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About Us

Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Bloomington, IN and Portland, OR. We distribute & publish zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, films, and more! Read More

Mailing List

New Arrivals (show more)

• A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance
• Dwelling Portably 1980-89
• Making Stuff and Doing Things Book
• The Jena 6 DVD
• 3:collected works by Robnoxious
• Big Hands #3
• Doris #25
• The Zine Yearbook #3
• The Zine Yearbook #5
• The Zine Yearbook #6
• Guide to Steel Bikes
• Yoga Moves For Dudes #1
• Scam #6
• Welcome to the Dahl House
• Invincible Summer: An Anthology Vol II
• Apoyo
• Smiling Disease: A Guide to Public Stickering
• The IHOP Papers
• Griot #5
• And Together We'll Face the World #3
• 28 Chapters Hastily Written and Bound by Some Stapling Contraption at Some Yet to Be Determined Printshop
• Confrontations: Selected Journalism
• Morgenmuffel #16
• Since Predator Came: Notes From the Struggle for American Indian Liberation
• Constant Rider #8: The: Stories From the Public Transportation Front
• Paper Boys: One Man's Accounts of Picketing at Wapping
• HPV
• The Black Cloud #1
• Unleashing the Imagination: an Anarchist Tour of the National Gallery of Canada
• Give Me Back #53

Random Top List

Joe Likes A Bunch Of Shit

1. X Ray Visions DVD: A Look Inside Portland's Legendary X-Ray Cafe
2. Style Wars DVD
3. Sonic Outlaws DVD
4. The Secret Files of Captain Sissy #4
5. Ravenswood used book: The Steelworkers' Victory and The Revival of American Labor
6. Realizing the Impossible book: Art Against Authority
7. Rainbow Man / John 3:16 DVD
8. OJ Killed Elvis #666
9. Kids on Strike! book
10. Growing a Business book
11. Everything But the Burden book: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture (used)
12. Better Looking Than a Blog: A Collection: Ten Foot Rule Journal Comix Winter of 2007
13. About My Disappearance zine
14. Privilege and Solidarity: Challenging Capitalism, Challenging Philanthropy
15. Identity Crisis: Punk Subculture and Community
16. Am I Mad, Or Has the Whole World Gone Crazy????: achieving mind freedom in the age of empire

Most Popular

1. Zinester's Guide to Portland 4.5 Edition!
2. Making Stuff and Doing Things Book
3. 2008 Slingshot Organizer
4. On Subbing: The First Four Years
5. Applicant
6. Indestructible book
7. A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance
8. Doris #23
9. Support Zine
10. Green Zine #14

Recent Manifesto

Hey there! Here are some photos of each of us who work for Microcosm in Bloomington.
First up is Britt. She's addressing a package to one of ya'll.

Here's Joe eating a veggie dog in Toronto before Canzine!

Steven takes a break in between shipping your orders!

Here's Dillon reading Bamboozled (the Joey Torrey story)!

And here's me, Sparky hanging out with a cute cat in Halifax, NS after Canzine East!

Photos of Wade coming soon!

New Arrivals

Microcosm News

Mostly True: The Story of Bozo Texino

COMING MAY 12! In the companion book to the film shot aboard speeding freight trains, Daniel mixes experimental and documentary to provide a captivating look at a little-known art form. Tracing the origins to boxcar read more.. graffiti from over 100 years ago, Daniel follows rail graffiti's evolution to modern day hobo gatherings, freight hopping trips and secret hobo jungles only known to tried and true hoboes. Along the way Daniel interviews numerous old timers who have spent years on the rails drawing their monikers, among them graffiti legends Colossus of Roads, The Rambler, Herby (RIP) and yes even the ever-illusive Bozo Texino. The interviews provide a fascinating glimpse into the harsh realities of tramp life.

$8.00 $7.00

 

Brainfag Forever (BFF)

COMING MAY 12! BFF: Brainfag Forever! collects nearly a decade of Nate Beaty's self-published comics. Brainfag is a medical term for "brain fatigue," culled from a turn-of-the-century Grape-Nuts ad. Nate uses comics to read more.. explore self-expression, love, love lost, the ups and downs of urban existence versus living off the grid, balancing art and coding on the computer, and generally keeping sanity in a world gone mad. Featuring extensive new material explaining each issue, including the first 25 years of his life in five pages! Climb inside the head of a cartoonist using comics as cheap therapy.

