Candle Light Press

Some MoCCA Pictures!

2007-06-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

Behold! The first step in Carter's future career as a hotelier!

Ian posing with another froggy friend.

Ah, the Puck Building! If you're read any MoCCA recap with pics, you've seen this before.

You may think this looks like a boring old UPS Store, but to us it looked like sweet relief on Sunday after the fest. Travel loses some of its luster when you're standing at a baggage claim looking for boxes of your table setup.

--John

More MoCCA Thoughts

2007-06-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

I'm back home in Iowa, not twelve hours since Hanna, Carter, Ian and I departed our Chinatown lodgings for random other parts of the county. We did a little exercise called "What Have We Learned?":

1) Play more to the distribution strengths--I'm working up bookmarks to give folks who are interested in books but are rationing funds. They'll be a reminder to order the book later with instructions and data on how to do it. Useful and informative.

2) It's time to look at the table layout. We have almost twenty books and comics for sale at cons and it gets pretty overwhelming for buyers. We're always proud of the length of our shelf, so to speak. But for someone new to it all, it's pretty daunting. I think we're going vertical on that point.

3) Prints and art books. I've made good on my threat to make an art book (FRAGMENTA: The Art of the Writer), now the other fellows are going to pony up. Also: more prints and such for sale. Sometimes, folks just want some art.

Much of this will be addressed by Wizard World Chicago in August. Come and see!

Foodwise, more excellence to report. We all went to a great German place called Lederhosen, a classic beer hall. I drank a fine pilsner the height of a chair leg and had an amazing beef stew. We all had a fine time and threaded our way back through the remnants of the NYC Gay Pride Parade. On the subway, Hanna helped some folks find their way via public transport to the Empire State Building. Offhandedly, she said "Well, I'm not a local, so..." and the fellow broke in: "You could have fooled me." Hanna is Davy Crockett, and I tell her so often. She reminds me Davy Crockett didn't have a map to work from.

Other random bits I forgot to mention:

--We spent one evening at The Slipper Room (previously mentioned), watching an all-star show. The fourth performer was a fellow named Tigger who came out in stylish guy clothes, sparkly lipstick and a viking helmet. He frowned as he stripped, then put on a mermaid outfit and went all beatific. Right when he went naked, Todd (who was at one time organizing a film version of NUMBERS) leans over to me and says "I was thinking about Tigger for the Fearsome Shade role." And I think you know, he's the right height, stocky, muscular...aaaaand now I've seen the Fearsome Shade's wiener. Even the Fearsome Shade doesn't want to look at the Fearsome Shade's wiener.

--The hotel we stayed at, the Windsor, was excellent. It was close to everything and quite reasonable.

--I ended up with a lot of free minis, including three by Suzanne Baumann. I bought one of her fridge magnets years ago at a Chicago Comicfest I think it was. I've always liked it. This year I got Hanna a donkey in a sombrero.

--There are pictures, and you will see them soon. Ian took some, but he's still prowling NYC a few more days. Will took some (I think), but he took the red-eye back to Iowa this morning and probably went to work today so I'm gonna let him sleep. Hanna took some and I'm sure she's right on top of it.

--We didn't know if we were going to have web access this weekend, so I asked Mike Ayers to stand by and transcribe calls each day to the blog and I just remembered I forgot to tell him that. Mike, thanks for standing by!

--We will be back at MoCCA next year! I reserved a table already.

--Carter is probably just now getting home to Des Moines. Get some sleep already!

More tomorrow.

--John

ATLANTA review up at Comic Book Bin

2007-06-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

Leroy Douresseaux review Carter Allen's ATLANTA:

"Atlanta is for the reader looking for the unanticipated in the recognizable."

MoCCA 2007 Report Day Two

2007-06-24T17:47:00.000-05:00

Well, we're back from the UPS Store, having shipped back the remaining stuff. We're resting our feet and thinking about dinner. In all, a nice convention. A lot more visitors turned up from the Big Apple Con and they were nice folks. One fellow with a homemade Galactus t-shirt lamented that the Big Apple Con was too much of a dealers' show, nice if you're looking for back issues, but not much else.

Everyone commented at how nice and leisurely the MoCCA Art Fest is. You can hear yourself think here.

I forgot to turn in our MoCCA Art Fest 2007 Exhibitor Questionnaire, so pay attention, MoCCA, here it is:

Question the First: How do you feel the seventh floor exhibitor space enhanced or detracted from the blah blah blah...?

