wanna see a sneaky peek of the next Shortpants Press release?
An Army of Lovers will be Beaten is the first of twelve chapters from Chicago-based Bernie McGovern, a talented and accomplished painter, illustrator and comics artist (to see more of his work, please visit www.rockwellfarmer.com). Set during a war between a blue-skinned people and constellations in the night sky, An Army of Lovers will be Beaten is a story of officers on furlough overseas. Lt. Buckeley, a hero and decorated pilot, arrives in the port town of Catalpa looking only for a place to nap but quickly finds himself dodging punches, bombs, and perverts. His profound gift for staying alive and near tragic level of kindness opens a world of friendship, mass murder, visions, anxiety, and song. With a cast angelic and degenerate alike, An Army of Lovers will be Beaten is a tale of enormous domination and even greater empathy.
McGovern’s linework is sparse but elegant and punctuated with astonishing full-color paintings. His fluid style manages to convey a great deal of information with an economy of line, evoking a full and complex world with just a few pen-strokes.
An Army of Lovers will be Beaten will be released officially on Wednesday, June 6. It will be available for sale on www.shortpantspress.com and in Chicago from Chicago Comics and Quimby’s, and will be available in the coming weeks from other fine independent comics retailers nationwide.
ps: if you are a reviewer and not already on our maily list - ie, if you don't get a copy in the next few days - e-mail us (with your mailing address) and request a review copy.
M'Lady Serene : Tales of Achilles, Scouts' Honor, Grant Reynolds $6.00
The latest addition to the Shortpants store is a fabulous joint project between Grant Reynolds and Chicago-based post-punk rock'n'roll powerhouse Scouts' Honor. You get a concept/split 7" packed with four great songs by Scouts' Honor, and a gorgeous 8 page comic by To the Mouth of the Source'sGrant Reynolds. Plus, if you don't have a record player, there's a login and password for downloading the mp3s so you can plug them into your ipod. It's a limited release of 500, so be sure to get yours now!
Towards the end of the last day at APE, Shortpants met a girl named Helen Parson. She offered us a trade for some of her books:
We said yes, coz the artwork looked cool and well-executed, and then we sat down to read them.
Parson's artwork has a way of getting inside your head. The subject matter she chooses too - it's infectious. It's dark, sure, but lovely at the same time. Creepy and beautiful.
There's something about her comics that feels very early-era-Surrealist to me too, every piece, even the jokey ones, has a very stream-of-consciousness dreamlike quality to it, the unleashed id wandering about in any direction it feels like. In that sense, while the imagery and content are so off the wall and bizarre, there's something familiar to them as well. I read these books and found myself feeling like I had very vague memories of these stories, like maybe I had dreamt them before.
Shortpants found it to be pretty impressive work, and pretty standout stuff, unlike the vast majority of the comics you can find. Even unlike most of the indy comics you pick up. Hours after we finished reading Parson's comics, we were still thinking about the wildly imaginative imagery.
All in all, this was a great find. You can find Parson's website here, tho it looks like it's under construction right now. If you can find her books, though, grab 'em. It's fantastic work.
