Sparkplug Books was a Portland-based publisher that played
host to an exciting and fresh roster of diverse artists throughout
its 14 years. Founded by cartoonist and comics historian Dylan
Williams, whose strong ethical sense and personal taste drove the
direction of the company, Sparkplug was a resolutely small press,
focusing on handmade and independently produced comics in a
world veering ever toward mass production. After Williams passed
away in September of 2011, his wife Emily Nilsson took over and,
in February 2013, passed the helm to artist Virginia Paine. Sparkplug stopped publishing
books in 2015 and transferred their remaining backlist to Alternative Comics in 2016.
