Some descriptions come from old Spit and a Half catalogs, which were written by John Porcellino.

I want to use some kind of system to rate quality--of course the four star systems and stuff aren't perfect, but I feel this will be more useful with something like that.  Here's how I'm using it.

* One Star--"Shitty!  Crime against trees."

** Two Stars--"A little better, but nothing to get excited about. Mediocre."

*** Three Stars--"There's something really worthwhile here, but either it's got some flaws or it doesn't have a whole lot to make it really worth hunting down. "

**** Four Stars--"Good.  Try to get one."

***** Five Stars--"Extraordinarily good and somehow important.  There's a peculiar secret to a perfect mini-comic, and this meets those mysterious criteria for me."

"All star ratings in this draft are by me and are subject to change and regret."

Here's some of the info I've tried to include when necessary or available.

Date
Description
Pages
Price
Format
Availability

I'm still going through my collection.  This is only a first draft.  Please excuse the bad writing.  Many books are not listed here that should be.  Also I still need to track down some adresses.  If you have any information, or would like to write reviews, please write xxxxxxx@hotmail.

Eventually the idea is to format this whole thing into some kind of website type thing.

John Porcellino
PO Box 881 Elgin, IL
60121

Porcellino's recent comics are central to any collection of mini-comics.  They are at the heart of one of the major schools of comics in America that developed in the late twentieth century.  This "school" is characterized by several factors I think.  One is an idiosyncratic and simple visual style that doesn't draw heavily from other schools of comics styles, another is an implicit anti-corporate punk sensibility.  Related to this is a turn toward everyday subject matter, and also a sort of general optimism and gentleness in contrast to the antagonism and explicit countercultural spirit that characterized many underground comics of the 60s, 70s and to a certain extent in the 80s.  All these criteria apply to Porcellino, but his work sometimes also adds a layer of American Zen sensibility.  Porcellino's work was and is centrally influential in many newer cartoonists--James Kochalka, Craig Thompson, Dave Lasky, Ron Rege, and Tom Hart to name a few.

King-Cat Comics and Stories 38
March 1993
This issue is all about Porcellino's dog Sam.  Some consider it the best King-Cat ever.
$1
12 pp
Digest
******

King-Cat Comics and Stories 40
by Joe Chiappetta
Special guest penciller and inker Joe Chiappetta crafts a tale of junkyard romance.
no price listed
12 pp
Digest
***

King-Cat Comics and Stories 44
March 1994
This one has more text than usual, chronicling a road trip with Zak Sally and Mr. Mike.
Rounding out the issue are some dream comics and one about almost having an armadillo for a pet.
50¢
18 pp
Digest

King-Cat Comics and Stories 45
July 1994
"This special issue of King-Cat commemorates the weekend of September 8-1, 1993, when a bunch of friends from out of town came to visit in Denver and we all had a hell of a time.  It was drawn over a period of nine months, in three different states by" Jerome Gaynor, Joe Chiappetta, John P. and Jason Heller.  Its great.
$2
28 pp
Digest

King-Cat Comics and Stories 50
May 1996
Special Anniversary issue.  Essential.  Some of this issue has been reprinted in the "Perfect Example" collection.
$2
36 pp
Digest
*****

King-Cat Comics and Stories 52
May 1997
Parts 1 and 2 of "Perfect Example," which was reprinted with some other material in a nice  book by Highwater Books.  This issue also contains two Zen stories, and some commentary.
$2
40 pp
****

King-Cat Comics and Stories 54
September 1998
John and Kera move to Hoffman Estates, IL.  This issue has some short comics.  Kind of an uneven issue, but there’s good things hidden everywhere.
$2
24 pp
Digest
***

King-Cat Comics and Stories 55
June 1999
Some short comics, all simple and exquisite, including the final installment of the "Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man."
$2
24 pp
Digest
****

King-Cat Comics and Stories 51
December 1996
This is a classic King-Cat, featuring "I Saw Where the Root-Hog Lives," a hilarious letter from Mr. Mike, a map of John P's universe circa 1982, and more.
$2
32 pp
Digest
****1/2