It was nice, but seemed undertraveled.

Question the Second: So it was a pretty good idea moving the programming and panels over to the MoCCA Gallery, right?

um...didn't attend any.

Question the Third: Were people moving like a train, or moving like a...something that's not a train?

Folks were able t stop and go without being carried along like the tide. So...like small town traffic.

Question the Fourth: Any big surprises? Good or bad?

No surprises, just the same fine con we went to last year!

Question the Fifth: Woah, was that Ginger? Any other cool celebrity sightings?

Geez, I thought that was Cassandra Peterson!

Question the Etc: Do you feel that the MoCCA Art Fest has outgrown its current venue?

Hmm...not necessarily. Puck Building's got a lot of charm! Too many cons think they need to expand and end up with a bigger more expensive venue, so they in turn have to raise prices, then people don't come and then flooey. Don't flooey, MoCCA!

Table story of the day: A young man turned up with his mother at the CLP able to drink in the sea of covers. He starts looking through LOST IN THE WASH. He asks what it's about and I say well it's about this watery thing that lives in a laundromat...I tell the France joke from it...they're laughing...then he sees the bit where Walt gets his human skin mountings via UPS.

He stops.

"What is that?"

I explain that some tattoo artists make arrangements with people they've worked on to preserve the tat work.

He nods.

The mom says "I don't like that." To her son: "They did that to Jews."

I nod. "The Nazis made lampshades and stuff."

I suddenly realize I may have overstepped by being Mr. Informative.

The mom nods in agreement. I am saved.

The kid bought the book, because horror is party about horrifying yourself; the other part is grossing out your parents.

In all, a great time! More later.

--John

MoCCA 2007 Report Day 1.5

2007-06-24T07:15:00.000-05:00

Also known as stuff I remembered when I woke up this morning. Wine's your friend, and it's also that friend who says he thinks you could totally do that, man.

MoCCA and the Big Apple Con are running a shuttle between each other throughout the weekend, and it's shaken up the population a good bit. We like to think we live at the corner where the Art Show and the Comicon meet, so it's all good by us. We play a game when it's slow at the table where we try to decide where people have come from, Big Apple or MoCCA. The ones with Buddy Holly glasses and art school hairdos are too easy; clearly they've come to MoCCA after having nabbed Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's tag on a glossy for 40 bucks and thought they'd check out the free ride to this artsy-fartsy thing. Likewise, the guy with the shoulder bag worn bandolier-style and the Spider-Man shirt with no ironic value meant or conveyed at all is the SVA grad with a burning urge to make a mini that would fit on the edge of a business card.

Okay, okay, the game's not that simple. The truth is we're seeing an incredible array of folks who are all having a look at everything. At the MoCCA Art Fest you get a really open-minded crowd of show-goers, although the French-Canadienne who thought she was gonna give Will and Carter a hard time ("What ees thees? More Sci-Fi sheet?") was the only stereotypical representative of what the Big Apple Con crowd might automatically assume the MoCCA Art Fest is like.

But the mix of worlds has been interesting. Wizard, of all entities, has a table here, cheerfully asking for free books "to review". I talked to a very nice woman from Indymedia at our table and even caught Matt Madden and Jessica Abel on their rounds among the tables looking for submissions for the next BEST AMERICAN COMICS volume.

This morning is my turn to roam while Will, Carter, and Ian take over at the table. Hanna and I going back to OTHER MUSIC (a store we found and adored last year), and goofing around some. Off to breakfast now, and thence to the Puck Building!

--John

MoCCA 2007 Report Day One

2007-06-23T20:36:00.000-05:00

We're all resting back at the Windsor Hotel in Chinatown after a fine meal in Little Italy and we're just working up the energy to attack the little white box from Caffe Roma for what is definitely going to be a fine dessert for all. Today was very busy!

Our neighbors are Becky Cloonan to the left and Tyler Page and Cori Doerrfeld to the right. We've been bumping into Cori and Tyler for ages at conventions, so it's funny to see all the current midwesterners jammed together in the big room on the first floor of the Puck Building. We opted for a full table this year and are enjoying the extra space. Last year we had four fewer books and half a table and we were hurting for space.

I took the main watch at the table today, while Carter, Will, Ian, and Hanna roamed the hall and the city. Friend of CLP Todd Lovata was also there today and he bumped into some old friends from high school working the convention. I got (or rather, Hanna kindly acquired for me) the new collections of Fletcher Hanks and Drew Friedman cartoons, and that just about does me. You have to go in with goals or you'll buy a million minis.

