Gary Groth and Kim Thompson will be at next weekend's SMALL PRESS EXPO in Bethesda, MD, debuting a slew of new books, including:

 • Zak Sally's LIKE A DOG

 • Al Columbia's PIM & FRANCIE

 • E.C. Segar's POPEYE Vol. 4

 • Steve Ditko's STRANGE SUSPENSE

 • Kevin Huizenga's GANGES #3

 • Hans Rickheit's THE SQUIRREL MACHINE

 • MOME Vol. 16

 • Jacques Tardi and Jean-Claude Forest's YOU ARE THERE 

... and more.

We have some very exciting signings as well. To wit:

SATURDAY:

SUNDAY:

Plus, several FANTAGRAPHICS-related panels:

Saturday, 12:30PM: Debut Cartoonists

Saturday, 3:30PM: Critics' Roundtable

Saturday, 4PM: Paul Karasik's Fletcher Hanks Experience

Saturday, 5PM: Gahan Wilson Spotlight

Sunday, 1PM: Carol Tyler Q & A

Sunday, 1:30PM: Source-Based Comics

Sunday, 3:30PM: Future of the Comic Book

BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL! 

To celebrate the great Gahan Wilson's rare convention appearance at SPX 2009, we have a very special offer for SPX attendees. In early 2010, we will be publishing GAHAN WILSON: 50 years of Playboy Cartoons, a massive, three-volume hardcover collection of his work. Designed by Jacob Covey, it's going to be absolutely STUNNING:

SPX attendees will have the opportunity to PRE-ORDER the book at the show get a limited edition (150 copies) silkscreen print signed by Mr. Wilson at the show! Even better, we are going to include FREE SHIPPING for the book (and believe me, you'll be happy you didn't have to lug this thing around SPX, it's HUGE) when it ships and knock $25 off the $125 retail price! 

For $100, you will get the book, an exclusive signed print, free shipping, and the chance to meet one of the great cartoonists of the 20th Century! Here's what the print looks like: 

These will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Don't miss out! 

See ya at SPX! 

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is thrilled to announce upcoming appearances by two of America's most provocative and accomplished cartoonists: Johnny Ryan and Al Columbia.

Johnny Ryan will appear Saturday, October 10 on the heels of his wildly popular original graphic novel Prison Pit. We'll mount an exhibition of his original art, prints, and plastic figurines: the perfect opportunity to acquaint yourselves with the perverse pleasures of Ryan's singular aesthetic.

Al Columbia is among the most challenging and compelling contemporary artists working in any medium. His exhibition and book signing on Saturday, November 7 celebrates the much-anticipated publication of Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days. Described by Things From Another World.com as "Part alchemy, part art book, part storybook, part comic book, and part conceptual art," this book promises to please.

Be sure to catch the sensational exhibition "Comics Savants: A Survey of Seattle Contemporary Cartoonists" before it closes on October 7. And peruse a dozen new titles from your favorite purveyor of badass comix and lowbrow lit. Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) in Seattle's historic Georgetown district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

GRAPHIC NOVELIST BEHIND STRANGE NEW BOOK ANNOUNCES BOOK-SIGNING TOUR

WHAT IS THE SQUIRREL MACHINE? A rodent ensnarement device? A mechanism for concealing one's guarded harvest? An anachronistic fable for the convulsive elite? A nugatory diversion for the subliterate?

The answer to that question can be obtained in the form of an unusual new graphic novel in a book-signing tour working its way up the northeast coast this Autumn.

THE SQUIRREL MACHINE is the brainchild of HANS RICKHEIT, who will be making appearances to autograph books, make sketches and speak personally to curious readers.

The Plot: Situated in a fictive 19th Century New England town, two brothers, Edmund and William Torpor confront public scorn when they reveal their musical creations built from strange technologies and scavenged animal carcasses. Driven to seek a concealment for their aberrant activities, they make a startling discovery. Will they divine the mystery of THE SQUIRREL MACHINE?

This book is a meticulously-rendered creation that defies all known genres. It can best be described as "POST-RATIONAL" or "RETRO-FUTURIST." Disregarding labels and buzz-phrases, it is ultimately an immutably strange and haunting narrative that transcends known logics and presumptive dream-barriers. A distillation of subconscious beauty and madness. A dangerous object for the incautious. A revelation for the undernourished crypto-seeker .

HANS RICKHEIT was born in 1973 and grew up in New England, lived in the basement of an eccentric art gallery/performance space called the Zeitgeist Gallery from 1997-2002, and currently resides in Philadelphia. Aside from his many self-published efforts, he has appeared in many anthologies, including PAPER RODEO, HOAX and KRAMERS ERGOT.