King-Cat Classix Vol. 2
June 1992
Collects the best of issues 11-20, which are out of print.
$2
28 pp
Digest
 

King-Cat Classix Vol. 3
Sept. 1994
Collects the best of issues 21 to 30, which are out of print.
$2
40 pp
Digest
 

King-Cat Classix Vol. 4
Sept. 1996
Collects the best of issues 31-40, which are for the most part out of print.
$2.50
56 pp
Digest
 

Tom Hart
tomhart@newhatstories.com

The Most Powerful Gate
June 24, 1995
24 Hour Comic with a man, a monkey, bananas, etc.  All over the place and pretty good.
$1.50
24 pp
Digest
Order from ?
***

Ramadan
1997
This is one of my favorite Hart comics--lyrical, satirical, hysterical.  Its a chopped up narrative about foreign lands, American fashions, epingles, etc.
$2
36 pp
Digest
*****

Maria
Feb. 24, 1995
The best  24 hour comic I’ve ever read, and maybe my favorite Hart book.  Highly recommended.
$1.50
24 pp
Digest
*****

The Ditch, The River, The Sea, The Snake
May 5, 1996
Another 24 hour comic.  A fable where this guy digs a river around a village and then walks to the sea to get water, but his brother causes trouble back at the village, and forces an awful but just thing to happen.  Highly Recommended.
$1.50
24 pp
Digest
****

John Hankiewicz
867 Fendley Dr.  Apt. K-10
Conway, AR  72032

Tepid
Spring 1998 (The Gimmick Book)
A comic about a garage sale or something, and another story.  Not Hankiewicz's strongest book, but still better than most mini comics.
$1.00
28 pp
Digest
867 Fendley Dr.  Apt. K-10
Conway, AR  72032

Tepid (A Mini-Comic)
1995
In this early issue Hankiewicz hasn't really hit his stride yet, but it's all unmistakenly tepid.
$1.50
13 pp
8.5x11
867 Fendley Dr.  Apt. K-10
Conway, AR  72032

Tepid
Spring 2000
"Next Door" is Hankiewicz's best comic to date--a dreamlike dialogue between the fictional "girl next door singer" Beatrice Lustre and a man who may be really losing it. "Hanshaw Development" is a short story set up like a series of one page strips, each echoing the words, images, and events in the other pages. Highly recommended.
$2.00
29 pp
8.5x11
****1/2

Tepid
Spring 1999
Hankiewicz's work is a rare kind of comics poetry that is similar to some of the work of Wallace Stevens--sometimes mixing up  the words and images in successive reptitions, creating an otherworldly, disturbing feel.   Edward Gorey's work also comes to mind, but Hankiewicz's creepiness has more to do with the 20th century suburbs than Victorian illustration.  This issue is really strong, with "You Spell Me," "Bourgeois Holiday" and "Beatrice Lustre."  Rene' Magritte meets Wallace Stevens.  One of my favorite minis.
24 pp
$1.50
8.5x11
****1/2

Tepid
Spring 1997
John Hankiewicz
"This issue took shape panel by panel... The great tale hadn't emerged, though I'd sat around for a year, waiting for it.  Finally, there was nothing to do but start.  A common enough predicament in modern artistic endeavors—and this is a typical result."
24 pp
$1.50
867 Fendley Dr.  Apt. K-10
Conway, AR  72032
***

Dylan Williams

Horse #2
Dylan Williams
A story of a mysterious talisman, and two bandaged characters with fedoras who chase down and kill a young couple for this talisman.  Some of the panels are distorted with a photocopier, which is a nice effect.  Williams' art is more cartoony and "edgy" here than in his more recent work.
Out of Print
No Price Listed
40 pp
5.5X 3.25
PO Box 10952
Portland, OR
97296-0952
***

Will it Ever Be
April 1997
Dylan Williams
This story also appears in the Reporter Short Stories Book.  The format of this one is the same as "Where Are You Now?," a nice change of pace.  Three friends go back to an old house where one of them used to live, stirring up memories for him. Williams renders these memories as a kind of transparent overlay to the scene, and the whole effect is very allusive and eerie.
$1.50
Out of Print
36pp
3x7
 

