The Interrogative Acres

DO YOU KNOW that Secret Acres is heading to Stumptown? Do you know that Stumptown is a sweet show in the wilds of Portland, Oregon with a killer guest list? Are you going to Stumptown as well? Have you been before? Will you stop by our table and say hello?

Have you heard about the Maisie Kukoc Award that Secret Acres is co-sponsoring? Who would you vote for and why? Will you tell us? Are you sad we’ll be on our way there when the winner is announced? Is it weird that this is the first time Secret Acres will be airborne since APE of 2006?

Would you be pleased to hear that Theo Ellsworth will be joining us at the Secret Acres table? Is it a surprise that none other than Minty Lewis will have her own setup with her pal and husband, Damien Jay, of the Natural World fame? Does the name Blaise Larmee, Xeric winning creator of Young Lions and Ghosts, ring any bells for you? Have you read this thing that Blaise wrote on the TCJ website? Will you take the time to read it now and get back to us?

Did that article bother you? Is there something you would like to say to Blaise? If, like us, you were moderating a panel at Stumptown, the participants of which were the aforementioned Theo, Minty and Blaise, what would you ask them? Would you send those questions to us? Would you be more or less likely to send us questions knowing full well that we will indeed ask Theo, Minty and Blaise your questions, in public at Stumptown in front of God and everybody? Is that a frightening or exciting prospect? If we swear to report all of their responses to your questions right here, would you ask to remain anonymous? Will you join us at our panel? Do large groups make you nervous or do they make you feel secure?

Are you aware that Secret Acres is going to be filmed whilst we do our Stumptown thing? Are you photogenic? If, say, you had oily skin and a voice like Kermit the frog and lousy posture, how would you prepare yourself for the experience of attending a convention which you have never seen before, with your best comics gang in tow and a camera crew trailing you? Do we have time to take your advice?

What would you most like to see at Stumptown? Do you want us to bring anything back for you? Will you keep your requests reasonable? When do you suspect you will hear from us next? When will we hear from you?

Your Pals,

Leon and Barry?

Putting the O(MG) back in MoCCA

THIS is not your father’s MoCCA. It was better than last year but not all the way there. If it were, we’d be telling you about all the cool stuff we found at MoCCA. There was cool stuff, sure, and we spent too much money (thank you, Lisa Hanawalt for having such beautiful original art). We picked up Eschew 2, got our copies of Bodyworld signed and grabbed all the new stuff at Dongery, too – but we did not find anything at the show.

Simply put, MoCCA is too fucking expensive, for the exhibitors and the fans. We may be publishers, but the point of the show for us, as people who love comics, is to discover new comics. Are there still Minty Lewises, Jamie Tanners or even a Justin DeCarlo or two at MoCCA? Yes, but they sure as hell aren’t there in the same numbers, and if they’re around at all, they’re ganged up to cover the table costs. There’s just no way to make your money back as a cartoonist with a mini. And, no, MoCCA, the exposure isn’t worth it if you need that money – and most cartoonists do need every penny they have.

Attendance was clearly down this year, but we made much more money than we did last year. The people coming to the show at the Armory are coming there to buy comics (and we love you for it), but not to discover comics like the walk-ins of the old Puck Building. If you’re going to limit the audience to the hardcore by the Armory move, then, for the love of Benji, expand the show. It shouldn’t be strictly about D&Q, Fanta, Secret Acres and the publishers above and in-between. Nor should it be for people with their character platform multi-media crap and huge banners in comic sans fonts and Photoshop gradients, hoping Disney’ll notice and not giving a shit how much money they lose.

MoCCA ought to take a page from the new guy, BCGF. Let people in free, or cheap at least. Consider who gets table space. Have a sliding scale. Pantheon can pay $500 a table, no problem, but make a section for the little guys. And not the crappy little guys, either. Invite folks. Turn some others down. Make it an arts festival proper.

So. If you’re making minis and they are good, send them to us. We will probably agree that they are good and maybe we can sell them on our site and put them on our MoCCA 2011 table. And, maybe next year, if you’re around, we can get you a little table time at our place. If we can’t discover you at the show, maybe we can give other people a chance to do so and maybe it’ll be a little more fun, a little more MoCCA, for everyone.

We’re deeply grateful to all the people who came to our table. We’re very proud of Curio Cabinet and all of you who picked it up at the show have probably figured out why by now. We couldn’t help but beam at the all the folks who came by to congratulate our man Ken Dahl on his Eisner nom for Monsters. You can’t imagine how much encouragement we take from folks telling us that they like our books. This is a new thing for Secret Acres, to have actual fans of the house. It’s enough to keep us publishing and keep us coming back for more. We can whine, yes, but an even better MoCCA depends less on the museum folks and more on all of us behind the tables and walking the aisles.