"Recalling both the stark, controlled nightmares of Al Columbia and the gonzo repulsive sexuality of Dave Cooper, Hans Rickheit has trolled his id and purged it on the page" - Matt Fraction, ARTBOMB

"Rickheit has become more prolific with each passing year, producing work that has always been worthy of attention." - Chad Parenteau, THE COMICS INTERPRETER

"Rickheit is a vastly under-seen talent." - Tom Spurgeon, THE COMICS REPORTER

Book Info:
Title: THE SQUIRREL MACHINE
Author/Artist: HANS RICKHEIT
Publisher: FANTAGRAPHICS
$18.99 Hardcover 192 Pages
ISBN 978-1-60699-301-9
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2009

Websites:
BOOK INFO & SAMPLES: www.squirrelmachine.org
BLOG: www.thesquirrelmachine.blogspot.com
PUBLISHER: www.fantagraphics.com
OTHER: www.chromefetuscomics.com

###

TOUR DATES & LOCATIONS :

September 26th & 27th
SPX
The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center
5701 Marinelli Road
Bethesda, MD‎
(301) 822-9200‎

September 29th (6-7pm)
Brickbat Books
709 S 4th Street
Philadelphia PA
(215) 592 1207
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October 1st (6-7pm)
Forbidden Planet
840 Broadway
NY, NY
(212) 473 1576
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October 3rd (2-4pm)
Million Year Picnic
99 Mount Auburn
Cambridge MA
(617) 492 6763
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October 5th (4-6pm)
That's Entertainment
244 Park Ave
Worcester, MA
(508) 755 4207
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October 6th (7-8pm)
Rabbit Hole
805 Main Street
Fitchburg MA
(978) 345 0040
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October 7th (4-7pm)
Casablanca Comics
151 Middle Street #2
Portland ME
(207) 780 1676
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October 10th (7pm)
Quimby's
1854 W North Ave
Chicago, IL
(773) 342-0910‎
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October 11th (2pm)
Vault of Midnight
219 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI‎
(734) 998-1413‎
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Onward with Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Reviews: "Locas ll collects a huge amount of comics featuring a more mature Maggie, finding and losing romance with people like Ray (one part Chandler victim, another part mod hobo), 'Frogmouth' (painfully sexy but achingly annoying), and reunions with Hopey and others in a strange relational ballet set in SW America. It’s a weird, flat plain of bizarre sex and twisted circumstance that would be the first collection of comics I would recommend for any adult wanting to get a handle on the aesthetics of the art form since it became culturally relevant to do so.... Meanwhile, Fantagraphics has also just put out a new issue of the Comics Journal #299, which has an incredible narrative by lawyer-outsider art-underground advocate Bob Levin... Levin is the writer of several books on the struggle of comics and the counter-culture and transgressive fringes, and because of him #299 of TCJ is THE book about comic art to buy this year.... Mome... is the current multi-artist series that has critics in the comics world and outside of it regularly amped.... The last few issues of Mome have really hit a hot-run of quality, and though some stories are more straightforward and others are expressionistic, all the art is always sweet." - Chris Estey, KEXP

• Review: "Comics journalism is mostly an oxymoron, but The Comics Journal, on the eve of its 300th issue, is a scholarly, intellectual publication.... [F]or intelligent discussion of current and past graphic storytelling and its creators (the current issue features an incredible story of an ahead-of-its-time genre-spanning anthology from the seventies that was never published), this is indeed an oasis of comics journalism." - Richard Pachter, The Miami Herald

• Review: "...[A]wesome to behold.... When life and love, of a sort, finally do reassert themselves at [The Squirrel Machine]'s end, it's horrifying and drawn in a fashion that makes it look less like a natural thing and more like a terrible apparition, or a special effect." - Sean T. Collins

• Things to see: Johnny Ryan's latest strip for Vice: a scene you didn't see in Caddyshack

• Things to see: On the Covered blog, Robert Goodin takes on a recent BD by Ludovic Debuerme

• Things to see (& buy): Andrice Arp's Japanese mythology paintings from Mome Vol. 15 are on display and for sale at Bad Apple in Portland

Your Online Commentary & Diversions for today:

• Review: "With The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, [Joe] Daly maintains some of the psychedelic trappings of his earlier stories but puts them within a framework of stoner noir (ala the film Pineapple Express) buddy story, only with Big Lebowski-style absurdity. However, the book can't really be reduced to familiar genre markers all that easily, and [a] firm, eccentric sense of place is the biggest reason why it works." - Rob Clough

• Review: "Needless to say, one could study the art found within Abstract Comics: The Anthology (published by Fantagraphics Books) for months, or one could flip through the entire thing in five minutes, and the conclusions one could draw from either experience of the volume could easily be justified as informed and insightful." - Alan David Doane, Comic Book Galaxy

