Older Books

All of these books are fully viewable on-line. Just click on the covers.
Litmus Test #13
February 2004
32 pages - mini - textured paper cover (varies) - $3

This is the final issue of Litmus Test. Inside, there's the third and last chapter of Kit Kaleidoscope and the Mermaid in the Jar, "The Key." We get to see the lives of Kit and the sculptor and their artistic trajectories. Their theories on art from the last chapter play out here. Also included is an adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem, "The Weary Blues" and an autobiographical story called "Choosing", which is about marriage and comix.

Litmus Test #12
February 2003
48 pages - mini - textured paper cover (varies) - $3

This issue contains the autobiographical story, "Hero," in which I poke fun at the dramatic teenager I used to be. After that, there's the revised version of "Detection" (see Litmus Test 8). Also, there's the second (of three) installment of Kit Kaleidoscope and the Mermaid in the Jar, "The Sculptor." Kit goes to meet the brother of the dead taxidermist and their conflicting views about the nature of art create a heated argument. As always with Kit Kaleidoscope, this is a silent story. Daniel Holloway, over at The Comics Journal, doesn't have much good to say about this issue.

Litmus Test #11
February 2002
28 pages - mini - color cover - $2

This issue starts off with a Kit Kaleidoscope short called "Kit Kaleidoscope and the Lure of Good Blanket." Kit discovers two arguing parents in a park and decides to intervene. Second is "Rigmarole," a genre-laden tale that tells it like it really is. Third and last is the real focus of the issue, "Kit Kaleidoscope and the Mermaid in the Jar, Part One: The Dead Taxidermist." Kit has a job working with a gravedigger at a cemetery and he tells her of the man who is to lie in the new grave, the local taxidermist. Like all the previous Kit Kaleidoscope stories, this tale is completely silent.

Litmus Test #10
October 2000
52 pages - mini - color cover - $3

Fourth anniversary issue! Two long stories compose this issue.  First is "Holiday Phone-call". Mrs. Herrick, an old woman living in the midwest, receives a telephone call during the Winter holidays. The words she exchanges belie the emotions lurking beneath the surface. Second and lastly, there's the new Kit Kaleidoscope story: "Kit Kaleidoscope in the Carnal House". Kit stumbles on a slave auction of a winged woman and discovers the captives of the Carnal House. And also an "about the author" piece written by me when I was a second grader.
Over at The Rabbit Hole Reviews, David Hedgecock put out his list of the top five minis in 2001 (the page no longer exists, unfortunately) and Litmus Test #10 made the list at number two!

Kit Kaleidoscope Goes to the Masked Ball
December 2000 (second printing)
16 pages - mini - cardstock cover - $1
Kit Kaleidoscope's first big story (unless of course you count her previous incarnation as "Kid" Kaleidoscope in Litmus Test 3). This story is available on-line, and it is also collected in the Kit Kaleidoscope book.

Litmus Test #9
August 1999
24 pages - mini - cardstock linoleum print cover - $2
This issue begins with a seven page parody of Scooby Doo and Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" that's also partly a commentary on cable culture. It's called "Ghosts". Then there's a one page story called "Kit Kaleidoscope Versus the Wishing Well". The bulk of this issue  is "Deification", a post-apocalytic tale about the worship of heroes inspired by the anime and manga, Fist of the North Star. And the whole package sports a litho cut cardstock cover that I printed and subtly colored by hand. Dan Clowes actually wrote me and said that this was an impressive issue. But Milo George of The Comics Journal didn't like it.

Litmus Test #8
February 1999
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
It contains a 17 page story called "Detection", which was inspired by Paul Auster's New York Trilogy and by Cronenburg's film adaptation of Naked Lunch. This issue also contains the third installment of "Marionettes" where the main characters finally get to speak for themselves. This is the last issue to feature "Marionettes". And there's a drawing of me as a Master's of the Universe figure.

Litmus Test #7
December 1998
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
This issue contains the second installment of "Marionettes".  Also included is the one-pager, "Quod", a meditation on being an artist in society. The whole issue concludes with the eight page story, "Six Horses and a Shovel In Oberlin, Ohio." This piece is based off a tale I heard about a certain building in Oberlin. This issue was reviewed by Darren Hick on the Comics Journal Online.

Litmus Test #6
June 1998
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
This issue is where things start to change. It contains three stories. The first is "The Raft", based off of a dream I had after seeing David Cronenburg's movie Dead Ringers.  A reader, and mother of a fifteen month-old at the time, wrote me and said that this story made her cry. The second story is "the Parrot of Paris," an anecdote told between two old midwestern women.  The third piece is the first eight pages of "Marionettes", an historical American gothic tale.

Litmus Test #5
February 1998
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
The second and final part of 'the Crossover'.  As Randy and Captain Citizen venture out into the realm of their comic, the parody comes on fast and furious. But is it all as harmless as it seems? And will Randy ever fully accept the reality that nothing that he sees is reality? 

Litmus Test #4
December 1997
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
This issue starts part one of 'the Crossover', a satire about the comics industry. In the You Send It, We Read It section of the 13th edition of the Comics Journal On-Line, Tom Spurgeon managed to say that "...all the jokes about the feebleness of comics culture are in fact true." Comic shop worker, Randy Skrzyinski, gets forced into a cunning scheme to usher in a new golden age for comics. But when his greatest hero is brought to life the lines between reality and fiction begin to give way. 

Litmus Test #3
August 1997
24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
This issue contains another story based off of a fairy tale, but this time one of the Grimm Brothers' tales. My version is called 'Kid Kaleidoscope and the Tale of the Seven Marbles' and revolves around some lost marbles, two thieving frogs, an apathetic prince, a jury-bribing castle guard, and a few others including the strange Kid Kaleidoscope herself. Also included is a little story called "Little Miss Bunny and the Wide, Wide River." 

Litmus Test #2
April 1997
 24 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
"The Sparrow." This issue is one self-contained story based off an old Japanese fairy tale. A quarrel between two bitter old women causes the injuring of a sparrow. Both go off individually to ask the bird's forgiveness, but the choices that they make yield very different fates for each of them. 

Litmus Test #1
October 1996
 16 pages - mini - photocopied - $1.50
This issue was reviewed in Factsheet Five no.61 and R. Seth Friedman called it "a fun bunch of stuff". It's an eclectic mix of stories, ranging from humor to dream adaptation. The complete contents are: "Made For Eachother," "Word Play," "Masturbation Tip #26," "Oh, Bother," "Out of Habit," "Walls," and "Masturbation Tip #34."

Jack Face
July 1996
32 pages - mini - photocopied - $2
My first mini comic. Jack wakes up one morning to discover that he doesn't have a face.  He runs from his job, tries on a mask, gets some advice and ends up listening to a violin solo. 

comix

All images are copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, Nick Mullins