Category: bestsellers

  • Weekly Top 10

    1. Lucky Peach #2 The Sweet Spot $12.00 – Sweet Spot. Come n’ get it.

    2. Butt #29 Fantastic Magazine $9.90

    3. King Cat #72 by John Porcellino $3.00 – Porcellino feels out the fall apart as life unravels…and unravels some more….the first half of this issue travels through some solitudes and stillnesses. An LSD story rustles the banches a little and punctuates a South Beloit diary. Also squirrely letters and bat dancers. Understated, quietly eloquent comics… but you already knew that, right? -EF

    4. Lose #2 by Michael Deforge $5.00

    5. Book of Whale Insults (Blue Q) $3.99

    6. Notes For A Peoples Atlas: People Making Maps of Their Cities by AREA Chicago $8.00 – This multi-city community mapping project started in Chicago in 2005, and has since expanded to a number of cities ranging from Zagreb to Greencastle, Indiana (USA). The project was initiated by AREA-Chicago, a magazine about art, research, education and activism in Chicago. The book and a website (peoplesatlas.com) document this project by presenting the maps collected in each city along with commentary by leading thinkers dealing with art, urban space, cartography and definitions of place.Featuring Mapping Projects from: Chicago, IL; Zagreb, Croatia; Syracuse, NY; Greencastle, IN; Portland, OR; Granada, Spain; Waterville, ME; Chisinau, Moldova; New York City, NY; Detroit, MI; Boston, MA; Pilsen; Chicago; Santiago, Chile; London, ON, Canada; Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; Ukraine (Uzhgorod, Donetsk, Kherson, Simferopol, Vinnytsia); Gary, IN; and Valparasio, Chile.

    7. Miami You’ve Got Style: A Little Golden Girls Book by Scott and Zach $13.00 – Epic quest through fashion policing every Golden Girls episode ever….it’s a media meltdown in lilac and mauve. -EF

    8. Logan Square Literary Review #5 Win 11 $5.00 – This issue of the Logan Square is full up of milkyfoodyicebox double entendre: soliciting gay refrigerator sperm, simmering dr.pepper for orgasmic cookery, peeky toe crab benedict….and a few other nice things that maybe aren’t like that at all. -EF 9. Habibi by Craig Thompson (Pantheon) $35.00 – 10. Maximumrocknroll #343 Dec 11 $4.00

  • Weekly Top 10

    New Boyd Rice book in the house, debuting at the Top 10 this week. -Cassee Kasem

    1. Slingshot 2012 Small Organizer (Slingshot Collective) $6.00

    2. Slingshot 2012 Large Organizer (Slingshot Collective) $12.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically.  If you have color preferences, list a couple in your order notes!

    3. Lucky Peach #2 The Sweet Spot (McSweeneys) $12.00

    4. Biggest Mistake of Your Life – Wondering If You Are Making – Love Is Not Constantly by Sarah Miller $5.00 – Brilliantly styled as a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

    5.  Adbusters Jan 2012 $8.95

    6. Regional #3 An Examination of American Cuisine by Cassie Tompkins and Emily Gelsomin $8.50

    7. My Aim Is True by Carrie $1.00

    8. Brilliant Mistake #3 by Carrie $1.00

    9. Proximity #8 Education As Art $12.00

    10. Twilight Man by Boyd Rice and Nina Antonia (Heartworm) $15.00 – “Heartworm Press and 23WLVS are proud to present the new 100-page memoir by Boyd Rice, which follows Rice through San Francisco’s darkest crevices during his time as a responder for the Twilight Alarm Company. Preface by Nina Antonia, author of Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood.

  • Weekly Top 10

    But first! A reminder: We’ll be closing tomorrow (Nov 23rd) at 5pm, be closed on Nov 24th and open Nov 25th from noon to 10pm. See you then!

