Fantagraphics is excited to announce that Studio Eight has optioned the film rights to the Eisner award-winning graphic novel I Killed Adolf Hitler in association with Up Country Productions. The graphic novel by acclaimed Norwegian comics artist Jason (aka John Arne Sæterøy) and published by Fantagraphics Books in 2007 revolves around a hitman sent back to 1938 by a scientist to kill the Führer and avert the Holocaust. Complications ensue.
Jamie and Alex Brown of Studio Eight have teamed on the project with screenwriter D.C. Walker of Up Country Productions, who adapted the material.
In a year-long wind-up to the end of all time (according to the Mayan calendar), Elysian Brewing Company and Fantagraphics Books, both of Seattle, are planning a series of twelve beers, issued on the 21st of each month in 2012 and featuring label artwork by Charles Burns. Taken from Burns's weirdly apocalyptic work Black Hole, the labels will adorn Elysian's "Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse," featuring the creativity and unusual ingredients for which its brewing team is known. What twelve beers would you brew (and drink) if you knew they would be your last?
First up in January is NIBIRU, named for the mysterious planet X supposedly on a collision course toward Earth. The Elysian / Fantagraphics Nibiru will be a Belgian-style Tripel, flavored with an infusion of yerba maté. Combining the tasty esters of Belgian yeast and the compelling tea-like flavors of the South American herb mixture, the beer will weigh in at around 7.6% alcohol by volume (ABV). A mixture of German Northern Brewer, Czech Saaz and American Amarillo hops round out the uniqueness of the first beer of the Apocalypse. Oddly enough there's another apocalyptic-themed Nibiru out there: a super volcano currently burbling most dangerously beneath Yellowstone National Park. It too is scheduled to end life as we know it very very soon.
February 21 will usher in RAPTURE, an ale of opulent proportions flavored with heather tips. Unlike the various Rapture events predicted by pseudoscientists and alarmist evangelicals, the beer will be very real and frankly delicious, combining the floral fragrance and slight bite of high country heather with Northwest Glacier hops in another 7% ABV beer. FALLOUT follows in March, right around the time of the vernal equinox. Fallout will be a pale ale made with green cardamom.
As Earth's last year unfolds, other beers will appear as if by dangerous magic. Persimmons, chilies, raisins, blood oranges, rosemary and other herbs will be integrated into ales, lagers and Belgian styles using the finest local and imported ingredients. These limited brews will be available in bottles and draft and at select bars and bottle shops. We will celebrate as they are released — on the 21st of every month in 2012 — with events at one or the other of Elysian's three Seattle pubs and at Fantagraphics headquarters in the Georgetown neighborhood. Once they're gone, these beers will never be brewed again. Then again, come December 21, that will be the least of our worries.
THE ADVENTURES OF JODELLE Written by: Pierre Bartier; Drawn by: Guy Peellaert Hardcover • Full-Color Release: May 2012
PRAVDA Written by: Pascal Thomas; Drawn by: Guy Peellaert Hardcover • Full-Color Release: November 2012
FANTAGRAPHICS ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO TWO LEGENDARY BELGIAN CLASSICS: PEELLAERT'S THE ADVENTURES OF JODELLE AND PRAVDA
Fantagraphics Books has signed a deal to release two groundbreaking graphic novels from cult Belgian artist Guy Peellaert (1934-2008): The Adventures of Jodelle (1966) and Pravda (1967). The remastered editions will be produced in collaboration with the late artist's estate, which will contribute previously unseen material for extensive archival supplements.
Both albums were originally released in France by Eric Losfeld, the controversial publisher who passionately defied censorship in the lead-up to the cultural revolution of 1968; along with Jean-Claude Forest's Barbarella, Peellaert's Jodelle and Pravda were among the earliest of European adult-oriented graphic novels.
