At Floating World Comics, one of our goals is to bring new and exciting art to comics fans who are looking for something new. In 2008 I started publishing a FREE comics newspaper called Diamond Comics. Equally inspired by Fort Thunder’s Paper Rodeo and international art magazines like Faesthetic or Rojo, Diamond features experimental art and comics from around the world.

The majority of the print run is given away free in Portland, at coffee shops, records stores, bars, and other venues. I love the fact that someone might find this mysterious art object at a coffee shop and wonder how it got there. Just as Paper Rodeo inspired me when I first saw a copy, I hope Diamond will do the same for a new generation.

I’m excited to announce a number of cool changes for the fifth issue of Diamond Comics.

First of all the print run is quintupling from 2000 to 10,000 copies, and 9000 of those will be included as a FREE insert in the April 21st ‘Comics Month’ issue of the Portland Mercury! The remaining 1000 will be distributed through the shop, the artists and sponsors, FREE at local cafes, bars and shops, and through other cool stores internationally. That issue of the Mercury will also feature Stumptown Comics Fest coverage which is that weekend (April 24-25), so we’re expecting to reach maximum eyeballs.

Secondly the entire issue will be FULL COLOR.

Finally, we’re going to have repeat artists for the first time. I had an unofficial rule where I wasn’t repeating artists in Diamond. Which is cool because there’s so much great art out there. But also it’s odd because that prevents us from working with the artists we loved from past issues. Isn’t that how anthologies develop a following? So to celebrate the new format and the new distribution with the Mercury, we’re putting our best foot forward by working with none other than our favorite artists from previous issues:

Derek Ballard (Diamond #4)
Michael Deforge (Diamond #4)
Stanley Lieber (Diamond #1)
Benjamin Marra (Diamond #2)
Panayiotis Terzis (Diamond #3)
Pete Toms (Diamond #1)

We’re welcoming one new artist, Cleon Peterson (Obey Giant), providing the center spread and a planned cover by Al Columbia.

Because of the larger print run and the color printing, our costs are a bit higher. Publishing projects like Diamond are fruits of the labor that is Floating World. I’ve had people from other states and countries tell me they love the store (even though they haven’t been here), but because of projects like these that they’re aware of. My comics curating relationship with Arthur Magazine gets more and more involved and we’ve got some cool ideas for more collaborations coming soon. Thanks again for all your support. I would probably do it even without the sponsorship help, but only once every year or two. With your sponsorship help we can get these out 3-4 times a year. Exciting!

Sample pages from Diamond 4: http://superduper.shapesofsweetness.com/2009/10/25/diamond-comics-4/

http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/diamond-comics-4-available-now/

More comics here: http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/comics/

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The latest issue of Diamond is here!  Featuring a magical mystery cover by Michael Deforge and weighing in at 32 pages, this is the coolest one yet.  More than ever, I feel this issue represents the friendships and collaborations that Floating World has been graced with the past couple years.

Many of the contributors are artists I’ve worked with in previous art shows, animation fests, or have featured online at Arthur Magazine:

-Throne Boogie presents: DMTV ‘Death Trip’

-Derek Ballard shows us sci-fi porn from the future

-Al Columbia shares an incredible new painting, ‘Toyland’ as a full color centerpiece

-Igor Hofbauer sends urban tales from Zagreb, Croatia

-Tetsunori Tawaraya says hello from Japan

-Matt Lock presents his first ever comic!

Sweetest of all, this issue features 7 artists from Portland:

-Cody Brant & Dunja Jankovic set their guitars and drumsticks aside to collaborate on some collage comics action

-Jason Overby continues his ascension with “Meat Density/Tame Destiny”

-Aidan Koch has relocated to England, but we’re building bridges here

-Tim Goodyear shares his cult VHS reviews, just like watching a movie with the dude himself

-Dame Darcy, welcome to Portland!

-Blaise Larmee resurfaces after another successful plunge into the subconscious

Yesterday I did my impersonation of Paperboy and delivered 800 copies of this fetish object to the city of Portland.  Look for a FREE copy at: Stumptown Coffee, Tube, PNCA, 5th Ave Cinemas, Powells Books, Cup & Saucer, Missing Link, Cinerama, Movie Madness, Videorama (Alberta), Random Order, The Waypost, Clinton St. Video, Green Noise Records, Together Gallery, Breeze Block Gallery, Red & Black Cafe, Mississippi Records, Jackpot Records, and more spots to come!  Not in Portland?  You can order direct from us, or have your local bookstore place an order with Last Gasp Books (lastgasp.com).  Or if you’re going to APE this weekend, stop by any of the following tables to get a copy: Sparkplug, The Bad Apple, Pony Club, Tugboat Press.  Thanks again to Rikki for her help and all our wonderful sponsors.

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30 years after the spectacular collapse of Pearl Comics, a celebration of the cause of that collapse - Jeff Lint’s ‘THE CATERER’.

Described by Alan Moore as “the holy barnacle of failure”, The Caterer dragged Pearl into a legal hell when its hero spent the whole of Issue 9 on a killing spree in Disneyland. The smirking Jack Marsden became a cult figure and role model for enigmatic idiots in the mid-70s. His style and catchphrases were such an insider code that hundreds of people got beaten up by baffled or enraged onlookers.

He was a singular character for SF author Jeff Lint who, at a loose end for money in the mid-seventies, was hired by the fledgling comics company Pearl to come up with a launch title. His main contribution to the short-lived Pearl Comics was the baffling action strip The Caterer. Illustrator Brandon Sienkel worked with Lint in those heady days: ‘The Caterer was a strange one - he didn’t have any special powers, he was this blond grinning college kid as far as I could make out. He sometimes pulled a gun …But it was strangely hypnotic, I must say. We had fan mail.’

Floating World Comics has teamed with Lint biographer, Steve Aylett to present a reprint of Issue 3: this stand-out issue includes the beginning of Marsden’s goat obsession, a fierce appearance by the ghostly Hoston Pete, a great example of the Marsden ’stillness’ and no less than four classic Marsden hallucinations. The leaning Chief Bayard’s preoccupation with our hero results in the violent deaths of six people, and Jack delivers his infamous ‘lipstick for dogs’ diatribe.

THE CATERER #3
32 pages, FC, $4.95

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