The idiosyncratic work of cartoonist Lynda Barry, a Seattle native, is the subject of a new book by Portland author Susan E. Kirtley. Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass is the first comprehensive critique of this influential American artist. Kirtley will discuss her book with Real Comet Press publisher Cathy Hillenbrand, who published Barry’s first four books, on Saturday, March 24, at 6:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. An informal reception and book signing will follow the discussion. This event coincides with the inaugural Georgetown Music March, featuring free performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community.

Kirtley’s book examines the influence of Lynda Barry’s youthful experiences on her creative output via personal interviews and rigorous analysis of published work. Kirtley’s thought-provoking conclusions invite readers to reassess Barry’s body of work though the lens of an often-tormented adolescent girl. Kirtley is associate professor of English at Portland State University. Her book is part of the University Press of Mississippi’s Great Comics Artists Series, which includes works on cartoonists such as Chris Ware, Alan Moore, Carl Barks, Jack Kirby, Garry Trudeau, and Walt Kelly.

Real Comet Press is the subject of the current retrospective exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Taking its name from the publisher’s slogan “From Comix to Critique,” it features original art, graphics, and book works by Lynda Barry, Michael Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes. An informal reception and book signing will follow the discussion.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) Phone 206.658.0110.

Listing Information

Susan E Kirtley discusses
Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass

Saturday, March 24, 6:00 PM

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street
Seattle, WA Phone: 206.658.0110

Wondering where Stan Sakai is gonna be this weekend??? ...Oh, right, it's in the headline.

Yes, Sakai-san will be at WonderCon this weekend, and you can find him all three days at Table D-4, as in bring dollars 4 buying copies of the very early Usagi Yojimbo trades and some art, as he reports on Facebook he will have on hand. 

WonderCon runs from Friday, March 16th to Sunday, March 18th, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

It's Back to School time for the Hernandez Brothers!

Gilbert, Jaime, & Mario will be the guests of honor, speaking to Professor Charles Hatfield's class on Monday, March 26th at the California State University, Northridge (in greater Los Angeles).

Class will be in session from 4:30 to 6:00 PM in Jerome Richfield Hall, Room 319. And, no test anxiety -- you don't have to be a student to attend! This event is free, open to the public, and is sure to be an inspiring and entertaining evening!

The Northern Illinois Unversity Art Museum in DeKalb, IL is keepin' it real this Spring with the exhibition “Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics,” curated by our own Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist, artist and editor, Paul Karasik!

The exhibit runs from Tuesday, March 20th through Friday, May 25th and features the work of Joyce Farmer, Jaime Hernandez, Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, as well as Jason Lutes, Seth and James Sturm.

Paul states, “These seven artists are united by a rigorous working process utilizing a variety of source materials that ground their comics in the real world, no matter how fantastic their tales.”

DeKalb residents are in luck, as there is a wealth of lectures, workshops, and panels happening on campus throughout the run of the show, including a screening of the film Ghost World on April 25th.

“Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics” can be found on the west-end first floor of Altgeld Hall. Exhibitions and lectures are free; donations are appreciated.

I'm not one for popularity contests, but this one is special. VOTE LUCKY #13. There's some stiff competition in Jerry Rice, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, and even a few non-Jerry/Brown public figures in the Bay Area. But let's face it, none of them wear their smooth pates as well as Mr. Inkstud  himself. 

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "For almost 40 years, from Women’s Comix to the Nation, underground comics pioneer Noomin has shared painfully hilarious episodes from the life of DiDi Glitz, who’s partly her alter ego, but mostly a dreadful example of what a woman who’s not hip or self-aware can do to herself. Occasionally exploiting but usually exploited, DiDi is enthusiastically tasteless and (barely) sensitive enough to realize that there’s something missing in her life. Pursuing cheap sex as the only intimacy she can imagine, she’s usually wearing stiletto heels and fishnet stockings, with a blonde beehive wig jammed on her head. DiDi’s 'successes' turn out to be only briefly satisfying, though, and Noomin’s faux-primitive, b&w art stresses how ugly and vulgar her lovers are. Still, despite wrinkles and rejections, she never gives up, and her grandiose antics are as amusing as they are pathetic. Containing all of DiDi’s stories and a selection of Noomin’s other art, this collection [Glitz-2-Go] is valuable in itself and as an important comment on women’s issues." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

• Review: "It can be a difficult task to tackle the subject of gender identity and transgenderism, but Takako Shimura handles the subject matter with sensitivity and wit [in Wandering Son Vol. 1]. We love how Shimura handles dialogue here – conversations are simple and hardly wordy, yet affecting. It’s strangely reflective of the art style itself... [which] is... characterized by a simple minimalism that still manages to capture the complex emotions of each character.... The series has been named one of the best comics of 2011 by NPR, and if the acclaim can’t convince you to give it a read, then the lovely hard-cover presentation by Fantagraphics Books surely will." – Deborah Lee, The Daily Californian

• Review: "Fantagraphics Books, saviors and protectors of so much that is illustrated and grand, have given me my holy grail. They reproduced, in its glorious entirety, the final catalog, #439, that was published by The DeMoulin Bros. in 1930. This mother lode of catalogs contains all of their fraternity props, gags and devices along with a history of the company and appendices that include the how to's, the scripts as well. The brilliant introductions including one by a Freemason examining the era, and one by the person who may well be the world's largest collectors of DeMoulin Bros. ephemera, magician David Copperfield, are a joy. Catalog No. 439: Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes is available from Fantagraphics Books, Comics and Graphic Novels and from all fine purveyors of unusual or delicate literature everywhere. " – Robert Jaz, Forces of Geek

Gary Panter Talk from MOCAD on Vimeo.

