Suspect Press

Category: Issue #21

  • Winter, An Epilogue

    Winter, An Epilogue

    By Adrian H Molina

    You will see it again, on another road, at another time, in another state of being, in another dimension. The road will look back at you, and you will remember something about it. Familiar, yet so different. You are not merely dreaming the Dream, you are living it again.

    Look squarely in the face of Death to taste your freedom. Drink the darkness of her obsidian eyes. She will allow you to taste her. Leap to get your heart broken, so you can leap again. Be ready to watch everything you love fall apart at any moment. Commit to love, knowing it will betray you once you expect too much from it. No fair warning will prepare you for your own storms. Love like the world is watching the greatest story never told. Be ready to close the book lonely in tears, without notice. You will not be alone.

    See fallacies in truth. Cultivate honesty embroidered within the black-laced lies you could only tell yourself. Then you will see others more clearly.

    Reach for the most certain conclusions, only to be reminded again and again that nothing is conclusive. Set boundaries, and be open to crossing them. Ask people to set boundaries, and know that they too, will cross them. Know when it is time to hold firm to your convictions. Follow through. There is a universe within someone who deserves your authenticity. Know that no one will ever do anything that you, yourself, wouldn’t do. Know that your mirrors will do everything you have always dreamed of doing, given the opportunity. Be aware of the doors you open. Be fair. Expect to have returned all that you emit.

    Be at peace with all that is possible. Be honest about the limitations of your beliefs. Love, and forgive loved ones who bring sledgehammers to your principles. Part ways with your own black holes. Release yourself from false acts of love.

    Submit to the truth, and stand in pain. Fall on your face. Start over. Proceed. Be content. Break down and apart. Start over. Believe in forever. Be prepared to do the same again when you die. You are merely matter, this is why you know life. This is why you fear the end, because you know the path, the beginning. It never gets easier, only more livable when you give your gifts. This is your liberation. You were born free. You will die free. There is nothing to fear. 

    So be present. Share joy with those who walk with you. You may float with them one day in vibrant fields void of gravity, or on a planet you co-populate with dreamscapes. And if they fall to the tides, fear not their forgetting. Hold only to what is true, and keep loving with the wild and unyielding force of spring. There is always                                                                                    

                                               space
                                               to remember,

                                                                                                         and Decembers
                                                                                                         for leaving—

                                                                                                         preludes

    to a life worth living.

     

    By Winter X, MO SPKX

     


    Adrian H Molina is a master of ceremonies. He is an artist, writer, poet, professor, community facilitator, and creative consultant for a better world. As a writer, he balances grit, imagination, indigenous consciousness, dreamscapes and indignation for injustice. Adrian is an honoree of the Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival. He has served as a Live Poetic Scribe for dozens of events throughout Colorado. He gives half his professional time to the next generation, including arts education work with Lighthouse Writers, Think 360 Arts and Youth on Record. He is embarking on new journeys as a lover, father, creative and dreamer. .

  • Drain

    Drain

    By Kayla Webster

    Kayla is a Denver based illustrator and comic artist. Her work focuses on horror, humor, and the often unexpected ways in which these themes can interact. Growing up on the east coast, Kayla studied studio art and art history at Drew University in New Jersey. Working primarily with marker and pen, her art utilizes clean line and bold color, often in contrast with greyscale elements.

  • A Brief History of Grace Jones

    A Brief History of Grace Jones

    By Lonnie MF Allen


    Lonnie MF Allen has long been a stalwart among Denver’s close-knit cartooning community. An oft-published illustrator, writer and designer, in addition being an award-winning cartoonist, and named one of Westword’s 100 Colorado Creatives, Allen is an organizer for the Denver Drink & Draw meet-up. His work has been published by Dark Horse, Image Comics, Colorado Sun, and he’s been nominated for an Eisner Award. He is the art director for Suspect Press. Find him at lonniemfallen.com.

  • Carrot & Can

    Carrot & Can

    By Alex Graham


    Alex Graham is a painter and cartoonist from Denver currently residing in Seattle. She is the author of Cosmic BE-ING and Angloid and appears in the latest edition of Best American Comics. Her books can be found at: alexNgraham.com.

  • Introvert

    Introvert

    By Noah Van Sciver


    Noah Van Sciver is an Ignatz award-winning cartoonist from Denver, Colorado. He is a regular contributor to MAD Magazine and has created several graphic novels including: The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, Saint Cole, and the Fante Bukowski: Struggling Writer graphic novella series for Fantagraphics books.

  • The End of Days

    The End of Days

    By Cleon Peterson

    Photo by Jon Furlong

    Cleon Peterson is an LA based artist whose chaotic and violent paintings show clashing figures symbolizing a struggle between power and submission in the fluctuating architecture of contemporary society. The imagery of his art is deeply rooted in Western cultural history, from the classic Greco-Roman vases depicting warriors and battles, to the marvelous decapitation paintings of Caravaggio and violent masterpieces of Goya. His works have been exhibited at the MCA in Denver and other galleries in Paris, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles.

