ICYMI -- Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 7/25/16 to 7/31/16

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

* Andy Oliver on Samuel C. Williams' AT WAR WITH YOURSELF, an examination of living with PTSD presented in "a style that lends an everyday immediacy to extraordinary circumstances but one that aptly reminds us of the reality that the discussion is rooted in."

* Alex Hoffman writes about Sarah Bowie's FOURTEEN EUROS IN PRIMARK, a book totally off my radar, but one that, given Hoffman's review, I really want to add to my collection.

* Tom Spurgeon shows us all how to write a short review of a good book by taking a look at Dustin Harbin's self-published minicomic, DIARY COMICS #5 .

* Not necessarily an interview, over on The Quietus, Alec Berry takes a look at KRAMERS ERGOT and talks with its editor, Sammy Harkham, who saves the very best line for the end of the piece. 

* Ardo Omer on Hannah Blumenreich's SPIDEY ZINE which she calls "young, expressive, dorky, and loose." Which seems like the right kind of praise for this sort of thing.

* John Seven on THE INCANTATIONS OF DANIEL JOHNSTON which seems like one of those vehicles tailored perfectly for the art of Ricardo Cavolo. 

* Megan Purdy takes a look at the aesthetic behind Kelly Kwang's FRONTIER #12. 

* Austin Lanari struggles with his critical reaction to GULAG CASUAL by Austin English. I'm really proud to have been able to publish this for Comics Bulletin, as Lanari examines both the book and the idea of what it means to write a critical review of something about which he had such a dichotomous aesthetic reaction to.

* Get a load of Etelka Lehoczky talking about MINICOMICS over on NPR, calling it a "thriving and diverse genre". 


WHATNOT 

* This great conversation between BECCA TOBIN and BRANDON GRAHAM over smoothies in Vancouver is all you need to listen to today.

* Andy Kunka and Derek Royal talk to JOHN PORCELLINO about his latest issue of King Kat. One of the more interesting parts of this conversation is how Porcellino compares constructing his minicomics to a musician sequencing the tracks on an album. Also, it's just always great to listen to Porcellino talk about his work. 

* Sean Witzke talks to everybody's favorite guy in comics, TUCKER STONE, about 10 years of his site, Factual Opinion. If you scroll to the end, there are some great shout-outs to Tucker from all sorts of spectacular people.

* Not really anything to do with Small Press concerns, but Chase Magnett talks about VARIANT COVERS which is one of those things that I will never be able to understand other than something that is both a gross cash grab and a vestigial tail of the speculator culture that destroyed corporate comics in the 90s. 

* The artist CHAD WOOD has a new website that highlights his "nostalgically comforting and ironically amusing" work.