• Review: "[Prince Valiant] creator Hal Foster is justly hailed for his stupendous full-pagers, full of panorama and carefully-researched settings.... We moderns are fortunate that  superb reprint editions of these classics are readily available..." - Brenda Clough, Book View Cafe Blog

• Review: "I love [Richard Sala's] older work and newer work alike - the evolution of Sala's inky, angular charmers is a treat to see - and [Delphine] (a retelling of Snow White) has been such a wonderful foreboding wander through the twisty, turn-y, dark forest." - Emily Martin, Inside a Black Apple

• Plug: "This week I started reading Prison Pit Vol. 1 and ... I ... it ... um ... the thing is ... it's .... wow." - Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Analysis: Blog Flume's Ken Parille on Tim Hensley: "I can’t think of another cartoonist who approaches space -- and what we might call 'spatial color' -- in such a rigorously strange way."

• Interview: At The Daily Cross Hatch, part 3 of 4 of their interview with Hans Rickheit: "I can’t work from a script. If the book were really tightly scripted, I promise you I’d lose interest in it, and I might force myself to draw it, but the artwork would just become a lifeless thing. The book would suffer dramatically."

• Things to see: Baby vs. kangaroo and other absurdity from Tim Lane

We got a new camera! Presenting video/photo preview slideshows of:

Like a Dog by Zak Sally (open slideshow in new window):

Mome Vol. 16 - Fall 2009 by various artists (open slideshow in new window):

You Are There by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Claude Forest (open slideshow in new window):

We've got a big backlog of recent releases that still need the photo/video treatment, and we'll be filling those in in the coming days if all goes well.

From Debbie Drechsler comes word of her newly updated website, which now includes an online shop where you can purchase lovely notecards like the one pictured above, and her new nature sketch blog Just Around the Corner, home to drawings such as the study of a horse chestnut seed pictured below. Wonderful news!

Though the office is in a state of mourning at losing our Scottish Connection (code name LAN Formatique), we can console ourselves with his music, which was inspired by the comics of Fletcher Hanks:

• Lists: Graphic Novel Reporter's "Graphic Novel Picks for Fall 2009" has Al Columbia's Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days as a pick for Tweens, while The Squirrel Machine, West Coast Blues, and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD are on the Adult Fiction list

• Review: "...[T]hese extraordinary visions from a different, four-colour era [in You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!] are as bold and striking as they are violent and strange.... Classic comics from a different age." - Grovel

• Review: "This new book from Fantagraphics of Femke Hiemstra’s work [Rock Candy] is gorgeous. The cloth hardbound book has a nice die-cut cover and the inside is jam packed with Femke’s works including tons of paintings and drawings alongside loose sketches.... The way the sketches are juxtaposed with the finished work in the book makes me feel like I’m getting an insider’s view. If you're a fan of 'pop surrealism,' this is a book for you." - Julia Rothman, Book By Its Cover

• Review: "I said, 'It seems to me that when comics become abstract, they really cease to be comics and become, for all effective purposes, simply abstract art.' But this anthology [Abstract Comics], in its best work as well as in its not-best, shows that that's not true. Comics really are a coherent enough medium to support their own tradition of abstraction. That tradition doesn't quite exist yet. But, in this anthology, [editor] Andrei [Molotiu] shows conclusively that it could." - Noah Berlatsky, The Hooded Utilitarian

• Review: "...magnificent reproductions, done in a sturdy hardcover [Prince Valiant Vol. 1: 1937-1938] with oversized pages and entirely restored colors and shadings (indeed, those of us who’ve seen Prince Valiant reprint editions in the past will need some mental time to adjust to how much we’ve been missing)." - Steven Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly (via Steven Hart)

• Commentary: At Comics Comics, Jeet Heer offers some follow-up thoughts to Dan Nadel's previous essay on Prince Valiant

• Interview: Adrian Kinnaird of From Earth's End talks to Abstract Comics contributor Draw: "I had an epiphany. The gutter is where all the action in a comic takes place, it's where the reader creates the comic reading experience.... I wasn't trying to create effects, I was trying to create a visual representation of what happens in the gutter of a comic."

• Preview: Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool looks ahead to our February '10 release King of the Flies: Hallorave by Pirus & Mezzo: "King Of The Flies looks like it should disturb and entertain on an equal basis."

• Preview: Akileos Editions will be releasing a translated edition of Blazing Combat in France

• Things to see: At the Covered blog, Steven Weissman's Zip-a-Toney take on Superboy #116

• Things to see: The clown appears to be the "food" in this scenario, from Tim Lane