Notes From the Underground

The Sun set for good.
The end of the newspaper came the other day, continuing a trend that seems to be all too prevalent in print media 2008.
But while Major media might be in a major upheaval but I'll be darned if independently released material isn't going through a little renaissance period in these trying times.

In terms of underground press, Aaron Cometbus is sort a living icon. In over 20 years of producing the zine that shares his pseudonym (real last name, Elliott) the man has produced a body of work unmatchable in punk literature focusing on subject matter from personal romance to travel writing and interviewing members of bands like Low, Jawbreaker and TV on the Radio. Cometbus has spent the last 20 plus years carving out his own niche in the literary world.
For the fifty-first installment of this institution, Cometbus has shown no signs of slowing down.
Producing the nearly 100 page volume entitled The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah must have been behind the long wait between issues, as the author spares very little in this extremely well researched series of stories that are both riveting and somewhat arcane narratives of various East Bay characters.
Cometbus is a penman of unique ability. His ability to weave the tales of an assortment of characters that would normally not be given the time of day is a talent that is only matched by the work of the great Studs Terkel.

While reading through Cometbus 51 for a second time, I continue to find myself realizing why I have stated time and time again that Aaron Cometbus is one of the most vital writers of the last twenty years.


In the world of personal comics, it's almost lazy to make comparisons to R.Crumb or Harvey Pekar but something about the medium always brings those names to mind.
In the first installment of Good Old Comics, New York artist Tim Sinaguglia takes us back to his teenage years that could in fact be any of our teenage years.
His well-worded and equally well-drawn stories are easily relatable to anybody that felt any hint of alienation from the ages 12 and up (which would mean mostly everybody.).
What stands out most about Sinaguglia's story telling is the lack of anger or regret displayed in his work.
He draws from the point of an observer but does not go overboard on the overly personal details like some disciples of the formerly mentioned Crumb and Pekar.
While Sinaguglia might hold their works in high regard, he seems to derive his influence from a whole other place.