Not much to say here. I was doing my best to try to turn out regular work around this time, which meant shorter reviews. Sadly, this the only issue of Mineshaft I reviewed for the site. If I had my way, I would have reviewed every issue that came in the mail. Maybe I need to start doing that again, now that I think about it. At this point, I started writing like I already had a loyal, regular audience. Originally published March 3, 2011. The piece has been lightly edited since its original publication, but I've preserved the pretentiousness.
Mineshaft #26 came to my apartment weeks before my tax return ever did. I call that a triumph of art over government. You take what you can get.
Originally a zine with a literary bent, Mineshaft's Publishing/Editing team Everett Rand and Gioia Palmieri struck a friendship with Robert Crumb, who has contributed, writing, artwork and logos ever since. No surprise then that Crumb is the most substantial contributor, donating sketchbook drawings and a prose journal of his dream life (not for those who kept on bitching that Crumb was "creepy" in that documentary).
Mineshaft has gone on to become a haven for much of the old school underground we don't see much of anymore, as well as newer faces on the fringe like Sophie Crumb, Noah Van Sciver, and Aaron Lange. The nicest find in the latest issue is Pat Moriarity, who drew the issue's cover and has the first multiple page strip I've seen from him in ages (a nice way to promote his new comic/CD).
This issue even has a nice touch of the literary. The poetry by Diane di Prima is good, but Andrei Codrescu's short essay depicting a war between zombies and the creatures of Avatar needs to be read aloud at one of my open mikes.
The downer is that Mineshaft is its difficulty in acquiring. Given the high price tag for individual issues, I'd recommend interested readers do what I do and grab it by subscription.
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