The BugHouse #4 ebook comes out this week (March 1, 2016) from Alternative Comics. We’re buzzing out 9 issues, the complete BugHouse saga as it were, on a monthly basis. Thanks much to Marc Arsenault at Alternative for bringing my BugHouse material to a new audience!
BugHouse, a fictional “insect-noir”, indigo-toned history of Be Bop jazz, started in ’93 in my Buzzard comix anthology. I went on to do 6 issues on my Cat-Head Comics imprint, along with 2 graphic novels. Then, from 2000 to 2005, Top Shelf published all my Bug comix over three graphic novels, BugHouse, Baja and Scalawag. In 2012, CO2 put out a 400-page print collection, Menage a BugHouse, still available as a Print-On-Demand title via Amazon. So you can see, this body of work has more lives than a cat!
I always figure BugHouse will make a splendid movie, a visually lush feature with a sublime soundtrack. Guess I’m too busy drawing and raisin’ kids to get on that just now… but I’ll do it yet!
Order the BugHouse #4 Ebook at this link.
The BugHouse #3 eBook is now available here at .99
Jimmy Watts and his BugHouse band are the toast of the town, as the red-hot Bebop jazz band takes the stage of the storied Club Savoy. But lookout, sleazy purveyors of the highly addictive substance “bug-juice” flock around Jimmy. In no time, Jimmy takes a slug in a back-alley drug deal gone sour!
BugHouse is being serialized as an eBook by Marc Arsenault of Alternative Comics on a monthly basis. It’s really fun to have Marc putting these up on a monthly basis. It gives a new generation of readers a chance to dig my insect-noir fictional history of be-bop jazz!
Get the first BugHouse eBook for free at this link!
The series began in the pages of Buzzard comics anthology from Cat-Head Comics in 1993, published by myself and Stephen Beaupre. Cat-Head subsequently published 6 issues of the BugHouse comic book, before issuing a BugHouse graphic collection in 1996, and another entitled Jonk! in 1998.
Top Shelf went on to publish 3 BugHouse graphic novels (BugHouse, Baja and Scalawag) in the 2000’s. This is the first time BugHouse is available as an eBook. You can also check it out via online browser at C02 Comics.
My entire body of BugHouse work runs about 400 pages.
Get BugHouse eBook #2 for .99 at this link.
Find out why critic Rob Clough put BugHouse in his top 100 graphic novels of the first decade of the century!
I hope you enjoy reading BugHouse as much as I enjoyed creating it!
This holiday season, I’m gonna suggest just a few of my fave items that are sure to please everyone on your gift list!
First and foremost, there’s my latest books, Death in Oaxaca #1 and Death in Oaxaca #2. These are fantastic, lively comic books building towards my upcoming graphic novel, giving you a taste of the good (and weird) life in my adopted city. They are packed with great characters, and tips on the best things to eat in Oaxaca. Just click through the links to buy. You can’t go wrong at $5 a pop!
Next up is the Benb T-Shirt. How to explain Benb? He always smiles and never talks, as his mouth is sewn shut. He has holes in his head where eyes should be. He’s a bumbling idiot, but is remarkably light on his feet and good natured to a fault. He’s been around since 1976, first appearing in my college strip Aluminum Foil when I was 19 years old. Everybody needs a Benb TShirt! You can pick men’s or women’s Ts in your fave color.
Click Here to order the Benb TShirt from Redbubble. Once there, you can search on “steve lafler” to see a whole buncha cool TShirt designs from me.
These here are some cool stocking stuffers that bring a blast of fresh air into the holiday season and are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face. Thanks for stopping by!
Steve Lafler
My latest comic book Death in Oaxaca #2 came out in July, 2015 from Alternative Comics at $4.99. Now you can order it online from the publisher or Amazon.
I’m serializing the eventual graphic novel in the classic comic book format. It’s a nutty adventure set in Oaxaca, Mexico with a close look at local culture and food. Yum! Get yer tlayudas, memelas and tejate over here!
Cartoonist Steve Lafler pokes his head into San Francisco’s Mercury Cafe on July 23, launching his new comic book Death in Oaxaca #2. Lafler, who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico, concocts a story with favorite themes: Voluptuous masked luchadoras, and a celebration of the small moments of Oaxacan life.
Our protagonist Rex discovers Tejate, the refreshing bevereage of ancient Zapotec kings, made from cacao and maize. Sure, it looks like dirty dishwater at first glance, but trust us, it’s sublime. There’s also a 2,000 year old indigenous Vampire who prefers chicken, kicking the story into left field, where cartoonist Lafler generally points when he’s at bat.