  • Agoraphobia

    Agoraphobia

    By Karl Christian Krumpholz


    Originally from the East Coast, cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz has showcased his work in many different publications and even a documentary. He is currently working on two different weekly comics: The Denver Bootleg for Westword, and the true-ish tales of the various lives in the city in 30 Miles of Crazy! Karl is also always looking for a better place to get a drink. Find his work at www.karlchristiankrumpholz.com

  • Talk To Singles in Your Area, Call Now

    Talk To Singles in Your Area, Call Now

    By Meghan DePonceau

    I’ve been Footlocker married
    and loved like a dog muzzle.
    Just left wondering what brilliant thoughts
    ran through the silenced teeth that bit into it.

    I’ve been Walmart cheated on
    And loved like a losing lottery scratch off

    Once in a while, a homeless man will pick me up
    Just to check the math and drop me disappointed.

    I’ve been Applebees divorced
    and loved like the muffler fell off six miles back.

    Whenever I hear someone say “I like puzzles”
    I glare at them like they are my Rosetta stone
    and shout, “run”


    Meghan DePonceau left behind her previous careers (as both a ruthless bookie, and the only knight to pull Excalibur from the stone reenactor) to pursue hooch-slinging and giggle-making, and to take on the role as Chief of Butts at 5280Comedy.com. She hosts/produces unCORKED, a monthly comedy show first Wednesdays at Infinite Monkey Theorem. Check out her bad dick jokes on Twitter @MeghanIsAJoke.

  • Sick Sad Kids

    Sick Sad Kids

    By Amy Yang


    Amy Yang is a Colorado native, born and raised in Denver. A full-time design student, she illustrates as a side hobby and hopes to find time to start an indie comic project. When it comes to her illustrations, she mainly uses an ipad as her sketchbook and takes the ideas she likes into full render in Illustrator and Photoshop. Always on the go and dreaming! Finder on Instagram @Amy_Y3 to see more doodles and stuff.

  • #21 Letter From The Editor

    #21 Letter From The Editor

    [dropcap]I[/dropcap]’ve been having more stress dreams than usual. Dreams of inadequacy and failure and loss. I’ve felt death in my bones—the same subcutaneous, amorphous fatigue I’ve felt before two of my close relatives died. I’ve been calling people I haven’t been in touch with in months to see if they’re still alive. They are. I’ve visited my therapist, I’ve journaled and I’ve talked to loved ones to try and unearth this intuitive dread, and yet it still lingers and for the life of me I can’t identify where this is stemming from.

    As I looked through the winter issue to write this letter, multiple themes stood out to me, and yet all of them seem to be part of a cohesive larger theme: Reassessment of self.

    Our cover by Sofie Birkin showcases indulgence and reinvisioned mythology. When discussing her cover in the Suspect Press office she said of playing with classic imagery, “Why not queer it up a bit?” Allow us to see more of ourselves in history. Societal norms are ever-shifting but, as Noah Van Sciver’s comic highlights, loss and fear and struggles follow us wherever we go. No matter your age or innocence, illness can overcome you (see Amy Yang’s illustration “Sick Sad Kids” on p. 11). Nor can we escape the age-old tropes of deception and violence, as exhibited in Cleon Peterson’s stunning centerfold piece “The End of Days.”

    If I haven’t depressed the fuck out of you yet, give Jack Orleans’ piece “The Orchid” a read to see how ever-so-subtly people in authority can misuse their positions of power. Or take a look at Karl Christian Krumpholz’s illustration “Agoraphobia” for a depiction of desolation and loneliness. However, on the flip side, maybe we could all use a little more solitude—a little more getting-away-from-it-all. For how can we see how we might be hurting others, or hurting ourselves, unless we spend time alone to assess our words and behaviors? Are we treating ourselves and others with kindness and fairness? Josiah Hesse reflects on this in his essay comparing the unlikely similarities between Henry Rollins and Morrissey, owning his previously-held hypocritical prejudice.

    In Lonnie Allen’s comic about icon Grace Jones, we see the power of believing in yourself against all odds and the beauty that arises from self-transformation. And in Adrian H Molina’s poem “Winter, An Epilogue” we get an uplifting message of hope and progress despite personal storms.

    As you read through the issue, see if you can apply this theme to the other pieces. And send us a note on your thoughts if you like. As for me, I’ll be here, listening to Radiohead’s “How To Disappear Completely” until the weight lifts.

    By Amanda E.K.
    Editor In Chief


    Amanda is a short fiction and freelance writer, and a member of the Knife Brothers writing group – a small collective of short fiction writers. Her work has been featured on the Denver Orbit podcast and on Mortified Live. She has stories in Suspect Press, Birdy, Jersey Devil Press, and the Punch Drunk Press Poetry anthology. She’s currently working on a diary memoir about the damaging effects of growing up in evangelical purity culture – available late 2019 through Suspect Press.