Al Burian

Al Burian is known by many for both his personal zine Burn Collector and his band Milemarker. What some people might not know is that Al is also a talented comix artist. Between 1997 and 1998, he drew a series of comix and Ian Lynam published them in several books under the Migraine Comics label. Recently, Microcosm Publishing released this perfectbound paperback compilation of all of the comix Al did during this time period. I have a couple of the original books, so I had seen most of these, but it was still nice to sit down and read this cover-to-cover. Al wrote these while living in Portland, OR, Providence, RI, and Chapel Hill, NC. Each little story more or less reflects how Al was feeling while he was living in each of these places. Reading these after already being familiar with Al’s writing is a treat, as it adds a whole new (visual) dimension to Al’s obsessive self-examination and his ruminations on the people he interacts with and the places he finds himself in. Fans of Burn Collector should enjoy this book, as will most folks with a penchant for autobiographical comix.… (mehr)

"Burn Collector is a zine written and published by Al Burian in Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

It is one of the more popular zines in the perzine category. The zine, currently at issue 13, contains stories both from his childhood and his life after college. Al's writing often approaches grim subject matter, like contemplating suicide, the end of the world, or just run-of-the-mill existential despair, in a superbly humorous fashion. Issues 1 through 9 were collected and released as a book by The Buddy System, which is now in its fifth printing. Burn Collector was featured in Volume Two of 1997's Zine Yearbook."… (mehr)