Gahan Wilson signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Jan. 13, 2010

If you live in the Boston area, make plans now to attend the 2011 Boston Comic Con, this Saturday, April 30th and Sunday, May 1, at the Hynes Convention Center! We're excited to announce that the legendary Gahan Wilson will have his own table there, and will be signing all day, on both days!

Our friends from The Million Year Picnic will be on site, with copies of our beautiful box set Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons. If you have not seen this thing in person, lemme tell you, it's another Covey-masterpiece, with die cuts, embossing, and a plexi-glass window on the slipcase of this stunning three-volume set.

Yes, three. Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons features not only every cartoon Wilson drew for Playboy, but all his prose fiction that has appeared in that magazine as well.

If you were at MoCCA a few weeks ago, you saw how quickly this set sold on just the first day! (Only one remained on Sunday morning, and as soon as Gahan sat down for his signing, the first person in line snatched it up!) 

And, if you were at MoCCA, you got to see first-hand what a hilarious and delightful fella Gahan is! He is an absolute treat to meet, and I urge all you Bostonians to get over to the Hynes Convention Center this weekend to find out for yourself!

* Other People's Publications
** Yeah, You Know Me. 

It's sub-titled "A Love Story," but somehow Mister Wonderful still managed to depress the heck outta me. Such is the power of the one and only Daniel Clowes!

Mister Wonderful was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine back in 2007-8, and it was such an exhilirating weekly ride, that I'm glad someone collected it into a nice little hardbound book, complete with extra bonus material.

If you didn't read the online strips a few years ago (I can't even imagine...), the "Mister Wonderful" in question is Marshall, an unemployed divorcé, who's been fixed up with Natalie, a woman with some romantic baggage of her own.

I don't wanna give away the ending for anyone who didn't read it on the NYT website (Really? You didn't?? Sorry, I just...), but somehow, the open-ended conclusion just left me feeling bummed out. I guess we're meant to feel hope for this budding couple, but c'mon... This is Dan Clowes we're talking about.

Mister Wonderful, and tons of other Clowes titles and accessories, are currently in stock at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110. See you there!

... And by that, I mean, I had three Burgerville Northwest Cherry Chocolate Milkshakes in the two days we were in Portland, Oregon for the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest. They even put espresso shots in my milkshakes. God bless Burgerville.

The calm before the Stumptown storm!

So, WOW! Thank you so much to everyone who came by our booth at Stumptown this year! Mike and I had a blast! Hate Annual #9 flew off the racks, with Jason's latest Isle of 100,000 Graves also selling out quickly.

We were thrilled to be joined by editor Patrick Rosenkranz. While we weren't able to make his panel on the underground comix movement, we could tell from the fans attending his signing that it must've went great! One fellow came by with a huge stack of Zap Comix in hand, including a rare copy of the first printing of #1!

Speaking of successful panels, T. Edward Bak had several of his attendees dropping by the booth, grabbing fistfuls of Momes! Here he is, showing some of his original artwork. Mike pointed out that you can always tell which issues of Mome T. Edward is in by looking for the black pages on the fore edge! (And yes, we had to consult Google to figure out what the sides of a book are called.)

Mome contributor Jeffrey Brown was signing with our booth neighbors Top Shelf, and leaned over for a chat with T Edward. Note: this happened on the next day from the other picture posted above; it's not like T Edward brought two sets of clothes. He's not Lady Gaga.

[Speaking of Jeffrey, here's one of my favorite overheard quotes of the weekend -- girl, on cellphone: "Hello? Mom, I gotta call you back. I'm standing in front of Jeffrey Brown."]

[My second favorite overheard quote of Stumptown comes from our own Customer Service Representative Ian Burns, who was trying to unload his leftovers from lunch: "It is really hard to give away meat in Portland."]

Speaking of Mome, we're always delighted to have the multi-talented Andrice Arp join us. Not only was she signing copies of Mome (including Volume 15, which features her cover art), but she also brought mini-paintings and a totally awesome flip-book she designed, inspired by the A-ha video for "Take On Me." Yeah, that's right.

And finally, editor Jacques Boyreau joined us, engaging customers with his collection Portable Grindhouse. Jacques is always great to talk movies with, and a former French film critic even stopped by to discuss cult classics! And who's that to the left in the pic above?  Why it's Monster Parade artist Ben Catmull!

Ben had his own table this year at Stumptown, featuring his award-winning 2001 comic Paper Theater, and some freakin' insane letterpress prints, both of which you can acquire straight from the gentleman himself.

The biggest buzz of the weekend was over the move from the old location (The Lloyd Center) to the much-larger Oregon Convention Center. And yes, while I missed the windows and nearby park of The Lloyd Center, I've really only got one word: Burgerville.