    1. Habibi by Craig Thompson (Pantheon) $35.00

    2. Lucky Peach #2 The Sweet Spot (McSweeneys) $12.00

    3. Slingshot 2012 Large Organizer (Slingshot Collective) $12.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically.  If you have color preferences, list a couple in your order notes!

    4. Field Guide to the Aliens of The Next Generation – Season One by Joshua Chapman $2.00 – Yes, you read that right. It’s hilarious. As you would expect.

    5. Slingshot 2012 Small Organizer (Slingshot Collective) $6.00

    6. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95

    7. Punk Planet #46 $3.95 – We’ve got lots of back issues of this one. Come in the store and see for yourself.

    9. Railroad Semantics #4 Fall 10 $6.50

    10. Remedy Quarterly #4 Celebration – Stories of Food Recipes For Feeling Good $7.50

  • Weekly Top 10 and Holiday Hours

    First, here’s Quimby’s Holiday Hours:
    Sat, Dec 24th 11am-5pm
    Sun, Dec 25th CLOSED
    Sat, Dec 31st noon-5pm
    Sun, Jan 1st, 2012 CLOSED

    And now! Here’s the Weekly Top 10

    1. A Greater Monster by David David Katzman, with illustrator Caitlin McKay (Bedhead Books) $17.95 – Thanks to everybody that came out for this event last week! David David Katzman’s second novel, A Greater Monster (Bedhead Books), is a groundbreaking multimedia work that includes 65 pages of illustrations, numerous graphic design elements, visual text poetry, and links to two websites, one of which features original music composed to mirror events in a scene of the book and another featuring an animated sequence. This story itself is a psychedelic fairytale for the modern age, influenced by Alice in Wonderland, Williams S. Burroughs, and graphic novelist Grant Morrison. This darkly poetic tale takes you on a trip into a twisted alternate reality that reflects civilization like a funhouse mirror. A Greater Monster breathes new life into the possibilities of fiction. A buncha pictures in it are drawn by the talented comics and tattoo artist Caitlin McKay. She works at Chicago Comics our sister store!

    2. Slingshot 2012 Small Organizer (Slingshot Collective) $6.00 – Radicalize! Organize!

    3.   Crap Hound #8 Superstition by Sean Tejaratchi (Show & Tell Press) A new issue of Crap Hound! This issue meditates on such things as black cats, butterflies, knots, candles…All with a wonderful “Fair Use” collage-y awesomeness.

    4. Prince Zine by Joshua James Amberson $5.00 – R U Ready 4 This 1? Although Amberson is no fanatical Rainbow Child, there’s more than enough purple passion and royal dedication here to assemble an inspired and juicy analysis of Prince’s dynasty, talent, discography and lifestyle choices. I like most that the zine puts some time and thought into getting behind Prince’s rampant weirdness- it’s not at all some sorry joke at Prince’s expense like that Mirror interview, but it doesn’t exactly let him off the hook either – it’s critical AND playful AND willing to admit that at everyone’s core there IS a huge weirdo. It may also be worthy of note that this zine rolled into Quimby’s on a snowy day in April, so it’s a little cosmic too, y’know? -EF

    5. Juxtapoz #131 Dec 11 $5.99

    6. Lucky Peach #2 The Sweet Spot $12.00 – McSweeney’s has a food magazine. What’s next? A McSweeney’s sports magazine? Oh wait, there is a McSweeney’s sports magazine coming out.

    7. Raw Deal #13 $2.00

    8. Monocle vol 5 #48 Nov 11 $2.00

    9. Habibi by Craig Thompson (Pantheon) $35.00 – Don’t miss Craig Thompson here this Thursday 11/17 at 7pm!

    10. OK OK You Smote Me Stories by Al Burian (Quimby’s Exclusive) $3.00 – Quimby’s alum and international zine curmudgeon Al Burian has crafted a new zine exclusively for the store, the second in our “Quimby’s Exclusive” line of periodicals. In OK OK You Smote Me, Al takes us around the corner to his mayhem-prone stint on Wicker Park’s Dean Street, unhexing his way-too-hexed apartment and watching the tumult as Old Chicago takes a scraggly, low-level “stand” against encroaching yuppie “neighborhood improvement”. Compelling, humorous and wistful, with that trademark Burn Collector balance of heart and snark. -EF

  • Quimby's Weekly Top 10 Bestsellers

    1. Hi Fructose #21 $6.95

    2. 2012 Slingshot Small (Slingshot Collective) $6.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically.  Perfect-bound pocket size.