Your Pals,

Leon and Barry

Curio Cabinet is Coming to MoCCA

FIRST UP, John Brodowski’s Curio Cabinet is hot off the presses. Collecting most of John’s self-published work and introducing a new story, Curio Cabinet will be formally released at this weekend’s MoCCA fest. If you’re like: “Curio what?” then we’ll say if you like horror movies, heavy metal, the bible, animals or D&D,Curio Cabinet’s stories and lush artwork will send you packing into the dark and magical woods. To quote the lovely Rob Clough (The Comics Journal): “It’s the very definition of ‘cult comic.’”

To celebrate the release of Curio Cabinet, Secret Acres and Desert Island will be hosting a release party in Brooklyn tonight, April 9th at 7pm. Expect beer and books and you will be pleased. We have some awesome embossed pencils that will come free with initial purchases of the book. More on the soiree can be found here.

If you drop by the table at the MoCCA festival, you’ll have a chance to get your books signed by Eamon Espey, Ken Dahl, Samuel C. Gaskin and John Brodowski. We’ll have a bona fide table schedule available at the festival so you can plan your MoCCA accordingly. For once.

Speaking of Ken Dahl, serious congratulations are in order. Ken’s 2009 herpes-themed graphic novel, Monsters, published by yours truly, has been nominated for an Eisner Award! The award winners will be announced in July at San Diego’s own CCI. We’d go, but they’re so big and we’re so small!

Later in the year we’ll be releasing Edie Fake’s Gaylord Phoenix and Joseph Lambert’s collection, I Will Bite You! We hope to have both books ready for the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD in late September.

Before all that happens, Secret Acres will be making a special appearance at the Stumptown Comics Fest on April 24th and 25th in Portland, Oregon. Superstar Theo Ellsworth will be joining us at the table, signing books and selling mini-comics. We are psyched to see all of our west coast comics compadres, including Dylan Williams, Minty Lewis and Damien Jay. You will want to be there after you take a look at the Stumptown poster that Theo designed here. See.

Speaking of Dylan Williams and Sparkplug Comic Books, you should check out this fantastic interview he did recently. Dylan is a Man on a Mission, as they say in France.

Ken Dahl was recently on the road slinging comics with MK Reed and Liz Baillie. Check out details of the Punchbuggy Tour redux here. You should also head over to Gabby’s Playhouse where Ken has been aggregating all of the amazing praise that Monsters has received, because he’s so humble and will do the work for you.

Even more congrats are due to Theo and Eamon, who are both tying the knot later this year (with their respective fiancees, Heather and Lisa – not each other, though there would be nothing wrong with that). In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. (We wrote that, by the way. Just now.)

On top of everything else. look for some significant website changes from us in 2010. There’s a new Small Plates reader, lots of freebies for Gratis, new artists pages and also stuff. We suck at Facebook and we don’t really tweet, but (as you may have noticed) our blog is up and running, so you can yell or coo at us, per your preference. Because we’re all about you.

Your pals,

Leon & Barry

Secret Acres is Getting Festive

SECRET ACRES is getting festive up in this place. You will want to hit the Emporium, where you will find your deepest holiday needs fulfilled by the newest and most hot, including Miranda, Baby by Sean Christensen, Limbs of the Megalith by Eamon Espey, a new Cold Heat Special featuring Chris Cornwell (very limited, so you snooze, you lose, etc.) and My Every Single Thought by the lovely and hopefully not lonely Corinne Mucha. We are also carrying Corinne’s Xeric-funded debut book, My Alaskan Summer. We have additionally been threatened with some brand spanking mini-comics from Edie Fake in the next week or two. Our cockles are warm.

And now for something completely different: We are psyched to be part of the first ever in the history of mankind Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, hosted by our greatest ally, Desert Island and our sworn enemies, Picturebox. The guest list is so ludicrous that if we were to write it up here, it would take too long and you would be like, yeahright. But it’s mad real. And it’s only one day, this Saturday, the 5th of December, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Under other circumstances, we’d understand if you couldn’t make it, but really. Come on.

We did indeed debut Ken Dahl’s Monsters at SPX and sold out by the last day of the Expo (in your face, Picturebox. Just kidding!). Needless to say, we do have copies available for sale at the Emporium, and all Emporium purchases will ship with complimentary herpes temporary (we swear) tattoos for you and your “special friend.” Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table. Also, very large props to Desert Island in New York and Atomic Books in Baltimore for hosting two fantastic pre-SPX book parties!

