Category: top ten

  • Weekly Top 10

    1. Chicago Street Art ed. by Joseph J. Depre and Oscar Arriola $15.00

    2. Lose #3 by Michael Deforge (Koyama) $5.00

    3. Comic Nurse by MK Czerwiec $25.00

    4. Fear of Failure Episode #1 Featuring Doctor Lois Pritchard by Thom Ferrier $5.00

    5. Maximumrocknroll #338 Jul 11 $4.00

    6. Cornish Legend by Gould S. Baring $.10

    7. Cabinet #41 Infrastructure $12.00 – Tweakier than the New Yorker, weirder than Harper’s, subtler than McSweeney’s, Cabinet remains the smart shining star of the NPR media spectrum. -EF

    8. Rad Dad #19 by Tomas Moniz $3.00 – This is the Rad Dad “heavy topics” issue; its pages are concerned with talking to your kids about topics you might shy away from—important issues like racism, sexism, death, domestic violence, police brutality, and environmental crisis.

    9. Telegram Maam #20 Sum 10 $3.00

    10. Notes On Conflict by Susie Cagle $6.00

  • Weekly Top 10 and Tonight's Beat Cop's Guide to Eats Event

    1. Peoplings Book: Autism Education and the Savage of Aveyron by Courtney Angermeier and Jeff Benham $12.00 – Thanks to the Comics and Medicine Conference this past weekend!

    2. Juxtapoz #126 Jul 11 $5.99

    3. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95

    4. The Beat Cops Guide to Chicago Eats by Sgt David J Haynes and Christopher Garlington (Lake Claremont Press) $15.95 – Don’t miss tonight’s event for this book at 7pm!
    5 Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics) $19.99 – Woodring’s comics continue to be pure magic.
    6. Noah Novella by Noah VanSciver (Grimalkin Press) $4.00 – Noah VanSciver does autobio comics by taking us into his personal troll hole, and it’s not such a bad place to be. He’s a hater, for sure. His crabcake one-pagers about growing up poor, awkward and unlucky really do start to have the Crumb-y effect of explaining the chips on his shoulder. He’s got a good drawing sensibility too that just wrings extra angst and neuroses out of the story. I gotta say, his constant pursuit of fame and fortune through making weird comics wears me down stresses me out a little. The comics are good, they’re being published and noticed, and they’re getting better all the time, it might be time to stop sweating the small stuff and just go for it. -EF
    7. Play It Make It – A Tiny Book of DIY Games by Rio (Microcosm) $1.00 – Creative DIY gamecrafting is the kind of thing that makes you a hit at bbqs, parties, car trips and anywhere else social boredom may try to strike. Lucky you, this fun one is packed with idears and sized to travel. -EF
    8. The Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (Penguin) $16.00

    9. The First Line vol 13 #2 $3.00

    10. Believer #81 Jun 11 $8.00

     

    And here’s more info about tonight’s event for The Beat Cops Guide to Chicago Eats:

    Join Sgt. David J. Haynes of the Chicago Police Department, and his partner-in-crime, blogger Christopher Garlington on Tues, June 14th at 7pm as they talk about the places where they take a bite out of crime and also bites out of donuts, polish sausage, fried chicken, enchiladas, and omelettes. Peppered with outrageous stories from working cops, Chicago cop lore, and even a few recipes, The Beat Cop’s Guide To Chicago Eats takes you on a gustatory journey through all five Chicago areas, including some of the toughest neighborhoods in the nation.

    Sgt. David J. Biscuit Haynes has spent the past 15 years dodging bullets and chasing down gang bangers on the city’s West Side, running Chicago’s first ever Homeland Security Task Force, and supervising squads in the 19th District at Belmont and Western. Christopher “The Bull” Garlington is a blogger and author, known for his stories of raising highly intelligent (devious) children published on the blog Death by Children. His writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Another Realm, Bathhouse, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature and more. Together Haynes and Garlington have hosted the radio program The Dave & Chris Show! since 2007, during which they cultivate and maintain a long-standing argument about…everything. From politics and video games to the importance of cool nicknames and secret societies, they cover it on their live weekly broadcast from cigar stores, bars, and other manly locales around Chicago. Their show first aired on WJJG and is now broadcast online on blogtalk radio.

    The book retails at $15.95 and includes $34 in coupons. It’s like being buddies with your alderman.

