After an amazing 70th birthday bash, visual poet John M. Bennett is bringing  The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 to Minneapolis, MN!

Join John on Saturday, October 27th for an afternoon of avant poems, group sounds, collaborations, and more at the Cheap Theatre at the Black Forest Inn [ 9 East 26th Street ].

He'll be joined by special guests Scott Helmes, Michael Jacobson, and Tom Cassidy. Recommended admission is $5, and the event is free for Cheap Theater season ticket holders.

Monday, October 22nd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to co-present "Building Comix with Charles Burns and Chris Ware" at Town Hall. The modest $5.00 admission fee can be redeemed on the purchase of any book at the signing following the presentation. (more info)

Tuesday, October 23rd

• Eugene, OR: The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR is hosting the exhibit GOOD GRIEF! Original Art from 50 Years of Charles M. Schulz's PEANUTS, and curator Ben Saunders will interview Jan Eliot about her experiences with Charles Schulz and her own career as the artist of the nationally successful newspaper strip "Stone Soup." (more info)

• Portland, OR: Editors Nico Vassilakis & Crag Hill will be joined by contributor James Yeary to perform a collage of excerpts of essays from The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 at Gallery 214 on the campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art. (more info) 

Friday, October 26th

• Portland, OR: It's your last day to check out pages of The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 on display at Gallery 214 on the campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art. (more info)  

• Seattle, WA: Jaap Blonk, revered Dutch voice virtuoso and contributor to The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, will be performing at the Chapel Performance Space, as part of the annual Earshot Jazz Festival. (more info)

Saturday, October 27th

• Minneapolis, MN:  Visual poet John M. Bennett is bringing The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 to the Cheap Theatre at the Black Forest Inn for an afternoon of avant poems, group sounds, collaborations, and more. (more info)

• Chicago, IL: See Lilli Carré at the annual Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation. For more Fanta-fantasticness, this year's programs were designed by Ivan Brunetti! (more info) 

Sunday, October 28th

• Los Angeles, CA: Both Steven Weissman and Ron Regé Jr. will be  signing and reading from their brand-new books, Barack Hussein Obama and The Cartoon Utopia, at Skylight Books. Mind-blowing! (more info)

• Chicago, IL: It's your last day to catch Lilli Carré at the annual Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation! (more info)  

Have you heard? Charles Burns, Gabrielle Bell and Tom Kaczynki will be our special guests tomorrow night, Saturday, October 20th, at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! If you haven't heard, then you're just not paying attention, 'cause we've been talking about it non-stop! 

I'll confess: I'm such a fan of Gabrielle Bell's work that I couldn't even wait for this Saturday's event to get my hands on The Voyeurs, her latest collection out now from Uncivilized Books. I started reading it on the plane home from APE, and finished it last night. No surprise, it's really, really good!

Tom is not only the proprietor of Uncivilized Books, he is also the artist behind our forthcoming release Beta Testing the Apocalypse, a collection of his contributions for Mome with some new material, too! The book won't be ready in time for Saturday, but be sure to check out the Uncivilized titles he'll have in store!

Join us for what's sure to be an incredible night filled with awesome, nice, talented folks, this Saturday, October 20th, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district.

Thank you to everyone who came by our booth this past weekend at APE: the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, CA! Look at how happy you made our Marketing Director, Mike Baehr! We hope we were able to make you guys happy, too, with all our amazing debuts and wonderful guests.

Our good pal Daniel Clowes made an unofficial appearance, and braved the crowds for a visit with The Hernandez Bros! I think that lady to the right just realized who cut in front of her in line...

Jim Woodring delighted fans with sketches of his iconic characters, and he somehow did it with just a cheapie ballpoint pen! (His usual drawing pen decided to give up the ghost right before signings began.)

The great Mark Kalesniko was all-smiles as he signed copies of his books for fans! Mark also brought both an electronic slideshow and some originals, which was a wonderful lesson in cartooning for everyone who stopped by.

photo credit: Ted Abenheim from Prism Comics!

It's the unstoppable Justin Hall, moderating the Queer Cartoonists Panel before his No Straight Lines signing with us! That man is a trooper, I'm tellin' ya.

And we were lucky to steal the always-busy Shannon Wheeler away from his own booth for a couple of signings of Oil & Water!

Our all-star line-up kept us hoppin', but I did manage to sneak away a few times for some shoppin' and some photos of our Fantagraphics friends!

It's an annual tradition to sit side-by-side with our good buddies (and fellow Northwesterners) Jim Blanchard & J.R. Williams! 