Monsters reviews have begun to light up the interwebs. So far, we’ve heard from The Onion AV Club, Robot 6, Read About Comics, Bookgasm and Matthew Brady, among others we are too lazy to list at the moment, except for Rob Clough. You can also keep up with the comings and goings of Ken Dahl at his blog, which features links to his flickr page. If you really want an interactive experience with the man, might we suggest following Ken Dahl on Twitter? (The views and opinions expressed by Ken Dahl and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Secret Acres or any employee thereof. But they might.) Oh, and that’s @mrfaulty to you!

And it’s official! Secret Acres will be making an honest man of Sean Ford and will publish the complete edition of his atmospheric comic series, Only Skin. The book won’t be in your hands until 2011, but Sean will continue to self-publish the individual issues in the meantime, so stop crying. Speaking of which: Only Skin #4 is in the Emporium this instant. You musn’t resist.

We’ll have more details soon on our seventh publication, John Brodowski’s Curio Cabinet, which we are expecting in the spring, when life begins anew. Expect the usual exclusive parties and gift bags to accompany the book release, but it’s still JB, so expect the unexpected as well.

Secret Acres should also have more news on our convention schedule for next year so you can plan on how best to get our talented crew to sign your favorite Secret Acres books.

That’s it for now. We may not have any more major news for you until after the holidays, so until then, you have all of our best wishes for a restful, comics-laden New Year. When we return, however, this place is gonna look a little different (hint, hint).

Your pals,

Leon and Barry

Monsters is Ready to Fester and Multiply

SECRET ACRES is very happy to inform you that Ken Dahl‘s Monsters is hot off the press and ready to fester and multiply inside you. We’ll be debuting the book at the magnificent Desert Island in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, September 24th. The flithy-yet-appealing Ken Dahl will be signing books and doodling while Secret Acres plies you with beer and temporary (or so we are told) tattoos. Your mother may be appalled, but it’s your lfe.

On Friday, September 25th, we’ll be at Atomic Books in Baltimore for the second annual SPXplosion. If you were there for the last one, you probably don’t remember it, but there were at least a dozen people reading, a couple of bands, an assault, booze and we think a dog show. If you missed it last time, well, here’s your chance to get wet on the way to SPX.

Saturday and Sunday finds us at ye olde SPX, which is still in its usual home at the North Bethesda Mariott, god bless it. It’s climate controlled; everyone knows where everything is; there’s no escape – it’s prefect. In addition to Ken and Monsters, we’ll have Eamon Espey sporting his new signed, limited print “Endless Summer,” Theo Ellsworth’s Sleeper Car will make its con debut and Samuel C. Gaskin will have brand new t-shrits (which, if you were at MoCCA with us, you know is a bold advance for him).

That is an awful lot for a weekend, but before we take a nap, you should know that: Ken Dahl has a new website – check it out here! More PS Comics reviews have come in! Check out Pop Candy’s generous words here. Sleeper Car‘s first reviews have arrived courtesy of Rob Clough and Optical Sloth.

If you can’t make it to SPX we’ve got Eamon’s “Endless Summer” print ready to ship in the Emporium. If you live in Chicago you can buy “Endless Summer” at Quimby’s. If you live in New York City, “Endless Summer” is available at Forbidden Planet and Jim Hanley’s Universe.

Secret Acres does have a small spot of bad news. We’re sorry to announce that Joseph Lambert‘s collection, I Will Bite You! has been delayed to 2010, which does indeed bite. Make no mistake – it will be worth the wait, and you will proudly show everyone the teeth marks. If you want to complain or confess something to him, you may do so here.

Once we have all recovered from SPX, we’ll be back at you with the scoop on all of the comics-related awesomeness you can expect from us in 2010. 2010. It’s like the future. We’re old. Sigh.

Your pals,

Leon and Barry

Unannounced and Unscheduled Treats

BIG ups to everyone who dropped by our MoCCA table to say howdy do. We loved the attention. Secret Acres has been keeping busy this summer, getting ready for a big fall filled with comics that we will be dropping on the streets of SPX in September.

As a completely unannounced, unscheduled treat, we are proud to present Sleeper Car, by Theo Ellsworth. Sleeper Car is our first ever saddle-stitched comic (yes, they still make them and they’re doing well, thank you). It’s a physically small, psychically huge collection of stories by Theo that should hold you over while he finishes his next big, fat book. Sleeper Car is shipping right this very minute, so head on over to the Emporium and get yours.