    3. 2012 Slingshot Large (Slingshot Collective) $12.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically. This large size is spiral-bound.

    4. Everything vol 1 Comics from Around 1978 to 1981 Collected and Uncollected by Lynda Barry (D&Q) $24.95

    5. AdBusters #98 Nov Dec 11 $8.95

    6. Crap Hound #8 Superstition $12.00

    7. East Village Inky #48 by Ayun Halliday $3.00 – First ever E.V.Inky Music Issue: Rundgren, Rundgren and then a trickle more of Rundgren! Also, get into the heads of what New York teenagers are listening to.

    8. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Knopf) $30.50 – We can barely keep this one on the shelves!

    9. Bring Me the Tongue – Poems by Chris Salib $4.00 – Way with words, feels like powder pigment, tarantulas and late summer crabgrass.

    10. Fauna by Leda Zawacki $3.00

  • Weekly Top 10

    Some older stuff made its way onto the Top 10 this week. Interesting.

    1. Post-It Note Diaries: 20 Stories of Youthful Abandon Embarrassing Mishaps and Everyday Adventure illustrations by Arthur Jones, with stories by Chuck Klosterman, John Hodgeman, David Rakoff and more (Plume) $15.00. When Arthur Jones cocreated a reading series centered around ubiquitous Post-Its(r), the series struck a chord. It grew in popularity and was ultimately featured on a This American Life live simulcast broadcast across the nation. Inspired by the series and spanning a wide and weird range of topics from an A-list roster of contributors, Post-It Note Diaries captures everyday occurrences from a job interview gone hilariously awry and a nude run-in with a neighbor to hair-raising events like an overnight encounter at Nicholas Cage’s house (it’s not what you think!), and nearly drowning while trying to paddle across the East River in a homemade canoe. Post-It Note Diaries is perfect for NPR addicts and fans of unique graphic favorites like Postsecret and Blankets. Thanks to everybody that came out to this event on Saturday at the Hideout with Arthur Jones, Staree Kine and David Wilcox!

    2. Logan Square Literary Review #8 $5.00- Loads of Loganics! Poetry, prose, recipes, a profile of Red Gate Studio and painting portfolio from Aaron Delahanty. Congrats to all who came out for this release event last week.

    3. Twenty Dollar Twenty Minute Meals by Caroline Wright $17.50 – Wright approaches food with a clear understanding of intuitive preparation and hearty flavorfulness. Low on procedure and casual about measurement, $20/20min reads less like a cook book and more like a spell book for approachable kitchen magic. -EF

    4. Crap Hound #8 Superstition $12.00 – World’s best Fair Use clip arty collagey stuff.

    5. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Knopf) $30.50 – We can barely keep this one on the shelves!

    6. Found Magazine #7 $5.00 – And not even the most recent FOUND. How did it make it onto th Top 10 this week? Amazing.

    7. Start Your Own Haunted House: Delve Into Controlled Terror $1.98 – Written by the creative mastermind of a local haunted house here in Chicago. There’s the description of walking through it, how they did it, and even a mask! DIY indeed.

    8. Tales of The Leather Nun by Dave Sheridan, Jaxon, R. Crumb and more (Last Gasp) $2.95 – We just got in a mega stash of older underground comix, some dirtier than others. Quick! Get over here before we run out!

