The US indy scene count many, many remarkables creators. But very few are those that got such a route, so much determination as obvious as Zak Sally’s one : when he was 13, in Duluth (Minnesota), he produce his very first minicomics, and never stopped since (even when he spent many years being the bassist in the indy band Low).
Amongst his numberous productions and contributions in the alternative publishing north-american scene, let’s mention “Recidivist” and more recently “Sammy the Mouse”, one of his last work : the non-adventures and peregrinations of a character who drink way too much, planted in an unfriendly, hostile social environment, and that got such a miserable existence that worth only because of the readers satisfaction.
During the same time, Zak, between two rehearsals of one of his band (one of the most recent ones is The Hand), also wrote something which looks like the first part of an autobio novel, but there’s soooo much to come…
Today, Zak Sally is a major player of the indy US scene, since he became earlier a publisher, and what publisher : with his own inprint La Mano (“invisible since 1991”, according to Sally), he’s publishing, printing, and distributes so crazy adventurous and essentials works from people like John Porcellino, William Shaff ou Kim Deitch, as his own artwork.
Last but not least, between two very-short nights of driving old printing machines in the middle of mountains of paper and inks tins, he’s teaching the art of bande dessinée at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, but also through Schoolhaus, an experimental art program he co-founded in 2014 in Minneapolis with Dan Ibarra from Aesthetic Apparatus.
Personnal site : http://zaksally.com
La Mano : http://lamano21.com
Bibliography
- Folrath (part. 3) (2018, La Mano)
- Folrath (part. 2) (2017, La Mano)
- Folrath (part. 1) (2016, La Mano)
- Recidivist IV (2015, La Mano)
- Sammy The Mouse – book 2 (2013, Civilized Books)
- Sammy the mouse#3 (2010, Fantagraphics books)
- Like a dog (2009, Fantagraphics books)
- Sammy the mouse#2 (2008, Fantagraphics books)
- Sammy the mouse#1 (2007, Fantagraphics books)
- Recidivist (2005, La Mano 21)
Collectives/zines/anthologies
- PFC#5 (association ChiFouMi, 2015)
- Break Something (association ChiFouMi, 2013)
- The comics journal#300 (2010, Fantagraphics books)
- Mome#5, 9 (2006,2007, Fantagraphics books)