Todd and I swear we saw Cassandra Peterson one row down, but famous people in 3-D confuse me.

We sold some books, got a lot of interested folks who walked away secure in the knowledge that they can go right to their local bookstore to acquire the fine books they saw later, and soaked in the town, along with a bit of wine. Burp.

Hanna also had an idea that she wants to share with all convention runners everywhere. It is this: please install a quiet reading room, away from the scrum and the noise for people to pause and collect themselves after braving the gauntlet. This will convince folks who might otherwise leave early due to sensory overload to pause within and give it another go before leaving for the day. Anyone who does this please call it "The Reading Room" or "Hanna's Sanity Lounge".

Tomorrow if you go to MoCCA, you'll find Carter, Will, and Ian at the CLP table, and Hanna and I will do the exploring. Whee! More tomorrow.

--John

MoCCA 2007 Day Zero

2007-06-23T07:26:00.000-05:00

After a three hour flight delay, were here in New
York! Friend of CLP Todd showed us around a bit,
culminating in a visit to The Slipper Room for the
all-star burlesque show. All our books greeted us upon
our return, reminding us there's work tomorrow!

EDIT: This was sent by mobile phone. I'm still amazed! -- John

JOHN: We're Off To MoCCA!

2007-06-21T10:52:00.000-05:00

Carter's coming through Iowa City to pick me up at 2 and then we're off to Chicago for the night to rendezvous with Ian and Hanna. Tomorrow we'll hop a plane to NYC for MoCCA Art Fest 2007! Watch this space for daily updates and the like.

2007 Is Big!

2007-06-08T12:47:00.000-05:00

Have we been busy? Yes indeed! We started out the year with the second volume of THE FAIRER SEX: A Tale of Shades and Angels by John Ira Thomas and Jeremy Smith...

Then came ZOO FORCE: BBQ by John Ira Thomas and Jeremy Smith...

Then we have Carter Allen's latest, ATLANTA, out now, and available anywhere books are sold!

Then we have a couple CLP store/con exclusives, starting with the latest LOST IN THE WASH, collecting the first issue with the new second one! It's by John Ira Thomas and Will Grant.

And then, kicking off a new ALL COLOR series of art books by the CLP gang, we have one by ... John Ira Thomas? Isn't he the writer? Yep, it's called FRAGMENTA: The Art Of The Writer, and it collects with commentary, some of the odd things John has written stories on.

And we're only halfway through the year! If you want an early crack at these fine works, we'll be at the MoCCA Art Show later this month with these and lots more! We still have some Captain Cat finger puppets left....

--John

MoCCA Time!

2007-06-04T16:33:00.000-05:00

If you're headed to the MoCCA Art Fest June 23-24, drop by table A74 and say hi! Better yet, say hi and check out:

--The new ZOO FORCE!

--ATLANTA, Carter Allen's latest sci-fi!

--The new LOST IN THE WASH!

--A weird art book by John about napkins he's drawn on!

--Captain Cat finger puppets!

--New buttons!

--See Carter Allen, Ian Bennett, Will Grant and John Ira Thomas!

--What, more reasons? Um, any of CLP's previous books can be had if you're missing any!

JOHN: I Met Scott McCloud!

2007-05-11T20:09:00.000-05:00

Had a heck of a good time today watching a Q and A with Scott McCloud at the new Art Building West on the University of Iowa campus. One of the organizers was Mike Ayers, as it turns out, so it was a good opportunity to say hi to him and slip him a copy of ZOO FORCE: BBQ (y'all know it's out, right?). Scott and his family are on a 50-State Tour for MAKING COMICS, and Iowa City was their Iowa stop. Scott led a great Q and A to a packed audience (there were worries that there would be low turnout, as today is UI's Commencement), and was nice enough to stay after and sign books and chat.

I brought my getting-kinda-worn second printing of UNDERSTANDING COMICS along and got to tell Scott this:

I was thrilled after I'd bought this very book, but it was when the third edition, the wide release, came out. I walked into the local Waldenbooks and was delighted to find a display of your book. I felt right then "This is it! Comics in the chain bookstores!" So exciting! That left just as much an impression on me as this eye-opening dissection of the form I felt I'd thought pretty hard about. But reading it convinced me that I could make comics, real comics. Instead of the web, I use print-on-demand, but that's unbounded in a different way, freeing. There's access, just like the web. Our reach is so much greater than we ever thought. I just wanted to shake the hand of a man who means a lot to me, who convinced me that the door was open.

