The Copacetic Comics Company Chris Cornwell

Chris Cornwell

Title	Creator	Publisher	Series	Price
Elktor	Chris Cornwell	Self-published		$3.00 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	This 12-page, hand-crafted, 5 1/2" square comic book that sports a four-pass, hand silk-screened cover, features the first appearance of Elktor, who goes on to greater glory in the pages of Cornwell's Cold Heat Special. Act now before this one vanishes in the mists of time...
Cold Heat Special #6	Chris Cornwell	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$10.00 ($12.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Yes, Cold Heat Special 8 and 9 have come (and gone) but without any sign of numbers 6 and 7... until now! Over a year in the making, Cold Heat Special number six is now in stock and it's a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted work of art. Wrapped in fabulous front and back cover silkscreens – complete with inside front and back cover silk-screened "endpapers," which are overlaid with hand tipped full color "plates" (ink jet prints) – this magazine-size special is an aesthetic treat and feast for the eyes, yes, but most of all it is an experience for the mind. Extending and vastly expanding on the themes he introduced in his first Cold Heat Special (number two), Cornwell has here seamlessly merged his own artistic concerns with those of Cold Heat creators BJ and Santoro to forge a fantastic journey to the center of the mind that intimates at the nature of eternal recurrence and the simultaneity of historicity in a universe that has banished linear time and made way for cosmic consciousness. All while working firmly in the Cold Heat tradition of living off the grid and on the fringes – turned on to DIY culture and a new life of untested possibilities. Limited to 100 copies. Recommended!
Looking for the Joke	Chris Cornwell	Self-published		$5.00 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Looking for the Joke is Cornwell's follow-up to I Wanna Destroy You, released earlier this year at S.P.A.C.E. (see below). Following the same format as its predecessor, this 20-page, 8 1/2" x 11" comics magazine sports a hand silk-screened cover. While continuing to explore similar concerns, LftJ provides solid evidence that Cornwell's vision and skills are in the process of evolving and advancing. Where IWDY contained a churning osmosis of concepts, LftJ is obviously bipartate in structure, as it is split into two distinct, separate stories: "Herbman and/versus Dog-Dude," and "They Took It with Them." It appears that the artistic equivalent of cell-division has taken place. The question is whether the division was meiotic or mitotic, or, perhaps, at least in part, some novel sort of zygotic hybrid, in that "They Took It with Them" is a murky collaboration with Bill Boichel. It will have to suffice for now to say that the comics herein contained reach far down into the inner organic reaches of human being and bring up some interesting finds the likes of which you won't find elsewhere. So, if you like adventurous, challenging comics experiences, this might be the book for you.
Cold Heat Special #2	Chris Cornwell	PictureBox	Cold Heat	$3.00 ($3.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Cold Heat Special #2: Chunky Gnars is a digest-sized issue with cardstock cover that focuses on the music-as-spiritual-salvation aspect of the Cold Heat narrative, and does so with much graphic aplomb. Cornwell's digest is densely packed with metaphor, analogue and allegory all of which are related to each other and, tangentially at least, to the Cold Heat narrative thus far. Even if you're not a follwer of the Cold Heat series, you should consider checking this out as it can and does stand on its own merits, as well as providing a window onto one of the most innovative comics works currently being produced.
Spunj Baahb	Chris Cornwell	Self-published		$4.44 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Are you looking for new, fun and smart, visually and intellectually stimulating, hand-made and independently published comics work that's created right here in Pittsburgh, PA? Well, if you are, you've come to the right place. Spunj Baahb is the latest comics conundrum by Copacetic customer Chris Cornwell. It's a 20-page, 8 1/2" x 11" black & white, saddle-stapled comics magazine printed on 28 lb. bright white stock with a two-color hand silk screened cover on sky blue cardstock. Except for two pages of exposition wherein the work's themes are explicitly stated, the narrative unfolds entirely in Cornwell's ever evolving pictograhic language. While cartoon characters such as Sponge-Bob Squarepants™ are commonly understood to represent the communal unconscious of the society that produced it, Spunj Baahb takes it a step further and posits the inner life of the cartoon character itself -- the dream within the dream, if you will -- and does so with much aplomb.
Questor	Chris Cornwell	Self-published		$2.00 ($2.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Premiering at SPX, this 40-page, horizontally-formatted, black and white piece is the debut full-length work by Pittsburgh-based artist, Chris Cornwell. Fans of Fort Thunder who are looking for an artist who understands the visual vocabulary of its artists and is capable of intelligently building on their legacy, who has the ability to create a coherent narrative entirely in carefully rendered, visually appealing images, who takes the time to think things through, and whose vision extends far beyond the borders of the comics world need look no further -- this is it! And, of course, one need not be a fan of the Fort Thunder crowd to appreciate this work, as it is, after all is said and done, quite an original piece. Questor is a work of pure comics. What you find here, can't be as fully expressed in any other form.
I Wanna Destroy You	Chris Cornwell	Self-published		$4.44 ($5.00 list)
Read more and comment...	Well, not you personally, but the "you" that is at the core of the illusion of a unified, independent self that we all have (had) to deal with in one form or another on the road to forging a workable identity amidst the tumultuous abundance of the post-modern cultural landscape. The key value to this work is the revelation of the critical role comics can play in coming to grips with the machinery of this omnipresent dilemma. This piece, the third by Copacetic customer Cornwell that we've offered for sale, shows the creator exhibiting his ambition as he works to synthesize a wide range of influences into an exploding montage of styles, narrative tropes and storylines. The dual 49-panel front and back covers set the stage which stroboscopically shifts through a dry-ice fog of R. Crumb self-consciousness, Charles Burns moodiness, some obvious (but clever!) "quotations" of Marc Bell, and the diegetic use of Fort Thunder tropes, in the process taking the reader on a 28-page journey that evokes a spirit of chaos reminiscent of Paper Rad and which concludes with the multiply referential meta-comics of the inside back cover "pin-up."I Wanna Destroy You reveals, when the dust settles, the looming question mark of consciousness, and delivers a confirmation of the illusion of self. Please note: This edition comes with an additional hand silk-screened cover wrap printed on yellow card stock that is not pictured here.