If it's not one thing it's another. I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago that the doors had been shut and locked over at Buenaventura Press in Oakland. I'd had my suspicions of course, due to the increased difficulty in ordering their books and the skyrocketing prices of their previous releases used on Amazon or Ebay. From the little I've heard, the small publisher received some kind of devastating financial blow. I'm not sure what the nature of that is. It was a good run though, that's for sure. Buenaventura published some of the most beautifully packaged art and comic books of the last decade. They produced the enormous Ignatz nominated Kramer's Ergot compilation, worked with world renowned artists such as Jaime Hernandez and Robert Crumb, and promoted up and coming artists such as Matt Furie or Lisa Hanawalt (both of whom now have monthly strips in The Believer, FYI). They even wrangled Microphones/Mount Eerie musician Phil Elverum for a book at one point....
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...well, there it is. Another goodbye too many. Buenaventura, you will be missed. Best of luck to Alvin on any future ventures.
Panel from Jerry Moriarty's Jack Survives, from Buenaventura 2009