Radical Indie Comics Publisher Silver Sprocket Announces Spring 2023 Lineup

Silver Sprocket, the radical San Francisco-based indie comics publisher, will publish 13 original books in Spring 2023.

Announced titles include Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Sugar and Other Stories by Joy San, Fart School by Mel Stringer, Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox, and Grog the Frog by Alba BG & Davilorium.

Each of Silver Sprocket’s titles this season will continue to reflect its output of quality comics, exploring a range of themes and subjects, such as queer identity, feminist horror, artistic burnout, and more!

Get in touch for review copies, PDFs, or interview requests: kyle@silversprocket.com 

Below are the individual announcements for each title:

Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

A bilingual English/Spanish poetry magazine and autofiction chapbook lusciously written and illustrated by award-winning graphic novelist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell.

It is an amalgamation of words and images brought together to become more than the sum of their parts, exploring the body as the site and host of all pleasure and pain, and, as its name pays homage to, a collection of dispatches from life on earth.

40-full color pages; 8.5” x 11”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-000-3; SRP: $19.99; Release date: 02/15/23

Sugar and Other Stories by Joy San

A devoted yet amoral creature ensures a girl’s blood sugar stays up. A gory ritual creates a charming woman’s perfect smile. A neglected and overworked wife is slowly subsumed by violent fantasies. In this collection of short horror comics, cartoonist Joy San masterfully explores the ways in which we contort and control ourselves, balancing the bloody and brutal with unexpected levity.

 160 full-color and B&W pages; 5” x 6”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-011-9; SRP: $21.99; Release date: 02/22/23

Fart School by Mel Stringer

Mel imagines collaborating with other artists in a vibrant community, honing her craft, and becoming an accomplished artist. But it turns out that art school isn’t quite the same in real life. Based on the author’s experience attending art school in the early 2000s, this funny, heartfelt book will resonate with anyone with a youthful dream—or a DeviantArt account.

200 full-color pages; 6” x 6”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-015-7; SRP: $24.99; Release date: 03/08/23

Comics for Choice: Illustrated Abortion Stories, History and Politics, 2nd Edition
Edited by Hazel Newlevant, Whit Taylor, & Ø.K. Fox

The stories in Comics for Choice showcase a wide range of abortion experiences from a diverse array of voices: trans voices, older voices, activist voices—relatable voices. As this fundamental reproductive right continues to be stigmatized and jeopardized, over sixty artists and writers have created comics that boldly share their own experiences, and educate readers on the history of abortion, current political struggles, activism, and more.

 308 full color pages; 6.625” x 10.25”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-014-0; SRP: $29.99; Release date: 03/15/23

The Changeling, Volume 2 by Tina Lugo

Luth is a lycan—half human, half wolf—ostracized from her clan. In order to prove herself, she enters the trials to become Heketi, an elite warrior hand-picked to serve as defender and peacekeeper. But in the grueling challenge of the trials, she discovers something else entirely. She is the Dark Star, destined to bring ruin to her land. Can she fight against the demon lurking inside her, or will tragedy win out?

 64 B&W pages; 6” x 9”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-013-3; SRP: $13.99; Release date: 03/22/23

Enlightened Transsexual Comix by Sam Szabo

The year is 2023. The astral plane has entered a tailspin. Fortunately, an ancient cosmological entity is on a mission to spread her fluidity across the galaxy. Our raw, uncut heroine roams the wasteland in defense of trans rights and trans wrongs. Will the Enlightened Transsexual convince humanity to chill out at last? Or will the planet choke on her filthy gags?

 128 full-color pages; 7” x 9”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-017-1; SRP: $24.99; Release date: 04/12/23

The Sucker by Elle Shivers

On an assignment to survey an uninhabited Philippine island marked for commercial development, a marine biologist and an underwater photographer are surprised to find themselves thrust back together after losing touch. The mission gets complicated by their discovery of a strange giant squid that was thought to have gone extinct. As tensions rise over the fate of the creature, they must make their own choices about what’s right, and what they owe to each other. Originally published in the 2021 ShortBox Comics Fair.

64 full-color pages; 8.5” x 11”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-018-8; SRP: $13.99; Release date: 04/26/23

My Stupid Life by Mitch Clem

A collection of the author’s 2006-2013 run of hilarious, cult-adored autobiographical comics, including its predecessor, San Antonio Rock City, and more. It’s a portrait of the artist as a punk in his twenties – you’ll laugh, you’ll cringe. You’ll wish you couldn’t relate. You’ll crank the volume up to annoy the neighbors. Welcome to My Stupid Life.

 304 B&W pages; 6” x 9”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-019-5; SRP: $24.99; Release date: 05/10/23

Snakepit’s Big Adventure by Ben Snakepit

As the reality of the pandemic bears down only a month after their move to San Francisco, this next chapter in Ben Snakepit’s family’s life turns out to be different than expected. Told in lo-fi daily diary comics spanning 2019-2021, Snakepit chronicles the challenges of living in lockdown, learning a new city under strange circumstances, and making the best of it.

288 B&W pages; 6” x 9”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-020-1; SRP: $24.99; Release date: 05/17/23

LSBN by Emma Jayne and colors by Sloane Leong

Two women fall into crisis as their life’s work becomes obsolete at the sudden end of a terrible war. Commander Sugimoto and her lead engineer Mischa Polyakov have spent nearly every waking moment together since their project’s inception, but without the pretense of their careers and world-ending calamity, do they have a reason to stay in one another’s lives?

 80 full-color pages; 5” x 7”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-021-8; SRP: $14.99; Release date: 06/07/23

Prokaryote Season by Leo Fox

On a typical night partying in the woods, Sydney grows frustrated with their unrequited obsession for best friend Laurelie, and asks for a wish to be granted by the curious cosmic creature Starman. When the wish becomes deadly serious, Sydney and Trip, Laurelie’s boyfriend, will be forced to figure out how to save Laurelie, or risk losing the person most important to them both.

  168 B&W pages; 8.5” x 11”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-022-5; SRP: $19.99; Release date: 06/14/23

Grog the Frog: The Book of Taurus by Alba BG & Davilorium

Every summer, Grog the Frog forgets to celebrate the most important magic ritual of the year: the Perseids harvest. But this year will be different! Unless, of course, a case of mistaken identities means that he becomes embroiled in a duel with his cosmic rival. Will Grog be able to put order in chaos and fulfill his purpose?

  64 full-color pages; 6.5” x 9”; ISBN: 979-8-88620-023-2; SRP: $14.99; Release date: 07/19/23