Another surprise (meaning unannounced and unscheduled) treat we have for you is a limited edition, signed print by Eamon Espey (of Wormdye fame) entitled “Endless Summer.” The 13″ by 16″ black and white print will begin shipping just as soon as it’s finished being numbered (at the beginning of August, say).

Positive press for Minty Lewis‘s PS Comics has begun to stream in, and we suspect there will be plenty more glowing reviews to come all summer. Take a look at what The Village Voice has to say here. Optical Sloth calls us “flawless” and reviews the book here. The formidable Nina Stone discusses PS Comics here. In case you missed it, The Daily Crosshatch has an informative two-part interview with Minty here.

If you pick up PS Comics from the Secret Acres Emporium, we’ll include a set of aspirational Fruit Pals scratch n’ sniff cards, lovingly designed and illustrated by Minty. This offer is only good as long as we have stock, so don’t dawdle. Imagine your delight as you open your package from Secret Acres and Fruit Pal scents escape and envelope and inspire you. Take that, Oprah.

As to our books without staples, we’re happy to confirm that Ken Dahl‘s Monsters is on track for an SPX debut. We’re in the midst of planning a very special New York-based release party the Thursday before SPX (September 24th), so mark your calendars now. We promise you that the wait was worth it. This will be a tome for the most precious corner of your comics bookshelf.

That’s all we’ve got right now, but isn’t that quite enough? We’ll check back in with you next month to give you the deets on our releases and parties. Stay cool and enjoy the summer breezes.

Your pals,

Leon and Barry

Secret Acres is Looking for Your Pretty Face

SECRET ACRES is looking for your pretty face at MoCCA this weekend. We’ll have all the spanking new minis – and Minty Lewis’s PS Comics is hot pink off the press! It’s cuter than PetFinder and it needs a home. If you can’t make it to MoCCA, we’ll start shipping copies from the Emporium on Friday, June 5th. PS Comics will be up for adoption at better comics shops across the country next week.

If you’re in town for MoCCA, you need to come to the Future Ink celebration in Williamsburg. Secret Acres artists will be joining forces with Sparkplug Comic Books folks and some famous people from Bodega, along with special guests from Dongery and Galago. The artists will be signing books and selling art, and the publishers will enjoying delicious refreshments that they will even share with you. Check out the pre-show at the Desert Island signing with Paul Hornschemeier and then head over to the Eye Level Gallery (364 Leonard Street) for our New Ink event. There is literally nothing cooler you could do.

If you just want more and more on Saturday, there is additional Secret Artist participation in the Panelists V exhibition at Giant Robot NY (437 East 9th Street).

The next time you hear from us, we’ll be telling you how much the world loves PS Comics. For now, let’s all go to the MoCCA Art Festival and indulge one another.

Your Pals,

Leon and Barry

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Speaking of which, this is the end of first year as fully functional, book publishing Secret Acres – and there’s no else we’d rather have spent it with than you. We hope it was as good for you as it was for us.

We had an amazing adventure up at Expozine. Thanks be to the Bodegamobile for letting us hitch and to the lovely Gigi Devlin and family for letting us crash. If you were there, thank you so very much for coming by and feeding us yams (Yes, Joesph Lambert was fed a yam on the floor of Expozine. It will never get any better for him.). A very special thanks to the folks at Drawn and Quarterly for feeding us Poutine (a kind of french fry and gravy cereal, for you uninitiated), giving us a tour of the D&Q office (which is beautiful, really) and most of all for supplying us with a copy of Skitzy. If you’re an artist reading this, go read Skitzy. We’ll wait.

At year’s end, the lists start unfurling, almost as if to show Santa up. At the end of our first year, we have to say we’re rightfully humbled. We really shouldn’t say anymore, so let’s let these folks speak for themselves:

The Village Voice – 2008’s Best Comics, Clip Art, and Pedophilia:
“Theo Ellsworth treads the opposite path with the horror vacui panels of Capacity (Secret Acres, 336 pp., $15), taking the reader on a surreal journey through exquisitely cross-hatched forests, cities, and caverns, where the beasts populating dreams become skittish at the scent of the dreamers.”

Forbidden Planet International Blog Log, Wim Lockefeer:
“And finally, the book of the year: Wormdye by Eamon Espey (Secret Acres), a plunge into the subconscious of contemporary America. It’s a portrait of life in a merciless world, with every perversion you can imagine (sadism, cannibalism, drug abuse and lactating grandfathers). It is about everything and nothing; it’s an orgy of primitive imagery, an appeal to your primal senses and most basal thoughts. Espey manages to combine Mike Diana’s scandalousness with Crumb’s obsessions, and lifts it all up to incredible heights. Wormdye is nothing less than the Howl of comics. I cannot find any higher praise.”

