Hey, Wait...
By Jason

This superbly evocative graphic novella by the award-winning Norwegian cartoonist Jason (his first appearance in the English language) starts off as a melancholy childhood memoir and then, with a shocking twist midway through, becomes the summary of lives lived, wasted, and lost. (Imagine a version of Stand by Me in which not all of the kids outrace the train.) Like Art Spiegelman did with Maus, Jason utilizes anthropomorphic stylizations to reach deeper, more general truths, and to create elegantly minimalist panels whose emotional depth charge comes as an even greater shock. His sparse dialogue, dark wit, and supremely bold use of "jump-cuts" from one scene to the next (sometimes spanning a number of years) make Hey, Wait... a surprising and engaging debut. Love and Rockets co-creator Gilbert Hernandez calls this one of the best graphic novels ever.

64-page black & white 7" x 10" softcover • $12.95
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The Left Bank Gang
By Jason

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce walk into a Parisian bar... no, it's not the beginning of a joke, but the premise of Jason's unique new graphic novel. Set in 1920s Paris, The Left Bank Gang is a deliciously inventive re-imagining of these four literary figures as not only typical Jason anthropomorphics, but...graphic novelists! Yes, in Jason's warped world, cartooning is the dominant form of fiction, and not only do these four work literary giants work in the comics medium but they get together to discuss pen vs. brush, chat about the latest graphic novels from Dostoevsky ("I can't tell any of his characters apart!") to Faulkner ("Hasn't he heard of white space? His panels are too crowded!"), and bemoan their erratic careers. With guest appearances by Zelda Fitzgerald and Jean-Paul Sartre, and a few remarkable twists and turns along the way, and you've got one of the funniest and most playful graphic novels of the year. Like Jason's acclaimed Why Are You Doing This?, The Left Bank Gang is rendered in full spectacular color.

2007 Eisner Award Winner, Best U.S. Edition of International Material

48-page full-color 7" x 10" softcover • $12.95
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YOW! Legendary Cartoonist Bill Griffith Book Signing and Zippy Art Exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle on November 8.

“Are we having fun yet?” We will be on Saturday, November 8 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, when Bill Griffith creator of the iconic Zippy the Pinhead comic strip character, makes a rare public appearance in the Northwest. Griffith will be on hand to sign his new Zippy collection Welcome to Dingburg, present an exhibition of original Zippy artwork, and give a brief slide talk. The public of all ages is invited to Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle’s Georgetown district to welcome this extraordinary cartoonist.

Bill Griffith began his storied career in New York in 1969, publishing comics in the East Village Other. A year later he moved to San Francisco to join his colleagues in the Underground Comix movement. He collaborated with Art Spiegelman to launch Arcade, a quarterly anthology of alternative comics, and Young Lust, a parody of 1950s romance comic books. His signature character Zippy first appeared in 1970 in Real Pulp #1. In subsequent years, “Zippy the Pinhead” was syndicated and currently appears in hundreds of newspapers across the country. Griffith’s creation has entered the cultural lexicon with his sometimes oblique, sometimes pointed, commentary on American political and popular culture. Since 1993, Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books has collected “Zippy the Pinhead” strips in several periodical publications. The latest of these handsome volumes, Welcome to Dingburg, will make its debut at the event on November 8.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in the heart of Georgetown’s creative community, only minutes south of downtown Seattle - open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Bill Griffith’s appearance coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the neighborhood. A selection of imagery in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information contact Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics.

Listing Information

BILL GRIFFITH
Opening reception and book signing, Saturday, November 8, 6:00 – 9:00 PM.
Exhibition of original Zippy art continues through December 10.
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
www.fantagraphics.com

As an experiment, I'm switching to a daily link post instead of the weekly "blogosphere roundup" -- hopefully smaller chunks will be easier to digest, not to mention more timely. And here we go:

• Derik Badman cites a Jaime Hernandez story in an article about the use of the first-person point of view in comics

• Look at some incredible sketchbook pages by Matthias Lehmann

• The Onion A.V. Club's "Comics Panel" gives high grades to Tales Designed to Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman and Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers

• Steve Brodner hits it out of the park

For the Tijuana Bible collector who has it all.

Found in a thriftstore in Farmville, VA.

Editor Craig Yoe is seeking material for The Great Anti-War Cartoons, a 120-page black & white hardcover we're publishing next year. Visit Craig's site for more information and a preview slideshow.

Ben Catmull: cartoonist, music video director (via Spurge).

Still Working from Ben Catmull on Vimeo.

Johnny Ryan sez on his blog: "Superfan Patrick O'Odonnell and friends have produced another cinematic masterpiece based on one of my comics. If you ever wondered what would happen if Stanley Kubrick fell out of the top floor of the World Trade Center and landed brain first into a pile of my comics, you'd probably get something like this." Behold.

Eric has been scooping me on some stuff this week. I'm grateful for it because it makes my job a little easier; just make sure to look for his link posts if you haven't seen them already.

This week's reviews & analysis:

• The Honolulu Star-Bulletin looks at Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers

• Read About Comics recommends the third issue of Baobab by Igort

• The Boston Globe notes the New York Times' review of Jules Feiffer's Explainers and adds their two cents

• Alex Siddons learns something from Alex by Mark Kalesniko...

• ... and the Graphic Novel Challenge Blog reads Kalesniko's Mail Order Bride

• HappyGlyphs Comics looks at Krazy & Ignatz 1943-1944 by George Herriman

• Are You a Serious Comic Book Reader? on Ghost World: Special Edition by Daniel Clowes

• Derik Badman notes a few unusual Schulz panels in The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968

• Moonlighting for comiXology, The Comics Journal's Kristy Valenti attempts to synch reading Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Daniel Clowes with its musical soundtrack by Victor Banana (a.k.a. Tim Hensley)

• Comic Book Resources' list of "the 20 most significant comics in American comics history" (in terms of the industry) includes Gil Kane's Blackmark (in its original incarnation rather than our reprint) and, duh, Love and Rockets #1

• The Bloghorn, web mouthpiece of the UK's Professional Cartoonists' Organisation, is "full of beans" over the work of Fletcher Hanks as collected in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!

• Beware of spoilers as PLAYBACK:stl checks out Johnny Ryan's Angry Youth Comix #14

• Our Humbug teaser excites The Hipster Dad and commenters on The Beat

And other items of note:

• Here's Tintin as drawn by Robert Goodin

• headsOnBoards files a terrific report from the Kim Deitch retrospective exhibit at MoCCA

• Design blog Farmidable digs into the Flickr activity of Fanta art director Jacob Covey

• Anders Nilsen presents recent selections from his sketchbook

• Jeff Elden discusses the influence of Charles M. Schulz and includes a photo of his Charlie Brown tattoo

Ready for some Halloween chills? American Public Media's Weekend America radio program presents a selection of Tales of Terror this weekend, including the Richard Sala tale embedded above (click here if the player's not showing up).