“The most important thing in our home, is to be comfortable, have fun and be creative.” – Luke Ramsey

Boing #3 by Andy Rementer, A J Purdy, Ben Jacques, Mike Perry, Luke Ramsey, Ron Regé Jr and Jim Stoten.

SUPERFUNSEXYTIME by BANG & Jon Boam

Live Free Or Die Harder by Leif Parsons

Daught by Stephane Prigent

Luke Ramsey came down for the Portland Zine Symposium this past July to represent the Islands Fold art collective that he started in Pender Island, British Columbia.  One day after the fest he was hanging out and participated in a drawing session with local artists: Blaise Larmee, Kinoko (from Seattle), Sean Christensen & Theo Ellsworth.  Little did they know, the collaborative jam session would result in a zine of ultimate greatness, Negative Bulge!  For the month of November we are very pleased to present original art from the jam session here at Floating World Comics, as well as a selection of new zines from Islands fold.

WHO: Islands Fold, Blaise Larmee, Kinoko, Luke Ramsey, Sean Christensen & Theo Ellsworth
WHAT: Negative Bulge zine release + art exhibit
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 5th, 6-10pm; exhibit ends Nov. 30th
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave #101

Islands Fold™ is an independent publisher and artist residency created and operated by Angela Conley and Luke Ramsey.  It’s about inviting artists into our home, supporting creative identity, collaborating, promoting health and well being and producing unique art.  Established on Pender Island B.C, Canada in the Spring of 2006.

We decided to move from the city to enjoy a simple lifestyle on Pender Island. It’s easy to travel to Pender by ferry from Vancouver or Victoria. Islands Fold collaborates with artists, as well as supporting solo projects. We personally invite artists to our residency. We want to remedy the term “starving artist” by feeding artists whose hunger we admire and respect. In a competitive consumer culture, being an artist is a commitment that some people don’t understand. We are inspired by the people that aren’t always motivated by money, but are motivated by the work itself. As much as Islands Fold needs money to survive, we are about people, not profits. In a world motivated by money and greed, we want to embrace a world of sharing and peace. At Islands Fold, art is a labor of love. We want to create an environment where artists don’t have to concern themselves with daily chores. We want our guests to relax, make art, and eat good food. The most important thing in our home, is to be comfortable, have fun and be creative.

For the first two years, Islands Fold has offered residencies to artists at no charge. Due to rising expenses and no grant funding, we now offer the residencies by donation to any amount an artist feels comfortable with. Our residencies are also sustained from public support by purchasing the art and publications made available online. We are also supported by generous art donations from artists who believe in our cause.

Leon Sadler shares a little Puny Comic with Arthur readers.  Leon’s video art project, Famicon, joins Hooliganship’s UK dates for Cartune Xprez animation tour this November, with a selection of recent & previously unscreened animations.

Cartoonist Owen Cook relates the time he met rock and roll legend, Dickie Peterson.  Dickie played bass and sang in Blue Cheer, an influential psychedelic metal band from the sixties.

Buenaventura Press just released Lisa Hanawalt’s debut comic, I Want You, and Lisa was nice enough to share some sample pages. Her self published book Stay Away From Other People won the Ignatz for “Outstanding Mini Comic” at this year’s Small Press Expo, and her new book is more of the same greatness. Her comics can be pretty grotesque, but they’re also totally poignant and hilarious. Reminds me of that time I ate mushrooms and thought I should quit my job to become a stand up comedian/philosopher, except she actually remembered everything and drew comics of it.

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From Fantagraphics’ FLOG:

Each week we bring you a new strip from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang’s adventures, due from Fantagraphics in December 2009, plus maybe a few surprises!

Read it here.

Aiyana Udesen is an artist from San Francisco who lives with artist boyfriend Matt Furie, and two pet rats.  Aiyana spends her time figuring out how to draw things and shares her process in her how-to-draw zines.  She’s also in an art gang called Future Colors of America with Furie, and Albert Reyes.  You can buy one of her latest books by visiting www.aiyanaville.com and dropping her an email.

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From Blaise Larmee:

Hall Hassi made a minicomic version of Kramer’s Ergot 7, which she calls her ‘ke7 zine.’ The new size is only 5.5 x 8.5 inches.

It’s 96 xeroxed pages, really pushing the limit of the saddlestich binding but still holding together, and exactly like the original with some minor (I assume) accidents in printing. The only addition is the new ‘zine friendly’ title, ke7. Some pages transitioned better than others, here are some snaps.

The latest issue of Diamond is here!  Featuring a magical mystery cover by Michael Deforge and weighing in at 32 pages, this is the coolest one yet.  More than ever, I feel this issue represents the friendships and collaborations that Floating World has been graced with the past couple years.

Featuring over 7 artists from Portland, OR including Aidan Koch (who recently relocated to England).  She created a new 2 pager for the latest issue of Diamond Comics, which she describes as a “spacey fantasy fashion comic”.  Also she’s started a new online magazine called Work For Free.

Here we are, about two weeks from the release of Al Columbia’s first book in almost a decade.  Pim & Francie is already receiving advance praise from folks like Spike Jonze.  Jim Woodring’s drawing group, Friends of the Nib, is calling it “book of the year“.

Al’s always working on something new and amazing, whether it’s music, filmmaking, comics, or in this case, painting.  Al showed me a photo of this new painting he was working on and I became immersed in the labyrinth of frayed facade and haunting beauty.  We reprinted it as the centerpiece of the new issue of Diamond Comics, available now!

Providence, Rhode Island-based artist-naturalists Leif Goldberg (National Waste, Paper Rodeo, Free Radicals) & Erin Rosenthal are editing and self-publishing “Flowing Well,” a homemade seasonal newsletter for friends. Here are two excerpts from the front and back of the current issue. Click on each image to enlarge…

“Flowing Well” subscription info: $6 per year (four issues). Send well-concealed bills to: LG & ER, 42 Temple St., Providence, RI 02905.

It’s time to make root beer!

It’s part 2 of GWC by Jesse Moynihan!  Impossible distances become… possible.  Catch up on part 1 here.

Jesse Moynihan self published 2 books in 2005, and ran a strip in the Philadelphia Weekly for a year and 1/2.  He’s been featured in Meathaus and Canicola anthologies.  This year, Bodega put out a larger volume of his work called Follow Me.  Vice Magazine said about it:  “Basically this comic is a vision into hell. I can’t think about it anymore, it’s given me nightmares.”

Meanwhile Jesse has been plugging away every Thursday on his webcomic, Forming, which is a sprawling account of human origins, transgender aliens, and ripped gods.

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M’UAD DIB

Inspired and energized by his recent newspaper format work on Strange Adventures, Paul has been doing more big comics in the Wednesday Comics style.  Read more on Paul Pope’s blog.

From PULPHOPE:

“It is said of Muad’dib that once when he saw a weed trying to grow between two rocks, he moved one of the rocks. Later, when the weed was seen to be flourishing, he covered it with the remaining rock. ‘That was its fate,’ he explained.” –From The Commentaries Of M’Uad Dib (DUNE, Frank Herbert).

I’ve always been struck by the taciturn Nietzschean aspects of M’uad Dib’s character as a leader. One of Frank Herbert’s points in DUNE was a warning– beware of charismatic heroes. When entrusted with great power, they can do great damage to a civilization. Even a brief sweep of history can illustrate this point.