     

  • Quimby's Podcast #1 Available Now. And Weekly Top 10

    It’s true. We have for you this week’s top 10 but also, the first episode of the Quimby’s podcast that you can download from podbean.com. Eventually it will be on I-Tunes; we’re in the application stage where they listen to it and then (hopefully) approve it. So for now, you can listen to it at podbean and/or download it in some form to listen to it on some device or machine. The first episode features an interview with Margaret Hicks who wrote Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History. We think you will agree that she was extremely charming, if we don’t say so ourselves.

     

    In other news, you will see that two artists featured in the first volume of the comics anthology Black Eye have made the top 10 bestsellers this week with their books, both Paul Hornschemeier and Lilli Carré. They will be here to celebrate the release of Black Eye on 6/24 with other contributors Ivan Brunetti, Paul Nudd and Onsmith.

    Top 10 This Week

    1. Life With Mr Dangerous by Paul Hornschemeier (Villard) $22.00 – Life with Mr.Dangerous is a study of modern emotional understanding as tethered to pop culture fandom. Amy Breis, the book’s protagonist, does an awkward job of navigating a life full of seeming dead ends. Her response to reality is constantly informed by her love of a television show, and the show acts as a filter to make the mundane situations more dramatic and interesting.

    2. Roctober #49 $4.00

    3. Haymarket 1886-2011 by AREA Chicago $5.00 – As part of the 125th commemoration/reenactment of the Haymarket Riots, AREA Chicago has put out Haymarket 1886-2011 a look at the broad and still resonating impact of Haymarket today. Smartly laid out and broad in scope with contributions from: Penelope Rosemont, David Roediger, Alma Washington, the history of Haymarket walking tours, Euan Hague, Paul Buhle, Peter Chanthasena and Anh Nguyen, the Haymarket Historic Landmark District, Paul Durica, the South Chicago ABC Zine Distro, reflections on Haymarket from the shadow of September 11, Holly Nelson, May Day, the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, Josefa Mellor and Nick Naber, 134 years of social struggle in Pilsen, Teko Sãso, Anthony Rayson, Josh Otte and Jordon Olson, Jerry Mead-Lucero, Sam Mitrani, alternative Haymarket monument proposals, Samuel Barnett, Lucy Parsons, teaching and learning about Haymarket, Bucky Halker and Nicolas Lampert.

    4. Animal Sex – You Might Not Want To Know by Isabella Rotman $3.00 – This mini is so good! It’s a sly and pervy funny-as-shit guide to kinky sex in the animal kingdom. From ungodly long schlongs of Argentine lake ducks to pheromone-fueled Garter Snake fuckballs, Rotman’s bestiary culls the cream of the crop from what sounds like some pretty extensive -uh- “internet research”. -EF

    5. Little Otsu Living Things vol 4 Lilli Carre (Little Otsu) $6.95

    6. East Village Inky #47 $3.00 – Ayun gives us a Mermaid Parade 101 and plenty of scrapper parent scene reportage. Topped with tales of a sourdough starter (you know how New Yorkers like to brag about how cultured they are). -EF

    7. Root Rot by Anne Koyama and Michael DeForge, eds. (Koyama Press) $12.00 – Koyama calls the 5-second rule on everything that falls to the forest floor. Root Rot’s an impressive comics-centric Nobrow-like look book of stunners. Moldy mushrooms and tossed moss from t edward bak, JFISH, Mickey Zacchilli, Bob Flynn, Lizz Hickey, Dan Zettwoch, Chris Eliopoulos, Joseph Lambert, Jon Vermilyea, Derek M Ballard, Angie Wang, Greg Pizzoli, Hellen Jo and Ines Estrada with special show-stoppin’ contributions from Robin Nishio and Jesse Jacobs. Let’s go camping, yes? -EF

    8. Maximumrocknroll #337 Jun 11 $4.00

    9. Boys Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press) $6.00 – More boners, more pizza, more roommates, more stoney-baloney plus also some barfing. I’m not going to tell you twice: zit’s awesome. -EF

