Chris Cilla’s modern underground comics have been published in Kramers Ergot and his new book ‘The Heavy Hand‘ is now available from Sparkplug Comic Books.  “What’s in ya sack, Portland?”  Mild Hasslecop was previously printed in Made magazine, but now we’re reprinting it here for all to enjoy!

Lane Milburn was born in Lexington, KY and studied Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He currently lives in Baltimore, MD. He is currently at work on a long science fiction graphic novel that is coming along in fits and starts.

His new book DEATH TRAP was the winner of a 2009 Xeric Grant. It contains two stories: Perceived Obsolescence (a full color sci-fi short) and Death Trap, a 104 page horror tale of a group of teens who venture into the woods for a night of partying….only to encounter a strange evil… DEATH TRAP is available from Sparkplug Comics ( http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/ ) or directly from Lane at: http://closedcaptioncomics.blogspot.com/2010/03/death-trap-has-arrived.html

Dina Kelberman’s first collection of comics and illustrations, Important Comics, will make you think and laugh. Also she has just released the tenth issue of The Regular Man. What else is Dina up to? I’ll let her tell it:

I am an illustrator comics and drawings and website. I enjoy blue, red, yellow and green when used correctly. I got to: go to Purchase College; found Wham City; show work in lots of places and publications; tour the east coast with my friends. Please email me at dina@whamcity.com immediately.
New projects I gots on the burner include: going to SPX in Sept., a book of my Citypaper comics, illustration for the next Nuclear Power Pants album, comics in Friends With Benefits (ltd. edition handmade art book by Impose Magazine) and Fakeheads Anthology, video on Baltimore vs. The World DVD by Current Gallery, & ISBN numbers!

Stanley Lieber is a comics factory, a house of ideas, a bullpen bullet, a Jim Starlin drawing, a Herzog documentary.  Check out his website to preview his new book, The Abandonment of Cruelty.  He’s currently compiling a comics anthology called FAKEwhich will contain his new Actron novella, ACTRON: MY STRUGGLE.  We will serialize the following chapters here on Arthur:
1. SOLUTION
2. MUSCLES
3. YOU’RE TRAPPED
4. ENSIGN SMURF
5. SOME GREAT REWARD
This week’s chapter is the first half of SOLUTION (colors by Pete Toms).

Conor Stechschulte graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008 and embarked on a cross-country bicycle trip from the east coast in Virginia to the west coast in Oregon.  In each state, he photographed a “woods walk” where he would find a patch of woods usually somewhere close off the side of the road, walk in a straight line (going from east to west), and take a photograph every 3 to 5 steps.  Since coming home, he edited the photos down to one walk (consisting of anywhere from 10 to 16 images) per state and has begun to translate them into drawings.

Conor adds, “The drawings are done side by side, two at a time on pieces of 24 x 19″ bristol board.  Each drawing is about 9 x 6.5″.  There are 134 images to draw for the final Silence Country book, so going at the pace I am right now, it’ll probably be done somewhere around 2018.  Haw haw.”

This particular set is from Kentucky, outside of Bardstown. It was photographed right near an anonymous graveyard dating back to the civil war.

Conor underwent a similar walking/photographing/drawing process for a zine he did in 2008 titled “The Spirit World.”

Conor is a member of Closed Caption Comics, he plays in the band Witch Hat, and he lives in and helps run “Open Space” gallery in Baltimore.

If you enjoy the comics you’ve been reading on the Arthur blog I highly recommend ‘GANG BANG BONG’ a new anthology compiled by Inés Estrada.  The first issue includes comics by Inés as well as new work by some of my favorite creators: Sua Yoo, Maureen Gubia, Ginette Lapalme,  Patrick Kyle, Ralph Niese and Zack Hazard.  Inés mentions that there isn’t a huge “alternative comics scene” in Mexico City which makes it even more awesome that she’s producing a bilingual comics anthology there.

“I live in the same place where I was born: Mexico City.  I like drawing, but I’m sure you know that already.  I’m fascinated by zines and self publishing, I really like the idea of making “art” an accessible and touchable thing.
I’m one half of Café con Leche, alongside with my boyfriend Roi.  We make things togethers like stories and songs and bastard monster kids out of textiles.
I’m also co-editor of the bilingual comic anthology Gang Bang Bong, and we released our first volume (of many to come!) this February.” ~ Inés Estrada

Lane Milburn was born in Lexington, KY and studied Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  He currently lives in Baltimore, MD.  He is currently at work on a long science fiction graphic novel that is coming along in fits and starts.  His new book DEATH TRAP is available from Sparkplug Comics (http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/) or directly from Lane at: http://closedcaptioncomics.blogspot.com/2010/03/death-trap-has-arrived.html

Michaela lives in Providence, RI where she makes comics, prints and posters.  She is currently exhibiting work in Print Matter 8 at Giant Robot New York  http://www.grny.net/.  Island Mountain is a the beginning of a comic she created specially for Arthur readers.  Maybe we’ll have some more to show you soon!  In the meantime check out lots of awesome artwork and comics on her website.  http://www.michaelacolette.com/

Harvey Pekar (right) with longtime Arthur contributing artist Joseph Remnant. They had been collaborating on a new book at the time of Pekar’s passing.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: news report

New York Times: report/obituary

Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter: long, smart essay on Pekar’s life, work and impact

ROTFLOL “No Fear” Preview from Audio Dregs Recordings on Vimeo.

E*Rock just dropped off Audio Dregs’ latest release, ROTFLOL, a LP of music and DVD of animations and videos from Paper Rad’s Jacob Ciocci.  I’d seen the videos projected at various shows in the past but I must say I had a great time rediscovering all the hyper details and sounds watching the DVD at home.

Ciocci’s music and art, along with Paper Rad’s monumental output, have been (to say the least) highly influential on a younger generation of artists and musicians. ROTFLOL is a “best of” collection of Jacob’s solo music from the past decade, soundtracks from videos and animations, as well as a selected discography of self released cassettes, hand made CDRs, 7 inch vinyl, and live recordings. The music is often composed in ACII, blasted through a series of vintage Casio keyboards and budget electronics, recorded in real time and captured onto rainbow-colored floppy discs before being mixed down to digibeta, for that perfect sound. This collection is an attempt to collect this musical output as its own musical statement on vinyl LP, along with a full DVD of selected video works (some classics, such as the Peace Tape, and some yet unseen face melters) as well as a digital download including over an hours worth of “bonus tracks”.

More: josephremnant.com