It's time for your weekly installment of Steven Weissman's "Chocolate Cheeks"! Ribs says this week's strip is "totally gangster style!" (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)

Fantagraphics & Rocketship present:

Join the acclaimed European master cartoonist JASON for a pre-MoCCA kickoff party, art show, and world premiere of his new book, POCKET FULL OF RAIN.

WHO: JASON
WHAT: Opening reception, book signing and MoCCA pre-party
WHERE: Rocketship
208 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 • 718.797.1348
WHEN: Friday, June 6, 8PM

Join cartoonist JASON for a rare North American exhibition of original art and the world premiere of his new collection, POCKET FULL OF RAIN.

One of the most acclaimed cartoonists of the last decade, Jason is a multiple Harvey and Eisner Award-winner whose work Publisher's Weekly describes as "Cross Ingmar Bergman with Walt Kelly and Raymond Carver and you may have some idea of what Norwegian cartoonist Jason's work is like... one of the medium's finest storytellers.

National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie says, "Jason's work is poetry. Beautiful and frightening. Redemptive and hopeless. He is the Kafka and Keats of the comic world."

JASON was born on the 16th of August 1965 in Molde, Norway. His acclaimed Eurpoean comic book series, MJAU MJAU, first gained him international recognition, including an appearance in the French publisher L'Association's epochal COMIX 2000 project, and publishers from other countries began picking up his work, including Fantagraphics in the U.S.

Jason's graphic novels include the autobiographical HEY, WAIT, the classic murder mystery THE IRON WAGON, the two-color Frankenstein parody YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE, and the full-color thrillers WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?, THE LEFT BANK GANG, I KILLED ADOLF HITLER, as well as THE LIVING AND THE DEAD and most recently, the swashbuckling sci-fi comedy THE LAST MUSKETEER.

Rocketship will premiere Jason's latest English-language book, POCKET FULL OF RAIN, collecting a selection of his earlier work, including the graphic novel "Lomma" and several early short stories.

New Yorkers will recognize Jason from his prestigious "Funny Pages" slot in the NEW YORK TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE, which has been serializing his chess western "Low Moon" since early this year.

After sojourns in Denmark, Belgium, and several cities in the U.S., the peripatetic cartoonist currently makes his home in Montpellier, France. In addition to the Rocketship event, Jason will be appearing Saturday and Sunday at the MoCCA Arts Festival at the Puck Building in Mnahattan's Lower East Side.

The reception for the artist will begin at Rocketship on Friday, June 6 at 8:00PM. Admission is free to the public of all ages. MoCCA attendees and exhibitors will also be able to pick up their badges at the event as well.  

Courtesy Ron Rege, Jr.:

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS & JIM HANLEY'S UNIVERSE PRESENT:

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 8PM (after MoCCA)

Fantagraphics Books and Jim Hanley's Universe are proud to present a very special event on the evening of Saturday, June 7, to coincide with Fantagraphics' appearance at the 2008 MoCCA Arts Festival.

Join noted Steve Ditko scholar BLAKE BELL for the world premiere of his eagerly-anticipated book, STRANGE & STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO, along with an exclusive screening of Jonathan Ross's acclaimed BBC documentary, "IN SEARCH OF STEVE DITKO." Bell will also give a powerpoint presentation and talk on Ditko's work and career and answer questions from the audience.

Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko is the first critical retrospective of Steve Ditko, the co-creator and original artist of the Amazing Spider-Man. The book explodes many of the myths of Ditko's career, and presents reams of rare and unpublished Ditko artwork. All at once, the book functions as a biography of the artist and an examination of his work (spotlighting over 300 images) with commentary on what makes Ditko one of history's greatest sequential storytellers. Following the June 7 premiere, the book will be widely available in stores later in the month.

TITLE INFORMATION:
Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko
By Blake Bell
$39.99 Hardcover
220 pages, full-color, 9" x 12"
ISBN 978-1-56097-921-0
PUBLICATION DATE: June 2008

LISTING INFORMATION:
WHO: Noted Steve Ditko expert BLAKE BELL
WHAT: The World Premiere of STRANGE &
STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO
WHEN: Saturday, June 7, 8PM
WHERE: Jim Hanley's Universe
4 West 33rd, NYC (off Fifth Ave, opposite Empire State Bldg.)

2008 is the year when Steve Ditko fans the world over will have the opportunity to celebrate the artist's 50-plus year career with this definitive volume from Blake Bell and Fantagraphics Books. And it all starts June 7 in Ditko's hometown of New York City.

... to Large-Hearted Boy. 

With the new softcover edition of the first volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace due any day now, we decided this would be a good time to reprint Brian Walker's informative introduction to the volume here on our website. Click on through to read!

Rory Root called me on Friday afternoon and left me a voice mail and told me we could just catch up on Monday. On Saturday, Rory slipped into a coma after emergency surgery and never woke up. He passed away this afternoon. I don't want to write this now but know I should because I will miss Rory and he needs to be remembered as the kind soul and legend in his field that he was. 

Like many other people I know (including Ed Brubaker, Sophie Crumb, Adrian Tomine, Charles Brownstein and others) Rory encouraged me in this business at a very young age when he had nothing to gain from doing so. I first visited his mecca of world cartooning, Comic Relief, on a spring break from Southern California as a teenager in the late-1980s. I didn't meet him then, I just fell in love with his store. But when I became the news editor at The Comics Journal in my early 20s, Rory became one of the first people who encouraged me and supported me with advice and contacts. I don't even remember meeting him -- he just feels like one of those people I've known forever. He was a great person to get perspective from, and when I switched over to the publishing side our relationship only grew. I would be hard-pressed to think of anyone who was a stronger advocate for the kinds of quality cartooning being published by not just Fantagraphics but also Drawn & Quarterly, Last Gasp, Kitchen Sink, Top Shelf, Buenaventura, etc. The man knew his shit, and he quite often knew how to sell it better than we did. 

I can't believe I didn't get another chance to talk to Rory. Fuck. Even talking business, he was someone whom I could always talk to, even about the most contentious of business matters. We had the opportunity to "break bread" -- as he always put it -- many times over the last 15 years, and he was a fascinating guy, never at a loss for conversation. He didn't just know comics. To give but one example, Rory was a great restaraunt connoisseur and visited Seattle every couple of years and knew Seattle's fine dining by reputation and/or experience better than I do. I think he could have done well on Jeopardy.

What can I say about what he built? Comic Relief is just about the perfect comic book store, and if you're ever anywhere near Northern California you really NEED to pay a visit if you like comics (which I presume you do, if you're reading this). The thought of a Comic Relief without Rory is just too much to even think about right now, although I've heard that Rory has left the store in the hands of his trusted manager, Todd, so that his legacy will continue. Comic Relief was a graphic novel store almost before there were graphic novels, and is simply as great a place to buy comics as I've ever been to, and it's almost entirely due to Rory's passion, vision, and hard work. I will greatly miss the big lug and my heart goes out to his biological family, and his Comic Relief family.

On behalf of everyone at Fantagraphics, I'd like to welcome the newest member to our extended family: Freya Blue Covey, born Friday, May 16. She and Mommy Liz are healthy and happy and beautiful, as Freya is, as you can see, beautiful and has considerably more hair than her pop, Mr. Jacob Covey.