"Where Are You Now?"
March 1997
Dylan Williams
A short and sweet story that's an archetype of two old friends meeting by chance and catching up over lunch.
50¢
Out of Print
36pp
3x7

Reporter #1
1997
"Adam and Ivar are both writers.  Adam buys fiction stories from his muse.  Ivar is a sort of 15 year old natural historian.  They share a meal and compare notes on writing.  Adam has just bought one of his stories from his bandaged muse.  Ivar wants to hear the story so Adam tells him:  Two island kids who discover a sleeping stone giant underwater near their village."
$3
24 pp
Comic Book Size

Reporter #2
1998
"Ivar runs into a weird ghost girl named Felicia Frame.  They fall in love but the world won't let them.  They each have too much going in their lives for the romance to work out.  This story is based on Noel Coward and David Lean's "Brief Encounter."  A fine issue worth rereading.
$2.00
24 pp
Digest
 
Reporter #3
Another story from the Willoughby world.  This one's about a reporter who gets the scoop.  Xeric grant winner
$3.00
24 pages
A little bigger than digest

Jennifer Daydreamer

Jennifer Daydreamer 9
Jennifer Daydreamer
This is a 24 Hour comic, so its a little on the sloppy side, which she admits herself on the inside cover.  But its chock full of old surreal goodness.
$2
24 pp
Digest
PO Box 85265
Seattle, WA  98145

Jennifer Daydreamer 10
Jennifer Daydreamer
The first part of a story about some twins and a legless boy.  When one of the twins get married, the other will die, or vice versa.  Eerie and beautiful.
$2
26 pp
Digest
PO Box 85265
Seattle, WA  98145

Jennifer Daydreamer 11
Jennifer Daydreamer
The second part of the story of the twins.
$2
32 pp
Digest

Anthologies

Zoomcranks 12
ed. Mark Cunningham and Jenny Zervakis
909 Lancaster St. Durham, NC
27701 (???)
Includes comics or drawings by John Porcellino, Jerry Sims, Mark Cunningham, Joel Orff, Blair Wilson, Josh Scott, Jenny Zervakis, Andy Nukes, Joe Chiapetta, Gary Usher, Jason Heller, Jerome Gaynor, Dave Lasky, Maximum Traffic, and Jeff Zenick.  One of the best mini-comics anthologies, with a lot of the better artists represented.
$2
32 pp
Half-Legal

Zoomcranks 15
ed. Mark Cunningham and Jenny Zervakis
909 Lancaster St. Durham, NC
27701 (???)
Jeff Zenick, John Porcellino, Jerry Sims, Matt Feazell, Mark Cunningham, Ron Rege, Joe Chiappetta, James Kochalka, Alan Hunt, Robin Bougie, Jenny Zervakis, Spaz, Scott Mills, Greg Fiering, Jerry Smith, Seth

Low Jinx #2 -The Horrible Truth about Reinventing Mini Comics
April 2000
Kurt Wolfgang put together this great book of mostly east coast cartoonists poking fun at Scott McCloud’s goofy book and James Kochalka’s goofier “The Horrible Truth about Comics.”  Its got comics by Kurt Wolfgang, Jef Czekaj, Sam Henderson, Tony Consiglio, Dave Kiersh, and Johnny Ryan.  Its mostly mini comics in-jokes, but not all of it.
no price listed
52 pp
Mini

White Buffalo Gazette
Ongoing--worth hunting down.
Try writing Jeff Zenick for info.
 

Dave Kiersh
DaveKTeenage@hotmail.com???

Sedatives
6 pp
no price listed
Mini

The Least You Could Do
12 pp
no price listed
Digest

The Least You Could Do #4
9 pp
no price listed
Digest

Young Adult
This is one of the best Kiersh books.  Some of the comics in here appear in Non #4.
12 pp
Mini
*****

Quaaludes #1
Great mini.  Somehow in 12 pages conjures up high school awkwardness, nostalgia and timelessness, or something.
12 pp
no price listed
Mini
****1/2

Quaaludes #3
16 pp
no price listed
Mini

Quaaludes #4
12 pp
One of my favorites.  Kiersh redid this comic for Non #4.
no price listed
Mini
*****

Quaaludes #6
8 pp
no price listed
Mini

Arcade Pimp #1
28 pp
Some of the comics in here were also in Young Adult.  There’s some new stuff too.
no price listed
Mini

Li’l Batty
4 pp
no price listed
Mini

Rafting
8 pp
no price listed
Mini

Special #1
1999
Collects a few of Kiersh’s weekly strip “Drop-In.”  Teenage romance non sequiturs.
8 pp
$1
Weird Size

Ron Rege Jr.