You can check out lots more pics from our Stumptown adventures on the Fantagraphics Flickr page here. And the fun don't stop, as Mike and I are now gearing up for TCAF! Hope to see you there!

Last weekend, local museum The Experience Music Project kicked off their brand new exhibit "Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses," and oh, hey, Fantagraphics just happened to publish the companion book Taking Punk to the Masses, in association with the EMP. 

As such, several Fantagraphics staffers and artists were on the scene at the opening reception last Friday, and while Mike and I were unable to attend, local culture blog Seattle Twist were in the pit, and posted tons of great pics on their website.  Here's just a few:

All photos credit to Marlow Harris and Jo David

See that incredible logo at the top of this FLOG post? Designed by our one and only Jacob Covey, seen here with his lovely lady, Liz.  It's hard to get Covey out these days, so SEATTLE, I HOPE YOU APPRECIATED IT.

Speaking of cute couples, here's the delightful duo of Mary & Jim Woodring, posing with the souvenir Theo chocolate bars made especially for the evening. Jim is no "stranger" (heh) to cultural chocolatey event treats.

I love what Seattle Twist wrote about our own Larry Reid so much, that I just wanna quote it here: "Mister Larry Reid — Seattle's own kulture chaos kingpin, curating/instigating collisions of art and xcitement in this town for the last three decades, and still ready to kick some 'sick-up-the-butt' art establishment attitude for years to come." AMEN.

And here's Larry with his wonderful family.  As previously mentioned, Larry has always been a major presence in the Seattle counterculture scene, and is quoted in the book Taking Punk to the Masses.

You can check out more photos -- including some can't-miss shots of Krist Novoselic's shirt -- over at SeattleTwist.com! And if you missed opening night, don't worry, you have until 2014 to view the Nirvana exhibit at the EMP.

And on May 14th, we'll be hosting our own exhibition from renowned local photographer Charles Peterson at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Fellow 90's icon Peter Bagge will be signing copies of Hate Annual #9 and the Yeah! collection, followed by a performance with his band Can You Imagine? featuring Steve Fisk on keyboards.

An egg-cellent* fundraiser is happening this Easter weekend at the KGB Bar in NYC!

[* Yeah, I went there.]

It's the very first benefit for The Sequential Artists Workshop, a potential new school for cartooning in Gainesville, Florida, founded by Tom Hart and Leela Corman and others.

Leslie Stein will be reading a brand new story titled “Brown Heart” at the event. (That's a page from it, below.) And John Kerschbaum will also be participating!

A $5.00 suggested donation this Sunday will help them raise funds for the 2012 opening of the Sequential Artists Workshop.

The benefit is this Sunday, April 24th at 7:00 pm in the Red Room at KGB Bar Upstairs Theater [85 E. 4th Street] in New York City’s East Village. Hop to it!

St. Louis! Are you ready for a calvacade of whimsy and wonder?!

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 20th, The Magic Dwindler, Esq. (aka Tim Lane!) kicks off a monthly series at Subterranean Books entitled The Whirling Gypsy Comicarouselesque Revue & Burlesque.

As he explains on his blog, it's "loosely based on traditional carousel comic performances, but are also meant to facilitate explorations and experimentation in inventive ways of bringing comics – or I should say pictures and words – into the realm of performance."

The Whirling Gypsy... will whirl every third Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm at Subterranean [6275 Delmar Blvd.]. Don't miss it!

I was kinda bummed that the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest just happened to coincide with National Record Store Day, but that just made me extra-happy to find this wonderful collaboration between Mome artist Laura Park and musician Neko Case, to commemorate the occasion!

These limited-edition tees were printed by our friends at Poketo. If you're lucky, you can still find one at participating stores, but with a lovely illustration like that, don't be surprised if they're all sold out!

Join us this weekend for the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon! It's their first year at the Oregon Convention Center, and we'll be there Saturday, April 16th and Sunday, April 17th, with some of our amazing artists and editors, and both new books and favorite titles. Marketing maestro Mike Baehr and I are looking forward to seeing everyone!

Get your hands on early copies of these Fantagraphics titles:

• Love From the Shadows by Gilbert Hernandez
• 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago
• Hate Annual #9 by Peter Bagge
• Isle of 100,000 Graves by Jason

And we've got an exciting signing schedule in store for you, with a couple of our acclaimed Mome artists, and a couple of our incredible editors:

Saturday, April 16th
1:00-2:00 PM          Patrick Rosenkranz
2:00-3:00 PM          T. Edward Bak
4:00-5:00 PM          Jacques Boyreau
5:00-6:00 PM          Andrice Arp

Sunday, April 17th
2:00-3:00 PM          Patrick Rosenkranz
4:00-5:00 PM          T. Edward Bak
5:00-6:00 PM          Andrice Arp

You can also get your books signed by artists Ben Catmull and Jeffrey Brown, who will be signing at different tables at the show, and swing by the Profanity Hill table to say hi to Fantagraphics' own Jason T. Miles!

