#5 features a Kazimir Strzepek ("Mourning Star") story about a post-apocalypic world where two rival gangs battle for control of a war torn city along with new work by Liz Prince ("Will Your Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed") and Bwana Spoons ("Pencil Fight").

Tugboat Press has this to say about the second issue of their flagship anthology title:  "The second issue of the exciting new anthology series dedicated to showcasing the best young, underexposed and emerging comic book artist working today.  This issue features a powerhouse story from Becca Taylor (The Wonderful Year) about an ambitious actress who stars in a controversial movie and the real life woman she portrays. Also Paul Tobin & Colleen Coover (Banana Sunday) present the tale of a mysterious cat burglar who steals more than just money and jewels. And Liz Prince (Will You Still Love Me if I Wet the Bed?) goes undercover into the secret world of indie rock ghosts. With additional art by Nate Beaty. Cover by Becca Taylor."  We here at Copacetic especially dug Colleen Coover's art this time around, which manages to be both cute and sexy.

This issue leads off with "Professor Pearson," by Joey Alison Sayers:  an epic of despair in the form of a 20-page comics story about a junior high school teacher who loses his mind (did we neglect to mention that it is, as with all work by Sayers, quite funny?)  Also on hand are a two-page by Liz Prince, "Endless Lizcation," and "A Good Catch," a ten-pager depicting a slice of life that is red in tooth and claw by Alexis Frederick-Frost.  Papercutter delivers yet again.

Here's a great new anthology published by 9th Art Press that features a whoppin' three dozen tales each focusing on a unique subculture.  It should come as no surprise that our civilization's growing trend towards ever-increasing specialization is accompanied by a parallel trend of ever-increasing social compartmentalization.  Aided and abetted – and in some cases entirely enabled – by all things internet, most notably, of course, the fertile soil of social media, subcultures are sprouting and thriving as never before.  This is not an unalloyed good, as some subcultures are possessed of varying degrees of toxicity, such as child porn devotees and violent extremists of all stripes up to and including "terrorists."  Yet, generally speaking, the phenomenon of subcultures is creating a new and vibrant ecosystem of human potential that will, in the long run, surely form the component bases for a spawning ground for the evolving of new and progressively adaptive ways of being that will assist humans in their braving of the new world they are in the midst of creating.  The SubCultures delved into in this anthology range from the relatively erudite circles of Esperanto speakers and ham radio operators to the freaky worlds of BIg foot enthusiasts and goth fetishists, but most revolve around varying permutations of pop culture, the last and certainly not least of which is that of the small press comics subculture itself, of which this volume is a prime example.  This is an absorbing and intriguing anthology, and there is plenty to ponder while traversing the subcultural terrain mapped out in this volume's 200+ pages by 37 comics creators including Sam Alden, Box Brown, Andrew Greenstone, Dan Mazur, Hazel Newlevant, Liz Prince, Stevie Wilson and many other talented cartoonists. Recommended!

Here's the full contributor list:  Sam Alden E.J. Barnes Cara Bean Bonesteel Melinda Tracy Boyce Box Brown Matthew Crehan Ben Doane Alizee De Pin Rachel Dukes Glynnis Fawkes Jillian Fleck Holly Foltz Maggie Glass Andrew Greenstone Nick Johansen Jay Kennedy Rob Kirby Jesse Lonergan MariNaomi Dan Mazur Anna Mudd Hazel Newlevant Sigit Nugroho Ion O'Clast Dave Ortega Maria Photinakis Liz Prince Ansis Purins Rob Queen Alex Robinson Michael Scully Daryl Seitchik Whit Taylor Nick Thorkelson Mister V Noah Van Sciver Aaron Whitaker Kriota Willberg Stevie Wilson Li-Or Zaltzman Courtney Zell