Imagine a legendary local punk band that refuses to sign with a major label or even put their CDs in record shops, choosing instead to sell mixtapes out of a car trunk—only to win the industry’s most prestigious awards. In this episode of pplpod, we conduct a structural archaeology of Sparkplug Comics, the fierce 14-year independent operation that managed to thrive entirely outside the mainstream. Founded in Portland, Oregon in 2002 by cartoonist Dylan Williams, Sparkplug became a masterclass in Independent Publishing by bypassing the "Diamond Monopoly" in favor of direct Grassroot Distribution. We unpack the "Eisner Validation," exploring how a book sold out of a backpack, Jason Shiga’s FLEEP, won the award for "Talent Deserving of Wide ...