A new replicated DVD collection of short documentaries by Joe Biel about bikes, trains, dogs, patches, and the board game RISK. 94 minutes of movies and 22 minutes of bonus materials. “Martinis in the Bike Lane” (11 min) is about the history of the decorated and unique bike lane markings in Portland, OR. “Last Train out of North America” (19 min) discusses the lack of priority and funding towards passenger rail service in North America. “Central Kansas – Canvas Central” (11 min) is a mockumentary about the obsessive nature of people with patches as a kind of media. “Of Dice and Men” (39 min) chronicles players of the board game RISK and their obsessive behaviors. The game affects their personalities, turning anarchists and relaxed folks into conniving, manipulative, and calculated imperialists. “Cowboy Hat & A Cane” (11 min) is about America’s most loved dog – Coda Bowles and her relationship with her people. ISBN 978-0-9788665-0-1

We think it’s very important to think about the labor that creates everything that you touch, purchase, and make use of to get through your day. Because of this, we have created the labour super pack to remind you of what creates wealth – On Subbing, Xtra Tuf, Secret Files of Captain Sissy, and Dreamwhip 14. Whether it’s public school teaching, commercial fishing, steelworking, and providing water and supplies to immigrants crossing into Texas from Mexico, or cooking Food Not Bombs, this is a mixed bag of various accounts of labor with a $5 savings!

OUT NOW!!! – Absjorn has collected hundreds of recipes into this new anthology book of his and his friends’ favorites! In the vein of the classic Soy Not Oi cookbook, Please Don’t Feed The Bears compiles three issues of the previously self-published vegan cook zine with a range of tasty and simple animal-free dishes. Here you’ll find incredible recipes for stews, soups, sauces, noodle & bean dishes, baked entrees, deserts and more! There is also a fair smattering of new material bringing this to a whopping 160 pages of deliciousness! In the spirit of Soy Not Oi, these recipes are written to be simple, straightforward, and perfect for the newest convert to the vegan revolution! But far from bring just a vegan cookbook, Please Don’t Feed The Bears reads as a look into vegan lifestyle and underground culture. The book is thoroughly illustrated with eye-catching drawings and clearly laid-out graphics. In addition, the book also includes assorted rantings about music and the politics of leading a vegan lifestyle. Together the book provides easy-to-make and delectable recipies while reflecting the DIY punk rock sensibility of zine culture.

We are the proud new owners of our very own cubetruck-converted-to-RV that runs on second hand vegetable oil. You just have to warm up the engine sufficiently and then switch over to grease. It’s much less polluting and fuel is free when you score some old veggie oil from restaurant grease traps. We’ll have more space for carrying around zines, books, t-shirts, and stickers on tour than ever with our own bed in the back! Come and say hello when we swing into a town near you! Thanks to Gabby and the folks in White River Junction Vermont at The Center for Cartoon Studies!

OUT NOW!!! Graduating from the days of a super thick zine with rubber band binding, Bill Brown doubles the size of this issue and treats us with so much magic inside the cover of this handwritten object of hand-size art. A wander philosopher, Bill tells us funny stories and anecdotes – St. Roch, the patron saint of lost causes, whose church is littered with discarded crutches and prosthetic limbs. “I begin to wonder if the body parts St Roch cured stayed strong and healthy, even as the rest of the person who was healed grew old and frail.” We are also treated to the tale of Mother Goose, an older lady who wears a long skirt and floppy sunbonnet who storms into local restaurants and sings nursery rhymes until someone kicks her out. “In Austin it was impossible to go on a simple errand without falling in love. Every time I mailed a letter or went to buy a loaf of bread, I’d end up with a broken heart.” and “Jerry makes me hold [an instrument] before he tells me it’s an indian hunting club made from an Alaskan walrus penis bone.” His way of explaining things are simultaneously laugh out loud funny as well as engrossing and captivating. This is gold. ISBN 0-9770557-8-7

OUT NOW!!! Nate Powell’s (Soophie Nun Squad, Boomfancy, Tiny Giants, It Disappears, Walkie Talkie, Conditions, Wonderful Broken Thing, Schwa Sound, Playground Messiah) intricate black & white art focuses on the terrors and pleasures of growing up. Poignantly plumbing the existential angst of youth, he invokes great coming-of-age novels with only a few dozen words. This book collects his self published zines and comics dating back to 1992, his first two graphic novels (Tiny Giants and It Disappears), and new work. These stories build vignette by vignette into a rich tableau of lofty dreams and Deep South disappointment, car crashes and love letters, first kisses and four-tracks. Powell’s work is a reminder of the persistence of wonder against all odds.
This book is printed imperfectly so it’s $8 instead of $18 with a coupon for a correct copy for an additional $10. We have scanned a few pages from both the originals and misprinted book, so you can see for yourself.
Page 151: Original – Misprint ~ Page 173: Original – Misprint ~ Page 188: Original – Misprint

