I’ve neglected our poor web shop basically since Seeds came out (busy, wanted to redesign it, etc.) - but no more! I’ve set up the shop on a new, easy to use platform and put up our anthologies and comics by myself, Colleen Frakes, and Sam Leveillee. In the coming week I’ll add comics by Marek Bennett, Anne Thalheimer, and others.  Check it out!

As you may have gathered from the title, I particularly want to showcase two items in the shop:

SHELTER! You can finally buy it online from us, not just from Microcosm!

PLAY! For a brief time (we plan to print at the beginning of April) you can preorder our forthcoming anthology PLAY. Don’t miss out! All preorders will come decorated with at least one artist sketch, and will ship mid-April. (We plan to start preorders much earlier for the next anthology, with multiple levels of support and special bonuses.)

I SAW YOU: Missed Connections Comics was released by Random House today! While not a Trees & Hills project, it does include a number of members of the group and other regional creators. Local contributors include Alec Longstreth, Cathy Leamy, Colleen Frakes, Dan Archer, Daniel Barlow, Megan Baehr, Dan Mazur, Ken Dahl, Lucy Knisley and Sam Merwin.

The book can be purchased on-line here and can also be ordered from your local bookstore.

At long last, Seeds is in stock at our online shop! Themed around FOOD with an emphasis on its social aspects, the anthology comes with a booklet of cartoonists’ favorite recipes and a packet of organic lettuce seeds from High Mowing Farm in Vermont, all wrapped in an earthy brown cover with a red apple print (an organic heirloom apple from a local farmer’s market, of course). We’re especially proud of this one, and it has been selling like hotcakes (appropriately enough). We are pretty sure the initial printing will be sold out by year’s end (!), so get your copy while the getting is good! Makes an excellent gift.

Trees & Hills latest anthology NEW STARS is now available for online purchase at Trees & Hills Comix Distro! The anthology debuted at SPX in October 2007, and since that month also marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, we took that as our theme. We’re not some kind of fascists, though, so every piece didn’t have to be about Sputnik itself - most of them do relate to space in some way, though. This all-ages anthology by the Trees & Hills Comic Group features an eye-popping full-color cover by Gregory Giordano and comics by Daniel Barlow, Marek Bennett, Miles Cota, Colleen Frakes, Cat Garza, Chris Grotke, Jade Harmon, Tim Hulsizer, Matt Levin, Keith Moriarty, Kathie Mullen, Raymond Prado, Matthew Reidsma, Colin Tedford, and Anne Thalheimer. 5.5″ x 8.5″, 52 pgs. $3.00

Two comics by E.J. Barnes are now available through Trees & Hills Comix Distro:

Tales Of The Ling Master Preview #1: The Bread-Doll Fancier and Tales Of The Ling Master Preview #3: The Squid Boys Of Terra Haute - both adaptations of the stories of “Blaster” Al Ackerman.

Trees & Hills will have a table (S32, upstairs) at the MoCCA Art Festival in NYC June 23-24 and E.J. Barnes will be there, too, selling comics from her own table!

E.J. also organizes the monthly Pioneer Valley Comic & Cartoon Schmooze in western MA (email art at ejbarnes dot com for more info) - you can see a small jam from last month’s Schmooze as well as a couple other jams that happened in western MA in the Comics section.

I’m pleased to announce that Colin’s Comix Distro has finally grown into the Trees & Hills Comix Distro, an “official” organ of the group, with T&H cofounder Daniel Barlow of VT and cartoonist & columnist Anne Thalheimer of western MA coming on board - you can check it out via the ‘Shop’ link on the site menu. In honor of the changeover, I’m bringing the online stock up to date, starting with these comics by Marek Bennett:

The Making Of…24 Hour Comic, Mimi’s Doughnuts #9 (Fall 2006), and Mimi’s Doughnuts #10 (Winter 2006-7). Read an interview with Marek and a review of Mimi’s Doughnuts #10 in our ‘Articles’ section. Marek will be at the Trees & Hills table (S32, upstairs) at MoCCA June 23-24 in NYC.

Also in the Shop, you can now acquire some comics by Matt Levin:

Matt takes the unique approach of mostly using and manipulating rubber stamp images to make his comics. We have Walking Man Comics Presents Special #34: Myths And Magic, WMCPS #7: New England Patriot, Musicomics #1: Sink Or Swim, Musicomics #7: You Know Who, and Musicomics #13: Saturday Dreams.

There are also more Articles: Stephen Bissette’s interviews with Center For Cartoon Studies Fellow Gabby Schulz (aka “Ken Dahl”) and CCS graduate Colleen Frakes, plus 2 more Fleen columns by Anne Thalheimer.