    10. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

  • Weekly Top 10

    1. Confessions of a Chicago Punk by Marie Kanger-Born (Chicago Punx Pix Productions) $22.00 – What? You couldn’t make it to this event last week? We’ve still got a few copies left of this book that compiles stuff from the author’s zine, pictures, recollections and more. Hard to find this one in lotsa other places!
    2. Lose #3 by Michael Deforge (Koyama) $5.00
    3. The Game by Anders Nilsen $9.00 – Double-sided poster with trading cards, and originally appeared as 3 pages in an issue of Kramers Ergot. This has that plus a fourth page!
    4. Diamond Comics #6 by Jason Levian (Floating World) $4.00 – New full color issue of a tip top newsprint ‘thology. Big, big pages from Paul Pope, Farel Dalrymple, Lane Milburn, Lala Albert, Jim Rugg, Zack Soto, Dash Shaw, Stanley Lieber, Sam Hiti, Bendik Kaltenborn and a 4-page sunshine vampire story by Jonny Negron that really sold me on the whole thing. -EF
    5. Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics) $19.99
    6. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95
    7. Under the Radar #36 $5.99
    8. Life With Mr Dangerous by Paul Hornschemeier (Villard) $22.00
    9. Bitch #51 $5.95
    10. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian (Microcosm) $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

  • Weekly Top 10

    Once again, the Chester Brown book tops the list for bestsellers here. Dan Gleason’s new best of book is next, and would you believe, he’s on a greatest hits volume 3! Thanks to everybody that came out for his release event here at Quimby’s this past weekend.

    1. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95

    2. Dear Sweetness – Dan Gleason’s Greatest Hits vol 3 $8.95 – It is once again time to bathe in the Living Light that is Dan Gleason. His generosity, wit, craftsmanship and sexual potency know no boundaries. His greatest hits are perhaps best likened to the secret treasures of the Vatican. Where there was one set of footsteps, my child, that is where Dan Gleason carried you. -EF

    3. Seasonal #1 by Bobbi Parry and Sarah Morton $7.00

    4. Boys Club #1 by Matt Furie (Buenaventura Press) $5.00 – A collection of Matt Furie’s latest mini-comics featuring teenage monsters Andy, Brett, Landwolf and Pepe: drinkin;, stinkin; and never thinkin’.

    5. Diamond Comics #6 $4.00

    6. AdBusters #95 vol 19 #3 May Jun 11 $8.95

    7. Ready Made #53 Jun Jul 11 $4.95

    8. Big Hands #8 by Aaron Smith $3.00 – How can you love a zine that’s tackling just about basically everything mediocre and obnoxious? In Big Hands #8 Aaron picks apart cubicle jobs, prowling around on Facebook, couples, dropping dollars at the club, the movie Juno, cliche party drama, and lord have mercy, that Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling”, offering up a cultural critique that’s flexible and relevant without being bitchy or pre-determined. It’s like that phenomena where you hate the movie but love the Anthony Lane film review.

    9. New Adventures of Beastlord #1 by Chris Kuzma $4.00 – Beastlord tackles social anxiety disorder leaving friends, syntax and party planning decimated in his wake. Also a nice little Wog comic too. Drawings that leave you wishing you had lotsa weird muscles or at least more lovely lady lumps. -EF

    10. Famous Hairdos of Popular Music #5 Prince $3.00 – That’s right, you heard me right: Prince. Sixteen artists take that iconic ‘do and turn it into a symbol. -EF

  • Weekly Top 10

    Thanks to Jerianne Thompson of Zine World for these Revenge of Print stamps!

    1. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95 – Chester Brown did a pretty great thing with this book, one of the most anticipated graphic novels pretty much ever. I think it’s about time more johns speak out publicly about their involvement and investment in sex economies. In Paying For It, Brown presents an especially crisp libertarian-flavor case in favor of decriminalized sex work. There’s also sort of a nice journey of personal growth in here too where, through the course of the book, he goes from completely trashing and dismissing the idea of “romantic love” to finding his own weird and wonderful variation of it (thanks to his john-dom).Here in Chicago, aldermen are currently trying to get batshit-crazy anti-prostitution laws on the books, so, you know, speaking up about the destigmatizing and decriminalizing of sex work truly matters. Brown’s frank and shame-free stance is loud and clear and his cartooning style is built primarily around building his case. At times, the dialogue gets so loaded it’s almost polemic but the characters are all fleshed out enough that it sways more toward Fun Home-style self-analytical autobio. Also, there’s this tricky issue where he draws all the women he pays with the same faceless anonymity. Initially, this seemed troublesome, but I think that here Brown is showing us physical anonymity while letting the dialogue convey some of the subtler levels of involvement that make each of his encounters unique. When I think of great writing and art by sex workers, johns are often afforded a similar style of anonymity, making Brown’s approach just seem like common courtesy from the other side of the coin. -EF

