B-Sides: Phase 7 #012-#016

This collection reprints five issues of Alec Longstreth's minicomic Phase 7 in their entirety: #012 is a stick figure science fiction story about a college and the barcode system it uses to keep track of its students. #013 reprints a comics essay in which the idea of everyday art is explored throughout art history. #014 is a facsimile of the sketchbook that Longstreth took on his first trip to Europe, for the 2009 Angoulême comics festival in France. It includes an account of his trip and many observational drawings created while traveling. #015 and #016 are comprised of selections from Longstreth's many sketchbooks, starting in 1995 and working up to 2008. Various quick drawings and loose diary comics reveal the cartoonist's struggles with relationships, employment, education and his future. All of these issues were released while Longstreth was focused on drawing his graphic novel Basewood, hence the title "B-Sides."