During APE weekend, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA launched the exhibit: Love and Rockets: A 30th Anniversary Celebration. This career-spanning retrospective features more than 50 pieces of original artwork from the groundbreaking comic.

People teased me & Mike about how excited we were to see the exhibit ("Don't you see their originals all the time at the office?"), but it really did give me goosebumps to see these 30-year-old pages in person. When Mike & I got back to the hotel, he tweeted this:

Yup, pretty much.

The opening reception was packed from the beginning of the event to the very end! It was hard to keep track of Jaime, Gilbert and Mario as everyone wanted a chance to talk with them!

Speaking of Mario, this show gave me a whole new appreciation for his work! I mean, just check out that groovy Jim Flora-esque portrait of the Bros he drew in 1997! So great! I wanna see more of Mario's artwork!! 

The exhibit runs through March 10th, 2013, so if you live in the San Francisco area, or will be visiting, I cannot urge you enough to drop by the Cartoon Art Museum at 655 Mission Street. Not only will you get to see this jaw-dropping exhibit, but the whole museum itself is an absolute treasure. I wish we could've spent more time there!

For those who can't see it in person, Mike & I have some more low-lit camera-phone photos at the Fantagraphics Flickr page. Thank you to the Cartoon Art Museum for hosting this wonderful retrospective, and of course, thank you, as always, to the Hernandez Brothers!

Oh, THE HORROR!

Earlier this month, the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery launched the exhibit “The Horror: From the EC Comics Library.” And after today, it will be GONE forever! Oh, what a world!

The exhibition celebrated the publication of the first two titles in the EC Comics Library series: Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman and Came the Dawn and Other Stories by Wallace Wood.

If you're in the Seattle area, stop by the store for your last look at the show! Larry might even have some tricks-and-treats in the form of our Tales From the Crypt EC sampler featuring the work of incomparable cartoonist Jack Davis!

If you live elsewhere, you can check out the Fantagraphics Flickr page for more photos from this exhibit... if you dare!

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily (including this Halloween night!) 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110.

Wednesday, October 31st

• Seattle, WA: It's your last chance to see our exhibit The Horror: from the EC Comics Library at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! I wrote myself a note about this in my calendar that just read "The Horror Ends," which cracked up my friend who saw it out of this context. (more info)

Thursday, November 1st

• Seattle, WA: Our own Jason T. Miles is just one of many awesome local artists in the show Handbound: Exploring the Process of Short Run Small Press Fest Exhibitors at SOIL Gallery. This group show explores the creative process of exhibiting book artists through a combination of original art, sketches, ephemera and books. It's high-brow, low-brow and everything in between. Reception is from 5:00-8:00 PM, and the show runs through December 1st. (more info)

Friday, November 2nd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery proudly presents a signing with Noah Van Sciver and David Lasky! Original work from both The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln and The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song will be on display at the store, and K Records artist Dennis Driscoll will provide the musical entertainment, including some Carter Family covers! (more info)

• Los Angeles, CA: Celebrate the release of Prison Pit 4 with Johnny Ryan at Meltdown Comics! Featuring a live performance by the one and only (THANK GOD) Cannibal Fuckface! (more info)

Saturday, November 3rd 

• Seattle, WA: A plethora of Fantagraphics artists and friends will be exhibiting at the 2nd Annual Short Run Small Press Fest at the Vera Project at Seattle Center. This event is FREE, open to the public, and is completely awesome. (more info)

• Athens, GA: The Georgia Museum of Art launches “Beyond the Bulldog: Jack Davis,” an exhibition that will go deeper into Jack Davis’ career than the sports and caricature work for which he is best known, focusing on his black-and-white drawings in particular! (more info) 

Sunday, November 4th 

• Vancouver, WA: Join  Noah Van Sciver at Lucky's Comics from 4:00-6:00 PM for a signing of The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln! (more info)

• Athens, GA: Head back to the Georgia Museum of Art today as Patrick Dean, curator of the exhibit “Beyond the Bulldog: Jack Davis,” and a cartoonist himself who sits on the board of the Jack Davis Foundation, will give a talk from 3:00 to 4:00 PM with a reception to follow. (more info) 

The nice folks at Comic Strip Tees promise "every week new comic, every week new shirt," and last week, that shirt featured the artwork of our very own Hans Rickheit!

Might as well wear Cochlea & Eustachia while you're reading about them in Folly: The Consequences of Indiscretion! His work might make you feel uncomfortable, but at least your clothes won't be...

Daylight Savings is upon us this weekend, which means those of us in the Northwest can look forward to darker evenings and some good ol' Seasonal Affective Disorder.

What better time to burrow under the blankies with The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, a documentation of Abraham Lincoln's crushing cloud of depression by Noah Van Sciver! Reading Noah's sensitive look at Lincoln's irrepressible ambition despite his troubled times is even better than one of those sun lamps. After all, Lincoln made it through the darkness, and so will you...

Friday, November 2nd
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
Seattle, WA

Friday, November 2nd
Short Run Small Press Fest
Seattle, WA

Sunday, November 4th
Lucky's Comics
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Tuesday, November 6th
Floating World Comics
Portland, OR

Find your roomiest tote bag, and stop by the bank for dollar bills... It's time for the 2nd Annual Short Run Small Press Fest this Saturday, November 3rd at the Vera Project in Seattle Center!

Since Short Run is a celebration of small press, Fantagraphics won't be there ourselves, but many of our artists will have tables, including  Andrice Arp, Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard, Jason T. Miles (with his distro Profanity Hill), Michael Dowers, Pat Moriarity, and Noah Van Sciver.

