2009 is almost here. It’s resolution time. We here at Coilhouse Magazine & Blog resolve to keep working our pert little patooties off to keep this train chugging rapidly along. We’d like to ask you to consider making a CH-related New Year’s resolution of your own: pick up a beautiful, fresh-off-the-plane copy of Issue 02 today, tomorrow, or in early Aught-Nine.
The first difference you’ll notice between Issue 01 and Issue 02 is the design. To replace Cecilia, who returned to Italy upon completing design of Issue 01, we invited the talented Courtney Riot to join our crew. Courtney’s adventurous design sensibilities leave their mark on every page, giving each article a voice completely of its own. To further enhance the tactile goodness, starting with this issue, all issues of Coilhouse will have rounded corners. Yum!
The 96-page Issue 02 kicks off with an illustrated history of cyborg hands by David Forbes in our first section, INFORM. Then there’s an extended remix of the Mark Mothersbaugh interview we posted earlier this year, followed by “Oases Between the Freeways,” a love letter to the magical and secret places of Angel City, complete with a colorful Zo-illustrated fold-out map. Joshua Ellis makes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the atomic bomb. A Coilhouse-exclusive photoshoot takes Margaret Cho and Selene Luna to a desert, a vintage hotel and magical theme park, where Margaret steals a horse from a carousel. In the section INSPIRE, we interview and showcase artists Madeline von Foerster, Stephane Halleux and Stephen Kasner. In the photography/fashion department, slick irodu perfection by Gustavo Lopez Manas and Kate O’Brien’s vintage portraits of women, followed by an escapade through the trials and tribulations of vintage clothing with some familiar faces. In our last section, INFECT, we catch up with Mondo 2000 creator R. U. Sirius and comics creator Andy Ristaino. In Issue 02’s edition of Print to Fit, our regular paper doll column featuring a rotating set of guest artists, Molly Crabapple brings sexy back with a set of Rococo-inspired paper dolls - in full color.
Thank you again for everything, guys.
Note: the PayPal “get it now” link doesn’t appear on some RSS readers. If you don’t see it, click on through to the blog to buy it now!
December 26th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
PURCHASED!
When I finally get it in my mitts, I can indulge in my new favorite hobby: going to the coffeehouse smug in the knowledge that what I am reading is better than what everyone else around me is reading.
December 26th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Me want!
An amazing array of brain, eye and deep, dark soul candy and one I’m very proud to be a part of. It looks glorious. Great job, y’all.
December 26th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Purchased instantly! And I can’t wait! Look for a full review on my blog http://www.dogmaticblog.com soon!
Love what you guys do with this!
December 26th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Looks gorgeous.
December 26th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Will Issue 02 be hitting store shelves soon by any chance?
December 26th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Yes! Bought! Send it around the world!
LOVE FROM THE SHETLAND ISLANDS x x
December 26th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I have been waiting for this allllllll day.
December 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
looks awesome! can’t wait to get back home so i can check it out. rounded corners is a great idea.
-a
December 26th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Will be purchasing ASAP next week when I have money…those people I call family seem to like my money more than I do. I can’t wait to get mine. Got the last one so fast I thought I lived right around the corner from you guys.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
can haz moar Supervillain hintz?
December 26th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Hey, will there be a subscription option available anytime soon?
December 26th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Within ze week!!!
December 27th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Thank you, everyone! The comments make it all worthwhile. You guys are the best. :)
@ JR: Thank you! Looking forward to the review.
@ m1k3y: Surely you meant “Supervillian,” am I right? ;)
@ LW: We were gonna do subscriptions for Issue 02, but the plan fell through because we underestimated how hard it would be. Basically: in order to offer you a good subscription deal, we need to be able to mail the magazine inexpensively. And in order to do that, we need obtain a Periodical Permit from the USPS. Getting this permit puts our magazine in a special mailing class that would enable us to ship the magazine as cheaply as it is for most major magazines out there. But, as a friend who works at a much larger magazine tells us, applying for it and getting it is a total nightmare, procedurally AND financially. It takes hundreds of dollars and a very intensive auditing process by USPS. We definitely want to pursue Periodical Post status so that even people who are ordering single copies can pay less (shout-out to our international customers! we love you for putting up with the stupid-high International Priority rate), but getting that permit is a time-consuming, expensive, long-winded process that we haven’t had the bandwidth to tackle quite yet, though it’s definitely on our agenda. I know some of you are thinking “hello, Media Mail!” but as we recently found out from USPS, magazines are not eligible for Media Mail because they contain advertising. I hope that this answers the questions “why don’t you do subscriptions?” and “why is your shipping rate so high?” We’re working on it as fast as we can.
ALSO: Before Issue 02 even came out, I got a lot of emails from wonderful people who want to carry Issue 02 in their stores. Guys, my email client blew up and I lost some of your emails, so let me just respond here: as much as we wanted to deal with stores on an individual basis, we’re not able to do that at this time, either. The reason for that is the fact that we have an obligation to our distributor to provide them with copies, first and foremost. Each issue, they say to us “OK Coilhouse, we need X number of copies this time around, based on how many orders came from stores.” This time, for Issue 02, they surprised us by asking us for way more copies than we expected. Now, we can’t say no to them; we have a contract. And whatever we keep, we have to sell on the website, because that’s the only place where we keep 100% of the profit - which, right now, is our bread and butter for printing future issues. You’re probably asking “well, why didn’t you print more?” The answer is that we’ve already pushed our printing budget to the limit, just fulfilling the order from our distributor and having enough left over to sell on the site. The demand for the magazine from stores is basically growing faster than our ability to keep up with it.
