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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. A free interactive APP of the second and newest book Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. A free interactive APP of the second and newest book Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. A free interactive APP of the second and newest book Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. A free interactive APP of the second and newest book Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Lou Beach is an illustrator, artist, and writer. He recently published 420 Characters, a book of short fiction which also features 10 original collages. He inhabits many states of mind but is most at home in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife, the photographer Issa Sharp. Their days are spent hob nobbing with celebrities and the literary elite, heads of state and captains of industry. Lou is debonair, fluid in twelve languages and an expert marksman.

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Go here for more information about All Over Coffee collaborations

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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. A free interactive APP of the second and newest book Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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When I think about Kramers Ergot Number Eight, I imagine 1970’s aesthetics, and the Beatles’ album, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

I decided the only way explain in words such impressions of visual stories was to first show the visuals. Because what I responded to was not just one story, but the collection as a whole. So here are selections from each piece featured in Kramers Ergot Number Eight, in the order they appear in the book. Then after, you’ll find my thoughts.

The first issue of Kramers Ergot was released in 2000. On the outside, it was a classic softbound standard issue comic book, but inside was an abundance of talent that promised to be the twenty-first century’s Zap or Raw. Over the years each new edition has redefined itself in design, shape and content, stretching the boundaries of comics in both storytelling and presentation. This newest collection is no different. Edited by Sammy Harkham and published by PictureBox, the Kramers Ergot series comes full circle, serving up Number Eight in the style of the new indie standard: a standard size hardcover book.

The 240 page edition opens with 8 pages of abstract images, then moves into an overly ambitious essay about the importance of comics, citing histories from Christianity to Pop Art to homosexuality. It’s a bold move. The formal essay is a tradition of new movements, a calling the room to order then climbing on stage to soberly declare that the art form you are about to encounter is now all grown up. So if we didn’t know it before, Kramers Ergot wants us to know that it believes comics are indeed art. The book then moves into short comic stories from almost twenty contemporary comic artists, including Gary Panter and Gabrielle Bell, and concludes with 40 pages of the 1970’s Penthouse comic, Oh, Wicked Wanda! by Ron Embleton and Frederic Mullalley.

The echo of 1970’s aesthetics comes not just from Oh, Wicked Wanda!, but from the cover, and the passages of digital images that hover between art and comics—I’m reminded of sunset paintings in ranges of oranges and browns on the sides of vans. The Sergeant Pepper’s reference is more abstract. It’s about how these pieces resonate together as a collection.

Sergeant Pepper’s was initially concepted as a rock opera, but the idea was abandoned. On the final album, some of the initial structural tracks were kept, giving the impression of the album telling a story, yet there is no clear thread that connects all the songs. This is Kramers Ergot: We feel the unifying force behind it all, but the individual pieces are not narratively linked.

This may sound like a criticism, but it isn’t. The book in no way could be mistaken for, or claims to be, a continuous narrative, so there’s no failure there. Rather, it’s the impression that all these stories go together that makes the book shine. What’s great about this edition, and the Kramers Ergot series, is that the whole of disparate pieces is greater than the sum of its parts. Behind the selection and arrangement is a clear personality. The book feels like a personalized mix tape. It feels like music.

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All Over Coffee, by Paul Madonna, is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.
Go here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Lou Beach is an illustrator, artist, and writer. He recently published 420 Characters, a book of short fiction which also features 10 original collages. He inhabits many states of mind but is most at home in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife, the photographer Issa Sharp. Their days are spent hob nobbing with celebrities and the literary elite, heads of state and captains of industry. Lou is debonair, fluid in twelve languages and an expert marksman.

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Go here for more information about All Over Coffee collaborations

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Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Matthew Dickman is the author of All-American Poem (American Poetry Review/ Copper Canyon Press, 2008). The recipient of The Honickman First Book Prize, The May Sarton Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Kate Tufts Award from Claremont College, and the 2009 Oregon Book Award from Literary Arts of Oregon. His poems have appeared in Tin House Magazine, McSweeny’s, Ploughshares, The Believer, BOMB online, and The New Yorker among others. W.W. Norton & Co. will publish his second book in 2012. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

For more information on All Over Coffee collaborations, check out this page.
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Written by Isaac Fitzgerald. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available.

Daniel Handler is the author of four novels, and as Lemony Snicket, far too many books for children.

For more information on All Over Coffee collaborations, check out this page.

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Written by Cheryl Strayed. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press, the second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

Written by Andrew Sean Greer. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

Written by Isaac Fitzgerald. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

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Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press. The second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring. A free interactive APP of Everything is its own reward is also now available, download the APP here.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press, the second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

Written by Andrew Sean Greer. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press, the second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

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Written by Cheryl Strayed. For more information on collaborative All Over Coffee strips, go to allovercoffee.com.

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press, the second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Click image to enlarge:

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All Over Coffee is published in the Sunday Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle, on SFGate.com, and in two book collections by City Lights Press, the second and newest book, Everything is its own reward, was just released this spring.

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna

Small Potatoes by Paul Madonna

Click here to read The Rumpus interview with Paul Madonna
Read more Small Potatoes at angrylittlepotatoes.com

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