arthur: january 2013

After a four-year sabbatical, beloved revolutionary sweetheart Arthur returns to print, renewed, refreshed, reinvigorated and in a bold new format: pages as big as a daily newspaper, printed in color and black and white on compostable newsprint, with ads only on the back cover(s). In partnership with Portland, Oregon's Floating World Comics, Arthur's gang of idiots, know-it-alls and village explainers are back, from Bull Tonguers Byron Coley & Thurston Moore to radical ecologist Nance Klehm to trickster activists from the Center for Tactical Magic to gonzoid political commentator Dave Reeves to a host of new, fresh-faced troublemakers. We won't spoil it by telling you everything that's in this comeback issue, but, well there's this: the late guitarist Jack Rose is tributed, via photographs, a new discography by Byron Coley, and the definitive interview he gave just months before his 2008 death to Philadelphia journalist Brian Rademaekers; Stewart Voegtlin goes long on Waylon Jennings; Eliza Swann converses with occult pan-media artist Frank Haines; cartoonist Gabby Schulz gives us some brutal reality; the suitable-for-posterizing cover is by Roarin' Rick Veitch; and? Well, let's stop there. Here's the last thing you need to know: It's 2012: Arthur is no longer distributed for free anywhere. You gotta buy it or you won't see it.