Best of the Small Press 2011: Last Day

Our last indie publishing recommendations for 2011 come from Marc Bell, who came to Pittsburgh in September when his Pure Pajamas (Drawn & Quarterly) tour joined up with the Big Questions tour of illustrator Anders Nilsen. Based in Ontario, Marc is both a cartoonist and a fine artist whose drawings have been compared to R. Crumb, Kaz, and Philip Guston. In the '90s he rose to underground fame with his self-published mini-comics (aka comic zines). Other readers might know him from the anthology Kramers Ergot or his own retrospective book, Hot Potatoe (Drawn & Quarterly, 2009).

Copacetic Comics hosted Marc & Anders' Pittsburgh event, as I mentioned on Day 8 of the Best of Small Press 2011. I've already crowed about (more-than-comics) indie bookstore Copacetic a few times on this blog, but I don't think I've mentioned PIX, the new Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo that Copacetic owner, Bill Boichel launched in 2010. From the start, PIX drew an impressive array of small publishers and self-publishers from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, DC, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Columbus, Vermont, and numerous other spots in the Northeast and Midwest. In 2011, PIX coincided with SPF, Pittsburgh's literary small press fair.

Thanks again to Marc Bell for offering the final recommendations for Best of the Small Press 2011. Don't miss this long interview with him in The Comics Journal.

*****

1. Rapture, Scott McIntyre & Peter Thompson (self published)
2. Uncle Pork Chop Scrapes Away The Summer, Billy Bert Young, Jason McLean and Peter Thompson (self published)
3. Melatonin Carp Bomb, Mark Connery (self published)
4. One Dollar, Jonathan Petersen (self published)

Recommended by Marc Bell
Author of Pure Pajamas and Hot Potatoe
http://marcbelldept.blogspot.com/

Best of the Small Press 2011: Day 8.1

Tour poster for Anders Nilsen and his graphic novel Big Questions (Drawn & Quarterly).

In July, Chicago-based cartoonist and illustrator Anders Nilsen embarked on a lengthy book tour, hitting four countries in three months. His 600-page magnum opus, Big Questions, is the culmination of ten years of his drawings, and much-anticipated by the fans of this celebrated artist. In September he stopped in Pittsburgh (with Marc Bell) for a standing-room-only event at Copacetic Comics and (its downstairs neighbor) Lili Coffee Shop. Copacetic is one of Pittsburgh's great bookstores for a number of reasons, not least because owner Bill Boichel is a tireless champion of indie comics.

Today. Anders makes his 2011 small press recommendations, based on three months of browsing many of the world's best comic bookstores.

*****

1. Viande de Chevet, Various artists; Stephane Blanquet, Editor (UDA Press)
2. Going Back, Cathy G. Johnson (Self-published)
3. Quodlibet, Katja Spitzer (Nobrow)

Recommended by Anders Nilsen
Author of Big Questions (Drawn & Quarterly, 2011)
http://www.andersbrekhusnilsen.com/
http://themonologuist.blogspot.com/

Marc Bell, Bill Boichel, and Anders Nilsen outside of Lili Coffee Shop and Copacetic Comics. September 13, 2011. Photo by Larry Rippel.

Browsing at Copacetic Comics, Pittsburgh.