Birdcage Bottom Comics has a stunning roster of talent this year including Josh Bayer, Aeon Hand, Brett Hamil, Brother Malcolm, Lance Ward, & Yiqun Zhou. The publisher is currently running a Kickstarter to help bring their 2022 line of publications to print.
Check out the comics that make up this year’s “class” below and support the crowdfunding campaign here.
ABYSMALATION: Collected Short Works by Josh Bayer
Abysmalation is a book by a Josh Bayer, (author of Ignatz-nominated Theth, Tomorrow Forever, creator of the comics anthology Suspect Device, editor and writer for All Time Comics) collecting an array of fast and loose comics and obscure short pieces. The work here ranges from personal to experimental, some completed in ink, some scrawled in pencil on the backs of his gas bill. You may find you are only able to make your 2022 complete with the addition of Abysmalation to your comics library!
7.5” x 10”, 148 pages. $18
B+w covers with b+w interior (32 pages of color). Perfect-bound
MISFORTUNE: A Book of Illustrated Fortune Cookie Messages by Aeon Hand
Misfortune is a dark look into the prisms that create the illusion we call modern life, guided by fortunes from fortune cookies.
8” x 8”, 140 pages. $16.99
Black + white cover with b+w interior on cream paper. Perfect-bound
SK8 Dad Summer: Ramps, Rebellion, and Raising a Kid by Brett Hamil
A graphic memoir about being a dad, building a ramp, and recalibrating your inner gyroscope by blunt force.
6” x 8”, 64 pages. $10
Full-color covers with b+w interior. Perfect-bound
YESTERDAY: Diary Comix by Brother Malcolm
Can he stand another heartache? Join Brother Malcolm as he tiptoes on the cusp of misery in these weirdly optimistic diary comix.
6” x 8”, 348 pages. $15
Full-color covers with b+w interior. Perfect-bound
Super Power Comedian Interviewing Another Super Power Comedian by Yiqun Zhou
SPCIASPC is a story set in America in which a young comedian takes an iconoclastic journey to meet her hero, a retiring comedian, coming to terms with her former rival and their disparate career paths.
5.5” x 7.25”, 36 pages. $6
Full-color covers and interior. Saddle-stitched
Flop Sweat #5 by Lance Ward
Flop Sweat is an ongoing serialization of Lance Ward’s autobiographical comics arranged chronologically. Previous self-published collections of these comics were featured in The Best American Comics. Ward’s life has been rife with pitfalls: abandonment, addiction, mental illness, sexual assault, arrest, attempted suicide, and even a death experience (not “near-death”, he was clinically deceased!). Yet, through it all he has somehow maintained a positivity about and loyalty to his art, even after crushing his drawing hand!
This fifth issue finds Lance moving in with two near strangers and suffering dire consequences. As a result, he ends up back in a psyche ward and eventually in a group home. Life improves when Lance is assigned a therapist and a roommate who quickly becomes a friend. During therapy, he grapples with his sexuality and reminisces about a past relationship and a job at a sex shop.
5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages. $6
Full-color covers and interior. Saddle-stitched
Flop Sweat #6 by Lance Ward
In issue six, Lance does a deep dive into the inner workings of the sex shop that employed him: gay cruising, peep-show booths, police raids, poppers, etc. More questioning of his sexuality after (and during) an experience with a male co-worker is followed by a grave mistake at his group home. After an eviction, Lance must make a potentially life-altering decision.
5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages. $6
Full-color covers and interior. Saddle-stitched
Source: Graphic Policy
