Czap Books

Little Teeth coming from Czap Books

Preorder Nov 1 – Nov 20

We are so excited to kick off our 2019 Spring season with Little Teeth, the new graphic novel from the Seattle-based team of artist Rory Frances and writer Jae Bearhat. Little Teeth tracks the relationships and struggles of a group of young queers living in the fictional Pacific Northwest city of Woodlands. Told as a string of vignettes and anecdotes, the reader follows the various subgroups of friends and lovers as they interact with each other and do their best to grow. As serious as that may sound, their vulnerabilities are covered up with humor, and it’s very easy to laugh even as we relate to their struggles.

Little Teeth will be released generally in April 2019 in time for convention season, with plans to be sold at MoCCAFest, TCAF, CAKE, and more. In anticipation of the release, Little Teeth will be available to pre-order online beginning November 1st through November 20th, 2018 at czapbooks.com/product/little-teeth. Pre-ordered copies are expected to ship as early as December 2018.

Little Teeth was first published online in installments on Hazlitt from Fall 2015 to Summer 2016. According to Czap Books publisher Kevin Czap, the comic was noteworthy for the “humor, inventiveness, and humanity” in its depiction of the ensemble cast. Bearhat explains, "Little Teeth has been a labor of love, but specifically a collaborative one, a work born intentionally through the back-and-forth between us. I feel like the process is essential to the stories we wanted to tell, stories that are told at the intersection of multiple narratives.” “Little Teeth is our baby,” says Frances. “We put a lot of ourselves into it and we wanted to create a world with queer characters that feels really lived in."

On choosing to publish with Czap Books, Frances cites “they really care about their artists and what they're trying to put out into the world,” while Bearhat adds “I’m glad that we are working with a publisher who understands the joy of communal creation, joining a library of other works that celebrate inter-dependency, community, cooperation.” The Czap Books edition includes the entirety of these installments, retouched and reformatted for print, as well as an additional 80 pages of story.

Preorder Now!

Praise for Little Teeth

“Little Teeth is a total feast. It’s warm, biting, devastating in both hilarity and realness, raucous and sweet like a hard-partying old friend. Jae Bearhat and Rory Frances have brought to life a lush and lovingly rendered world of gay antics that is as comical as it is compassionate.” -- Sophia Foster-Dimino, author of Sex Fantasy

“Little Teeth pulls you in with its impeccable grasp on how different personalities work and banter that never feels contrived. The ongoing glimpses of the lives (both outward and inner) of these critters will have you feeling their embarrassments, yearnings, and knowing all their inside jokes.” -- Jen Lee, author of Garbage Night, Thunderpaw

“Some of the juiciest, messiest, realest gay animals that I’ve ever seen.” -- Robert Yang, author of The Tearoom

About the Artists

Rory Frances is a Seattle-based cartoonist and illustrator, and is the author of the critically acclaimed webcomic Boys Are Slapstick. roryfrances.com

Jae Bearhat is a Seattle-based writer and is Editor-in-Chief of the video game and culture website ZEAL. jbearhat.itch.io

About Czap Books

Come See CZAP BOOKS at TCAF 2018, Table 111

It's been a few months, huh? Ready to dive into convention season once again with the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) this coming weekend, on May 12th and 13th. What can we say, we love this show!

For the first time in the many years we've exhibited, Czap Books has finally migrated to the first floor! We hope it'll still be easy to find us in the forest of people, because we are debuting the first half of 2018's Ley Lines, with both authors exhibiting at the show. That would be "Skin to Skin" by Jia Sung and "Langeweile" by Oliver East. We also have a new mini-comic from Comics Mom Kevin Czap called Four Years, part 1. Other Czap Books and Ley Lines artists will be scattered throughout the show, like Jessi Zabarsky, Kelly K, Whit Taylor, and Tommi Parrish. Our dear friends at Silver Sprocket will be nearby as well, rolling deep as ever.

We'll be holding it down on panels all weekend, with highlights including both Jia and Oliver on the Truth Comes Out panel on Saturday at 2:45pm, 21st Century Queer Romance, Saturday at 11am, with Tommi Parrish, the From Personal to Political panel with Whit Taylor bright and early at 10am on Saturday, and finally the More Life coming-of-age panel that Kevin will be on, Sunday at 3:30pm. (More of our artists' panels can be seen in the graphic, and more information can be found on the TCAF website!)

Ley Lines 2018 Subscriptions

*** We're proud to announce that subscriptions are now available for the 2018 lineup of our acclaimed comics series Ley Lines. ***

Called “gorgeous… flawlessly curated” (- Nick Francis Potter), Ley Lines titles have been included among the Notable Comics in Best American Comics 2016 and 2017.