    2.The Believer #80 May 11 $8.00

    3. Diamond Comics #6 (Floating World) $4.00

    4. Kus #5 Baltic Comics Magazine

    5. Rigor Mortis vol 4 by Davida Gypsy Breier $3.50 – The classic horror review zine with MAD drawing chops! Much like Robin Bougie’s Cinema Sewer, Rigor Mortis is oozing outrageous content out every orifice. Built on an open artery of monster flick reviews with special features on sexual subversion and queer subtext in early horror cinema, this is like sweetened condensed homebrew Fangoria . -EF

    6. Ultraviolet Catastrophe by Andrea Walls $5.00 – “Ultraviolet Catastrophe is a chapbook excerpted from a larger work-in-progress, The Black Body Curve, a full-length collection of poetry in which the author considers the events of May 13, 1985, the day the city of Philadelphia, under the leadership of its first Black Mayor, dropped a C-4 explosive into the roof of 6221 Osage Avenue, a row-home known to be occupied by men, women and children, ultimately killing 11 people including 5 children and destroying 61 homes leaving 250 citizens homeless. The author tries to answer the question, how did this happen? How did issues of race, rhetoric and geography collide with the city’s history to inform the catastrophic conflict with the MOVE Organization and the residents of Osage Avenue?”

    7. Boneshaker Magazine #4 $9.00

    8. Boys Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press) $6.00

    9. Monocle vol 5 #43 May 11 $10.00

    10. List #12: Goodbye Baltimore $3.00

  • Weekly Top 10

    Peel back the lid! It’s so nice out, so you should totally take your classes outside. Or ditch work early and come to Quimby’s and play with some of our toys and read some zines.

    1. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95 – Don’t miss Chester Brown this comiong Wednesday (May 11th) at 7pm!
    2. Black Eye #1 ed. by Ryan Standfest $14.95 – Crazy comics anthology that provoked a reaction from authorities at the U.S. Canada border!
    3. Mojo #211 June 11 $9.99
    4. Bizarre #175 May 11 $10.50
    5. Monocle vol 5 #43 May 11 $10.00
    6. Believer #80 May 11 $8.00
    7. Uptown Problems #1 Win 10 $4.00 – From the tender side of twenty comes a tell-it-like-it’s-been “aborted journal of radical self help” ladelled out in snippets with the bitterness and bravado of a washed up child actor. -EF
    8. Nurse Nurse #6 by Katie Skelly (Sparkplug) $3.00
    9. Doris #28 by Cindy C. $2.00 – This issue of Doris talks about rural living, defining collective goals, miniature horses, the impact “Roots” had on conversations about racism in the predominantly white suburb she grew up in, as well as a personal account of her own awareness of racism. Cindy also spends some time here reflecting on her memories of Samantha Jane Dorsett and punk sobriety.
    10. When the Crash Meets Something Solid #7 Widowmaker by Gabrielle Congrave $3.00

  • Weekly Top 10

    One of us little mice went out of town last week. Did you miss us nibbling at you about the weekly top 10 or new stuff? Well, we’re back in full force! Will you be here this Thursday (April 7th) to see  J. Bradley read from The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot? Or perhaps you’ll be here this Saturday (April 7th) for Free Comic Book Day? See you then!

    1. Maximumrocknroll #336 May 11 $4.00
    2. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95
    3. The Pale King by David Foster Wallace (Little Brown) $27.99
    4. Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #2 by Laura Park $3.00 – At SBX 2008, Ms Park received the “Outstanding Artist” Ignatz award… read this comic and find out why!
    5. If You Knew Then What I Know Now by Ryan Van Meter (Sarabande) $15.95
    6. So This Is What It’s Come To: A Comic Zine About the Trials and Tribulations of OK A by Liz Prince $3.00
    7.  Doris #28 by Cindy C. $2.00 – This issue of Doris talks about rural living, defining collective goals, miniature horses, the impact “Roots” had on conversations about racism in the predominantly white suburb she grew up in, as well as a personal account of her own awareness of racism. Cindy also spends some time here reflecting on her memories of Samantha Jane Dorsett and punk sobriety.
    8. Ugly Things #31 $8.95
    9. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95 – Just down the block from Enid Coleslaw’s house, abrasive middle-aged losers are attempting to blind date each other. Mister Wonderful collects Clowes’ New York Times serial plus 40 pages of new material, driving the Wilson bus further down Pathetic Reality Road straight toward the glimmer of hope in our watery blue eyes…
    10. Proximity #8 Education As Art $12.00 – Writing the book on learning as art and the art of learning: Proximity #8 comes from all angles, focuses, builds, supports. Weighing in at 232 pages, this volume does an exceptional job with a wide variety of profiles, interviews and portfolios and essays, staying both solidly local and vitally connected, you’d be hard pressed to find a smarter art magazine.