I didn't say it nearly that well, I'm sure. Still, that's what I was shooting for. Thanks, Scott. Nice meeting you.

--John

New ZOO FORCE: BBQ Review!

2007-04-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

This one's from Tony Wright at Silverbulletcomics.com --

"Writer John Ira Thomas and artist Jeremy Smith have produced top-notch graphic novels on a consistent basis and they have once again created another remarkable graphic novel with Zoo Force: BBQ. "

Have a look!

--John

First Review of Zoo Force: BBQ At Comic Book Bin!

2007-04-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

Leroy Douresseaux has read ZOO FORCE: BBQ and proclaiming it good reading:

"Curious about Zoo Force? Think of it being alongside “The Boondocks” or “The Venture Bros.” in Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup, and you have the comic book comedy for the adult sensibility."

Check out the full review here.

--John

JOHN: Watching ZF: BBQ Spread

2007-04-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

I keep nosing around different online retailers to see when ZOO FORCE: BBQ pops up for sale on them. It's always different.

It's up at Booksamillion, but without a graphic (those come later usually).

No Amazon yet.

Powell's has it up, no pic.

Barnes and Noble has it up with the cover pic. Well done!

More as it develops.

--John

ZOO FORCE: BBQ is here!

2007-04-08T19:56:00.000-05:00

It's here! ZOO FORCE: BBQ by John Ira Thomas and Jeremy Smith is winding its way through the Books-In-Print system and should be popping up on online booksellers' sites any day now! We'll have the ZF3 page on candlelightpress.com up soon, so you can have a peek!

--John

Just...One...More...Click...

2007-03-29T15:26:00.000-05:00

and ZOO FORCE: BBQ will be ready for sale! Actually, it's something like twenty clicks, but boy howdy those clicks are important! It's Ding's turn to have a story; and, as usual, Captain Cat isn't about to let any of his teammates have the spotlight. There's fun, thrills, laughs, and a well-deserved tasering. So keep on your toes, ZOO FORCE fans! Mere days remain until you can lay your hands on the latest!

--John

Jeremy Smith Interview at One Page Wonder!

2007-03-18T14:08:00.000-05:00

There's a fine interview with our own Jeremy Smith at onepagewonder.com -- click through and have a read; you'll learn some interesting stuff about Tom Brokaw!

--John

CLP on THE PULSE

2007-03-13T21:21:00.000-05:00

Over at THE PULSE, there's a short interview with John Ira Thomas about CLP and its doings. Direct linking is a little weird, but if you run right over to THE PULSE right now, it's close to the top!

(edited to make link more specific, although you don't get the other frames this way.)

PUBLISHING BY CANDLELIGHT by Melody Dworak

2007-03-13T13:39:00.000-05:00

(reprinted with permission of the author, from the March issue of LITTLE VILLAGE, available all over Iowa City/Coralville)

Promoters of Iowa City the city—and not Iowa City the college town—praise it for its thriving small businesses and independent spirit. After all, a pedestrian can traverse the downtown area without running into a single Burger King or Pizza Hut. Instead, they find two Indian restaurants, an Ethiopian place and a falafel joint.

Independence for Iowa Citians is a way of life—sometimes no matter what the professional sacrifice. College graduates know if they want to make money doing what they love, they either leave town or do it themselves, settling for love over money.

Case in point: John Ira Thomas, the writing power behind the graphic novel series Zoo Force (ZF), works the parking ramps as a day job and personally owns the publishing company that releases these books. His company, Candle Light Press (CLP) publishes the work of five individuals working on six different titles, one of which—Leap Years by Ian Bennett—won a Top-10 spot on the American Library Association Booklist’s 2005 list of graphic novels appealing to youth.

Not a bad achievement, coming from a publishing microcosm.

ZF also targets kids of all ages. The man who illustrates Thomas’ plot, Jeremy Smith, is a former Iowa Citian currently living in Portland, using both traditional drawing and digital technology to complement the text. ZF’s third edition, BBQ, will be coming out this spring.

“Neither of us really knew how to make a comic—we were making it up as we went along,” Thomas said of the beginning of their partnership. “I was writing in screenplay format, and he was more worried about changing anything.”

Now, he said, they know each other’s minds well enough to sustain a long-distance creative relationship over ZF and other projects.