Short Run runs (heh) from 10:30 AM - 5:30 PM. A little advice, if I may: get there early! There is so much to do and see at Short Run, and this year's fest is even bigger, if you can believe it!

There's nearly 100 small press exhibitors offering their comics, zines, and art books, from $.50 to $50.00! Plus, enjoy local animation screening all day, featuring Seattle Experimental Animation Team (SEAT), Reel Grrls, and other independent filmmakers. Exhibitors will be showing off all the ways they blend genres, such as advice expert Nicole Georges, writer/professional barber Zach Mandeville who will be giving free haircuts, and puppet master Erin Tanner. You can participate in live silk-screening where you can screen print a comic drawn by local artists or print one of our designs onto clothes you bring yourself. And like last year, there will be another decadent bake sale with donated goodies from Macrina Bakery, Grand Central Bakery, The Bang Bang Cafe, Stumptown Coffee, and our exhibitors and supporters! 

So, run, run, run to Short Run Small Press Fest this Saturday! The Vera Project is located on the corner of Warren & Republican Ave N, next to the Key Arena in Seattle Center. See you there!

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

I almost hesitate to spotlight this book, 'cause we can hardly keep it in stock! Thanks to rave reviews in Time Magazine and Seattle's own The Stranger, no one is forgetting The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song, out now from Abrams ComicArts.

It's been an honor watching this book unfold from local fellas, cartoonist David Lasky and writer Frank M. Young, and the finished product is even more beautiful than I could've imagined!

Don’t Forget This Song is more than just an "graphic novel" bio on country music legends The Carter Family; it's a really lovely, sensitive look at the bond of family. As our own Kim Deitch says on the back of the book, "Young and Lasky do a winning job presenting this absolutely charming tale of romance, compulsion, anthropology, great meteoric success, and all the ironic baggage that usually goes with that kind of success."

The dialogue is written in the Southern dialect of the time, which gives the book an added dreamy, transportive feel. And the whole dang thing even comes with a CD of rare Carter Family radio recordings, so you can listen to the music as you follow their lives!  

And, oh, hey, whaddaya know... David Lasky will be signing The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Friday, November 2nd, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM!  He'll be joined by Noah Van Sciver, who'll be signing his latest The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln. And we'll be joined by K Records artist Dennis Driscoll, who promises to cover some Carter Family material! Be sure to join us for this very special celebration!

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is 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. Um, don't forget this event!

In anticipation of their exciting book release party this coming Sunday, October 28th, we've been asking our artists Steven Weissman and Ron Regé Jr. about the genesis of their friendship. You can read Steve's answers on Ron here. And now, today, it's Ron's turn...

Do you remember the first time you met Steven?
No, I don't remember the first time I met Steven! It was probably at a comic convention? One of the 3 or 4 early memories I have of Steven must be the "first time," but unraveling it now, it feels like I already knew him all of those times. It was around the turn of the century. Who is this Steven character, anyhow? I thought his name was Ribs?

Do you have any funny stories of Steven?
Steven used to live in a little house in Chinatown in San Francisco. It was on a really steep hill. It was a little shack in between all these big buildings, like that old Warner Bros. cartoon. As I came up the hill, there he was at his desk, looking out the window. I think it was at this moment that I stopped calling my peers "cartoonists" and just started calling them "cartoons." All them funny cartoons. haha.

Write me a haiku about his brand new book Barack Hussein Obama!
ribs new book is art
makes sense if you just read it
stories get told all drawn 

Angelenos, do not miss this incredible event. Now is your chance to ask them much better questions than the ones I asked! The book release party starts at 5:00 PM at Skylight Books [ 1818 N Vermont Ave. in the Los Feliz neighborhood ]. 

Now in its third year, our own Lilli Carré proudly co-presents the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, at the Chicago Cultural Center and DePaul University School of CIM. (Plus, the fabulous programs were designed by the great Ivan Brunetti!)

This weekend, Saturday, October 27th and Sunday, October 28th, the festival focuses on abstract animation and unconventional character animation. The festival showcases outstanding experimental animation of all sorts: classic films, new works and rare masterpieces.

Check out a trailer for the event below!

Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation 2012 Preview Trailer from Eyeworks Festival on Vimeo.

flyer designed by Steven Weissman!

We could not be more excited about our forthcoming event with Steven Weissman and Ron Regé Jr., this coming Sunday, October 28th!

What will happen when these two incredible talents collide at Skylight Books in Los Angeles? Will time stop? Will doves cry? You'll have to find out for yourself at 5:00 PM!

To prepare everyone for the awesome, and to give those outside of the L.A.-area a glimpse of what we'll be missing, I asked the guys a few questions about the other. Today, we start with Steven:

Do you remember the first time you met Ron?
Ron and I met at Wonder Con '99. I traded him a copy of Hi-Yo Silver #21 I'd just spent all my money on for The Dum Dum Posse Reader. He was really cool about it, so we exchanged numbers.

Do you have any funny stories of Ron?
A few of us were driving around L.A. a couple of years ago when Ron's car started smoking like crazy. Luckily, we were near a mechanic I knew, and he was willing to take a look at it while we waited around. It was really hot out, so Ron bought us ice-cream from a passing cart vendor. After a bit, we wandered back to the garage where the mechanic was just finishing up, and he said it looked like Ron had blown a seal.

"What? No!" Ron told him, embarrassed. "We just had some ice-cream."

Write me a haiku about his brand new book The Cartoon Utopia!
Ron Rege
Stole my squeegee

Skylight Books is located at 1818 N Vermont Ave. in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A. Someone go and tell Steve what a haiku is!!! And stay tuned for The Squeegee Thief's answers on Steven, coming tomorrow...