After 5 years as a self published zine, we are fulfilling Jesse’s interest in republishing Applicant as a tiny paperback! OUT NOW! “One night while rooting through the recycling bin for magazines, I found all the confidential Ph.D. applicant files for the biology department at an Ivy League university from the years 1965-1975. Stapled to many of the yellowed documents were photographs of the prospective students. They were treasures! I tore through the folders and rescued every portrait I could find. I had to have them. Only later did I realize I had to publish them”. So begins the preface to Jesse Reklaw’s Applicant. A priceless time-bomb of pop culture, Reklaw serves a compelling and secret look into an impossibly lost era. The book collects photos from the 1970s paired with accompanying comments from employers and professors. The results are absurdist, confusing, often hilarious and disturbing. Applicant provides unique insight into outdated 1970s social attitudes and ephemera (under one woman’s photo: “Weakness: she is a female, and an attractive, modest one, so is bound to marry”). Much of the book’s appeal however is found in what the book fails to say: the blank and despondent stares of it’s subjects, the outdated fashions and hairstyles and it’s understated text. Equal parts Ann Taintor and Found Magazine, Applicant is one of those books you read once and then want to show everyone. ISBN 0-9770557-6-0

HOT OFF THE PRESSES! Cindy Crabb’s zine is simply one of the best personal zines, complete with little scribbly cartoons and a subtle idealogical base worked in for good measure. It is really worth all of the hype and more. This is the L-M-N-O issue of the alphabet series. It discusses love, the ladies group she attends with her grandmother, the process of menstrual extraction (a process developed in 1970 for women to take control of their bodies from home before abortion was legal), stories of living with her grandparents in Arizona, and a frightening trip that brought her and a friend to the California beaches where they got water logged in their tent and had to make an emergency evacuation. The beauty of the zine is how she slips in the simplest sentence in the middle of a story that connects her reading a book as a 16 year old to cultural appropriation or talks about her grandmother using the same inflection as her deceased mother and you can smile with her or shed a single tear because you understand and you can tell that she understands you too.

We recently removed an oppressive wall from our office and grew by 50%! We are open 7 days a week from 11 AM – 6 PM and for the occasional event. There is almost enough room to browse now! You are encouraged to drop by and check it out or purchase things. Liberty Hall is located at 311 N Ivy St. in Portland!

HOW TO GET TO MICROCOSM AT LIBERTY HALL: Via-Tri-Met: The #4-Fessenden (frequent service), #33-Fremont, and #40-Mocks Crest busses heading from downtown stop a short distance from LIberty Hall. Deboard any of the three busses at N Williams and NE Cook (in front of PIzza-A-Go-Go). Walk WEST on Cook (towards the Hostess Outlet) one block. Turn right on N Vancouver Ave and then turn left on N Ivy. Liberty Hall will be on the right, a block and a half in. Additionally, the #6-MLK (frequent service) stops about 1/3 of a mile from Liberty Hall. From downtown, deboard the #6 at NE MLK at Fremont. Walk WEST on Fremont crossing MLK. (The first street you should see is Garfield, not Grand) At the second stoplight (Vancouver Ave) take a left, and then your next right onto Ivy. Liberty Hall will be on the right, a block and a half in. The MAX-Yellow Line (frequent service) stops about 2/3 of a mile from Liberty Hall. Deboard the MAX at the OVERLOOK PARK station, and walk NORTH (away from downtown) on N Interstate Ave. Turn right on N Failing and walk towards “the wall”. Use the stairs and pedestrian bridge to cross I-5, and continue on Failing on the other side. Turn right on N Mississippi Ave and then left on N Fremont. Walk for a 1/4 mile and turn right on N Gantenbein Ave. Turn onto N Ivy. Liberty Hall will be on the right. For more transit info, http://trimet.org” target=”_blank”>http://trimet.org> or 503-238-RIDE

For the first time in Microcosm history we had to reprint a catalog! This was largely due to the sheer volume of people passing out catalogs in their respective towns and at local venues, coffee shops, record stores, etc. It’s been a huge benefit to us and we now have 30,000 more catalogs to keep it going! We are still building a comprehensive list of people who can pass out flyers and catalogs for us. If you can do this, please get in touch and let us know your address and how many catalogs you think you could pass around. We have our 2006 catalog with artwork from Sarah Oleksyk and postcards for books we’ve published!