The Adventures of Jodelle, whose voluptuous title heroine was modeled after French teen idol Sylvie Vartan, is a satirical spy story set in a Space Age Roman-Empire fantasy world. Its then-revolutionary clashing of high and low culture references, borrowing as much from Renaissance painting as from a fetishized American consumer culture, marked the advent of the Pop movement within the nascent "9th art" of comic books, not yet dignified as "graphic novels" but already a source of great influence in avant-garde artistic circles. Visually, Jodelle was a major aesthetic shock. According to New York magazine, its "lusciously designed, flat color patterns and dizzy forced perspective reminiscent of Matisse and Japanese prints set a new record in comic-strip sophistication."
Released a year later and first serialized in the French counter-culture bible Hara-Kiri, Pravda follows the surreal travels of an all-female motorcycle gang across a mythical American landscape, led by a mesmerizing cold-blooded heroine whose hyper-sexualized elastic anatomy was this time inspired by quintessential Gallic chanteuse Françoise Hardy. Pravda's eye-popping graphics pushed the psychedelic edge of Jodelle to dazzling new heights, further liberating the story from narrative conventions to focus the reader's attention on the stunning composition and glaring acid colors of the strips, with each frame functioning as a stand-alone cinematic picture.
From Pravda — click to enlarge
Pravda, with its themes of female empowerment and beauty emerging from chaos, became an instant sensation on the European underground scene, inspiring various tributes and appropriations from the worlds of film, literature, fashion, music, live arts, advertising or graphic design. Over the years, it has acquired a rarefied status as a unique and timeless piece of Pop Art defying categorization or trends, and has found itself exhibited in such unlikely "high culture" institutions as the Musée d'Orsay or the Centre Pompidou. An early admirer of Peellaert's radical vision — along with luminaries as diverse as Jean-Luc Godard (who optioned the film rights to Pravda) and Mick Jagger — Frederico Fellini praised Jodelle and Pravda as "the literature of intelligence, imagination and romanticism."
The Adventures of Jodelle was published in the United States in 1967 by Grove Press, whose legendary editor-in-chief Richard Seaver (the man credited with introducing Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs and Henry Miller to America) also provided the translation; Pravda has never been released in English, despite its lead character transcending the long out-of-print book where she originated to become a peculiar iconic figure, the maverick muse of a few "au courant" art and design aficionados from Paris to Tokyo.
Refusing to cash in on the phenomenal success of Jodelle and Pravda (he viewed the former as a one-time graphic "experiment" of which the latter marked the accomplishment) the reclusive Peellaert abruptly left cartoons behind after only two albums at the dawn of the 1970s to pursue an obsessive kind of image-making which painstakingly combined photography, airbrush painting and collage in the pre-computer age. His best-known achievement in America remains the seminal 1973 book Rock Dreams, a collection of portraits which resulted from this distinctive technique and was hailed as "the Sistine Chapel of the Seventies" by Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, eventually selling over a million copies worldwide, influencing a generation of photographers and earning its place in the pantheon of rock culture. Other well-known creations include the iconic artwork for David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album cover (1974) as well as The Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock ‘N' Roll the same year. Peellaert also created the indelible original poster for Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver (1978), the first of many commissions from renowned auteurs including Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, Stephen Frears, Alain Resnais and Robert Bresson.
As the original negatives and color separations for Jodelle and Pravda are long lost (interestingly, Peellaert never reclaimed the original ink-on-paper pages from Losfeld) Fantagraphics will be re-coloring both books digitally. "The original books were colored via hand-cut separations from Peellaert's detailed color indications," said Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson, who will be editing and translating the new editions. "Since the Losfeld editions were printed quite well and Peellaert's linework is thick and simple, we're going to be able to generate crisp black-and-white versions of the line art to start from which should duplicate the original ‘look' exactly. Although actually our edition of Pravda should be better than the original, which had some pretty erratic color registration."
The Adventures of Jodelle is scheduled for release in May 2012, and Pravda in November 2012, both in deluxe oversized hardcover editions. Each will feature an extensive original essay discussing the works and their historical context, accompanied by numerous archival illustrations and photographs.
"I am terrifically excited to bring these two landmark books to American audiences — especially Pravda, which has never been published in English," said Thompson. "They are some of the most graphically jaw-dropping comics ever put to paper. They remain both quintessentially 1960s in attitude and look, and utterly timeless."
