Kiss Machine - A Conga Line of Arts & Culture

Goodbye Kissers!

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:47:16 -0400

Dear Kissers,

We’re both sad and happy to announce that the issue you’re holding in your hands will be the last Kiss Machine issue ever. It’s been a long and interesting run, one filled with ridiculous stories, incredible experiences, and lots of paper cuts. We really hope you’ve enjoyed reading our little mag throughout the past nine years…

Your letters and submissions and subscriptions were what encouraged us to keep going for so long. Here’s a big thanks to you, dear readers!

Anyone who desperately wants more Kiss Machine should head over to our purchase page, where we will continue to sell our available back issues for a few months.

Our biggest hope is that all the fun we’ve had publishing Kiss Machine will inspire others to start their own publication adventures. Canada definitely needs more artsy fartsy feminist magazines! So think media plurality, people, and start photocopying!

Kisses and love and goodbye,
Emily Pohl-Weary & Abi Slone & the KM Gang

The Gender Issue (#18)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:04:05 -0400

Our final issue!

A flipbook with original covers by Willow Dawson on either side, so you can pick your gender. The boy side and the girl side meet up in the middle for an androgynous redefinition of the entire notion.

Click on the thumbnail below to see enlarged versions of Willow's girl/boy covers:

The Gossip Issue (#17)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:56:43 -0400

Kiss Machine's gossip issue (#17) explores one of the most pervasive elements of our celebrity obsessed society. Features a collaboration on the cover by Sonja Ahlers and Lisa Smolkin, and 40 pages of material by artists and writers.

Click on the thumbnail below to see an enlarged version of Lisa and Sonja's cover:

Sponsor:

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:47:27 -0400

The Dinosaur Issue (#16)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:41:53 -0400

Kiss Machine's sixteenth issue is now on sale!

Dinosaurs are fascinating, despite having been extinct for millennia, because they provide clues to our own evolution. The pieces in this issue explore the notion of "prehistory" from unusual angles. There are Internet dinosaurs (including an interview with Ryan North of Qwantz.com), obsolete communications media, arks, our pre-conception of T Rexs, and a little girl obsessed with the Loch Ness monster.

We hope you enjoy our little conga line of graphic arts and culture!

Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate #4 of 4

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:43:51 -0500

Written by Emily Pohl-Weary
Illustrated by Willow Dawson

A graphic novel in four parts

Continuing the story where issues #1, #2, and #3 left off, the final chapter of Violet's saga is now available!

Emily Pohl-Weary and Willow Dawson envisioned Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate in response to the excessively awful portrayals of female pirates that seem to saturate pop culture.

Kiss Machine at Expozine (Montreal)

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:50:02 -0500

Kiss Machine is going to be at Expozine, Montreal’s annual small press, comic and zine fair, for one day only. If you live in the city, come check out our table! It's free and awesome!

Date and Time:
Saturday, November 24, 2007, 12:00 to 6:00pm (we're only there on Sat.)
Sunday, November 25, 2007, 12:00 to 6:00pm

Location:
5035 rue St-Dominique, Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, between Laurier and Saint-Joseph, Montréal

The Goodbye Issue (#15)

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:43:04 -0400

Kiss Machine's fifteenth issue is now on sale!

Goodbyes are funny things. Sometimes we can’t wait to get someone or something out of our lives, and other times we keep holding on when we really need to let go.

The pieces in this issue show the array of feelings the word “goodbye�? can elicit and the range of situations it can be applied to, such as getting kicked out of your apartment, leaving your boyfriend, aborting a fetus, or deciding to live a different kind of life. Enjoy!

Buy Issue #15

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:47:06 -0400

Purchase a copy of the most recent issue (#15), which explores the "goodbye" theme.
$5.

Mendacity Finalist for Award!

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:19:39 -0400

Woohoo! Mendacity (by Tamara Faith Berger and Sophie Cossette) is a finalist for a 2007 Doug Wright Award in the category of Best Emerging Talent.

So sayeth the judges: "This year, the 10 nominees for Canada’s premiere cartooning award feature an eclectic mix of personal memoir and travelogue to short fiction and experimental graphic fiction—all from the pens of Canada’s finest cartooning talents."

Launch Summer Ink!

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:32:28 -0400

Join Golda Fried and Vesna Mostovac in celebrating the publication of their Kiss Machine Presents issue, Summer Ink: An Illustrated Book of Letters.

Come out and enjoy the music of special guest N.Q. Arbuckle, a friend featured in its pages...

Wednesday, July 4, 2007
8 to 10 pm
The Cameron House
408 Queen St W, Toronto

Find out more about Summer Ink.

Summer Ink: An Illustrated Book of Letters

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:08:27 -0400

Summer Ink is two months' worth of correspondence between long-time friends Golda Fried and Vesna Mostovac.

On these pages, sticky with tears, cigarette ash, beer, coffee, ketchup and bacon grease, they document their trials and tribulations in the world of love and heartbreak, paying close attention to the songs spinning in the background. Each letter comes alive with graphics Vesna has drawn and collaged, based on images present in the writers' minds as they wrote the letter.

The Activity Book Issue (#14)

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:29:54 -0400

We’re pleased to announce the release of our activity issue! We were wondering what activities our contributors find themselves returning to when they take a little "me time."

Responses to our call for submissions form the current issue. Some people (okay, us) really do enjoy—or dream up, in the case of fictional work—unusual activities.

Kiss Machine on Facebook

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:30:32 -0400

Kiss Machine has entered the world of Facebook. If you're a member, join our group. If you're not a member, sign up and then join our group. Heh. See ya in cyberville.

Launch Violet Miranda #3!

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:51:02 -0400

Ahoy, all salty dogs in the Toronto area... The temperature's dropping, but our pirate grog's hot!

Kiss Machine is launching VIOLET MIRANDA: GIRL PIRATE #3 of 4 (written by Emily Pohl-Weary and illustrated by Willow Dawson)

Thursday, February 22, 2007, at Babel Books & Music (123 Ossington, just north of Queen West), from 7 to 9 pm.