support!

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October 11, 2008 Blog Entry

Words and Pictures
Hosts Bill Dodge and SW Conser interview cartoonists and animators on their radio show Words and Pictures. Recent programs feature guests like Bill Plympton, David Malki, Nicholas Gurewitch, Mike Richardson, and many others. Listen online here.

Harryhausen
The second volume of a comprehensive three-part series of books on the work of Ray Harryhausen was announced this week. You can check out all the buzz about Mike Hankin's amazing reference work and buy it from his website.

Ignatz
Congrats to all of this year's Ignatz Award winners, including the writers, artists, and editor of Papercutter #7 (Anthology) and Jesse Reklaw for Bluefuzz (Mini-Comic). (I'm highlighting these two titles because they're the ones I've read and reviewed . . .) See the full list of winners here.

Grubbs
Ted Dawson and Max Weaver are offering a new comic strip to newspapers for free. You can check out several strips and download a free PDF file of their Grubs comic book from their website.

Covers of Halloween Horror and Secret Agent X

Happy Halloween
Just in time for Halloween! With five pre-code horror classics to get you in the mood for this haunted time of year, Halloween Horror includes adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe, early artwork by Alex Toth, and even a visit from comicdom's first and greatest swamp monster. Check it out here.

Secret Agent X Extra
The second printing of Secret Agent X, The Man of a Thousand Faces, is now available. The original printing was sold out, so Airship 27 and Cornerstone Books teamed up to publish a new edition. This one features the original stories plus a brand new yarn by B.C. Bell. For more information and online ordering visit the Airship 27 shop.

Get Tooned Too
In case you hadn't heard, the much anticipated second issue of John Read's Stay Tooned is out. Like the first one, issue two is literally full to the brim with profiles of professional cartoonists. This 88 page, full-size magazine is a great value at just $10 (including postage). For the complete contents and ordering info check out their website.

El Vocho Turns 24
Okay, it's more like reaches 24 — 24 pages that is. Steve Lafler, whose book Tranny was reviewed on Poopsheet and File Under Other recently, has posted 24 pages (and counting) of his latest yarn El Vocho online, free for the clicking.
Latest here. Start here.

Mini-Comic Monday
Josh Blair, editor of the anthology Candy or Medicine announced this week that he will begin reviewing mini comics on his Blog every Monday. Check in on October 13th when the fun begins with Steven Meyers' The F.E.D.s.

Next week marks the second anniversary of MF.com. Be here next Saturday for our annual review!

Thanks for items and links to:
Alan Gardner
Mike Lynch

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October 4, 2008 Blog Entry

Writing Jam
Here's a fun writing exercise from a creative writing class I took earlier this year.

1) Each student writes a prompt at the top of a blank sheet of paper.

2) Pass each sheet to the right. The second person adds to the piece, playing off the first entry. When the second writer finishes adding their entry they fold the paper over so that only the second entry is visible. Then they pass it to the right, to the third person.

3) The process continues until the page is full. Each subsequent writer only sees the prior entry as their guide.

It's a lot of fun to see where the writing goes and how many times it changes direction. Each person can take one of the pages and write a story from the entries connecting them all.

Below is an example. The original entries are highlighted in bold type. The title was the original prompt. I did change the order of a few of the entries, but other than that, they're exactly as written.

The Moon's Watery Face

It started with a simple night out. Just an excuse to see Gabi again, really. She was the hottest little songbird ever cut from the first round of eliminations on American Idol and she lived in the same apartment building as me, Ted Osmanowski.

We met at the Chop Sushi House at 6:00 pm sharp. She was half an hour late as expected. She wore a low-cut white blouse, bubblegum lipstick, and pair of too-tight True Religion jeans. She had the words "high-maintainence" written across her forehead like a beacon calling out my name. But I held my ground, resisting her charms. Three months of hard-won experience working as a mailroom clerk at the Compcast Corporation had taught me well: Do not wake misfortune while she peacefully sleeps.

We had a nice dinner of Moo Shoo Ham Hocks and General Tso's chicken fried steak. Afterward a sumo waitress dumped a handful of fortune cookies into the middle of our table. As I reached for a cookie, I looked at the sumo and made the international "check please" pantomime in the air.

It was the perfect fortune, tucked inside the pinched, sweet cookie that ended the meal. It read, "He who seeks first, finds himself last." Little did I realize how pathetic, that simple phrase would turn out to be.

When the waitress returned she delivered the bill concealed in a padded folder designed to impress the clientele. Inside, the single word "Paid" was stamped across the face of our guest check in red block letters. "Compliments of the Poodle," she said as she turned, fully extending her arm, and pointing directly at the dog-faced figure sitting alone on the floor in the corner near the kitchen.

As if on cue, he sat up on his hind legs and approached us. He stopped directly behind Gabi's chair and gently lowered a huge paw onto her right shoulder. We'd both heard of the Poodle. Heck, everybody had heard of the Poodle. He played a high profile game of poker and although the winners were few, those that won, all went to heaven.

"Judging from your keen interest in fortunes, I assume you are a gambler, no?" he growled at a pitch barely inside our audible spectrum.

What happened next is still a bit of a fog. Apparently we accepted the Poodle's invitation to play cards back at his place. That must've been a sight. A bunch of hound dogs playing poker. Somebody should paint a picture of that one. Anyway, I think they hopped us up on a bottle of cheap Absinthe, stole our identities, and dumped us someplace in the middle of nowhere.

Thankfully, Gabi had the foresight to write down a clue at some point during our ordeal. She took the scrap of paper out of her pocket. "Our sustenance cheapened, my suspicions were confirmed," she read.

As the truth slowly sank in, I asked, "We had been cheated?"

"Plainly, blatantly cheated." Gabi replied.

It was a hard cold walk through the Nevada desert on a December night, with no money in our pockets and too much booze on our breath. When would we ever learn not to play poker with that Poodle and his friends? A difficult decision to make. After all, we so enjoyed poker, especially with the Poodle. But we should know better. Maybe we should quit.

A full dog-year later, I still blame myself. My identity and Gabi are long gone. I'm trying to scrape out a new life, in a new town. But I don't know if I'm going to make it. My new name is Moon, and my face is watery.

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