Atomic Book Company

Lulu Eightball Volume 2

2009-08-03T22:53:00.004-04:00

Coming in September 2009!

Lulu Eightball runs in numerous alternative weeklies around the country. Emily Flake’s cartoons deal with a variety of subjects, including - but not limited to - life and love and the foibles involved in both. Also drinking, smoking, bumble bees, monkeys, and generally bad decision making.

Collecting several years worth of her strip, plus "lost strips" recently rediscovered that were absent in volume 1 and a comic short story.

"Emily Flake draws these eyes... these ragged, Little Orphan Annie saucer eyes that are at once wide and naive, wise and sly, and maybe a little bit drunk. I'd like to look at the world through those eyes. But it turns out, only Emily Flake can. Thank heaven for her. And hell to boot."
- John Hodgman (More Information Than You Require)

"Don't you sometimes feel the viscous black bile heaving up and getting stuck in your throat from the areas deep in your stomach and around your heart? Because of all the easy cynicism, and sarcasm, and 'funny' pop-culture references? Or even worse: the phony compassion, cheap inspiration, and false hope? Wouldn't it be great if someone shared with you the actual pain of being a human being, accepted you as you were, and was also hilarious? Thank God for Emily Flake."
- Leo Allen (Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Human Giant)

Fart Party Volume 2

2009-06-20T16:21:00.003-04:00

Is out now!

Available at your local comic book store.

"What allows Fart Party to stand out in a field filled with autobiographical comics is Wertz herself, who, to quote the book's foreword by former City Paper comic Perry Bible Fellowship's Nicholas Gurewitch, 'pretty much encapsulates the whole of the human condition.' Her cartoon avatar, resembling the Utz girl's neurotic older sister, is easy to like and perhaps even easier to relate to."
--Baltimore CityPaper.

Lulu Awards

2008-05-26T22:31:00.001-04:00

The Lulu Awards are happening at MOCCA this year!

Our own Emily Flake is emceeing the event and our own Julia Wertz is nominated for a Kim Yale Award (best new talent).

And speaking of awards, Emily won a Prism Award earlier this month for These Things Ain't Gonna Smoke Themselves. She beat the Hulk, which was also nominated for "accurate depiction of drug, alcohol, or tobacco use in a comic book story line."

The Fart Party

2007-08-24T13:35:00.002-04:00

The Fart Party by Julia Wertz, collects the acclaimed and controversial web comic and zine. The foul-mouthed and hilarious stories here follow the life of Julia, a twentysomething woman living in San Francisco. Includes an introduction by Peter Bagge.

'If you're wondering what it's like to be a smart, self-aware young woman living in San Francisco in 2006, Wertz's comic has all the answers.' -THE ONION

'I love Fart Party!' -KITCHEN SINK MAGAZINE

'When I saw the title of Wertz's zine, I didn't expect much beyond raunchy toilet humor, so what I found inside was all the more surprising! Julia's drawings are awesome and her comic timing is perfect... underneath all the drunken craziness, there's a secret heart to the comic that is warm, and dare I say, innocent.' - JOHN PORCELLINO (King-Cat)

Interview with Julia Wertz on The Comics Reporter

The Future Generation

2007-03-24T11:51:00.003-04:00

by China Martens

The Zine-Book For Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends And Others!

'The original punk parent zine.' - Ariel Gore

'Future Generation is a must read for anyone who wants to understand Adrienne Rich's idea of mothering (Of Woman Born) based on the mother's own experience, not the patriarchal definition of motherhood in which mothers must be surveilled, controlled, advised, and punished. For here is an evolution of mothering, a memoir of a conscious mother. Get it. Read it. Pass it on.' - Katherine Arnoldi, author of The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom and All Things Are Labor

'Without a doubt, this book will go down as a parenting classic for the
future generations.' - Jessica Mills/MRR, author of My Mother Wears Combat Boots

'Martens has been writing since long before the mommy wars were a media trope, but her work is a powerful response to punditry casting institutional and political problems as personal issues of "work-life balance" for mothers (notably, not fathers).' - Lisa Jervis, Bitch Magazine

Interview with China Martens in the Baltimore CityPaper

Best Zine - Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore Bests 2007

I Keee You!! A Collection of Overheards

2006-10-14T10:38:00.001-04:00

Edited by Benn Ray
Cover Illustration by Brian Ralph

A collection of overheard snippets of conversations illustrated by many of the finest indie comics illustrators.

What have we overheard in the bathroom? On the street? In bars? In our own homes? In stores? At restaurants? As people talk into their cell phones, to their friends and, in some cases to no one at all. Have we overheard you? Could be.

Illustrations by:
Allison Cole
Andrew Goldfarb
Androo Robinson
Anne Thalheimer
Barry Rodges
Ben Claassen III
Bernie McGovern
Brian Ralph
Bruce Orr
Carrie McNinch
Cole Johnson
Delaine Derry Green
Diana Tamblyn
Emily Flake
Grant Reynolds
Greg The Zine Librarian
Hawk Krall
Jamie Dee Galey
Jeff Plotkin
Jeffrey Brown
Jen Michaelis
Jim Siergey
Joe Decie
Joe Tallarico
Joel Orff
Joshua W. Cotter
Kelly Froh
Lee Cooper
Mark Burrier
Martin Cendreda
Matt Fagan
Max Hallinan
Michael S. Bracco
Mike Weibel
Missy Kulik
Nell Taylor
Nick Bertozzi
Patrick Tianen
Peter S. Conrad
Rich Howell
Ryan Claytor
Sarah Becan
Suzanne Baumann
Tim Winkelman
Tom Chalkley
Tom Williams

Lulu Eightball

2006-04-14T19:55:00.001-04:00

Emily Flake's first book collects her popular alternative weekly comic strip, Lulu Eightball.

"The folks at legendary alternative Bookstore Atomic Books just started their very own imprint, and it makes sense that its first offering is this brilliantly dastardly collection of comic strips. With titles like "I Never Meant to Have Thoughts Like This," "Disappointments of the Afterlife," and "Cliches Best Left Unexamined," Emily Flake's comics are morose little slices of spite that make Life in Hell look like the freakin' Family Circus - and maybe more important, serve to remind curmudgeonly types that not only are we not alone, we're everywhere." --BITCH

"For a comic with a recurring monkey who wears socks and is sometimes bashful, Flake's work can be as disturbing as it is playful...Flake writes with a cynical glee, giving voice to all of her evil thoughts in an utterly adorable way." --CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"A collection of one page shorts, this book is packed with caustic humor and more than a little self-loathing. Some recurring themes include drinkin, smokin', belly flab, pregnancy scares and existential ponderings...I couldn't put it down until I'd read them all." -- PUNK PLANET

"Emily Flake is one funny fucking cartoonist...As for the drawing style, imagine a Precious Moments figure after you flipped it over and fucked it a couple of times. It's still cute, but now there's something tainted about it." -- SLUG & LETTUCE

#1 on Entertainment Weekly's Must List.