SOWS EAR THREE
MARCH Here it is. SOWSEAR issue three. It is an exciting issue, as it marks over a year of work put into organizing the project. It really feels like this comic is making progress, increasing its reach around the state and developing its own personality. For those that do not know, SOWS EAR is a collection of comics primarily made by Alaskan artists (a couple contributions for this issue were done by folks from out of state. Including the cover. I will explain why in a bit). Some of the artists here would identify themselves as (among other things) cartoonists. Other contributors made their first (and possibly last) comics for this
2014 issue. Some of what follows is not a comic at all. One special thing about this issue is its cover. Designed by English artist Emily Foden, this cover can be cut out and folded down into what is called an octavo signature fold, or one page book. Every page of issue 4 will be one of these books and the cover will fold into a box to hold all the little comics. If you plan to submit to issue 4, please make your piece fit this format. Here are some simple instructions on how these books work (how to make Emily book out of this cover). I will have more issue on the website and our Facebook page.
CONT EN T Here is a bit of info about each contributor. It is listed alphabetically by artist. Each artists name can be found at the bottom of the first page of each piece. Holden W. Attradies Holden is an artist working mainly in the atiquated art of zeroxgraphy out of Anchorage, Alaska. Peter Dunlap-Shohl Peter worked for more than 25 years as the in house cartoonist for the Anchorage Daily News and is now working on, among many other things, a graphic novel dealing with the subject of Parkinson’s disease. This story is taken from one of Peter’s Parkinson projects. Brian Hutton Brian Hutton has been a visual, literary and performance artist living in Anchorage since 1987. Carbohydrates’ is a revisiting of a cartoon he made in the early 90’s. Not much has changed. Chad Meyer Check out www.somehowclearly.com, Chad’s new we-
bcomic. It includes an archive of his earlier work from www.jeybork.com. His piece in this issue is one of the first made for his new site. Brian Payne In this issue Payne advances the story he began in SOWSEAR TWO with two new Cosmic Hamlet pages. This dramatic soap opera continuity strip is drawn in a facsimile of the classic Sunday comics section. To see more of Brian’s work, check out his website at www.zinccomics.com and/or the ZiNC COMICS Facebook page. Lee Post Lee’s work has appeared in publications including The Anchorage Press, The Northern Light, F Magazine, Johannesburg, South Africa’s Itch Magazine and Omaha, Nebraska’s Silent City. In 1999 he selfpublished his zine, Your Square Life which became a comic strip that ran for six years in the Anchorage Press. His other projects include children’s books, the first chapter of A Native Lad: Benny Benson tells
SOWSEAR is supported by a grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Girdwood Art Institute. First Printing March 2014, all content copyright the artist unless stated otherwise.
Alaska’s Story and editing the book Portraits. Anna Raupp More Adventures of Shaman Pig! Enough said. Jimmy Riordan Jimmy continues the story of Giovanni in this issue. Ryan Romer Ryan is a printmaker at heart who currently lives and works in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Now a comic strip provider Ryan will be doing more of these short stories thru comic strip. “ This is a fun way to voice out any dialogue without severe repercussions , but rather with joyful insight to an other wise mundane world” ~Ryan Romer. Serge Stephan These drawings are from Serge’s ongoing practice Yogalala. Yogalala is an amateur and self-taught form of yoga that has appeared on a deserted island, after a plane crash. For more info check out his Tumblr www.yogalalalala.tumblr.com. Serge and Emily (cover) are 2 artists participating in this issue that are not from AK. Emily has visited before. I am at a residency in New York right now and met Serge here. I couldn’t help but add some pages to include him. Emily participated in a now extinct web project of mine called Printer Press. It is the inspiration for next issue. Her style makes for a good cover and really shows how varied the form can be. Ava Williams Ava writes poetry and comics in Eagle River, Alaska.
Sometimes while she writes, Walt Whitman stands over her shoulder and silently waits to be fed. Everything Walt says in YAWP! is from a poem in “Song of Myself ” from Leaves of Grass. If you are confused by this, Ava requests that you google it, or go hang out at your local library. THANKS. Thanks to all the contributing artists and retailers that have chosen to carry these comics. Thanks again to the Girdwood Art Institute and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Thanks to Minuteman Press for printing our comic. They have been Wonderful. The forth issue of SOWS EAR will hopefully be released before June, as that is the end of the funding period for the assistance we got from the Alaska State Arts Council. Any one interested in submitting work to that, or any future issue should feel free to contact me at rr.sowsear@gmail.com or through our website and Facebook page. That goes for businesses that would like to carry copies of the comic, or individuals interested in purchasing issues. Oh, and a final thanks to the artist from issue one’s Unupropeit Drawings for this cool drawing of a horse (IFYI it is bright pink). You rock! -J
THE ADVENTURES OF S SHAMAN HAMAN PIG Chapter Three
With a far-off gaze Shaman Pig listened as Mama Pig recounted Tales of Papa Pig.
We Met in college. Your Papa was always in the library devouring books. He had more existential worry than I did. Anna Raupp
But his persistent doubt opened the door to a very raw and open life.
He believed in the value of regular work. He was a short-order cook in the campus center cafe. Everyone said he made a perfect egg.
He would do Judo on anyone that tried to steal.
His favorite job was cleaning toilets. He liked doing the work that wouldn’t be noticed, only felt.
Shaman Pig thought with Love of the toilet.
Then the war started and everything changed. Papa pig left in the middle of the night. This is the journal he kept while he was away. It includes addresses of everywhere he stayed for 2 years. He kept excellent records.
Shaman Pig was sufficiently overwhelmed by this last turn of events. Mama Pig knew enough to stop.
She urged Shaman Pig up the stairs for a bath.
Time for some self-care! Upstairs in a hot bath, eating chocolate, Shaman Pig felt more calm and replayed what Mama pig had said.
Aglow from the tub, shaman Pig dried off still deep in reverie.
Then wilting onto the bed, the search for the first address in Papa Pig’s journal began.
To be continued...
Holden Attradies
Brian Payne
Lee Post
Brian Hutton
In the beginnin g
I w as e xtrem ely furi ous,
l.
An d T hat’s m y visu a l s igna
From
ship y own t of m the mas
rd, a w n o bed m i l c I
e me e s u o ow y N e g a voy e d a m self y m n i oating
n.
transfor m a t i o n onto t r a n s f o rmatio
but as it has it, I continue d, end after end,
Ryan Romer
Peter Dunlap-Shohl
Serge Stephan
LAST TIME: AFTER GIOVANNI ’ S CREW ABANDONED SHIP HE LEARNED THAT A NEARBY CIRCUS WAS LOOKING FOR A NEW CLOWN.
sigh...
Jimmy Riordan
even my parrot left me.
who am i kidd ing ?
goodbye rocinanti. ti. it saddens me to say that i have to leave.
i am off to join the circus.
but I promise that someday i will return a better captain.
To be continued...
Numbered poems used from “Song of Myself ”, Leaves of Grass: Grass:
Ava Williams
SoM: #52, #45
SoM: #20, #21
SoM: #18, #2
SoM: #2
Chad Meyer
Lee Post
Rabbit Rabbit Press, MARCH 2014
RR
$2.25 Suggested Price
F O R M AT U R E R E A D E R S