The iconic Silver Sprocket isn’t your average comic store. Located in San Francisco’s Mission District, you won’t find mainstream publications like Marvel or DC.
Avi Ehrlich, founder of Springman Records, started Silver Sprocket in 2007 as an independent record label and comics publisher. The business has since expanded to include a gallery, art crew, and comic shop. Silver Sprocket publishes comics, graphic novels, and related arts, and also supports independent musicians and community initiatives. Erlich describes the business as a “radical indie comic publisher” representing historically excluded artists’ work.
Perhaps nothing embodies the store’s indie, do-it-yourself spirit as the zines you can find there. Zines are a small-batch, self-published work that’s usually non-commercial. They’re similar to magazines or graphic novels but often are made of easy-to-find, low-cost materials – like cut-outs, text, found objects, and original drawings. One big difference between zines and regular, big commercial publications? They’re usually made by an individual out of interest and passion, rather than for profit.
In this inaugural episode, FTG’s host, Kayen, leads a ragtag camera crew and intrepid contestants Kit and Gemma to SSC, Here, they learned ACAB means: All Comix Are Bisexual and encountered the store’s very own wheel of consequences…and boy, did they face them. Who will win? Who will die? (Wait, someone dies?!) Find out by tuning into The Field Trip Game: A Ridiculous Adventure Game with Mediocre Prizes!