Our slate for 2018 will continue to push comics’ boundaries and include new work from the following artists:

Jia Sung on Madame White Snake and Belkis Ayón (February 2018)

Oliver East on “Langweile” (Boredom) (May 2018)

L Nichols on Ludwig van Beethoven (August 2018)

Whit Taylor on the Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (November 2018)

From March 1st until the 31st, the 2018 subscription bundle will be on sale for $20 at leylines.storenvy.com*.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

The subscription begins immediately with Jia Sung’s “Skin to Skin”, and include a 2” vinyl sticker featuring art from the issue. Each issue will ship when it becomes available.

Brooklyn-based artist Jia Sung is the art director of Guernica, and teaches at the Museum of Chinese in America and the Children's Museum of the Arts. Oliver East, based in Manchester UK, is an innovator in comics known for work like Swear Down and Rolling Stock. L Nichols is a cartoonist, designer, mixed-media artist, and co-publisher of the Ley Lines series. Whit Taylor is the author of the recent Ghost Stories, co-editor of Comics for Choice, and has contributed to Critical Chips.

Ley Lines is co-published by Grindstone Comics and Czap Books, printed by Issue Press and will have a run of 500 copies per book thanks to assistance from Koyama Press. Subscriptions are available now throughout the year on leylines.storenvy.com.

Czap Books at CALA! Table 43B

And so we've come to the end of the road! We're packing up for our final convention of the year, the fabulous Comic Arts Los Angeles (CALA). CALA has quickly become one of our favorite shows, and so we're super excited to be tabling at 43B this weekend, 12/9 & 12/10 from 10am – 5pm. Like CAB, the show has a new venue this year, Homenetmen Ararat (Elevate Fitness Center) at 3000 Dolores St. LA 90065.

We'll be in town a little earlier in the week, though, for the Fütchi Perf Release Party at Other Books on Thursday 12/7 starting at 7pm! This will be the last stop on my (Kevin Czap) mini-tour for the new Uncivilized Books edition and it's going to be great!

We're particularly blessed on the floor this year, sharing elbow room with Czap authors Jessi Zabarsky and Laura Knetzger, Cathy G. Johnson and E Jackson from Drawing a Dialogue, and Beatrix Urkowitz. We won't be too far away from Evan Dahm, and we'll have copies of his issue of Ley Lines. "Weird Territory" is a walk through the strange, inspired by the work of the Surrealists. Find it next to the rest of the 2017 schedule at our table!

(Hot tip - Rory Frances is going to have a print edition of Little Teeth, his comic with Jae Bearhat and it's one of our favorites!! Find Rory near us at 39B - shhh)

We're going back to Brooklyn! Very excited to be rounding out the convention season with another trip to Comic Arts Brooklyn on Saturday, November 11th at Table K3 (right next to Cathy G. Johnson)! This year, instead of the beloved sweat lodge in Williamsburg, we'll be set up in the Lecture Hall at Pratt!

We're very excited about this year because we'll be debuting the 13th issue of Ley Lines, this one by longtime favorite of ours Evan Dahm. "Weird Territory" is a walk through the strange, inspired by the work of the Surrealists. This will be the first time you'll be able to get the full 2017 schedule all together! This is also the fourth year we've debuted an issue of Ley Lines at this show - in fact, the line debuted back in 2014 with Annie Mok's beautiful "Unholy Shapes." Though that book is now out-of-print, there are plenty of ways to support Annie, so please do.

New England!! We're touching down this weekend, October 21 & 22, at the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo at University Hall at Lesley University, 1815 Massachusetts Ave (Porter Sq.). We'll be selling some comics in the Eisner Level (aka the Basement) at table E116. Not only will we be surrounded by a bunch of our new CCS family, but we'll be bumping shoulders with our original fam Jessi Zabarsky, author of the stunning Witchlight. You can find that at Jessi's table, whereas we'll have Ley Lines, Bug Boys, Úlcera, and Fütchi Perf from Uncivilized Books.

This is a super fun show, and as much as the midwest/rust belt defined our landscape for years, now that we're soaking into being New Englanders, this feels a bit more like home.

Be sure to check out upcoming Ley Lines author Evan Dahm ("Weird Territory" dropping next month!) moderating the Worldbuilding in Comics panel on Saturday at 5pm.

Czap Books at SPX 2017 - Table L1

It’s that beautiful time of year again - the Small Press Expo in Bethesda MD is this weekend, 9/16 and 9/17. And once again, Czap Books will be there, this time right at one of the many entrances, at table L1.