Fantagraphics is proud to announce Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson. Author Kevin Avery spent four years researching and writing this unique anthology-biography. This book compiles Nelson's best works and also provides a vivid account of his life.
In the '60s, Paul Nelson pioneered rock & roll criticism with a first-person style of writing later coined "New Journalism." During a five-year detour at Mercury Records, he signed the New York Dolls to their first recording contract, and then settled back down to music criticism at Rolling Stone. Through his writing, Nelson championed the early careers of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones.
But in 1982, he walked away from it all. By the time Nelson died in his New York City apartment in 2006, everything he'd written had been relegated to back issues of old music magazines.
"My original idea for this book was simply to anthologize Paul Nelson's best work so that today's readers could discover, as I had in my youth, his elegant and brilliant writings," explains author Kevin Avery. "But I soon realized that, in doing these pieces, Paul was ultimately telling his own story. And his story was so damn compelling it was impossible for me not to write about it."
American journalist, biographer, and poet Nick Tosches wrote the foreword to this landmark work of cultural revival, which stands as a tribute to and collection of one of the unsung critical champions of popular music.
Seattle cartoonist Jim Woodring, author of Frank comics and the acclaimed Weathercraft, has built a seven-foot-long pen-and-penholder, a giant version of the steel dip pen nib and wooden handle used by artists and calligraphers. The pen will make its debut in the Skinner Auditorium of Gage Academy of Art on Sunday, January 9 from 1pm to 4pm.
The nib is sixteen inches long and made of brass-pated, hand-engraved cold-rolled steel. The handle is lathe-turned poplar, painted with black lacquer. The ink is a specially formulated acrylic blend. A vase functions as an inkwell.
When this project was announced earlier this year it was met with heavy skepticism. Many felt a pen this size could not function because the relationship between scale and fluid dynamics. Woodring was convinced it could be done and the nib has performed well in tests with prototypes. This will be the first public demonstration of the finished product.
Woodring will be making large ink drawings (up to 4 x 6 feet) on a specially built drawing board and conversing with the audience as he works. Regulation pen-and-ink supplies will be on hand for interested audience members to use; members of Seattle's Friends of the Nib will provide instruction for beginners.
The Giant Pen was built with finds raised through United States Artists Special Projects, 2010. Free paper, pen and ink supplies provided by Dick Blick on Capitol Hill. Special thanks also to Saint Mark's Cathedral.
What: Debut of Jim Woodring's Giant Nib Pen Where: Skinner Auditorium at Gage Academy of Art 1501 10th Ave. East, #101, Seattle, WA 98102 When: Sunday January 9th, 2011 1:00PM-5:00PM
Destroy All Movies!!!: The Complete Guide To Punks On Film is a wildly comprehensive release featuring A-to-Z coverage of over 1100 films from around the world, as well as dozens of exclusive interviews with the cast/creators of crucial titles like Repo Man, Return of the Living Dead, The Decline of Western Civilization and Valley Girl. Editors Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly reviewed countless prime examples of straight-to-VHS slasher trash, Brooklyn skid row masterpieces, Filipino breakdancing fairytales, no-budget apocalyptic epics and movies that shouldn't even have been released, many of which have never been written about. Plus hundreds of eyeball-smashing stills and posters, many in full color!
This hot pink-infused tome nails down decades of insanity with superhuman research, vicious precision and electrically charged stills and images, and is the first and final definitive armchair roadmap to punk and new wave on celluloid. After over 5 years and 20,000 movies researched, this pulse-bursting monument to lowbrow cultural obsession is a must for all film fanatics, music maniacs, anti-fashion mutants, '80s nostalgists, sleazoids, cop-killers and spazzmatics!
DAM!!! also features tons of exclusive interviews with music/big screen luminaries including Ian MacKaye, Richard Hell, Penelope Spheeris, Nick Zedd, John Doe & Exene Cervenka, Alex Cox, Martha Coolidge, Lee Ving, Keith Morris, Mary Woronov and many more!
