Category: Comics

Letters from Durham

The latest issue — #47 — of what Drew Friedman calls “by far the best magazine being published on planet Earth” is arriving in mailboxes now. Mineshaft 47 is as always chock-full of visual and literary work that would be cutting-edge if you could locate the edge; as it is, the Mineshaft world is a world in itself. This issue features R. Crumb’s debate with Chat GPT about vaccines, great new comics from the fine Simone Baumann and Christoph Mueller (who also designed the striking cover image), two new portraits by Mr. Friedman, photography by John Haynes, and contributions from the likes of Bill Griffith, Robert Armstrong, and Sophie Crumb. “It’s such a gift to see new work by the giants of my generation (Fleener, Collier, Head, Friedman, etc.) alongside our heroic forebears (Crumb, Aline, Armstrong, Griffy, Deitch) and heirs (Harkham, Van Sciver, etc.) alike,” Daniel Clowes says. “I don’t take it for granted — one of a dwindling number of good things in this world.”

You shouldn’t take it for granted, either. You can purchase this issue directly from Mineshaft or, better still, start a subscription. Who doesn’t want good things in their world?

From off the streets of Durham comes …

Cover of Mineshaft magazine, issue #44, by R. Crumb.

Now available for holiday giving, issue #44 of Mineshaft magazine dropped into my mailbox in a plain brown envelope a few weeks ago, and as usual it’s a magazine to spend a few thoughtful evenings with. (And you can impress your friends when you leave it on your coffee table.) Among the highlights are tributes to the late Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Diane Noomin from Bill Griffith and others; a new, haunting story called “Nostalgia” from Christoph Mueller; Mary Fleener‘s meditative “Between the Worlds” travelogue; a Skip James portrait from R. Crumb; co-editor Everett Rand’s ongoing saga of Mineshaft itself; and great new stuff from Simone Baumann, Glenn Head, Drew Friedman, and company. I wrote a little more descriptively about Mineshaft here.

Mr. Friedman has called Mineshaft “the best magazine being published in the 21st century,” and who am I to argue with Drew Friedman? Certainly it’s one of the few magazines to which I maintain a subscription (the others are Acoustic Guitar and The Syncopated Times, which shows you where my head is at these days). You can yourself join the illustrious Mineshaft community easily enough; the current issue is available here, and you can sign up for a subscription here. And while you’re there, why not give the gift of bemused alienation to someone close to you?

Below, The Mighty Millborough himself discovers Mineshaft, as told to Christoph Mueller in 2011:

Footnotes from Mueller’s life

Now available and shipping from Europe, Partial, a new chapbook series from Christoph Mueller, is billed as “Footnotes from the artist’s life.” The first issue looks to be a gorgeous miscellany of graphics, text, and typography from this unique comics artist; the inimitable Chris Ware, another of my favorite comics artists, says that Partial “captures something essential, buoying and truly life-sustaining” — surely high praise in these troubled times. Partial #1 is now available directly from the artist in a limited edition of 250 copies. More information here.

I wrote about Mueller’s work earlier; you can find those passages here.