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Webcomics 

GG completed her first non-competition comic for Comics Workbook A Mysterious Process. Which i’d say at the moment is one of the strongest comics of the year (so far).

The Darling Sleeper, The Mediums alt-comics blog, has posted several worthwhile webcomics. The most important of these though, at least for me, marks the return of Michiel Budel the artist behind Wayward Girls with The Hoax. Michiel is one of the most interesting and singular artists in alt-comics and his absence over the last year or so has been very sad. I’m glad he is back.

Swim Thru pt 1. by Annie Mok & Sophia Foster-Dimino is a really interesting and beautiful take on the long scroll comic. The use of characters moving horizontally as a natural stopping point in the scroll is fascinating. I’m not sure how intentional it was, but i enjoy how it worked and i'd like to see that idea developed further. The stories about mermaids, but like most stories about mermaids it isn’t.

The complete ninth issue of Bright Threads was posted on Tumblr. It has a pretty great swath of the whos who of alt comics doing 1-4 page stories around the general theme of pissing.

Subscriptions / Patrons / Other

I recently signed up for Michael DeForges Patreon and from the three entries i have read i think some of his most impressive recent work is taking place behind that $3 + pay wall. So I recommend backing it. I mean, look at those fucking colors.

Youth In Decline’s yearly subscription is almost over. That seems like the one must have subscription. At least for me. Sands is one of the few publishers who is able to find talents that i am completely unaware of and present them in a beautiful format every three months. 

In other almost done yearly subscription news Uncivilized Books spring season has a subscription that is in its last few days. Two of my favorite books of 14’ were released by Uncivilized so i see no reason why this year would be any different.

Retrofit announced a fairly ambitious 2015 publishing slate, along with a yearly subscription to go with it. That Schrauwen book seems like a must get either way.

It’s a new year, which means one thing and one thing only: A new series of COPRA is starting up. COPRA 19 can be purchased here.

Interviews

Alex Degen , Leslie Stein and Sam Alden are interviewed at The Darling Sleeper. The most interesting aspect of those interviews is seeing the artists workspace. I don’t think the questions are particularly strong, and their repetition of a few of them across every interview makes for bland reading in some parts because of the nature of the questions.

Essays

Julia Gfrorer on Dead Astronaut Comics by Jack Teagle and Starlight Local by Lala Alberts. Gfrorer has written about the same Alberts comics as me over the last few months and every time her column comes out i feel embarrassed about how bad my essay is in comparison. 

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(sorry for being short on essays and interviews this month. For some reason i didn't bookmark that many and now i can't think of any...so...yeah)