We’re snug up with some other amazing publishers, seating directly next to Retrofit Comics (with Laura Knetzger and Bug Boys #15 in tow - by the way, did you read this interview yet?) and closeby to Koyama Press (who have an unbeatable release slate this weekend at M1-2), Silver Sprocket (Table J1), and our good friends/co-publisher Grindstone Comics (Table K2, hi L!). Liz Suburbia will be hanging out for the weekend, flitting between the various collectives and groups she calls home (Out of Step Arts is back in the corner again at W44-46)

Our big debut book is the 12th issue of Ley Lines, “Maqsood-I-Kainaat” by Shreyas R. Krishnan. This beautiful comic is a reflection on the music of Sufi singer Abida Parveen and how it awakens the spiritual flame in an atheistic artist. Not to be missed! It’ll be joining the rest of the 2017 Ley Lines releases by Eric Kostiuk Williams and Tommi Parrish, as well as the other issues we still have in stock (There will be some over at table K2, as well).

This is also the first opportunity for SPX goers to grab copies of Jessi Zabarsky’s remarkable Witchlight, so please plan accordingly.

You may remember that one year when we had copies of Fütchi Perf before it sold out? Well we’re happy to say that Uncivilized Books (Table H1) has just printed a beautiful new edition - offset and perfect bound with french flaps (!) - and it will make it’s first appearance at the show. Be on the lookout for news about Kevin Czap’s (that’s me) signing times.

Not only is my book available again, but I also have the amazing honor to join Carta Monir, Jeremy Sorese, and Rio Aubrey Taylor on a panel moderated by L Nichols talking about Genderfluidity, Technology, and Futurism. The talk will be on Saturday at 3pm in the White Flint Auditorium, click here for the full details

Everyone likes CAKE! We're very excited once again to be tabling at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo this weekend, June 10 & 11!

You can find us in a powerhouse block of cartooning masters at table 507A. This year is very special because our own Jessi Zabarsky, a Chicago-local, is a Special Guest! We're really thrilled for the show to recognize her greatness, which of course is on full display in Witchlight. We'll have plenty of copies and I'm sure Jessi will be more than happy to sign. She'll be right next to us at table 506!

Next to her at table 505B is Laura Knetzger (splitting the table with Carolyn Nowak)! Cathy G. Johnson will be right next to us on the other side, at 507B.

More of our friends and authors are just around the corner, too - Erik Kostiuk Williams, author of our latest Ley Lines, will be running the Koyama Press booth at table 510. Tommi Parrish is across the aisle from us at 219, rubbing shoulders with a number of our favorite people (like Virginia Paine and Beatrix Urkowitz). Find the full exhibitor list here.

As far as programming goes, Jessi is giving a workshop on Sunday from 1:30-2:30 called "Visual Recipes: The Art of Instructional Comics". Later that day at 3-4, Laura will join a panel called "Place as Character", moderated by Rob Clough. There's no reason to not see both! Also try not to miss Ben Passmore on the "Comics and Resistance" panel, right before Jessi's workshop. Full programming schedule is here.

We're catching a wave to BC this weekend, and we're very excited for our first time at the Vancouver Comic Arts Festical, May 20 & 21!

We'll be set up at table C8. The good news is that Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky is so spectacular and amazing that we sold out at TCAF! The sad news on the flip side of that is that we won't have any for you West Coasters - (it's available online tho!)

The even better news is that we have plenty of copies of the new Ley Lines, Eric Kostiuk Williams' "How Does It Feel In My Arms?" (Ley Lines 11) - a heady manifesto for love and happiness set to Kylie Minogue. We'll also have the previous issue, Tommi Parrish's "And They Rush On Me, Like Some Kind of Fragrant Dream", as well as the full 2016 run, featuring new work by Aaron Cockle, Mimi Chrzanowski, Kevin Czap, and Laila Milevski.

We'll also have time-tested favorites like Bug Boys, Úlcera, Cyanide Milkshake, and more at our table. PLUS beautiful postcards for our next title (due in the fall) - don't tell me not to worry (i'll worry all i want) by Kelly Kwang!

Kelly will be dropping knowledge on the Sequential Sci-Fi: Visually Exploring The Unknown panel on Sunday, and Ley Lines artist Evan Dahm will be talking about Fantastic Comics & How to Create Them on Saturday. We recommend not missing either.

The show will run from 10am-5pm on both days, so come to table C8 and say hi! Kelly Kwang will be at table K2 with a ton of new, beautiful merch. Evan Dahm will be at table D10. Other friends and Czap Books family will be spread throughout the show, see the full exhibitor list here.