    9. Kim Gee Comics #3 by Kim Gee $5.00

    10. Sorry Partner All The Trees Are Chopped by Dustin Williams $8.00 – Somewhere between a Shel Silverstein story and a Jeremy Tinder drawing rests this latest fully silkscreened comic from Dustin Williams. Lovely two-color design throughout, looking rad in plaid. -EF

  • Weekly Top 10 Bestsellers

    1. 2012 Slingshot Large (Slingshot Collective) $12.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically. This large size is spiral-bound.

    2. 2012 Slingshot Small (Slingshot Collective) $6.00 – The planner with a daily dose of radical history, infoshop contact list, useful essays, menstrual calendar, address book, everything basically.  Perfect-bound pocket size.

    3. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – 1. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – Two pitch-perfect stories of rejection, imperfection, and relationship drama, each ending on a surprisingly uplifting note. “Hortisculpture” pushes Tomine into a stylistic camp with Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Chuck Forsman and Kevin Huizenga – perhaps more than ever before. The story works with a “Chalky White”-ish suburban everyman and his tempered ambitions, but camps up the visual style into a Marmaduke-y newspaper strip aesthetic. The effect is similar to the trickiness of his wedding planning comics. The second half is a repolishing of his “Amber Sweet” college girl mistaken for porn star plot. Plus we get a glimpse into Tomine’s sad-sack mailbox, and some self-aware griping about putting out comics issue by issue.  -EF

    4.  The Death Ray by Dan Clowes (D&Q) $19.95 – 2. The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes (D&Q) $19.95 – Coming-of-age-as-comic-book-parable-told-as-comic-book. Another Clowes mindfuck, conveniently in gorgeous hardcover.

    5.  Ganges #4 by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics) $7.95 – From the author of Curses and Supermonster. The adventues of Glenn Ganges continues.

    6.   My Aim is True #1 by Carrie $1.00 – My Aim Is True continues where Carrie’s perzine Brilliant Mistake ends (note the matching Elvis Costello titles). Funny musings on feeling guilty and not feeling guilty, book reviews, crushings and Truma Capote. -EF

    7. Big Questions Extras Outtakes and Random Scraps Book Tour Zine Thing by Anders Nilsen $5.00 – Hey,  just in case the nearly 600 pages of collected Big Questions and accompanying adenda wasn’t enough for you, here’s another  24 pages of formative doodles, unpublished sketches, alternate draftings and bookplate designs! Eat until you’re full my completist friend! -EF

    8. Savages Rab City $1.00 – Folds out to reveal 3 different drawings.

    9. Wanderlust Herbal $2.00 – Scrapper witch Violet lays out a dense herbalist guide to 19 good friends in the plant kingdom….who they are what they do, and how you find ’em when you’re crawling around in the world. -EF

    10. Butch Nor Femme #2 by Lynne $1.50 – Butch Nor Femme #2 begins and ends with sharp essays/musings about self-definition, assumption and gender labelling, tethered directly to the title. These bookend more laid back reports from a trip to Michigan and quitting the Facebook, thinking about internet socializer frameworks. Bright Queer Focus, Hella Articulated. -EF

  • Weekly Top 10 Quimby Bestsellers


    Before we jump into this weeks Top 10, just a note to let you know we will be tabling at The MDW Fair this coming weekend (Oct 21st-23rd). This fair showcases solo and duo exhibitions curated by small not-for-profits, artist-run spaces, independent galleries, collectives and curators from around the country and a whole lot more. The fair starts on Fri the 21st, but we’ll be tabling on Sat/Sun. For more info: mdwfair.org

    That makes a full month that Optic Nerve #12 has been in the top 10, slowly but surely moving up from where it debuted at #3, then hanging out at #2 for a few weeks, and then this week #1. A bunch of the usual suspects (Bust, Hi-Fructose) but then some that I don’t think have been on our top 10: Likes Dislikes and Piano Rats. Congrats small publishers!