Best known for his long-running Bughouse and Dog Boy comics series, Lafler is currently releasing Death in Oaxaca on the Alternative Comics imprint as individual comic books, building towards an eventual graphic novel.
Steve also brings his country-punk outfit The Dick Nixon Experience to the event, with Bay Area scene veterans Scott Hoover on Bass, Sputnik Juelich on drums, and Dave Cherry on tenor sax, along with soloists Doyle Stewart (guitar, mandolin) and Jay Eck (ukelele) of The Grups. “We gonna kick out the jams”, Lafler offers, along with his original compositions Ripe Pineapple Drunk, Beans and Jack Black Song. Rounding out the evenings entertainment is The Minor Batman Villains, an East Bay band fronted by Richard Von Busack.
This event takes place at The Mercury Cafe, 201 Octavia St., July 23 at 7pm.
Buy a copy of Death in Oaxaca #1
Here is the Spanish Language ebook Los Muertos de Oaxaca – Death in Oaxaca #1 in Spanish
Welcome to my world! I want to make sure that everyone can access my 30 years of highly unusual art comics, with just a click or two, including my coffee table sized BugHouse and Dog Boy collections.
That’s right, I’ve been here the entire history of the Alternative Comics movement, shaking things up and knockin’ out comix. My current series, Death in Oaxaca, can be got from Alternative Comics.
Then there’s my legacy collections, available from CO2. We’re talking 900 pages of singular, visionary nut-job comics by me! You can buy the 400-page BugHouse collection or the 500-page Complete Dog Boy, and your coffee table will be proud of you.
With both volumes, I guarantee the ride of your life. Fasten your seat belts, pull up your favorite beverage, and hold on tight! No kiddin’.
Promotional image for Summer 2012 Bughouse Book tour.
Questions or comments, drop me an email.
Happy Donuts,
Steve Lafler
The thinking person’s alt comics critic Rob Clough reviewed Death in Oaxaca #1 at the Comics Journal online.
MEANWHILE, I finally finished the Spanish translation of this first issue, with help from Paco X González Muñoz. Actually, it was more than help, Paco did the actual translation, I just did the graphic part. Thanks Paco!
I had to graphically marry the words to the pictures on the existing pages. Let’s just say there was, and still is, a learning curve to the whole process. But, it’s also really great to have my new work in Spanish!
EBOOK en espanol to come soon from Alternative.
Come on in, check out these favorite Lafler art pieces at ridiculous deals for the Holidays! Paintings and original comics pages & covers.
You’ll know which one you just have to buy, it’ll call your name. Ordering details/instructions below.
Enjoy!
Cave Vocho. Acrylic 10″ x 12″, 2008 $95.00
Wild Little Pig. Acrylic 8″ x 10″, 2002. $75.00
Drinkin’ Dennnis. SOLD! Acrylic 10″ x 12″, 2002. $85.00
Ms. Reed Richards. Acrylic 14″ x 11″, 2003. $145.00
Jorge & Felix (from Baja). Acrylic 10″ x 8″, 2002. $65.00
Cat Suit. Acrylic/collage, 11″ x 14″, 2007. $145.00
Minibikes. India ink on paper, 10″ x 7″, 2012. $65.00
Bughouse #3, inside front cover. India ink on bristol board, 11″ x 14″, 1995. $165.00
Below are 3 original Dog Boy pages from Dog Boy #7 (Fantagraphics, July 1987). India ink on bristol board, 11″ x 17″. I’m putting these amazing pieces up at only $100 each! A steal, they are. Wuxtry Special Offer: these 3 Dog Boy pieces for $250!
HERE ARE some DEATH IN OAXACA pieces:
Death in Oaxaca, page one. India ink on bristol board. 10.75″ x 16.5″, 2013. $250.00
Death in Oaxaca #1, cover. India ink on bristol board, 11″ x 17″, 2012. $250.00
Death in Oaxaca #2, cover. India ink on bristol board, 10.75″ x 16.5″, 2014. $250.00
Purchase two pieces and get a 15% discount.
I’ll send an order confirmation and paypal invoice.
Have a fine holiday season!
Steve
All pieces come with a signed copy of Death in Oaxaca #1, my new comic mag from Alternative Comics. Items ship in the December 26 – 28 window. I’m in the U.S. at that time. Prices include postage, shipped insured. Original comic pages ship in a sturdy tube. Paintings are wrapped with care as if they were the baby Jesus himself!
I’ve done an interview with Copy This!, a zine devoted to mini-comics, to appear in December 2014. To add spice to the issue, we are including two Monster Guitar trading cards.
Copyright Steve Lafler 2014
Steve Lafler Comics & Illustration 