This time out we have 64 pages - more than half of which are full color - from a dozen creators hailing from right here in Pittsburgh and as far away as Serbia.  While unstated, this issue's theme appears to be that of separation and isolation.  Each of this issue's contributions refracts this theme through its creator's own unique artistic lens.  The two opening pieces strive to visualize internal psychological states through comics that fuse abstractions with representations.  These are followed by a nineteen page work by Alexander Mostov - the issue's longest - which details the exactions of an isolated existence. An illustration and an ad parody (concocted with Nick Vincenti) by the inimitable Nate NcDonough fill the middle two pages, followed by a Matt Harrison one-pager on toy transference. Steph Neary then provides a four page fantasia of being home alone before readers are given the opportunity to culturally translate four short takes on life's absurdities by Slavko Mali.  Aaron Ward's "Rave" demonstrates that even this supposedly most communal of experiences can be isolating on our age of internet gadgetry.  "Timmy and the Spare Tire", by Corey Ruffin provides a particularly bleak look at children left to their own devices in the great out of doors, and the issue closes out with a six page pencil-rendered piece on the danger of dependency.  It is worth noting that the majority of creators decided to let their comics speak for themselves and left their contributions untitled.  Edited by Andy Scott.  Cover by Lizzee Solomon.  Made in Pittsburgh!

Imperial Egg is a 48 page, black and white comics anthology printed entirely on newsprint that is the latest project from Pittsburgh-based comics-maven, Nate “Grixly” McDonough, who dons both editor and publisher hats here (and is a contributor as well!). Plenty of Pittsburghers and Copacetic regulars are among the 34 contributors on hand here.  Most of the contributions are one-pagers, but there are a substantial handful of longer pieces as well.  There are plenty of cool comics here – all under an egg-cellent (sorry) cover by Jasper Jubenvill – with pieces ranging from the abstract to the fantastic, from the enigmatic to the straightforward, from graphically bold to delicately rendered, from autobio to science fiction, and more.  Notable pieces include Hyena Hell’s amazingly informative historical (and humorous) two-pager on 14th century Europe that focuses on St. Catherine of Siena, and Daniel McCloskey’s entertaining slice-of-life, “Vantastic Mystery.” We would also like to note here that there is also a brutally gruesome one-pager that, while clearly intended as a graphic object lesson, some readers may, nevertheless, find disturbing; if you think that might be you, our advice here is simply to turn the page and move on to the next piece, keeping in mind that it's only lines on paper...  

And… it’s FREE!*.  There is also a LIMIT of ONE per customer, as this is a customer perk.  However, this time around, for anyone who would like to share the experience and/or spread the word (or save some for posterity), we are offering a five-pack for a quite modest price, HERE.  

*which, as experienced CopaceticComics.com customers already know, translates to 1¢ online, due to the shopping cart requiring a number other than zero.  

GONE! (it's remotely possible there are more around here somewhere, so feel free to check back in a while to see whether or not we uncovered any...)