2012: THE REVENGE OF REVENGE OF PRINT

Because revenge is a dish best served as seconds.

Last year, after getting tired of hearing folks glibly forecasting the death of print, a number of people in the self-publishing/small press/zines/comics world teamed up to declare 2011 The Revenge Of Print.

Organizers/sponsors included:
Stores: Atomic Books (Baltimore),  Quimby's (Chicago), Reading Frenzy (Portland), Xerography Debt, and Zine World, Razorcake, Maximum Rocknroll, Broken Pencil, and a number of zine libraries and distros around the world.

The challenge was issued - everyone who has ever made a zine, a comic, a mini-comic, handmade booklet, pamphlet or publication - or anyone who still was making one - or even anyone who as ever thought of making one - do it. Make at least one more publication in 2011.

And the results are in. Quimby's and Atomic Books tallied up nearly 2000 titles published as part of, in response to, or in the spirit of Revenge of Print. How's that for revenge?

"Books are over." "Magazines are over." "Comix are over." "Zines are over." "Newspapers are over." Bah! Don't think so. We're over things being over.

And that includes revenge.

So Revenge of Print organizers and members are declaring 2012 The Revenge of Revenge of Print.

Once again we are encouraging/challenging/asking - everyone who ever made (or wants to make) a zine, a mini-comic, a journal, a chapbook, a magazine or any kind of self-made publication of any kind vow that in 2012, they'll make another issue/title/publication.

Yes, we're still making a point. And we're using the very tools credited with the demise of print to do so - the internet!

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/revengeofprint/

And who is this "we" that's issued this challenge to self-publishers past, present, and future?

"We" are, to date,

Atomic Books - www.atomicbooks.com
Quimby's - www.quimbys.com

Reading Frenzy - www.readingfrenzy.com

Xerography Debt - www.xerographydebt.blogspot.com

and more TBA.

We'll be using the Facebook group as an organizing resource to provide addresses to publications where participants can send copies of their projects for review, and we'll also be listing addresses to real stores who will consign those very same titles so people can actually get copies the old fashioned way, by walking into a store.

Our list of participants has been growing rapidly. The Facebook group already has nearly 1,100 self-publishers. We're hoping you will team-up with us by helping to spread the word!

"Print lives if you want it."

Logos above are available for use and should be credited to Bojan. 

New Rigor Mortis Art Gallery

After we finished Rigor Mortis #4, we realized how little of the art was online. We decided to create an art gallery for Rigor Mortis. Often there are extra pieces that are not used or are modified for the layout. We've decided to include those here as well. We’ve also decided to include art that was deemed to scandalous to include in the print edition. While photocopy has been our medium of choice, there is degradation of the artwork. Please take a look and see for yourself what a true master of the cross-hatch can create with a little ink, Bristol board, and fear for his life.

The RM Committee For Better Mental Health Via Dubious New Years Revolutions

So the Rigor Mortis Committee For Better Mental Health Via Dubious New Years Revolutions was convened. One of our first attempts at rational discourse was the cover of Rigor Mortis #4. Like most family gatherings, it resulted in the good china flying.

In the last few months we have already created three covers. After each issue we’ve heard from the lily livered that our covers are too scary. Well, boo-fucking-hoo.

But we decided to relax our grip on the beating hearts of our readers and created an Alien inspired cover. We also thought we would open up our content to more types of horror. Ho-hum. Booooring.

Let’s face it, Rigor Mortis is about safe, zombie apocalypse bloodletting. So we were back on the gore like white on rice. That tangent resulted in a The Walking Dead painting. Look at that nasty-assed ropey bloody drool. Yum. Our satisfaction only lasted a few weeks until the next idea hit…

And now, thanks to the wonders of ADD, we are all kinds of hawt about voodoo zombies. That’s right, grandpappy’s Z’s. We had Bojan paint one of the Sugar Hill zombies. Never easy top please, we are now toying with an I Walked with a Zombie-inspired cover.(Rough draft shown)

In the midst of all this the RM ink-bitch, Bojan, decided 2-D wasn’t enough for his artistic demons and picked up a dormant project. In the Pre-RM days, Bojan, Dread, and I toyed with the idea of releasing a licensed model of Vampirella based on the iconic image created by Frank Frazetta. We had planned to do some limited castings to sell and thereby raise cash to pay for the license and future art projects. This was planned as homage to Forrest J Ackerman, Frazetta, Trina Robbins and James Warren. The packaging was going to be based on Aurora's box art with a Bojan's take of the Frazetta piece on it painted off the finished sculpt. Sexy, no?

Then shit hit the fan (cancer, work, life, death, MSG) and in the midst of all that parts to the prototype went missing. A hand was lost…legs broke…so we ditched it and months later RM was born, suckling all of our anxious and creative energies. It also didn't help when we reconsidered it as an RM hiatus project that Ackerman and Frazetta passed away (in 2008 and 2010, respectively).

So during this latest cover brawl, I suggested to Bojan he finish the damned thing. He was having one of those pesky artist tantrums, where he was going around throwing away unfinished art projects. Sometimes the only way you can win a fight with an artist of his temperament is to out ADD/OCD him. It scares him. He-he.

He is now being kept busy repinning/dremeling/epoxying the hand and broken ankle. We still have no idea what the Hell we're doing with it when he's done, but still want to do something at some point.

So now that he is in artistic restraints for the moment, we still need to decide about the damned cover. Do we go for new gore? Voodoo? Something else we haven’t explored? We are curious to hear from our readers.

And at that, we begin 2011…