Pale White Sweet Bizness Thing
1993
This one's an illustrated self-help inspiration or something.  Goofy pictures, like with snot coming out of noses, etc.  Some funny drawings.  Weird and cool to have overall.
20 pp
Mini
no price listed
available?
***

Skibber Bee-Bye #1
1998
A flip book where Rege draws a story about a girl having a good wonderful day and Ivan draws a guy having a bad day, and then they meet in the middle.  Magic.
no price listed
32 pp
Sideways mini
****

Yeast Hoist #6
1997
Some sketchy diary comics and some comics letters to friends.  All natural and great--art is looser than normal for Rege.  Its theme is “sweetness is necessary.”
no price listed
36 pp
Mini
****

Anders Nilsen
2867 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL  60618

Big Questions
Comics where birds talk to each other and people talk and do things, accompanied by more abstract drawings of groupings of cubes.  Straightforward and really good.
28 pp
Half Legal
****

Big Questions #2
Summer 1999
Comics with birds and minimally drawn figures, absurdist kind of stuff, but quiet and not over the top.  A good one.
$2.00
24 pp
Half Legal
****

Big Questions #3 - Astrophysics
Spring 2000
This is an extraordinarily good mini-comic.  The story alternates between some talking birds and an old lady and her son.
$2.50
36 pp
Half Legal
****1/2

Jeff Levine
4956 Kester Ave. Apt #6
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 USA

Snapshot #4
October 1999
$2
32 pp
Digest

Snapshot #5
December 1999
Journal writing and short haiku-like comics.  Sometimes, bleak, and just getting through the days.  Sometimes the writing quality drops too low, but overall a quality zine/comic.
$2
44 pp
Digest

Snapshot #6
April 2000
Journal writing, photographs of LA streets, short haiku-like comics.  The writing is still shaky at times, but the photos and nice drawings in this one make up for it.
$2
44 pp
Digest

Evaporator 2
February 2000
Short snatches from stories, scenes and dialogues and some photographs.  An experiment that doesn’t really work, but the photographs are pretty nice.
$2
28 pp
Digest

What if I just showed up tonight?
December 2000
Good--but its all writing so I probably shouldn't have put it in here.

Marc Bell
Need Address

The Mojo Action Companion Unit
Sping 1997
$2.75
32 pp
Comic book size
****1/2

Shrimpy and Paul
*****

Brian Ralph
PO Box 2328
Providence, RI
02906
fireballcomics@yahoo.com

Fireball 6
1997
Amazing devil themed issue.  God throws them out of heaven, they skateboard and fight cops, etc.
no price listed
36 pp
Digest
*****

Fireball 7
1999
A caveman fishes, gets excited about a pterodactyl, and meets an alien.  Beautiful hand printed cover.  Cool as always.
no price listed
48 pp
Digest
****

Jenny Zervakis
1305 Green St.
Durham, NC
27705

“Weird and dreamy true and other stories drawn in a great scratchy style.  Sweet, sad, and wonderful.  One of the best comics in the world.”­John P

Strange Growths Sampler 2
January 1997
Selections from issues 7-12.
$2
24 pp
Digest

Strange Growths #1
Physical deformities and societal hassles.
12 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #2
This one dips into surrealism, unlucky cats, and autumn memories.
12 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #3
Childhood cruelty, lonely, fashions on the bus, hubcaps, education, neanderthal romance.
$1
12 pp

