DEAREST SNAKEBOMB READERS: Dylan Williams (owner of the excellent US-based distro Sparkplug Comics) is very seriously ill and could use our help. He’s battling cancer and doesn’t have health insurance to cover his medical bills.
Matt from Exquisite Things says it best: “Why should you care? Well, Sparkplug are one of the finest examples of an underground publisher doing what they do for all the right reasons. Dylan isn’t out to make buckets of cash, or publish fancy tomes for your coffee table; he’s far more concerned with publishing comics that push honest self expression. If ever there was someone doing it out of pure love of the medium, it’s Dylan.”
If you can afford to order anything from Sparkplug it will help Dylan tremendously! More info is available via High-Low, including recommended titles. Thanks!
Dylan is a friend of mine, and I would say that on a personal level he has been one of the most supportive folks of my own work and of my experience as a cartoonist in the last couple years, through both friendship and small gestures. He gave me my first in depth review of VSNQST and has supported me by letting me sell my work at the Sparkplug booth. He’s also a former Comic Relief employee - I met him during my first week there when he came to sell us Sparkplug stuff and I was not yet the small press buyer.
That was two years ago, really the first week of my new comics-centric life. Since he was the first person I met in my group of cartoonist pals, his being in the hospital has given me a chance to reflect on my time the past couple years, where my life has been so immersed in this stuff… if not for him, I wouldn’t have learned nearly what I have learned, would not have felt nearly as welcomed in the community… Sparkplug’s existence and Dylan’s presence has made me feel like there’s a place for me in comics.
I would hate to see anything happen to him financially that would force him to take time off from Sparkplug and from comics - he’s really needed here. So to that end, I want to continue the push and say that if you haven’t forayed into the Sparkplug world, now is the best time to do it. Help Dylan pay his medical bills and experience some new and fantastic art.
Some of my favorite Sparkplug titles are:
The Disgusting Room (Austin English) - it’s an amazing tabloid size newsprint comic, mostly reproduced lithographs and it almost looks like encaustic? Really haunting, really beautiful.
Jin & Jam (Hellen Jo) - Classic Hellen stuff. If you’ve only experienced her illustrations, it is time for her comics. Inspired by Korean horror comics, it’s creepy and cool.
Department of Art #1 & Habitat #2 (Dunja Jankovic) - manic musings on life, work, and art, really cool drawings in here.
Danny Dutch & Lemon Styles (David King) - reallllly tight cartooning, 1950s style, with absurdist tendencies.
REPORTER - by Dylan Williams himself! There are 6 issues.
