FLOG! Entries - May 2008

Fantagraphics Bookstore in NY Times

Eric

Our beloved neighborhood of Georgetown is profiled in the NY Times, and look who's featured front and center!

Sketchbook #48

Eric

Courtesy Kim Deitch, oh yeah:

Sketchbook #47

Eric

Courtesy Jordan Crane (who, I should add for the record, has since expressed hatred of this sketch):

Chocolate Cheeks for 5/30/08

mike

Kick off your weekend right with your weekly installment of Steven Weissman's "Chocolate Cheeks"! In this week's strip... just what did "Sweet" Chubby Cheeks see at the park? (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)

Search and ye shall find

mike

We're in the process of making a few enhancements to the website here, one of which was launched today: now you can select to search our products by title only, or by full description, by checking the buttons that say "Titles" or "All" respectively on our Product Search bar to the left. (Before, you had to go to our Advanced Search page to narrow your search like this.) We hope this makes finding what you're looking for just a bit quicker and easier!

Blogosphere roundup for 5/30/08

mike

Reviews and commentary found 'round the Web this week:

• ComicMix on the latest volume of The Complete Peanuts

• Occasional Superheroine and The Comics Reporter on Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button — the latter's Tom Spurgeon enthuses "Bottomless Belly Button reaches so high and executes so much of what it does so well that it shames you into reconsidering every other book you may have praised recently."

• Newsarama on The Last Musketeer by Jason

• Comics Worth Reading's Johanna Draper Carlson explains why she named Linda Medley's Castle Waiting one of the "Best of 2006"

• Sequart on Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin

• Sequart again on Ellen Forney's Lust

• Sexuality in the Arts and Noah Berlatsky each comment on the Schulz feature in The Comics Journal #290 (the former via Uncivilsociety.org)

• Dick Hyacinth places Jessica Farm Vol. 1 by Josh Simmons and Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga on his "Halfway point (more or less) best of 2008" list

• The Star Clipper Blog on R. Kikuo Johnson's Night Fisher

Bonus! Here are some non-review links:

• My Year Online reports on Martin Kellerman's appearance at the Oslo Comics Expo

• Our pals at WFMU are auctioning a copy of the first printing of Love and Rockets #1 with Fantagraphics co-founder Mike Catron's business card stapled to the cover

• A fan report from last weekend's Shag event at our storefront

• What happens when you read too much Daniel Clowes

• Art Speculum and Kim Ditch?

• Speaking of Kim Ditch Deitch, here's a portrait of him (and Waldo the Cat) by photographer Seth Kushner:

Jim Flora's Sunday Morning

mike

From Irwin Chusid:

Jim Flora Art LLC continues its limited edition fine art print series with an uncirculated black & white pen and ink drawing from the mid-1990s entitled Sunday Morning. This is the latest-life work by the artist we have offered in a numbered edition. Two prints are now listed on eBay at a launch price [now sold out]. Price will increase for subsequent prints in the edition. Our previous limited edition prints are available at JimFlora.com.

Fine art works:
http://www.jimflora.com/fineartworks.html

Album cover art:
http://www.jimflora.com/albumcoverart.html

Confidential...

Eric

... to Gary Groth and Jason Miles in Los Angeles. "ABC," boys. Second prize is a set of steak knives.

The Eros Green Card

Eric

Don't let these people fool you to believe they have any affiliation with Eros Comix.

This Sunday: Bob Levin at Comic Relief

Eric

If you're in Northern California this weekend, don't miss this, it's an amazing book (and if you don't believe me, believe The Comics Reporter, who says "Levin has written what may be the first completely unforgettable book about a modern cartoonist") and Bob Levin is an excellent speaker/reader. Do it for us, do it for Bob, and do it for the great Rory Root, who had been a longtime booster of Bob's work and whom I know was very much looking forward to this event.

It won't be the same without you, Rory.

Listen to Jules Feiffer

mike

You can stream the Mr. Media interview with Jules Feiffer, which broadcast yesterday, with this handy dandy BlogTalkRadio player right here:

Open in your default player
Detach into a separate window

Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack on June 14

LarryR

May 28, 2008
Media Release
Contact: Larry Reid
larryjreid@comcast.net
Kathy Nyland
alamodem@earthlink.net

GEORGETOWN SECOND SATURDAY ART ATTACK ON JUNE 14!

Adventurous Seattle art enthusiasts are invited to celebrate the arrival of summer at the Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack on Saturday, June 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. In only its fifth installment, the Georgetown Art Attack has established itself as one of the region’'s most colorful cultural outings. The June 14 event features an impressive array of exceptional local, national and international artists in a variety of disciplines.

Among the many highlights:

The Seattle debut of photographs by Johanna Breiding of Zurich, Switzerland at Bella Vitale Studios. Her arresting images of abandoned European architectural environments can be previewed at: www.johannabreiding.ch/index.html.

