My take on what's missing from the magazines or why Stampington will probably never have me in their magazines again

My first publications purchase of 2008:

Stampington's Life Images, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Teesha Moore's Art & Life #10, Drawn and Quarterly Publications: Julie Doucet's 365 Days and Julie Morstad's Milk Teeth.

Art & Life was in with all of my holiday mail when we got home so that was a plus! The new issue is mostly Teesha's journal pages from Japan. I am eager to dive in! The colors are ASTOUNDING.

I went to 2 stores looking for Life Images (Borders in West Hollywood had it). I haven't done more then flip through it a couple of times but I really love the different photos and perspectives in this magazine.

Taylor let me know that Home Companion was out early (woo hoo) so off to the newsstand I went today and there it was waiting for me. This is the one issue all year that I go bonkers for as it focuses on artists studios. I wish they would do this more and expand the idea.

Now, here are the books I bought. We hit Meltdown for the first time in 3 weeks today. I was thrilled to find that they had both books I had been searching (and waiting) for:

First up, is Julie Morstad's Milk Teeth:
Her line drawings are exquisite and extremely unique...Definitely not for everyone (LOL I can see some of you out there thinking I'm sick and twisted) but those of you that delight in work by the likes of Edward Gorey will love this little tome. Her imagination just oozes out in every page-I LOVE this book.
Next up is another Julie, this time Julie Doucet's 365 Days that I have been stalking the stores for several weeks looking for this one:
I. Love. This. Book. David and I have always been big fans of Doucet's comic work. This is a reproduction of her journal starting from November 2002 until mid 2003. It's filled with comics, musings, collage, and much more. I am looking forward to savoring this one.
*****

The book that I am most eagerly anticipating in 2008 is Lynda Barry's WHAT IT IS, which is based on her creative writing workshop, Writing the Unthinkable. I absolutely positively completely and totally LOVE Lynda Barry's work. It's not that she's a redhead. It's that she's a damn, talented and funny as hell artist. One of my friends in high school gave me a Marlys book for Christmas one year and I just wrapped myself in its pages. From the "free comic book day" preview that my family hunted all over Vegas for this past May (while I was teaching), ya know it's going to be one helluva great book! More fun Barry stuff here.