WEB SHOP SMOKE SIGNAL COMIC ARTS BROOKLYN CONSIGNMENT FORM FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM CONTACT
*we are moving to a new location in 2025 and are not currently accepting consignment *
Our Favorite Bookstores in New York City
E. Tammy Kim for The New Yorker, Feb 17, 2024
At the intersection of the L and the G train lines is Desert Island, a bookshop that is so beautifully designed that it doubles as a work of art. The Williamsburg storefront, once Sparacino’s Bakery, has purveyed comics, graphic novels, artists’ books, prints, and zines on consignment since 2008. There are so many analog treasures stuffed into this place; there is so much loving curation. It begs you to take your time. Linger in front of the latest window installation. Browse the racks of mini-comics. (A recent find: “Suitable for Framing: The Cartoons of Andy Boyd, Volume 1.”) Pick up “Smoke Signal,” the free full-color broadside published by the shop’s owner, Gabe Fowler, showcasing one artist per issue. Dance to whatever record is spinning. I adore Desert Island—its lightness and imagination, its glorious delight in drawings and words.
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Neighborhood Joint: the ‘Punk Rock’ Comic Book Shop
Matthew Sedacca for The New York Times, June 7, 2018
Experimental and underground artistry is the norm at Desert Island. Look through the Williamsburg store’s plywood shelves and you’ll find glossy paperbacks as well as photocopied-and-stapled booklets with a D.I.Y. aesthetic. Surrounded by ice-blue stalactite sculptures and tapestries, regulars, travelers, and fellow artists immerse themselves in visual publications, seeking escape, inspiration, or both.
Desert Island embodies an “abstract idea of punk rock,” owner Gabe Fowler said, by operating on a no-restrictions consignment basis. (Artists set their price and split the revenue with the shop, 60-40.) “Mystery mail” — packages of printed eye candy sent to the shop with or without prior notice — arrives almost daily from far-flung cities like Barcelona or Saskatoon; other works come from customers and neighborhood regulars.
Beyond the meritocratic inventory system, Desert Island proselytizes offbeat creativity through its annual fall festival, Comic Arts Brooklyn, together with the Pratt Institute. It also publishes an all-illustration newspaper, which comes out a few times a year called “Smoke Signal,” now in its 29th issue. Copies of the publication, whose pages have carried works by Mad magazine legends alongside up-and-comers like Abby Jame, are free to customers.
Desert Island
540 Metropolitan AveBrooklyn NY 11211718.388.5087 *Current hours*Wed-Fri 2-7 pmSat-Sun Noon-7 pmUntil further notice[email protected]