$9.00 $8.00

 

Catalogs & Postcard for 2008!

Our 2008 Catalog & Postcard! It's our list of self published zines, books, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, postcards, talkies, etc on the website but featured on stapled pieces of paper! Stop spending all read more.. day on the internet! Get a paper copy! If you want to help, we would love to give you a stack to hand out around town or leave in record stores, coffee shops, bookstores, libraries, and the like. (We will include our undying love and gratitude with the catalogs we send you, of course!) Just include your address and how many you can pass out. Illustrations by Steve Larder!

$0.01

 

Dwelling Portably 1980-89

OUT NOW! These little suckers have been crammed full of information about living without a permanent residence for nearly 30 years! Super helpful and informative tips for biking, tents, showering, cooking, and living. read more.. Written by many folks who have lived the lifestyle far outside of cities and bereft of technology. According to many readers, '80-86 was their best material and here it is reprinted again in entirity (sans things that have become obsolete).

$8.00 $7.00

 

Invincible Summer, Volume II

OUT NOW! The usual doggies, sheep, and elephants wearing clothes - but this volume, collecting issues #9-14 of Nicole Georges’comic, focuses around a relationship. It begins, blossoms, and then falls apart - as she read more.. sails solo on the ocean, pictorally speaking.

$14.00 $12.00

 

Welcome to the Dahl House

OUT NOW! The collected 1997-2007 comics of Ken Dahl in this graphic novel anthology! Includes all of his minis, short stories, anthology works, and unpublished work including such titles as “Taken For a Ride", "Gordon read more.. Smalls Goes to Jail", "No!", and "Blind Fart"! 2006 Ignatz Winner!

$7.00 $6.00

 

Making Stuff and Doing Things: DIY Guides to Doing Just About Everything! 3RD EDITION!!

The freshly reprinted THIRD edition of Kyle Bravo's collection of how-to articles!
A combination Boy Scout manual and anarchists' bible, Making Stuff and Doing Things is filled to the gills with instructions on DIY read more.. education, self-publishing, entertainment, arts & crafts, creative troublemaking, outdoor survival and health & body care. Features rewritten entries and numerous corrections!

$12.00 $10.00

 

X Ray Visions (DVD) - NEW EDITION!

OUT NOW! An in-depth account of one of the most important cultural epicenters in Portland's history, "X-Ray Visions" tells the story of the X-Ray Cafe, an ABC NO RIO/924 Gilman-esque "Nightclub" that hosted bands like read more.. Green Day, Crash Worship, Nation of Ulysses, Neurosis, Everclear, and virtually every touring act from '89-'94. Did you ever wonder how Portland appeared on the map as THE epicenter for weird, alternative arts and culture? It was because of the X-Ray - an entirely unique all-ages venue with a true "anything goes" aesthetic--a punk band, a circus act, toddlers banging on things, language classes, 25 cent advice, and spanking evangelist might all appear on a single bill - and its presence in Old Town in the early 90's put Portland on the map as a radical, rock and roll kind of town. Comes with a bonus CD soundtrack of former X-Ray regular acts, including Hazel, Dead Moon, Big Daddy Meat Straw, New Bad Things, Unwound, Crackerbash, Frances Farmer Gals, and more! Tightened up editing with a new cover by Sean Tejeratchi (Craphound!)

$12.99 $10.00

 

The CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting #5!

OUT NOW! The latest installment of this pseudo-anonymously penned, informational zine discusses at length the details of Iran/Contra. In 1986 the President was at the helm - secretly selling weapons to our enemies in read more.. Iran and then illegally using the profits to fund the anti-Sandinista rebel Contras, in Nicaragua. Relive the excitement - the cake in the shape of a key, world leaders lying through their teeth, and everyone denying responsibility and knowledge that it was even going on in the first place!

$1.50

 

Still We Ride (DVD) - NEW VERSION!

OUT NOW! A new version of this awesome documentary about Critical Mass bike rides after the Republican National Convention crackdowns in New York! DVD includes a new Fly comic zine about Times Up! and 6 new bonus shorts read more.. including "Dooring PSA", "Gears for Fears", "Hit a Frog", "Congestion Pricing", "Unconventional Critical Mass", Chris Carlson Interview, and "Memorial Ride".