Strange Growths #4
Gross food, sad dog, neighborhood folks, creepy town.
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #5
Beautiful gardens, a door to door egg salesman, a dream her father had while in the hosptal, and a crazy bathroom dream
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #6
Rain, Botanical Gardens, My favorite doll, Restaurant advice, religious lady on the bus
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #7
Cicada, Rosebush for a day, Bad Brother, Voltron the Cat, you Broke Your Own Heart, Night Encounter, Silent Passenger
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #8
Unexpected reaction, Fever Dreams, the Price of Oranges, and Pete’s Dream
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #9
Bummer Cloud Over Me, Friday Night DUI, A World Beyond, Crushed Pinky, Song of Life, Bathroom Mystery and more.
16 pp
$1
Digest

Strange Growths #14
1999
This issue tells the story of her cat Voltron’s disappearance, and her and Mark’s decision to move, among other things.  Recommended.
20 pp
$2
Digest
****

Super Growths  2
January 1997
Selections from issues 7-12 of Strange Growths.
$2
24 pp
Digest
 

Joel Orff
Joel’s art is a kind of sketchy chiaroscuro and his story’s are always well told and worth reading, though his books are long out of print and unless he still some laying around, hard to find.

Jubilee #1
June 1992
Jubilee is a long, gracefully composed narrative describing working aboard a riverboat: the good times and bad, the horsing around, the weird characters, the bizarre old boss and so on.  A classic--rarely do you come across a self-published zine or comic book as satisfying.
$3
68 pp
Digest
Hard to find
*****

Strum and Drang
****
 

Mat Brinkman

Attack Flotilla (?)
Three identical characters on strings move around in underground caverns.  Gently blows your mind.
24 pages
no price listed
smaller than mini
*****
Bolol Belittle
*****

Ben Jones
alfe@alfe.net??
Quote from Tom Hart review

Alfe
*****

Thaz
Thaz goes to Europe and goes scuba diving.  A herd of cats in a cavern point Thaz to a cave where dolphins wrote a secret many years ago.  Really recommended.
no price listed
88 pp
Half legal
*****

Thaz 2 - Choco fus
This book carries on somewhat from both Alfe, Thaz, and some of Jones’ other books.  I don’t want to give anything away, but its a good one.  This book reminded me of Jack Kirby for some reason, maybe it will you too.
no price listed
62 pp
7 3/4’’ X 4 3/4’’
****

Classic Wizard
***

Limited Fireworks
This kind of puffy character lands his rocket and meets another puffy character who kind of looks like Gumby, and then they go underground and check out some of his stuff.
28 pp
no price listed
smaller than mini, with jagged edges
****1/2

Trans
These are some single panel comics of the transformers doing things like talking about teddy bears or pasta sauce.  Really funny-- but short.
8 pp
no price listed
sideways mini
***

Horace
****1/2

Fort Leaf
****1/2

Shiverbones Group
PO Box 1030 Merchantville, NJ  08109

Grotesquerie
1999
Comics with a Edward Gorey sensibility.  Characters like Fructose and The Charred Boy.  Most of the comics are by Michael Bonfiglio, who draws pretty good, and the others are by Matthew L. Kirscht, who does too.  I liked it.
$2.25
24 pp
Digest
****

That Boy is Charred!
1999
Weird book, with comics and essays about the Charred Boy.  Some of its pretty boring, some is pretty good.  The art and storytelling is pretty assured.
$2.75
28 pp
Digest
***

Sean Bieri
1028 Vinewood, Detroit, MI  48216

Jape #7
1999
The highlight of this issue is “Good ol’ Conan the Barbarian.”  Plus more.
50¢
16 pp
Mini

Untitled #2
1999
This is a well-drawn parody of Gilligan's Island that manages in 7 short pages to transcend itself and satire society in general very skillfully.
8 pp
half-legal
****

Ben Ridder
GPO Box 1735
Hobart TAS 7001
Australia

Ben 7
January 1999
A guy on his lunch break ends up tagging along with a journalist and a master fisherman she’s interviewing.  This is a nicely designed book with a great nonsense story that ends up hitting a few chords--an all around great mini comic.
$1.50 Mini
20 pp
Mini
****1/2

Zak Sally
PO Box 2472
Olympia, WA
98507

Benzene #2
Disturbing and seething nightmare comics.  Consider yourself warned.
$1.50
24 pp
comic book size

Recidivist #2
2 mystical dream-like comics, one about a hellish movie premiere, the other about a heavenly mountain place, and a story about Dostoevsky’s imprisonment and trial.  Together the stories end up calling to mind the extremes of human experience, no shit.  Color cover.
$4
40 pp
digest
*****

Gabrielle Bell
3288 21st Street #217
San Francisco, CA 94110 (?)