And in celebration of the latest issue of Hate Annual, we'll be doing some fun giveaways, thanks to our friends at AmericaWare, who've just debuted a collection of Peter Bagge t-shirts! Just come by the Fantagraphics table for your chance to win a shirt featuring the loveable Lisa! You know you wanna be BAD!

(And if you live in Seattle, you can check out t-shirts from Bagge, Woodring, Wolverton and Blanchard at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery!)

Where can you find us at Stumptown? Why, at booth #304!

And while at Stumptown, be sure to take in some panels featuring Fantagraphics artists and staff!

Saturday, April 16th

11:00-11:45 PM // Process in the Periphery: Natural History and Narrative Explorations in the Biography of Georg Wilhelm Steller: A presentation of artist T Edward Bak's current work-in-progress with an examination of challenges in illustrated historical exposition.  (Room A104)

12:00-12:45 PM // Sex, Drugs & Insurrection: The Underground Comix Movement: During the underground comix era artistic freedom was a non-negotiable starting point. Audacity, iconoclasm, and experimentation became the new standards for success. Comics this raw and explicit had never seen print before. This presentation is not for the young or squeamish. Presented by Patrick Rosenkranz (Room A106)

2:00-2:45 PM // Comics as Journalism: Mike Rosen, editor of Oil and Water, moderates a discussion about using comics as a form of journalism, tackling stories in ways that traditional prose journalism doesn't. Join Shannon Wheeler, Sarah Glidden, Matt Bors, and Steve Duin. (Room A105)

3:00-3:45 PM // How To Publicize Your Comic: Fantagraphics Director of Publicity & Promotions, Jacq Cohen, goes over the step-by-step process of creating a publicity plan for a comic and gives pointers on how to promote yourself and your book. (Room A104)

3:00-4:45 PM // Teaching Comics: College-level comics courses are a fairly new phenomenon, but the schools offering them have already met with great success. Join educators Brian Michael Bendis (PSU), Patrick Rosenkranz (PNCA), Trevor Dodge (CCC/PNCA), and Nicole Georges (IPRC) in a panel hosted by Dark Horse executive editor Diana Schutz (PCC) as they share their experiences in the comics classroom and bring you up to date on courses now available nationwide. (Room A106)

Sunday, April 17th

2:00-2:45 PM // Douglas Wolk: Page One: We'll look at some great opening pages of comics, and discuss how they instantly establish a look and feel for what comes after them (including some Fantagraphics titles!). Hosted by critic Douglas Wolk.  (Room A104)

6:00-10:00 PM // Stumptown Comics Fest Afterparty: See the Stumptown Cartoonist Show, featuring artwork by Andrice Arp and many, many other artists, at Pony Club Gallery (625 NW Everett Street #105).

We'll see you there!

'Cause if you did move to California, you could have the chance to see some shows debuting this weekend from Esther Pearl Watson!  (It's also the title of one of my favorite Times New Viking songs...)

If you're in the San Francisco area, you can attend the exhibit Land of Magic: Artists Explore Make Believe at the Bedford Gallery. The show spotlights thirteen artists capturing fantasy-scapes in a variety of media, from paintings (like Esther's, seen above) to photography and video.  The show runs from April 10th to July 12th, and a reception will be held Thursday, April 14th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

And Valencia residents, you are also in luck!  Esther is finishing up her first year at the California Institute of the Arts, and you can be among the first to see her latest work in her MFA-1 studio (room A202E) this Sunday, April 10th, from noon to 5:00 pm!

Fantagraphics is excited to be taking part in the Second Annual Small Press Festival here in Seattle, a month-long series of events celebrating independent publishing that includes a show this Saturday, April 9th at the Richard Hugo House from 2:00 to 6:00 pm. Our office assistant Eric Buckler will be manning the table, so be sure to swing by and say hi!

To help celebrate Seattle's vibrant book scene, we'll be featuring selections from local artists like Jim Woodring, Megan Kelso, Ellen Forney, Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard and more!

We'll also have a selection of half-price "damaged" books, chosen from the infamous back room at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! (No, not THAT back room, the other one!)

The event will also feature readings by local authors, informal talks, and drink specials throughout the afternoon! Admission is $5-$15 sliding scale, and includes gifts and a nifty book bag with price of entry. See you there!