Mineshaft is an independent international art magazine launched in 1999 by Everett Rand and Gioia Palmieri in Guilford, Vermont. Initially focusing on poetry and literature, the magazine began to publish comics after Robert Crumb became a contributor in 2000. The newsblog at The Guardian refers to Mineshaft's website as a source to find out more about Crumb's latest work.[1]
Mineshaft #30 15th Anniversary Issue front cover by Robert Crumb (Spring 2014)
History
Mineshaft was the idea of Everett Rand who was inspired by his friendship and correspondence with Irving Stettner, who published the legendary underground magazine, Stroker, which featured contributions from Henry Miller and Paul Bowles. The name for the magazine came from Rand's favorite bar in La Paz, Bolivia where he and co-editor, Gioia Palmieri, lived in the early 1990s.[2]
The first issue featured a drawing by Stettner. After issue #4, Rand wrote to Robert Crumb who responded by sending a packet of sketchbook drawings. After issue #5, Crumb designed logos for the magazine which Mineshaft has been using ever since. Crumb's regular contributions include sixteen front covers, numerous back covers, artwork, writing, and letters.[3] After living and publishing Mineshaft in Vermont and West Virginia, the editors, Rand and Palmieri, moved their operations to Durham, North Carolina.[4]
The magazine currently publishes new or previously unpublished material from some of the major artists of the underground comix movement, as well as other items which include fiction, poetry, photography and short essays. From 2009 to 2019, Mineshaft serialized "Excerpts from R. Crumb's Dream Diary" by Robert Crumb. In the fall of 2017, Mineshaft published The Mineshaft Reader with front cover art and design by Robert Crumb containing new and old work from regular contributors including Robert Crumb, Billy Childish, Mary Fleener, Art Spiegelman, and Jay Lynch.
Drew Friedman (cartoonist) designed the front covers for Mineshaft #37 in 2019 and #43 in 2022. Friedman calls Mineshaft "...the greatest magazine being published in the 21st century."[5]
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