The ZF books have a triptych feel to them. In both previous issues, “Dear Eniko” and “Bean and Nothingness,” the books first tell the story of the Enforcer Group #77—superheroes with oddball powers—and then tell the story of the Enforcer Group #76—not-quite superheroes with equally oddball powers. The final section is no story and all children’s games, where kids can complete a maze or color in outlined morals.

The addition of these coloring-book pages prompts the question, were these pages just an excuse to draw a rooster putting away a spoon and a polar bear with her jowls around some plates? Or a subversion of library rules, coercing kids to color in books under the guise of teaching them the importance of cleaning?

Actually, Thomas says, they need all three sections to utilize the print-on-demand technology that allows for this 100 percent creative control. Mainstream graphic novel publishers might find it hard to market these Zoo Force characters to a mass audience, and the CLP Web site says they need a 100-page minimum to give independent publishing a professional look.

The Enforce Group #77 is Zoo Force: Ding, a 20-year-old with a six-foot tongue; Pythagoras, a philosophical rooster with a penchant for reincarnation; Prairie Dawg, a half-man/half-prairie dog with mad tunneling skills; and Snowball, a polar bear with soulful eyes and a library card.

Not Zoo Force—or, Enforcer Group #76—likes to think they deserve their own comic, too. Captain Cat is the leader of this wayward group of vigilantes, and he uses his robot arms to scribble, Xerox and staple the tales of the one-step-lesser enforcers.

In BBQ, Thomas confides, one of the lesser enforcers will lose his powers and readers will get to see who’s the jerkiest of the lesser vigilantes during a climactic moment involving a wiener dog and a candy bar. The ZF team, meanwhile, discovers that there’s something of an ex-pornographer among their ranks, with the details assured to be unexpected.

CLP’s motto is “Words and pictures,differently,”and the way to maintain that sense of individuality is by a new kind of DIY engagement made possible through this print-on-demand technology of Lightning Source, the Nashville company that prints all of CLP’s projects.

Here’s how it works: When it comes time to finish a CLP project, Thomas uploads the very large PDF file to the company’s FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, and they take over the printing and distribution. Their Web site, Lightningsource.com, says the publishers retain the copyright to the book while the company lists the title in its database, making it literally available anywhere in the world.

This democratization of technology allows creators to decide for themselves what’s fit to print—even if it’s references to local IC musicians like David Zollo and Tom Jessen, whose art is also produced in an IC-based independent company, Trailer Records. Thomas said he’s always been a fan of this Americana music and so references to these Iowa City celebrities appear in the ZF series.

“The thing is that I think about any form of commercial ‘art,’” Thomas said, “is that so many people want to jump into the system so that they can work their way to the top so that they can do what they want, instead of just doing whatever they want.”

This doesn’t mean that creative independence and top achievements are mutually exclusive. Ian Bennett’s Leap Years, which details the experiences of a high school student who befriended an imaginary frog.

Bennett, the youngest member of the CLP crew, is now in film school at Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. He began his graphic relationship with this crew back in 1995 when he was only 10 years old. These were the days of the Crop Circle Comics Guild, which met regularly at a rented space up in the Hall Mall, 114½ E. College.

Back then, they called the Xeroxed and stapled books “minis,” Thomas said, and they’re exactly like the “zines” that still grace the hall in the former Schneider Building today.

Thomas met Bennett by seeking him out. He had walked into Daydreams and bought a mini bound with thread by Bennett and his sister Hanna (then 13), which prompted him to contact the youngsters to ask them to join what was going to be a community comics venture.

“I was really worried at first, I thought, how do I approach—how do I do this without looking like a stalker or monster?” Thomas said.

A note was written, screened by enough scrutinizing adults, and the kids joined.

Just last December, the creative relationship that lasted over 10 years became a conjugal one when Thomas and Bennett the elder tied the knot.

Over so many years, this level of creative independence seems more like creative interdependence. The CLP members all began as a part of the Crop Circle Comics Guild.

Crop Circle morphed into Candle Light Press at the hands of Mike Ayers and AndyBlack. Thomas took over when Ayers wanted to finish his Master’s and take a high school teaching gig in Cedar Rapids, paying him one dollar for the company.

To read more about Zoo Force and other Candle Light Press publications, visit www.Candlelightpress.com.

New AND THE SKY TURNED WHITE... Review!