We even got top five picks and shout outs for all three Secret Acres books, and other books from Secret artists, from the likes of Brian Heater and Arthur Shmid (The Daily Crosshatch), Austin English (Windy Corner), Laura Hudson (Comic Foundry), Damien Jay (The Natural World), Mari Naomi (Estrus Comics), Tom Neely (The Blot), Shannon O’Leary (Pet Noir), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole), Jesse Reklaw (Slow Wave) and Dylan Williams (Sparkplug, Reporter). You can read all about that and read the fancy quotes here.

Our deepest thanks to the above and to everyone who read the books our guys slaved over and everyone who was a part of this year of ours.

Your pals,

Leon and Barry

Secret Acres is Escaping America

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Secret Acres.

If you’re wondering if Secret Acres is spending the Thanksgiving holiday on a couch, watching football, digesting turkey and glaring at ill-mannered relatives, the answer is: No, sir! Secret Acres is escaping America and joining our Bodega friends in Montreal, Canada for EXPOZINE! Look for us there! Best American Comics 2008 contributor, Joseph Lambert, will be in attendance. We’ll be selling an expertly-curated selection of books, mini-comics and posters from the Emporium, bringing the light of fine American comics to the Great North.

Starting with this installment of Secret Acres news, we will be posting the news to our site (as always) and sending it out via email. You’ll only get an email with our news if you signed up to receive updates on the site (Hint: Scoll up. No, more to the left. You’re getting warmer, etc.). Speaking of the internets, Secret Acres is now officially on Facebook. You can come join our group! Click here. You can also join our friends over at Sparkplug Comic Books and Desert Island! We’re also listed on Google Books. You can browse our publications online, find library copies and order copies from fine online retailers.

Lest we forget, as the holidays descend upon us, we want to remind you that our very own Emporium is THE indie comics shopping destination on the world wide web. Ensuring that Christmas 2008 is the best Christmas ever, the Secret Acres Emporium will soon have copies of JB‘s latest installment of Curio Cabinet! It’s 36 gorgeous black-and-white pages of pure comics goodness (and yes, there are new “Cus Mommy Said So” strips featuring everyone’s favorite happy camper). For additional, exciting work by JB, check out the brand-new Kramer’s Ergot as well.

If all this digital stuff leaves you missing actual print, head to your local comics shop and if they don’t carry our books, let ’em know that they can get them through Diamond. Diamond Distribution will be featuring our very own Capacity by Theo Ellsworth as a spotlight title AND a staff pick. We would be filthy liars if we didn’t confess that we love all the attention we’re getting.

May you have the happiest of Thanksgivings and go ahead and overdo it with all the turkey (or tofurkey, if you must) and potatoes.

Your pals,

Leon and Barry

We SPXploded After All!

SO WE SPXPLODED after all. Atomic Books’ bash was SPXtreme. We were SPXcited by new things (Daybreak #3! Boy’s Club #2!). We are SPXtatic to have unleashed Capacity. And we are SPXtra tired of this pun. Thanks to the many who dropped by to say hello and buy our books. And big hugs for Theo, Sam and Eamon for manning up the table and doodling everything for everyone.

Speaking of SPX debuts, Monsters #3 and Pizza Wizard #2 are now available for purchase in the Emporium, albiet in limited quantities until we get more. These suckers sell out quickly, so make sure you get ‘em while they’re hot. We are also quickly selling out of signed, limited Capacity posters, for obvious reasons.

Theo Ellsworth, of Capacity fame, was the subject of great scrutiny at the hands of the The Daily Crosshatch. You can read all of that here.

FYI, we’ve been forced to change the shipping options at the Emporium to better account for our expanding mix of products. We now charge a still cheap $2.50 for the first item and $0.50 for each additional item. Larger orders and orders with graphic novels will usually ship Media Mail.

Next up, we are kidnapping Joseph Lambert and smuggling him off to Montreal Expozine this Thanksgiving weekend. Not that they care about Thanksgiving in Canada. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We may have more on Expozine later.

As the weather gets colder and we inch closer to a bunch of holidays, we want to remind everyone that mini-comics make awesome stocking stuffers and Secret Acres books look extra-pretty when they are gift-wrapped and sitting under a tree filled with lights.

Hope you had a happy Halloween! And that you voted, all you Americans out there.

Your pals,

Leon and Barry