... haven't been to enough comics events in Seattle lately, I'm participating in this at Hugo House tonight: 

The Hugo House InPrint Series presents:
 
Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press?
An Evening with Northwest Independent Press Publishers
 
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008, 7:00 - 9:00
                            Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave. Seattle
Admission $3 members/$5 non-members
 
Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press?
 
The Northwest features a handful of excellent independent press publishers who are producing interesting work and attracting positive critical attention and awards. 

Tonight editors and publishers from several publishers will be on hand to explain the advantages of publishing with an independent small press and how to go about it.  Our speakers will cover the editing and business side of small press, from queries and pitches to editorial preferences and distribution. 
 
Small press publishers can serve audiences that aren't normally served by larger publishers who can only publish very commercial work, allowing them to get away from publishing only work that appeals to the largest common denominator of readers.  Once books have been published and received positive reviews, they often attract the attention of larger publishers for broader distribution.  All of your questions will be answered and you'll come away with valuable information and contacts for publishing.
 
OUR PANEL:
 
Black Heron Press: Jerry Gold, publisher and editor-in-chief 

Chin Music Press:  Bruce Rutledge, journalist and author

Fantagraphics: Eric Reynolds, editor

Aqueduct Press: L. Timmel Duchamp, author, publisher and editor

Payseur and Schmidt: Jacob McMurray, publisher

Wood Works Press:  Paul Hunter, publisher and editor

The InPrint Series is a quarterly forum designed to connect writers with agents, publishers and publishing industry experts.  The mission of Richard Hugo House is to build a vital learning community that develops and sustains practicing writers doing essential work.  (206) 322-7030  www.hugohouse.org 

Tim Hensley apparently posted this over at Blog Flume last month but it just yesterday showed up my RSS reader. I'm in awe of the sketchbook pages he's been posting over there, too.

DREW FRIEDMAN ART SHOW AND BOOK SIGNING
AT ROCKETSHIP IN BROOKLYN MAY 16!

WHO: Drew Friedman
WHAT: Opening reception and book signing
WHERE: Rocketship
208 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 • 718.797.1348
WHEN: Friday, May 16, 8PM

“Drew Friedman isn't just a brilliant artist. He takes you to a place. He takes you back in time. He makes you smell the stale cigarettes and cold brisket and you say thank you for the pleasure.” — Sarah Silverman

Join cartoonist DREW FRIEDMAN for a special exhibition of original art and objects, along with a book signing in conjunction with the release of More Old Jewish Comedians.

Drew Friedman is among the most notorious illustrators and cartoonists in America. According to Entertainment Weekly, “He holds a marvelously warped lens up to crusty politicians and debauched celebrities. A good-natured misanthrope with an obsessive style and a sardonic tongue, Drew Friedman is one of the country’s sharper political artists.” Friedman will appear in New York for the first time since his legendary Friar’s Club Book-warming in March (as written about by Lillian Ross in The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town”) for a book signing and exhibition of his original artwork on Friday, May 16 at 8:00 PM.

Friedman’s illustrious career has included comics work published in Art Spiegelman’s RAW, R. Crumb’s Weirdo and MAD Magazine, and frequent illustrations in National Lampoon, The New York Times, The New York Observer, among countless other publications. He was the recipient of the 2001 Reuben Award for newspaper illustration (and is a nominee for the same award this year). Friedman’s work has been collected by Seattle’s Fantagraphics Books in The Fun Never Stops!: An Anthology of Comic Art 1991 - 2006, Old Jewish Comedians, More Old Jewish Comedians, and Warts and All.

More Old Jewish Comedians is the sequel to 2006's wildly popular Old Jewish Comedians, and has earned raves from Jerry Lewis, Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, The Believer, Entertainment Weekly and many others. The book includes the famous (Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Soupy Sales, etc.), the less-famous (Jerry Stiller, Zeppo & Gummo Marx, Larry Storch, Zero Mostel, etc.) and the largely unknown (Molly Picon, Herbie Faye, Jan Murray, etc.). The Reuben Award-winning Friedman presents a thorough visual history of the 20th Century's greatest Borscht-Belt comedians in 34 full-page, liver-spotted portraits.

A reception for the artist will begin on Friday, May 16 at 8:00PM. Admission is free to the public of all ages. The exhibition continues though June 4, 2008.

A selection of images in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information, contact Eric Reynolds.

MORE OLD JEWISH COMEDIANS
By Drew Friedman; Introduction by Larry Gelbart
$16.99 Hardcover • 36 pp., black-and-white, 10” x 10”
ISBN 978-1-56097-914-2

Advertisers, now you can reach comix readers in the direct market AND the book trade via Love and Rockets: New Stories, our new annual trade-paperback L&R series! Opportunities are available now, and the deadline for the first issue is coming up soon (May 1), so you won't want to delay. Click here for all the details.

Please join us this Thursday, April 17 in welcoming David Hajdu to Seattle. A longtime friend of Fantagraphics, Hajdu is the author of The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America, which examines the hysteria surrounding the popularity of comics in the Cold War era. Hajdu is music critic for the New Republic and author of Positively 4th Street. He’ll be speaking on the subject of “Outsiders in the Panels” at 7:30 at Town Hall, 1119 Eight Avenue in Seattle. Tickets are $8 ($6 students), available at www.nextbook.org.

Also this Thursday evening at 7:00 PM, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery’s resident curator Larry Reid will speak at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Avenue in Seattle. Reid will present a slide lecture on the topic “WEIRDOS: Seattle’s Alternative Comics Culture in the Context of R. Crumb’s Underground.” If you have yet to see the phenomenal Crumb exhibition at the Frye, this represents one of the last opportunities to view this comprehensive collection and explore Crumb’s considerable influence on comics in the Northwest. Admission is free. Reid assures us that you’ll get your money’s worth. More info at 206.622.9250.

And don’t miss Drew Friedman’s amazing exhibition “The Fun Never Stops!” continuing through May 6 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, 1201 S. Vale St. in Seattle.

Hope to see you all soon.

The no-brainer of the year: Michael Chabon covered by Jordan Crane for McSweeney's.

And, as you'll see by visiting Design:Related, it's a conceptually complex package with three diecut jackets . (Take that carbon footprint!)

God that's gorgeous artwork.

The yin to Chip Kidd's wang yang, courtesy Jeffrey Brown.