Book of Black
1999
Half-Legal
****

Book of Insomnia
Half-Legal
$3.00
36 pp
****1/2
 

Jeff Zenick
Zenick really doesn't do mini-comics much anymore--most of his newer booklets are diaries accompanied by drawings he's done of cityscapes.  They are always good reads.

Destined #3
****

Anonymous
--This person remains nameless because his zine is entirely made up of sometimes illegal reprints of rare and hard-to-find examples of great cartooning throughout the 20th century.  The zine is hard to come by, but by asking around you may be able to score some.  It is by nature free and appears from time to time in my mail by the grace of God.

Eighty-Six
Number 5 "Looking for a Job"
This is a reprint page-for-page of the extraordinary comics journal of Fred Guardineer (whose art appeared in Action Comics among many others) when he was 22, in 1935, when he moved to New York looking for a job as a cartoonist.  Each page is a single panel describing some event or character.  The cartooning is sketchy but very natural and beautiful at times. There's really no continuous narrative to speak of, but for its historical value and miraculous existence the book is wonderful.
****

Leela Corman
1032 Lorimer St. B1
Brooklyn, NY  11222

As Is
Gracefully drawn but predictable moral fable about a scientist at peace with his work and a girl in massage school who is uptight and self-righteous.  Mostly dialogue, but it doesn't say anything new.
**

Lisa Maslowe

The Catbox Room #3
October 1995

This was really good.  Some long stories, mostly dialogue, but with enough to keep up interest.  People walk around and talk to each other on a nice day in San Francisco--some moments are awkward, some beautiful.  The art is pretty unpolished, but its kind of refreshing, and sometimes it hits perfect notes.
****1/2

P Shaw
Box 425430
Cambridge, MA  02142

The Ugmerican--Gunky from Podunky
Crazy stupid one pagers of one-eyed creatures.  The thick brushwork is great and looks "professional" without being sterile.
***

Al Burian

Seasonal Affective Disorder
Four seasons, four stories.  Al's a big time zinester but this is only a little worse than okay-better writing than most but nothing special.  The art is pretty ugly.  Tries for some "hey isn't life funny" observations but doesn't generate enough interest to care.
**
Weathering

Simon Gane

Young Arnie
Arnie the Anarchist's wacky hi-jinks.
***

Ted Bolman

Ted Bolman Archives
These are a selection of Ted Bolman's comics from the 1985-87.  They range from really crazy and perfect surreal short strips to some just plain bad ones.  When he's on, Bolman can put together some smart, well-drawn nonsense (Paste Club), but most of the strips in here are best forgotten.
*
S.A. King
Naked Eye #8

Nate Powell

Frankenbones (with Emily Heiple)
April 1999
Powell lays out panels in a kind of superhero style, but he makes it his own thing and tells the story very skillfully.  He also draws really well.  I mean visually this comic is really accomplished.  His ink is messy and expressive, though a little too cute sometimes.  I have the same problem with his stories (though I'm not sure if he wrote this or Emily Heiple did--it applies to what I've seen of his work, though).  Though its a fun read and really well-executed, it's got a certain cutesy quality that instead of charming just seems dumb.
***

Danny Hellman

Legal Action Comics
1991
Superman parody with the usual jokes--Superman's super powers carry over into violent and painful sex with Lois Lane (have any cultural studies academics written a paper on this re-occuring "joke" yet?) and a Cosby show meets the Simpsons story that isn't funny or worthwhile at all.  The art is pretty good, but sterile.
**

Jef Czekaj

R2-D2 is an Indie Rocker #1
44 pp
$2.00

Jerry Smith
3344 Horner Dr
Morristown, TN
37814

Southern Fried 4
Awkward art, but this one has a quietly moving story (sometimes in spite of itself) about a death.
1999
****

Reinder Dijkhuis
 

back