QUESTIONS: Email me at johnp_kingcat AT hotmail DOT com.
ORDERING: All orders are generally shipped within two weeks of receipt (usually faster!). Sometimes if something you requested is backordered, I’ll hold off until I receive that item, so everything ships at once. If that’s taking too long though, I’ll mail the in-stock items and send the backordered one(s) later, as soon as they arrive. If there are any problems or questions with your order, please get in touch and let me know!
By ordering items marked FOR MATURE READERS you are affirming that you are of legal age to purchase adult materials in the jurisdiction in which you live.
SUBMISSIONS: I’m very sorry to say, but Spit and a Half is not accepting submissions at this time. If and when this changes I’ll let you all know here. I’m winding down the number of books I carry here at the distro, and I simply don’t have the time or energy to process submissions anymore. If you are an artist/publisher looking for distribution help, I recommend contacting the distros listed here.
MAILING LIST: If you’d like to stay current on additions to the catalog, (along with King-Cat Comics News and Tour/Festival Dates etc), please join the Spit and a Half email list by clicking here. Updates will be sent no more than once per week. Thank you!
WHOLESALE ORDERS: If you’re a store or distro, and would like to carry anything from the Spit and a Half catalog, please drop me a line.
GLOSSARY:
Digest sized: 5.5″ x 8.5″
Mini-sized: 5.5″ x 4.25″
Full-sized: 8.5″ x 11″
Comic-sized: approx. 7″ x 10″
Riso(graph): a DIY printing technique using colored inks
Perfectbound: A paperback having a hard spine at a right angle to the pages
Saddlestitched: Bound by staples along the fold
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
What does “Spit and a Half” mean? To tell the truth, I don’t remember. When I was in High School I was very into nonsense words and writing. I had a phrase I would sometimes say when something went wrong: “Shit in a hole!” I can only assume “Spit and a Half” was a derivative of that. I named my High School record label Spit and a Half, and in 1992 when I started the comix distro, I used the name for that as well.
What were your inspirations for starting the distro? In the early 90’s I discovered two mailorder indie music catalogs (when “indie music” really meant “independent music”): the Ajax and K Records catalogs. These two companies inspired me to try something similar for small-press comics and zines (and later music as well). At the time there was nobody doing much along those lines for zines/comix. Along with Spit and a Half there were Puppy Toss and Wow Cool, both in the Bay Area. Spit and a Half soon became a kind of community space for the pre-internet underground comics scene. I quit the distro in 2000, due to health problems, but always missed it. So now I’m back! Look out world!