Destroy All Movies!!!: The Complete Guide To Punks On Film is slated to be released November 2010 just in time for Carlson and Connolly to hit the road on a movie screening and book signing tour. These two cinemasochists will pack a van full of books and 33mm film prints, doing 17 events in 8 cities in 14 days. Bookstore shows will incorporate the occasional live hardcore band or pile of free doughnuts, while ultra-rare 35mm theatrical screenings will include:
CLASS OF 1984 (1982) - Punk teen maniacs live the chaos in director Mark Lester's rabid ode to juvenile delinquency. The most violent punk classic of all boils over into mayhem as teachers take on new wave students in a battle to the DEATH!!
TIMES SQUARE (1980) - Two teenage girls set New York on fire in the ultimate street punk battle cry. This film was thought lost -- even by the studio that released it -- but we've found a one-of-a-kind 35mm print!
URGH!: A MUSIC WAR (1981) - The crucial on-stage document of the then-rampaging punk and new wave explosion. Earth-shaking performances from countless bands including Devo! Dead Kennedys! Klaus Nomi! Gary Numan! The Go-Go's! The Cramps! X! Gang of Four! Must be seen to be believed.
VALLEY GIRL (1983) - This '80s teen masterpiece is the first, last and most hilarious word in punk heartbreak. Nicolas Cage stars as an LA new waver who gets his guts tangled up over an all-American high school princess. Unstoppable.
…all these plus punk classics like LADIES & GENTLEMEN - THE FABULOUS STAINS, GET CRAZY, the afterschool special THE DAY MY KID WENT PUNK and many more!
Fantagraphics Books & The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Present: THE DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!! TOUR THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO PUNKS ON FILM
Meet authors Zack Carlson & Bryan Connolly plus special guests! MOVIES, BOOKS, MUSIC & MORE! ALL MOVIES SCREENED IN 35MM! PunksOnFilm.com
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Tues, Nov 9 • 7PM Film Screening: VALLEY GIRL & TIMES SQUARE The Guild Cinema 3405 Central Ave NE Albuquerque, NM 87106 (505) 255-1848 www.guildcinema.com
SEATTLE, WA
Fri, Nov 12 • 5PM Book Signing: Scarecrow Video 5030 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle, WA 98105 (206) 524-8554 www.scarecrow.com
Fri, Nov 12 • 7PM Film Screening: VALLEY GIRL, GET CRAZY, CLASS OF 1984, URGH! The Grand Illusion Cinema 1403 NE 50th St. Seattle, WA 98105 - (206) 523-3935 www.grandillusioncinema.org
Sat, Nov 13 • 2PM Book Signing: Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 1201 South Vale St (at Airport Way S.) Seattle, WA 98108 (206) 658-0110 www.fantagraphics.com/bookstore
OLYMPIA, WA
Sat, Nov 13 • 6PM Film Screening: THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PARTS 1 & 3 With Special Guest Penelope Spheeris Capitol Theatre 206 5th Ave SE Olympia, WA 98501 (360) 754-6670 www.olympiafilmfestival.org
OLYMPIA, WA (cont)
Sun, Nov 14 • 1PM Book Signing: Orca Books 509 4th Ave E Olympia, WA 98501 (360) 352-1456 www.orcabooks.com
Sun, Nov 14 • 7PM Film Screening: LADIES & GENTLEMEN -- THE FABULOUS STAINS and TIMES SQUARE Capitol Theatre 206 5th Ave SE Olympia, WA 98501 (360) 754-6670 www.olympiafilmfestival.org
Mon, Nov 15 • 8PM
Book Signing w/ live music by White Boss Olympia Timberland Library downtown 313 8th Ave Southeast Olympia, WA 98501 (360) 352-0595 www.trlib.org
PORTLAND, OR
Tues, Nov 16 • 6:30PM Book Signing with DJ HWY 7 Reading Frenzy 921 SW Oak St Portland, OR 97205 (503) 274-1449 www.readingfrenzy.com
Tues, Nov 16 • 9PM Film Screening: ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL Hollywood Theatre 4122 NE Sandy Blvd Portland, OR 97212 (503) 281-4215 www.hollywoodtheatre.org
EUGENE, OR
Wed, Nov 17 • 6PM Film Screening: ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL & URGH! Bijou Art Cinema 492 E 13th Ave Eugene, OR 97401 (541) 686-2458 www.bijou-cinemas.com
SANTA CRUZ, CA