Wake up, Gabrielle!!! Oh, well, I'll let her rest up for her signing with Tom Kaczynski (and Charles Burns, not at APE) this coming Saturday, October 20th at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery...

Here's Mome-veteran Jon Vermilyea, with his incredible prints and zines. He told us he was planning to hit the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, so make sure to visit his table, New Yorkers!

Here's fellow Mome-vet Malachi Ward in a rare quiet moment at his booth -- we were excited to get the latest volume of Expansions from him!

We had a quick visit with No Straight Lines-contributor Ed Luce, merchandising mad genius! 

We didn't manage to snap a pic of the elusive Tim Hensley, but he was at APE, debuting his Ticket Stub collection with Rina Ayuyang's Yam Books! And, good lord, can I tell you people, it is a thing of freakin' beauty. Get one, seriously.

Speaking of elusive, the rumors were true: Zak Sally did make an unexpected secret appearance at the show! He snuck away before I could take a photo, though!

While I visited with Fanta-friends Tom Neely and Emily Nilsson of Sparkplug Comics, Mike had to contend with that line you see in the upper-righthand corner of this pic for the Love and Rockets signing! Yikes, sorry, Mike!

A quick run back to our own booth, and I was able to catch the adorable Brett Warnock of Top Shelf kanoodling with Rich Koslowski across the aisle!!!

Going through our photos, I was surprised that neither Mike nor I snapped any pictures of my birthday-buddy Tom Devlin of Drawn & Quarterly. (We both turned a year older on Saturday of the show.) But his v-neck sweater really did look great with the collared-shirt. Happy birthday, dear Tom!

Yay, that was fun! Let's do it again next year, San Francisco!

I make no bones about how much I love this job, but when we get to throw an event like this, I really, reaaaallly love my job. 

We're thrilled to announce that Steven Weissman and Ron Regé Jr. will be signing and reading from their brand-new books on Sunday, October 28th at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, CA. Goosebumps, people. 

With the election on the horizon, you'll wanna get your copy of Steven's latest Barack Hussein Obama. And Ron will be unveiling his Magnum Opus, The Cartoon Utopia. Ron and Steve are two of my most favorite artists, and the thought of having them together in an event is mind-blowing.

At first glance, these books seem pretty different. But attend this signing and you will see that behind the surrealism and the psychedelia, there lies something very human and real. There's no better time for both these books than right now... or, um, 5:00 PM on October 28th, if you live in Los Angeles.

Skylight Books is located at 1818 N Vermont Ave. in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A. Come prepared for awesome.

Thursday, October 18th

• Chicago, IL: Cartoonist and comics scholar Ivan Brunetti will discuss his work, both in and out of the classroom, followed by a Q&A, at EnergyBBDO offices. This event is free and open to the public! (more info)

Friday, October 19th

• Portland, OR: Today kicks off the three-day event The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts, featuring Fantagraphics artists Frank Santoro, Sammy Harkham, Jason T. Miles, among many others! (more info) 

Saturday, October 20th

• Seattle, WA: Join us at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery for a signing with Charles Burns, Gabrielle Bell and Tom Kaczynski from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Charles will be debuting The Hive, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2010’s sensational dreamscape, X’ed Out. (more info)

• Seattle, WA: Jaap Blonk, revered Dutch voice virtuoso and contributor to The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, presents a full live show with visuals at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill at 5:00 PM! (more info)

• Portland, OR: Workshops, panels, and more will continue to happen at The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts! (more info) 

Sunday, October 21st

• Seattle, WA: Join Charles Burns at the Elysian Brewing Company for the monthly unveiling of the latest flavor in their "12 Beers of the Apocalypse" series, "Omen"! (more info) 

• Portland, OR: Today's your last day to check out The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts! (more info)  

Monday, October 22nd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to co-present "Building Comix with Charles Burns and Chris Ware" at Town Hall. The modest $5.00 admission fee can be redeemed on the purchase of any book at the signing following the presentation. (more info)

A couple of weekends ago, I was in Vancouver, BC to take a writing workshop with Lynda Barry (eeeeee!!!!), and my friends and I made a stop to Lucky's Comics!

Lucky's is a wee store, but totally jam-packed with amazing books! I didn't even know where to start looking! I was really impressed with their wide variety of kid-friendly books, from classics to Nikki McClure. 

Hey, it's Robin McConnell of Inkstuds and Kelly Froh of Short Run fighting over a copy of Dal Tokyo! And over Kelly's shoulder, I spy an anthology edited by Fanta's very own Jen Vaughn! 