  • Weekly Top 10 and an Attempt to Play A Portion of All Four Discs of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka at Once

    A children’s book made #1 this week?! That’s crazy. But true.

    Also! Here’s footage from an event here at Quimby’s for the Continuum’s 33 1/3 series about albums of the past 40 years. This event on 9/17/11 featured NIU prof Joe Bonomo who did a book about AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork Media Scott Plagenhoef who did a book about Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, and managing editor of Pitchfork Mark Richardson who did a book about the Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka. The footage below is of Mark Richardson reading from his book and then attempt to sequence the four CDs of the album to play simultaneously. Click on the image below and go watch it on YouTube.

    Mark Richardson reads from his book The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka
    Click on the picture to watch Mark Richardson discuss and play part of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

     

    1. Counting In The Studio by Cecilia Pinto and Megan Williamson  $10.00 – This attempt to show the process of creative expression to young readers. A dog lives with an artist who has also depicted her own studio in the book. Inside the studio it is possible to stare out windows just like those in the book. The studio, at the back of the artist’s home, is nestled on a side street in a Chicago neighborhood. The artist and the writer met at the studio to talk about the project before and after making their own separate work. The dog was always present and lent his inestimable support even when napping on the comfy, pillow-strewn chaise lounge which is up against a wall with drawings on it, just like in the book.

    2. Spoken Nerd Revolution by Shappy Seasholtz (Penmanship) $15.00

    3. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story by Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95

    4. Gentlewoman #3 Spr Sum 11 $10.95

    5. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian (Microcosm) $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

    6. Archiving the Underground #1 by Jenna Brager and Jami Sailor $2.00

    7. OP Original Plumbing #6 Trans Male Quarterly $8.00 – The theme this round is “Schooled”, highlighting a twin commitment to both the “It Gets Better” and the “Make It Better” campaigns targeted at queer youth.

    8. Cartooning Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti (Yale) $13.00 – This is about as close you are going to get to having Ivan Brunetti come to your house and teach you how to make great comics. Turns out, it’s pretty damn close – Philosophy and Practice serves up a concise and well-honed crash course on finding and fine tuning your comics voice. -EF

    9. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95

    10. Hot Teen Slut by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (Write Bloody) $15.00

  • Weekly Top 10 and Video Footage of Deb Olin Unferth

    Here’s your Top 10 for the last week. No real surprises in what made the list of bestsellers, since most of it is stuff that’s made it on there before. However, COG Magazine is a title we just started carrying, a nice biking mag, about city biking, bike messengering and the like, from all around the world.

    Also! Footage from the Deb Olin Unferth event is up. She was here at Quimby’s on 3/7/11 reading from her memoir Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War. The piece we put up is a super funny bit about how religion got worked into her expereince, and how her Jewish family reacted to her short bout with Christianity. No matter how you feel about religion, this bit will crack you up. Click on the picture of Deb below, and it will take you to where you can watch it at You Tube.

    1.    OK OK You Smote Me Stories by Al Burian (Quimby’s Exclusive) $3.00 – 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.”

    2.    Laphams Quarterly vol 4 #2 Spr 11 $15.00

    3.    Cartooning Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti (Yale) $13.00 – This is about as close you are going to get to having Ivan Brunetti come to your house and teach you how to make great comics. Turns out, it’s pretty damn close – Philosophy and Practice serves up a concise and well-honed crash course on finding and fine tuning your comics voice. -EF

    4. Proximity #8 Education As Art $12.00 – Writing the book on learning as art and the art of learning: Proximity #8 comes from all angles, focuses, builds, supports. Weighing in at 232 pages, this volume does an exceptional job with a wide variety of profiles, interviews and portfolios and essays, staying both solidly local and vitally connected, you’d be hard pressed to find a smarter art magazine.

    5. Monocle vol 5 #42 Apr 11
    6. Brilliant Mistake #1 by Carrie $1.00 – What a gem of a debut zine! Beautifully quilted together from bits of a questioning heart, Brilliant Mistake #1 pares down the aches of the social games we play. -EF

    7.  Acme Novelty Library #20: Lint by Chris Ware (D&Q) $23.95

    8. Cometbus #54 In China With Green Day by Aaron Cometbus $4.00

    9. N Plus 1 #11 Spr 11 $13.95

    10. COG Magazine #10 $6.00