    1. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – Two pitch-perfect stories of rejection, imperfection, and relationship drama, each ending on a surprisingly uplifting note. “Hortisculpture” pushes Tomine into a stylistic camp with Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Chuck Forsman and Kevin Huizenga – perhaps more than ever before. The story works with a “Chalky White”-ish suburban everyman and his tempered ambitions, but camps up the visual style into a Marmaduke-y newspaper strip aesthetic. The effect is similar to the trickiness of his wedding planning comics. The second half is a repolishing of his “Amber Sweet” college girl mistaken for porn star plot. Plus we get a glimpse into Tomine’s sad-sack mailbox, and some self-aware griping about putting out comics issue by issue.  -EF

    2. The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes (D&Q) $19.95 – Coming-of-age-as-comic-book-parable-told-as-comic-book. Another Clowes mindfuck, conveniently in gorgeous hardcover.

    3. Bust Oct Nov 11 $4.99

    4. Hi Fructose #21 $6.95

    5. The Logan Square Literary Review #8 Fall 11 $5.00 – Don’t miss the release event here at Quimby’s Fri 10/28 for this issue Halloween weekend with the Logan Square Literary Review Reads: Halloween Edition! Grab your pumpkin beers and trick-or-treat bags and prepare yourself for the spooky, scary and creepy as read by: Lara Levitan, Michael McCauley, Alicia Hilton and others!

    6. Likes Dislikes #1 by Lacey Hedtke $2.00 – As per the Microcosm website: A great little slice of personality from Lacey’s via her extensive lists of likes and dislikes. Some highlights include: Likes: “The thought that Aliens and Humans might someday become one.” “What Illegal things arose out of prohibition” “talking about conspiracies” Dislikes: “Having to break into a place you have the key to.” “Realizing you like your boyfriend’s friends more than you like him” “Playing with silly putty after someone with warts” “Undressing a man only to find he has creepy underwear” With things like this, we get a gradual growing depth into what Lacey is all about and even her seeming contradictions. We smile at shared feeling and cringe at a horrible experience we haven’t yet lived through.

    7. Everything Dies #7 by Box Brown (Microcosm) $5.00 – “Issue seven is a comic retelling of the pan-cultural “flood myth.” Here we see Sumerian wind god Enlil (a total badass jerk  a la an evil pro-wrestler) setting out to destroy the newly-created people of the Earth. The “Noah” of this polytheistic ark story is King Ziasudra, and his trajectory and fate are much different than the Christian Biblical version. Beautifully drawn and deep-packed with “the things that make you go hmm,”  Everything Dies will keep you reassessing who we are and what we’ve built our shared narrative from.” – Microcosm Synopsis

    8. Gaylord Phoenix by Edie Fake (Secret Acres) $17.95 – All-Gaylord-All-Phoenix-All-In-One, Dr. Bronner’s Style.

    9. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco) $16.00

    10. Piano Rats by Franki Elliot (Curbside Splendor) $10.00 – Elliot’s poems dissect the 9,000 year gap between the breakfast and the bus ride, the eons between bodies and the slick sopes of memory.  -EF

    Want your zine, comic or book to be in the top 10 and get some exposure? Tell your friends to come in and get it.

  • Weekly Top 10

    Hey! We just got the new Daniel Clowes The Death-Ray! Come and get yours!

    1. Best American Comics 2011 ed. by Abel/Madden with guest editor Alison Bechdel (Houghton) $25.00 – Thanks to everybody that came out to see Alison Bechdel this past weekend!

    2. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – Two pitch-perfect stories of rejection, imperfection, and relationship drama, each ending on a surprisingly uplifting note. “Hortisculpture” pushes Tomine into a stylistic camp with Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Chuck Forsman and Kevin Huizenga – perhaps more than ever before. The story works with a “Chalky White”-ish suburban everyman and his tempered ambitions, but camps up the visual style into a Marmaduke-y newspaper strip aesthetic. The effect is similar to the trickiness of his wedding planning comics. The second half is a repolishing of his “Amber Sweet” college girl mistaken for porn star plot. Plus we get a glimpse into Tomine’s sad-sack mailbox, and some self-aware griping about putting out comics issue by issue.  -EF

    3. Habibi by Craig Thompson (Pantheon) $35.00 – New from the author of Blankets.

    4. OK OK You Smote Me Stories by Al Burian (Quimby’s  Exclusive) $35.00 – The author of Burn Collector made a zine especially for us to publish and sell.