A multimedia presentation, “Accidents Will Happen,” at Belle & Wissell. This exhibition is organized by Gabe Kean of Born Magazine and Georgetown Records'’ Marq Dean, with EMP curator Jacob MacMurray and photographer Curt Doughty. The show examines the evolution of music photography in the Northwest through film, photographs and digital media. Featured artists include Seattle'’s legendary seminal rock photographer Jini Dellaccio, as well as current masters on the genre Charles Peterson, Lance Mercer, David Belisle, Morgan Keuler, and others.

“Carnaval de Monstruos,” Bruce Christian Andersen’'s show of recent figurative ceramics and banner paintings by at Georgetown Tile Works —– a three-dimensional retrospective of some of the most unusual and fascinating midway performers of the early 1900's.

A show of drawings and prints by sensational Southern California artist Josh Agle (aka SHAG) at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. “SHAG: A to Z” celebrates the pleasures of a hedonistic lifestyle and the virtues of overindulgence in his seductive and singular rendering style.

A display of power tool racers by Georgetown’'s provocative collective Hazard Factory and a performance by musician Anna Coogan at Full Throttle Bottles; Rebecca Bolte’'s work in music photography and album art at Bolte Creative; boisterous drinking, delicious dining, and exotic shopping experiences at over 30 locations throughout Seattle’'s historic Georgetown business district.

The June 14 Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack coincides with the annual Georgetown Music Festival. For more information on the music festival visit: www.georgetownmusicfest.com.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack is a production of the Georgetown Merchants’ Association. A selection of images in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information contact GMA chair Kathy Nyland, or Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid at numbers above. Website:
www.georgetownartattack.com.

Dash Shaw's Satellite CMYK

mike

Dash Shaw reveals a page from "Satellite CMYK," his contribution to Mome Vol. 13 (coming this Fall).

Fantagraphics at BEA

Eric

Gary Groth and Jason T. Miles head down to Los Angeles tomorrow morning for this weekend's BOOK EXPO AMERICA at the L.A. Convention Center (right next to the Staples Center - good luck avoiding the crush of rioting Laker fans when their team earns a trip to the NBA finals tomorrow night, gents).

Our booth numbers at the show are #1411-1413, in the W.W. Norton area, and we'll be showcasing basically our entire 2008 line, including previews of just about every title coming out for the rest of the year. We're also bringing along five our favorite sons to do signings on Friday/Saturday:

FRIDAY 4-5PM in the AUTOGRAPH AREA
"GRAPHIC NOVEL SALUTE"

TONY MILLIONAIRE (Table 7) will be signing copies of The Maakies with the Wrinkled Knees, featuring Drinky Crow from Adult Swim's The Drinky Crow Show!

JORDAN CRANE (Table 8) will be signing copies of the all-ages hit, The Clouds Above, newly available in softcover!

JAIME HERNANDEZ (Table 9)will be signing copies of Love and Rockets, one of the most beloved comics of all-time, which re-launches in July as Love and Rockets: New Stories #1!

SATURDAY 1-3PM in the FANTAGRAPHICS BOOTH (#1411):

1:00-2:00PM: STEVEN WEISSMAN will be signing copies of the all-ages gem, Kid Firechief!

2:00-3:00PM: JOHNNY RYAN will be signing copies of the acclaimed adult humor strip, Blecky Yuckerella!

Also on Saturday, GARY GROTH will be participating in a "Graphic Novel BUZZ" panel. The panel will take place from 4:00 - 5:00 PM in Room 404B. Expect Gary to make some exciting announcements about a few future book projects, you heard it here first!

The more things change...

Eric

... the more they stay the same. Bryan Lee O'Malley justly eviscerates Tokyopop's new contracts, while Jack Kirby spins.

Shag pix

mike

Loads of Shag fans came out for his exhibit opening and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery last weekend. Even Dan Pussey dressed up for the occasion! See lots more photos in our Flickr stream, and our pal "Sedanman" has a great set, too.

Online Friends Sale: final days!

mike

Attention MySpace friends, Facebook fans, Flickr contacts, Twitter followers etc! This week is your last chance to save 20%-25% off all your online purchases at Fantagraphics.com as part of our 2nd Annual Fantagraphics Online Friends Appreciation Sale, which ends Saturday May 31. Click here for all the details!

Renee French Sasquatch Cover

covey

One of the Beasts! made the cover of The Stranger 's new Sasquatch Music Festival Guide: The lovely and sympathetic bigfoot portrait from Renee French. (Who is a swell gal to boot-- have you seen her great blog?)

Ask Jules Feiffer!

Eric

Jules Feiffer will be interviewed live tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11AM eastern on the Mr. Media radio show and will be taking questions from listeners. Just click the link for full info about listening live online and for calling in to ask Mr. Feiffer a question about his new book, Explainers, or really anything from his storied career.

Leah Hayes interviewed...

Eric

... at Computerlove.com (oh, my...).