Print Fetish is a weblog featuring news, information, reviews and history on the subjects of beautiful magazines, self-published ‘zines, handmade books, small press, comix, art books and miscellaneous printed ephemera. The site features daily reviews of new titles, trends, updates on events and interviews with fascinating people in the field of print media.

Celebrating beauty in print, the blog hopes to keep worthwhile print alive (while at the same time hoping the internet manages to do away with ugly consumerist magazines and newspapers). In their own words “when we talk about beauty, we’re not simply talking about what it it looks like, but its point of view and editorial whole. We hope we can spread the word on these beautiful objects, and get you to spend money on them, rather than the average condy nasty.”

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

Since it was founded in 2007, kuš! has published 20 anthologies with short comics from 60 Latvian and 140 artists from all over Europe and rest of the world, including China, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, USA and Canada. Some artists are already well known, while others are still emerging. Sometimes kuš! holds open calls when everyone is invited to submit their work.

All the issues are in full color, but the format and names change according to the obstacles of funding and moods of the editors. Every issue contains artistic comics from international and Latvian artists to a certain topic which changes every time. While in the beginning all the comics where published in Latvian as kuš!, since 2009 the anthology has been published in a smaller format with the name š! in English, therefore reaching a wider audience outside Latvia.

The latest issue was š! #9 ‘female secrets’. It contains 160 pages of comics from 27 female cartoonists. Another recent project was š! #8 ‘midnight sun’, featuring some of the most-cutting edge comics from Finland.  You can get both from Kuš! webshop.

kuš! also organises exhibitions, workshops and takes part in international festivals.

You can find more about kuš! on their website, read their blog & Tumblr, and follow them on Twitter & Facebook.

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Find more zines we’ve featured here.

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I kind of fell into making comics after university, and I’d always thought I wanted to be a film-maker.  But comics, which I’d always had a fascination for, took hold as soon as I started playing around with the form and realised just how easy and accessible they can be.  Unlike film, here was an artform that didn’t require budgets and resources to get your work out there; fundamentally all you need is a pen, paper and access to a photocopier or the internet.  Plus, there’s something exciting about working in a medium that is still learning what it is and what it can be.

The best thing as an artist is getting your work out there.  It’s a great thing to be able to cheaply and easily produce artwork, and be able to distribute it really widely, and I think comics are one of the best placed media for that.  Everything in their production can be as small and personal, or as big and collaborative as you want, and any which way you do it, there are never any restrictions on what you put on a page except for what you’re able to draw.

For those who are interested in technical stuff, in the last year I’ve moved towards exclusively producing my work digitally.  I use a Wacom tablet and an iMac.  I think the move initially slowed me down as I adjusted to the feel of drawing digitally, but I think it’s been worth it.  My work has expanded in its complexity and detail, and I’ve been able to create compositions and images that I guarantee I wouldn’t have been able to do on paper.  That’s not to say it suits everyone: most of the artists I admire work on paper, and I know a number of people who have in recent years moved away from digital and gotten their hands inky again!  And in a lot of ways I hope I can do the same eventually… there’s nothing as satisfying as a flawlessly inked comics page.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

However, this is not the Moore I saw today. Sure, he has an excellent beard, and yes, he is frighteningly intelligent, but at his core Alan Moore comes across as a very rational and personable man.

His work in comics helped redefine the genre at a time when it needed it most, helping, in his own words, to make comics fit their times and more accurately reflect a contemporary world. Almost 30 years on, and Moore speaks of his comic work with only a hint of regret, and apologises for starting the trend that has made every character in today’s comics a psychopath or a murderer.  Sadly, he does not hold the rights for the most famous of these books (Swamp Thing, Watchmen, V for Vendetta), due to creators’ rights issues. Moore has now become known for his work outside the mainstream, with smaller publishers like Knockabout and America’s Best Comics. For people looking for something off the beaten track, I can now recommend Moore’s new magazine venture, Dodgemlogic.

During the space of a too short hour, Moore talked about his background, his methods of storytelling (Moore is famous for his highly visual scripts) and his past with DC. He speaks with such confidence and resolution about this time, that you can’t not see his side of the story.

At the end of the event, an audience member asks; ‘Alan, how do you not compromise your morals and stay true to your writing, while still making your books a huge commercial success?’ to which Alan Moore responds:

‘As a writer, you simply cannot think about commercial success. You have the obligation to stay true to your own voice, but that is all. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what people want, because they’d probably want The Sun; it’s about what they need.’