    5. Laphams Quarterly vol 4 #4 Fall 11 $15.00 – The theme this issue: The Future.

    6. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Houghton) $13.95

    7. AdBusters #98 Nov Dec 11 $8.95

    8. Serial Killers Unite #8 $2.00 – No (edible) bones about it, this one’s for all mayhem-intrigued  true crime “fans.” Letters from serial killers for reals. All sorts of things run through one’s mind when reading it, the least of which, it’s not surprising we always sell out of this zine when it comes in. Is it exploitation? Shocking? Strangely “normal” prisoner correspondance? Descriptions of killers you haven’t heard of? Do you feel dirty and freaked out reading it but then you can’t put it down? Is “entertaining” a dirty word for this? Are we hard-wired to take pleasure in gossip but then we experience cognitive dissonance because we don’t want to seem shallow so we call it a “sociological document?” The answer to all these questions: YES. Come get your copy now. -LM
    Like nothing else we carry, this Australian zine reprints correspondence with convicted serial killers…this issue is letters (and fudge recipes?!) from John Canaday, Arthur Bomar, John Eichinger, and William Suff. Creepy Stuff. -EF

    9. Mark Twain’s Autobiography 1910-2010 by Michael Kupperman (D&Q) $19.99 – Porny grody weirdo version of Twain. Truly a tale to thrizzle.

    10. Piano Rats by Franki Elliot $10.00 – Elliot’s poems dissect the 9,000 year gap between the breakfast and the bus ride, the eons between bodies and the slick sopes of memory.  -EF

  • Weekly Top 10

    1. Monocle vol 5 #47 Oct 11 $10.00

    2. Cambodian Grrrl: Self Publishing in Phnom Penh by Anne Elizabeth Moore (Cantankerous) $7.95 – Thanks to everybody that came out to this event last week!

    3. Optic Nerve #12 by Adrian Tomine (D&Q) $5.95 – Two pitch-perfect stories of rejection, imperfection, and relationship drama, each ending on a surprisingly uplifting note. “Hortisculpture” pushes Tomine into a stylistic camp with Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Chuck Forsman and Kevin Huizenga – perhaps more than ever before. The story works with a “Chalky White”-ish suburban everyman and his tempered ambitions, but camps up the visual style into a Marmaduke-y newspaper strip aesthetic. The effect is similar to the trickiness of his wedding planning comics. The second half is a repolishing of his “Amber Sweet” college girl mistaken for porn star plot. Plus we get a glimpse into Tomine’s sad-sack mailbox, and some self-aware griping about putting out comics issue by issue.  -EF

    4. Bust Oct Nov 11 $4.99

    5. Future Tense  (Pegacorn Press) $9.00 – Comics anthology with work by Jo Dery, Josh Bayer, Al Burian, Edie Fake and more.

    6. Crap Hound #8 Superstition $12.00 – Clip art galore, collage style. Once you open it you can’t put it doooowwwnnn, superstitious theeeeeemed in time for Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

    7. Hack: Stories From a Chicago Cab by Dimitri Samarov (U of Chicago) $20.00

    8. Simple History Series #5: Hawaii 1778-1959 From Western Discovery to Statehood by J. Gerlach $2.50

    9. Best American Comics 2011 – ed. by Alison Bechdel and Abel/Madden (HM) $25.00 – Don’t miss Dykes to Watch Out For/Fun Home artist Alison Bechdel here at Quimby’s this week, Sat, Oct 8th, 7pm to talk about her experience as special guest editor for this year’s anthology.

    10. Neighbour Cats #2 by The Waterbear Appreciation Society $2.50