Own this Book
I was talking about John Porcellino and his work to a friend the other day, and said, ‘He’s like the Velvet Underground of comics’. I was referencing that quote about how the VUs first album sold just 5000 copies, but every one of the people who bought it went out and formed a great band. And just like we wouldn’t have R.E.M., The Feelies, Television, etc. etc. without the Velvets, we wouldn’t have Adrian Tomine, Jeffrey Brown, etc. etc. without John Porcellino.
For two decades John’s been self-publishing King-Cat, and mailing them out by hand to subscribers and comic shops around the world. He’s been featured in McSweeney’s, An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories, The Best American Comics Series, and too many anthologies and compilations to name.
His line work is simple, his stories sublime, and he cares about comics and comic readers. When remarking that the publisher who puts out his larger collections wanted to do a signed/limited edition, his first thought wasn’t ‘ok, at $50 a pop and 1000 copies, that’s a lotta green for me!’, it was his concern that folks who wanted the book wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Why am I going on about John and his comics? Well aside from being in the shop two hours early today and re-reading some of his stuff (as I do every chance I get) John’s having a sale of some comics that you should check out.
Namely, he’s still got four copies of King Cat Classix (a giant 382 page collection of the first 50 issues of King Cat) that he’s selling for the bargain price of $20. I’m guessing he’d sign your copy too, so shoot him an email and get yours while it’s hot.
Don’t be the guy who missed Nirvana at the Bluebird – get this book.