$14.99 $12.00

 

Indestructible - 2nd Edition!

OUT NOW! A new edition of Cristy Road's coming-of-age novel "Indestructible" - this time without the typos! Yay!

$6.00 $5.00

 

Bamboozled: The Joey Torrey Story

OUT NOW! In 1979 a strong Los Angeles kid boxer was headed to the Olympics, now he's in Maximum Security Prison - Joey Torrey was pressured to collaborate with the FBI to "clean up boxing" and paid back with empty read more.. promises and a forseeable future in prison - or murdered for being a snitch! Joey discovered zines in prison and decided that this was how he wanted to publish his memoir - and boy does he have stories to tell! He grew up on the streets of Compton where he learned to box. Now he lives in the pen between Sirhan Sirhan and Charles Manson (whom he answers mail for). Told in his own words to the few people that he trusted, his story is finally broadcast.

$5.00 $4.00

 

Microcosm History Zine!

New Edition!! The history of twelve years of Microcosm Publishing, told in graphic detail! For the first time ever, read about how we got to where we are today through working long hours at low (or no) pay! Join us on read more.. our journey through starting out in a bedroom, putting out records, growing, moving to Portland, publishing books, growing, moving into an office in Liberty Hall, amassing more zines than anyone could ever konw what to do with, and more. A fun foray into getting inspiration and perspective for making your own projects. Entries by Joe Biel, Alex Wrekk, Franco Ortega, Marc Moscato, Siue Moffat, Peter Aaron "Thug" Green, and more. Cover by Alan Lastufka.

$2.00 $1.50

 

$100 & A T-Shirt (DVD), Version 3.0 now available!

Four years in the making, the third version of this mildly exciting talkie/video about zines is now available! Features newer, cleaner, re-mastered audio, a new history section, and 50 new visual shots & pieces of read more.. archive material to break up the talking heads. Includes two brand new bonus short documentaries - "Tennessee State Prison" and "Record Playerz". First version VHS only $2.

$12.99 $10.00

 

Microcosm - in your town!

We'll be tabling at:
May 16--18th -- Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
May 19th-- Film Screening in Buffalo, NY--Birdhouse Collective
May 20th-- Film Screening in Pittsburgh, PA--AIR: Artists Image Resource
May 21st-- read more.. Film Screening in Columbus, OH--Sporeprint Infoshop
June 7-8th -- MoCCA Art Festival 2008 -- New York City
Canadian Tour with Strike Anywhere from June 9th--29th!
June 20-22rd -- Allied Media Conference
We're working on touring with bands like Tim Barry and maybe The Hold Steady and The Thermals! See you there!
If you’re planning an event and you’d like the Microcosm gang to participate (by tabling, presenting, aiding in the consumption of vegan treats, etc) please let us know!

 

Zine Yearbook #9

COMING IN JUNE!Microcosm is finished up 2007's Zine Yearbook. We stepped up the effort this year to include relevant articles about the year in zines - super fun zine fests, life changing experiences, amazing pen pal read more.. connections, and stories from people who hold zines dear to their hearts. We are trying to create a representative collection of not only reprints from zines published in 2007 but also a pulse of what 2007 was like for zines! Twice the size of previous zine yearbooks!

$12.00 $10.00

 

Be our "Best Friend Forever"!

....okay, well, not really forever...but Just like supporting your local farmers, we now offer a "subscription" to everything that we publish! Every time we publish something new we'll send it to your door! Perfect for read more.. people who love to get a monthly package but don't have time to sift through what they want! $10-30/month based on what you can afford. Minimum subscription period is 6 months. Subscription begins the month after it is purchased. To receive more than 6 months, add multiple orders to your quantity.

$90.00

 

Chainbreaker Bike Book

OUT NOW!!! A bicycle repair manual that is hand illustrated and conversationally toned - with an understanding that we don't all come out of the womb with an innate understanding of mechanics and bicycles. Meant to be a read more.. friendly gateway into the world of fixing your bike, from Ethan and Shelley of the Plan B Bike Project and French Quarter Bicycles in New Orleans. This book also reprints significantly the original four issues of the Chainbreaker zines, whose masters were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina flooding. A great book for introduction or just someone who wants to geek out about bikes.

$14.00 $12.00