2007-03-07T16:18:00.000-06:00

William Kulesa, in his "The Comic Box" column for The Jersey Journal, has read AND THE SKY TURNED WHITE... by Carter Allen and pronounced it a good thing.

Quote: And it has all the ingredients of an epic tale of disaster and salvation on a cosmic scale squeezed into a pint size package perfect for an afternoon read that will keep you thinking for the rest of the day.

Go have a peek.

--John

JOHN: Little Village Cover Story in March!

2007-03-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

If you're within arm's reach of the Iowa City monthly LITTLE VILLAGE, you might recognize some folks on the cover.

Yep, there's another ZOO FORCE on the way!

--John

NEWS: Book Of The Year Nomination for CLP!

2007-02-22T11:04:00.000-06:00

The nominees for the Foreword Magazine Book Of The Year Awards were announced yesterday and Candle Light Press has made the shortlist again! THE FAIRER SEX v2: A Tale Of Shades And Angels by John Ira Thomas and Jeremy Smith is up for the BOTYA in the Graphic Novel category. Winners will be announced at Book Expo America June 1st. That's a nomination each year for three years running for Candle Light Press--MAN IS VOX:Paingels was nominated in 2004, LEAP YEARS in 2005 (winner of the bronze!), and now the latest Tale Of Shades And Angels.

Remember, you can always get any of our books online or at your local bookstore!

--John

JOHN: Catching Up

2007-02-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

It has been a roaring start to the new year here at CLP! I suppose the only thing we haven't been doing is blogging about it. After several spatial readjustments and life changes, work continues in earnest on books, cons, all things CLP--even blogging!

Here's a pic from mine and Hanna's wedding at the end of December:

Back Row is Carter Allen, Jeremy Smith, and Will Grant.
Front Row is Ian Bennett, John Ira Thomas, and Michael Ayers.
With everybody so farflung these days, it already felt like a reunion even after so short a time apart.

But everyone's back at their worktables making comics. I've begun lettering ZOO FORCE: BBQ while Jer finishes the last of the art. Pretty quick I'll be lettering LOST IN THE WASH: Presoak Edition #2--yep, looks like we'll be doing another floppy to continue the tale before we collect the whole watery monster. Carter's been working on MAN IS VOX: The Other Way and Ian's new short story collection grows ever nearer.

Oh, we also got a nice write-up in The Jersey Journal by William Kulesa. They may ask your Zip Code and your age to see it but look here for the article and see how it goes.

We're also gearing up for MoCCA and San Diego Comicon this year, both of which are sooner than you think. Wizard World Chicago is definitely out this year. Can't make it to the cons to see us? Don't forget, we have a lovely new store to see to your con-only CLP product needs.

Okay, them's the basics. New books soon!

--John

The Store Is Now Open! (LINK FIXED)

2007-01-01T12:14:00.000-06:00

Yep, we've opened a virtual storefront here -- you can find our regular books there, as well as many hard-to-find items, like Captain Cat finger puppets and original issues of ED #1, the first appearance of ZOO FORCE! Click on over at halftime and have a see! And Happy New Year to all from all of us at Candle Light Press!

--John

--fixed link 1/2/07 because I can't spell the company's name or anything...JT

JOHN: The Mall in the Hall

2006-12-21T19:26:00.000-06:00

As promised, some Hall Mall photos from the days when we had studio space up there, circa 1995-6.

Above is the only photo we have fixing which door it was. I think that's FERAL now.

The way in. Oh, good, they're open!

Coffee is very very important.

And here's Carter, setting out the first copy of the original NIKKI HARRIS: CYBERMATION WITCH #1 on the rack. You can also see his previous series, 252Z, as well as Ian and Hanna Bennett's CUKA AND CHAMEAL.

This was a large-size jam by several artists in the studio, including Jeremy SMith, Carter Allen, Steve Ravenfeller and Andy Black.

Here's Jeremy, hard at work on NIGHT ANGEL #2. He still uses the same desk.

Another corner of the room.

And that's a bit down from the previous look.

The sales rack.

John and Ian, the top of him, anyways.

Steve Ravenfeller in front of the Hall Mall OPEN sign, top of the stairs.

Ian and Hanna Bennett.

One more of Steve.

Mike Ayers, Carter Allen, the top of Ian's head, Hanna Bennett.

I used a junky little disposable camera for the pictures, so they required some despeckling. Still, it was quite a period. We banged out loads of minicomics during that period. Ah, memories.

--John