#postal constituent

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

Benjamin Rathbun Builds Buffalo

A brand issue of the Postal Constituent ships to subscribers tomorrow. This full sized, four-paged newspaper features the squally tale of a Buffalo legend. Watch Rathbun single handedly build Buffalo, buy Niagara Falls, forge bank notes and end up in prison! 

This comic features two Rathbun installments that recently appeared inThe Public centerfold, plus one brand brand new,never before seen installment. It is printed in black and white with vibrant Process Cyan spot color. Boy gee it looks good. Subscribers keep an eye on that mailbox!

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

GREAT AMERICAN INVENTIONS, Volume 5, Issue 3 of the Postal Constituent

A brand new issue of the Postal Constituent is here! Just in time for Independence Day here's a screen printed, fold-out poster documenting the best inventions in American History. Inventions are gathered in this concise format so that you might marvel at American ingenuity with ease, from the cotton gin to the zipper ride. Each Invention comes complete with a snappy slogan so that you can remember why it mattered to the development of this fine nation. These puppies are in the mail to subscribers as we speak! Keep an eye on those mailboxes. 

Posters are 12.5" x 19" on Night Shift Blue colored French Paper and hand printed in a limited edition of 80.  Click the image above for a close up.

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

Buffalo: High Hopes and Dead Elm Trees

Volume 5 issue 2 of the Postal Constituent is here. Complete with a fold out print and accordion comic, Buffalo: High Hopes and Dead Elm Trees documents Buffalo's Go Ahead attitude towards redevelopment and how it often led to incredibly bad decisions. See what happens when downtown becomes a giant parking garage. Ogle as the city replaces entire neighborhoods with litter strewn lots. This comic comes complete with the Pan American Exposition comic  recently posted plus several pages of brand new content! It debuted at CAKE in Chicago this past weekend and will be in Subscriber's mailboxes this week! I'll also have copies this weekend at the Grand Comics Festival in Brooklyn!

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

Chicago: From the Swamp to the Slaughter House

The New Postal Constituent ships to subscribers today! Chicago: from the Swamp to the Slaughter House collects stories from Chicago's golden age of industry into a short mini-comic. It comes complete with a double-sided fold out print! This issue includes Chicago's Illustrious Beginning which was recently printed in the Chicago Reader's Comics Issue, along with several pages of brand new content. Learn how Chicago reversed the flow of their river. Watch St. Louis get mad. See pigs slaughtered! Stay tuned because we're hoping to whip out one of these puppies about BUFFALO next. Then on to the Greater Rust Belt.

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

The Seven Liberal Arts

 The final issue of the 4th Volume of the Postal Constituent is here. It's a spoof on this beautiful old map of the liberal arts from the 12th century:

 Of course in the old version the seven arts necessary to produce a free, worthwhile individual were harmoniously connected in a circle with philosophy acting as the guiding central force. In the Postal Constituent version these seven liberal arts create a tower reminiscent of Dante's Purgatory. Philosophy functions as a ski lift, picking folks up from the inky abyss at the bottom and throwing them back down in the end.

I made the original drawing about a year ago and never got around to adapting it into a Postal Constituent until now. The drawing is 30" x 40" which made reducing it very difficult. I finally came upon a method cutting out smaller scenes from the larger image and giving a "tour" of the drawing in book form. The final product is 32 pages and 3.5" x 5". These are in the mail to subscribers as we speak! And with that, we are on to Volume 5 and the fifth year of Postal Constituent comics! eek!

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

Index no. 5: The Scrolls/ Volume 4 Issue 5 of the Postal Constituent.

A brand new issue of The Index is shipping to Subscribers as we speak! In this issue Susan and John start reading the scrolls in the Great Library of Alexandria. What will they discover? With this issue The Index is officially 75 pages long. That means it is exactly the same length as John's Dissertation was when he stopped writing it. Luckily the cooperative sees no end in site ( at least not for a couple more issues.) If you're new to The Index read the first issue here to find out what it's all about. If you enjoy it you can purchase issues 1-4 here. I will also be at the WNYBAC last minute holiday market place Friday and Saturday December 13 and 14th here in Buffalo selling my wares.

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

Those Indolent Greeks, Vol 4 Issue 4 of the Postal Constituent

 Volume 4 Issue 4 of the Postal Constituent is at the printer! In this issues Greek Philosophers flounder in moments of candid self-doubt and self-described lethargy. This issue will be mailed out to subscribers next week and will make it's public debut the following week at SPX in Bethesda, MD!

I've been making the postal constituent for about three and half years now and I'm starting to see some patterns. One such pattern is that towards the end of each summer thus far I've hit a sort of creative block, this block often results in weirder comics. This one is no exception.  I've been stressed about not having time to make art this fall as I am starting a full time job teaching high school art. This got me considering all the ways people stop themselves from doing creative things. Most of it has to do with self-doubt. So this comic was a kind of therapy for me. I sat down and imagined that a bunch of Greek Philosophers experienced the same self-doubt that everyone else does. I find it comforting, maybe you will too.

[greatmomentsinwesternciv]

The Index #4

Issue Four of The Index is here! Catch up with John and Susan lost in the Great Library of Alexandria, meet Diogenes, find out how people eat around here anyway. Just dropped these in the mail minutes ago so they should be arriving in subscriber mailboxes shortly.

  These comics come complete with a screen-printed cover. This is the first run I've done from my home studio! Here's a picture of me in the middle of printing 250 covers. Marc helped. Thanks Marc.

I'm in Oswego, New York for the month of July co-teaching a class for NYSSSA, living in a little cabin on the lake. It's lovely but time-consuming.  I have a little corner to make work in and it is pretty darn cute here all in all, but we'll see how I feel after we teach our first class tomorrow.