Naturally, I was thrilled to see so many Fantagraphics titles on the shelves -- and they didn't even know I was stopping in, so it's not like any of this was staged! I was also excited by the boxes of self-published mini-comix (not shown, but seriously pillaged), and they've even got a gallery room in the back, although they were between shows on the weekend we were there.

So, if you're ever in Vancouver, get lucky and stop by Lucky's Comics, located at 3972 Main Street! Thanks to shopkeeper, Will, for the Canadian hospitality, and to Robin & Kelly for taking me there! (Postcard above, by the register, designed by my old pal Vicki, aka Meomi!)

It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right, and a stop at Time Warp Comics for a signing of The Hypo with our own Noah Van Sciver!

He'll be signing this Sunday, October 14th from 12:00 to 3:00 PM. Get your copy of the acclaimed graphic novel that NPR's Glen Weldon called "achingly familiar, relatably human and — most of all — profoundly real." 

Time Warp Comics is located at 3105 28th Street in Boulder, Colorado. Don't be jealous West Coast — Noah's heading our way soon!

We just had to share this adorable poster that Gilbert Hernandez designed for APE: the Alternative Press Expo, going down this coming weekend, Saturday, October 13th and Sunday, October 14th at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco, CA! I have to confess, I didn't even recognize the poster as Gilbert's artwork at first... I mean, the ape's boobs aren't nearly big enough! (I kid, I kid!)

Marketing Mix Master Mike Baehr took this shot of the original art -- whatta perfect primate!

Don't forget -- you can meet Gilbert, along with his bros Jaime and Mario Hernandez, this weekend at APE! Signing times and panels below:

Saturday, October 13th
3:30 - 5:30 PM    Gilbert Hernandez // Jaime Hernandez //  Mario Hernandez

• 5:45 PM // Spotlight on the Hernandez Brothers: 30 Years of Love and Rockets: The creators of the acclaimed Love and Rockets discuss the trials, tribulations, and joy that go into writing and drawing a series for over 30 years! Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez, talk to Andrew Farago (Cartoon Art Museum) about their three decades on one of comics' most popular and acclaimed indie series.

Sunday, October 14th
1:00 - 2:30 PM    Gilbert Hernandez // Jaime Hernandez //  Mario Hernandez
4:00 - 5:00 PM    Gilbert Hernandez // Jaime Hernandez //  Mario Hernandez

• 2:30 PM // "Gigantes" Walk Among Us!: Almost 100 years of cartooning takes the stage as APE special guests Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame join legendary MAD cartoonist Sergio Aragonés to discuss how their Latino/Hispanic experiences contributed to their amazing comic art. Join moderator Ricardo Padilla (Latino Comics Expo) as we celebrate these unique creators of this American artform.

 Tuesday, October 9th

• Portland, OR: Dr. David Seaman will deliver the lecture "From the First Vis Po Anthology (BC—Before Christ) to the Last Vis Po Anthology (AA—After Apple)" at Gallery 214 on the campus of the Pacific Northwest College of Art. They are currently hosting an exhibit featuring work from The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008! (more info)

• San Francisco, CA:  Daniel Clowes and Dave Eggers take the stage at Litquake, San Francisco's annual literary festival! The two will discuss the vagaries of the creative process, their favorite comics, books, and movies, and anything else that might come up. (more info)

Wednesday, October 10th

• Seattle, WA: It's your last chance to view our Gary Panter exhibit at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! Stop by to see this astounding original artwork in person! (more info)

Friday, October 12th

• Columbus, OH: Poet John M. Bennett will be celebrating his 70th birthday and the release of  The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 at the It Looks Like It’s Open Gallery! (more info)

Saturday, October 13th

• Seattle, WA: Our latest exhibit The Horror: from the EC Comics Library debuts at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! Our own Mike Catron will present a short slideshow presentation, and we'll have musical entertainment from Swedish-born, Berlin-based recording artist Molly Nilsson. (more info)

• San Francisco, CA: Join us for the opening reception of Love and Rockets: A 30th Anniversary Celebration at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA with special guests Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez! This career-spanning retrospective exhibition will include more than 50 pieces of original artwork from their groundbreaking comic. (more info) 

• San Francisco, CA: Go bananas with us at APE: the Alternative Press Expo, with special guests Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez, Jim Woodring, Mark Kalesniko, Justin Hall, and Shannon Wheeler! (more info)

Sunday, October 14th

San Francisco, CA: It's your last day to see us at APE: the Alternative Press Expo! (more info)