Join Ellen for a multimedia reading and performance next Thursday!

Plus! Dazzling dancer Fuschia FoXXX! (Voted one of The Stranger's "Sexiest Citizens"!) Scantily-clad sirens, including Holly Chernobyl! (Also voted one of The Stranger's "Sexiest Citizens"!) Chocolate kisses! More!!

Thursday, February 28, 7pm
Bailey/Coy Books
414 Broadway Ave. E. (across from QFC)
Seattle, WA
206-323-8842

FRIENDS OF THE NIB COMICS JAM WITH SPECIAL GUEST KIM DEITCH AT FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKSTORE & GALLERY ON SATURDAY, MARCH 8.

The public is invited to join a stellar group of accomplished cartoonists in the "Friends of the Nib Comics Jam" at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, March 8 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Celebrated cartoonist and visual artist Jim Woodring will preside over the activities, which will include a guest appearance by New York underground comix legend Kim Deitch. Aspiring cartoonists of all ages are encouraged to participate in this lively session, which will include a rare screening of Deitch's 1960 short film "Dial M for Monster."

Friends of the Nib is an informal cartoonist's salon formed by Woodring that meets weekly at Café Racer in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood. Acclaimed artists such as Ellen Forney, David Lasky and animator Bruce Bickford regularly attend to mentor emerging cartoonists and network with their peers. The “Comics Jam” on March 8 will feature more than a dozen artists cartooning on-site while offering casual encouragement to public participants.

Kim Deitch is among America’s most prominent and influential alternative cartoonists. The (astonishingly sophisticated) animated and live-action film short "Dial M for Monster" he created as a teenager with his friend Tony Eastman has become legendary among Deitch fans; it was never released, and has only been shown a handful of times in small venues as part of Deitch's multimedia presentations; see below for a two-page comic strip by Deitch about the film. Prior to the 7:30 screening, he will introduce the film with a brief media presentation.

Deitch's work has been featured in Art Spiegelman's RAW and R. Crumb'sWeirdo anthologies. In a recent review of Deitch's Shadowland graphic novel, New York Times book critic John Hodgman observed, "Few underground cartoonists deserve that subterranean title so fully as Kim Deitch. He was there at the beginning of the movement, drawing for The East Village Other in 1967, and his work retains much of that psychedelic, R. Crumb-like earthiness." In addition to Shadowland, Fantagraphics Books has collected Deitch's work in Beyond the Pale and published comic book series including The Stuff of Dreams, Mishkin File, and Waldo World.

Admission is free to the public of all ages.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale St. in Seattle's Georgetown industrial arts district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

The "Comics Jam" coincides with the monthly "Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack." Over twenty-five galleries, studios, nightclubs, boutiques, and cafes participate in this lively showcase of Georgetown’s creative diversity.

LISTING INFORMATION

"Friends of the Nib" Comics Jam with special guest Kim Deitch
Saturday, March 8, 6:00 – 9:00 PM*
("Dial M for Monster" film screening at 7:30 PM)

Free admission

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA
206.658.0110

Open Daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM. Sundays until 5:00 PM

*It's the inaugural Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack!
Festive openings, performances and related events throughout the neighborhood

 

Variety has the scoop.

As expected for awhile, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network has placed an initial order for 10 episodes of "The Drinky Crow Show," based on Tony Millionaire's acclaimed "Maakies" comic strip. The newest Maakies book, The Maakies With the Wrinkled Knees, will hit stores next month.

A pilot episode of the proposed series was developed by Millionaire and animation producer Eric Kaplan last year. It aired as part of a competition which pitted dozens of pilots against each other, with the fans voting online for their favorites. The Drinky Crow Show was far and away the most popular new pilot, leading to the order for more episodes, which are tentatively slated to begin airing late this year or early next.

We'll have more news on this next week, including an exclusive Flog interview with Millionaire about the episodes that are just going into production.  

In the meantime, here's a new Millionaire interview with the good folks at CBR. 

This week's free preview is a downloadable 10-page excerpt of the new hardcover edition of Daddy's Girl, the long out-of-print Fantagraphics classic from 1995 by Debbie Drechsler. The excerpt includes the Table of Contents and the entire first story, "Visitors in the Night" (warning: explicit content). These previews are exclusive to registered Fantagraphics.com users, so sign up and/or sign in to view.

(As a reminder, 20/20 Club members receive these previews two weeks before we post them on the website, just one of many great reasons to join up...)

Gary Groth put the questions to Jonathan Bennett in February 2006 for the interview we printed in Mome Vol. 4; now it's the latest installment of our ongoing series of Mome interview web reprints and you can read it right here. Previously: Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell and Kurt Wolfgang. Next up: Andrice Arp.

Attention all Shemp fans! Here's a low budget Oscars-related cartoon produced for Vanity Fair and written by Dana Gould, voiced by Dana and Tom Kenny, and drawn by Peter Bagge.

Portlanders (Oregon, not Maine), take note:

 

LEON BEYOND.