"Gary Panter speaks at MOCAD on March 2, 2012 as part of 'Joshua White and Gary Panter’s Light Show' on view February 10-April 29, 2012.

"Prolific comic artist and punk art prankster, Gary Panter, has influenced multiple generations of artists. He has created iconic designs for albums by The Screamers, The Residents, and Red Hot Chili Peppers; been involved with seminal LA punk zine/label Slash; created the Jimbo comic, which frequently appeared in Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine; and, most popularly, designed groundbreaking sets for Pee-wee Herman's children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse in the 1980s."

'Nuff said. (Via Forbidden Planet International.)

In just a few short weeks - April 15, 2012 - the world will mark the 100th Anniversary of sinking of the RMS Titanic in icy North Atlantic waters, which remains one of the largest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

This month, Fantagraphics releases The Big Town, the new novel by Monte Schulz. This wonderful period novel, an allegory for the American dream as seen through the eyes of one man, is the third in a trilogy of novels set in the summer of 1929 (following This Side of Jordan and The Last Rose of Summer) that together form a sprawling tapestry of the American Jazz Age.

To celebrate the release of The Big Town, and to honor the memory of the victims and survivors of the Titanic on the centennial of its tragic fate, we are proud to release a free, standalone excerpt from The Big Town that presents a gripping, fictionalized account of the Titanic disaster. It all begins at High Society cocktail party in the big town, where a tony socialite makes conversation with the novel's protagonist...

"I conceived this story back in ‘93 and put it into the novel about three years or so later," says Schulz. "Some people have argued that the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was an ending to the 19th century, so I rendered it as a life resolving event. I also wanted my character Harry to hear it as a reminder of the fragility of family."

Read the excerpt below (click the zoom-in tool once or open in a new window for improved legibility) or download the PDF to read this harrowing story. If you'd like to read more, order your copy of the The Big Town today.

THE BIG TOWN
A Novel by Monte Schulz
ISBN 978-160699-503-7

"Bold and stirring, The Big Town is a big walk through the dark side of Jazz Age America, a place where temptation and violence were only a breath away. A finely-textured tale of moral ambiguity told with gripping realism that richly evokes the sights and sounds of an era defined by gangsters and Gatsby."

– Persia Walker, author of Black Orchid Blues

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review (Video): On G4's Fresh Ink Online video podcast, host Blair Butler and guest Sam Humphries look at Is That All There Is? by Joost Swarte; at the 7:50 mark Humphries makes it his #2 pick of the week, saying "I've literally been waiting for this book for 20 years... so my hopes were pretty high and this book does not disappoint at all.... You gotta pick up this book."

• Review: "While [Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975] looks like a typical coffee table book, this book does not have the coffee table lightness when it comes to content. It is dense.... The imagery in this book is fantastic with a ton of photos of old album jackets, flyers and magazine advertisements and of course the record itself. I admit, I want to blow up a lot of the posters and frame them. You will too.... You should buy this book. Fantagraphics outdid themselves this time." – David Baker, 410 Media

• Review: "Undead pirates roam the seas. They want to die and find eternal peace. But when that doesn’t work, they pray for a living creature to torment. They find a baby boy amidst the wreckage of a ship and decide to raise him until he’s ten. Then they plan to kill him so they can have a cabin-boy.... David B.’s Epileptic made me a fan of his work. But the cover [of The Littlest Pirate King], featuring ghastly pirates behind a little boy, would have caught my attention anyway.... It’s a kid’s book with an edge." – Gene Ambaum, The Unshelved Book Club

• Review: "Originally published in 1974, ...[The Arctic Marauder] finds social criticism wrapped up in sarcastic satire, but outfitted in some great designs of Victorian science.... Tardi’s story is one thing, but his beautiful renderings give it a depth that brings it far beyond satire. The attention given to the Victoriana -- in technology, fashion and graphic layout -- functions as a love letter to that bygone world, which keeps the book from ever seeming cartoonish, and that [is] its major strength." – John Seven, North Adams Transcript

• Plug: The Pulp Reader spotlights our upcoming Basil Wolverton collections Creeping Death from Neptune and Spacehawk

• Tunes: Michael Kupperman is among the cartoonists who put together a playlist of music that inspires their process for Huffington Post columnist Dave Scheidt — a taste: "'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep,' Middle of the Road: This is just the oddest song. It's upbeat, and bubblegum, and catchy, and sad, and kind of incomprehensible. It was written by a French composer and recorded by a Scottish group, and was one of the highest-selling singles worldwide of all time." (That song's popular with funny cartoonists: Peter Bagge's band Can You Imagine? covers it)

Find out the bittersweet autobiographical backstory behind Ivan Brunetti's cover illustration for the new issue of The New Yorker, and a slideshow of Ivan's other New Yorker covers, at the magazine's "Culture Desk" blog.

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