In the future, we definitely want to supply magazines to all you guys who are working in/running stores and want to carry Coilhouse. It means a lot to us that you want to support us in this way! It’s just a matter of time. If you really, REALLY want the magazine right now, and your store already carries magazines, chances are that your supplier is working with our distributor, RCS. Check and see if it’s possible to order through them. If your supplier is Ubiquity, I know you can order mags for your store right through their site.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Nadya,
Thanks for explanation, that made the magazines postage much more bearable. Though I still am euro-person and 15$ magazine would been too cheap for such great product, so the postage makes me value it more ;).
But yeah. Made order just minutes ago, can’t wait. Lot’s of love to all of you up front! I trust you that magazine won’t let me down. :)
(If it will though I want all the love back that I paid in advantage!)
December 27th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Jani, I was actually thinking of you in particular when I typed this up, because you were the very first person to place an international order on the day that our first issue went live. Mark and Shay (UK, Israel) helped us test the system before we went live, but you were the absolute first person outside the country to actually use it. And I remember thinking “man, I hope he’s not pissed about the shipping,” and I still think that, every time an order comes through. I’m glad that the explanation helped, and thank you again! Hopefully down the line, we’ll be able to make it easier for you.
And I promise, Issue 02 won’t leave you disappointed. :)
December 27th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Yay, have been waiting for this, can’t wait to get it.
The postage is a little steep for a student, but it’s worth it.
I haven’t sen this in any UK shops, You should get this in WH Smiths when you can.
:)
December 27th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Laura, thank you so much. I remember the hard decision-making that went into every dollar I spent as a student, and I’m sure Zo an Mer do too, so that means a lot to us. I don’t think we’re in WHSmith yet, but that’s a good point. We’ll talk to our distributor and see if that would be possible to get in there. I agree with you that we definitely should be there; I love that chain.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:25 am
*pounces and buys immediately*
Can’t wait to see this issue! And thank you for the information regarding subscriptions, I’m sure that a lot of us have been wondering the same thing. Here’s hoping that the Postal Service process is as un-arduous as possible . . . and, in the meanwhile, we’ll enjoy Coilhouse issue-by-issue while you work the kinks out. (Oh, wait — a few of those kinks should probably stay on, since they’re part of what makes the magazine so entertaining! *grins*)
Congratulations to all of you for pulling off another issue!
December 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am
ORDERED. \m/
December 27th, 2008 at 10:38 am
SOooooooooo excited to see it…looks like another amazing issue!!! Yaaay Coilhouse!
December 27th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I can’t wait to put 02 up next to 01 on my shelf! (after reading it cover to cover three times of course)
December 28th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I am going to order this - but I am wondering a little about the shipping price. I THINK I remember there being some business about international shipping to Canada being a little cheaper than the rest of the world? For some reason I thought shipping was $8 last time, and not $10. I could be totally wrong - maybe the sticker shock is just coming from the increasingly crappy Canadian Dollar. It’s penny-pinching, I know, but .. well, the memory plays funny games, sometimes. Let me know if I’m crazy or not, please!
December 28th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Sad news for this southamerican, as the price is quite high for us, including shipping, and I already had many shipments lost in our fucking mail system.. Maybe I can buy some issues in bulk and have them delivered via a decent mail.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Chris L, you are correct in that shipping to Canada IS indeed cheaper than shipping to the rest of the world, but the difference between Canada and, say, Great Britain or anywhere else in the world is currently $9.95 vs $11.95. Please refer to the USPS Postage Price Calculator:
http://postcalc.usps.gov
Select “Canada” for the destination, check “large envelope” and enter 12 ounces for weight. You will get the following chart:
http://postcalc.usps.gov/IntlMailServices.aspx?Country=10054&M=11&P=0&O=12&sd=1
As you can see, we’re going with the cheapest possible option. The current online shipping price to Canada is $9.45, or $9.95 if you actually go to the post office. We do online postage, but charge $9.99. The reason we round up a little bit is to cover the costs of adhesive labels, printer ink and most importantly, the time of the wonderful woman who makes sure that everyone’s orders go out in a timely fashion. Were we (the editors) to attempt shipping these the post office ourselves, it would cost only 4 cents less than what you’re paying now. But believe me, those extra 4 cents are well worth the time, attention and care that come with having a dedicated shipping resource on board.
Hope this clears things up, and helps you make up your mind. ;)
Thank you again!
If anyone else has any other questions, please keep ‘em coming.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Oh, it’s cool, I didn’t think you were trying to swindle us or anything. I just wanted to make sure everything was tickity-boo before clicking “purchase.” Thanks!
December 29th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Chris: Oh, I could tell you weren’t, but thought I might as well give a super-thorough answer in case anyone else was secretly wondering. Also: wow, fastest comment response time ever! Very cool. Enjoy the mag, and have a good night!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Just purchased a copy… can’t wait to explore all the little treasures it contains!
December 29th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Nadya, I was going to guess it was her on the cover but I forgot her name…Ah Selene was all over dlisted this year, how could I forget!?
December 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
mine mine mine mine mine
December 30th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I cannot wait to see this! I missed out on the X rated first issue, so I am very excited to get this one.