Thurs, Nov 18 • 9:45PM Film Screening: CLASS OF 1984 Del Mar Theater 1124 Pacific Ave Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 469-3220 www.thenick.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Fri, Nov 19 • 3PM Book Signing: Needles & Pens 3253 16th St San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 255-1534 www.needles-pens.com
Fri, Nov 19 • 7PM Film Screening: SURF II & TIMES SQUARE The Roxie 3117 16th St San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 863-1087 www.roxie.com
LOS ANGELES, CA
Sat & Sun, Nov 20 & 21 • 5PM - CLOSE Film Screening: DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!! 2-DAY PUNK CINEMA MELTDOWN The Cinefamily 611 N Fairfax Ave Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 655-2510 www.cinefamily.org
Sun, Nov 21 • 2PM Book Signing: Wacko 4633 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323) 663-0122 www.soapplant.com
After years of development, Fantagraphics is unveiling a new line of manga. Kicking things off in September 2010 is a collection of short stories from the mother of shōjo (young girl) manga, Moto Hagio. Next, is a multi-volume series from the GLBT manga-ka Shimura Takako. Each book will be released in hardcover form, keeping the original "right to left" manga style for a deluxe, yet authentic reading experience.
The first book, entitled A Drunken Dream, is a collection of literary short stories by Hagio falling into multiple genres, created between 1971-2007. This tome travels through several of Hagio's most revolutionary and poignant tales that span over the years of her lush career.
In December 2010 comes one of the defining transgendered-centric manga, Wandering Son. Shimura Takako's ongoing series follows two young friends, Shuichi and Yoshino. These 5th graders struggle not only with puberty, but also severe identity issues; Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. The two find solace in their mutual confusion and help each other cope with their gender frustration while embarking on the complicated journey of growing up.
To celebrate the launch of the new Fantagraphics manga, Moto Hagio is making her first ever visit to The United States to attend Comic-Con International 2010 as a special guest. More details on a speaking event and panel at the con will be available soon.
Moto Hagio spearheaded the rebellious shōjo movement in the 1970s. She, along with a few other women, formed an artist collective called the "Magnificent 24." Influenced by radical youth culture of the '60s, American and British rock ‘n' roll, and European cinema, these women pioneered the shōjo genre and helped develop the artistic style that so many manga-ka emulate today. Winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award, Seiun Award, Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, Nihon SF Taisho Award and many others, Hagio has earned respect as a Japanese artist superstar and won the hearts of manga fans for the last 40 years.
Shimura Takako is a female manga creator living in Tokyo. Her focus on LGBT issues places her work in a space that's rocked out by The Gossip and on par with Alison Bechdel. Several of Takako's books have been honored with recommendations from the prestigious Japan Media Arts Festival.
Well, today was the first of many Waffle Wednesdays here in the Fantagraphics office. We had two kinds of waffles: regular Belgian waffles and gluten free waffles (for our wheat-free designer).
Steph, our new office manager, brought in a myriad of fruits and three different kinds of syrup! Even our very own Kim Thompson brought two types of orange juices, no pulp and some pulp.
I used Emeril Lagassse's recipe of waffles, because it was the first one to pop up in my Google search.
In the coming weeks I plan to spice things up by adding special ingredients. My friend Dominika suggested fried chicken and waffles. We'll see how ambitious Steph and I get.
Also, next week's post will be better documented in photos.
Please feel free to send over your recipe suggestions.
Yeah, you. We need a publicity & marketing intern. Although this is an unpaid gig, what you don't receive in money, you'll gain in knowledge. Ah, doesn't knowledge sound like a good time?
There are lots of perks…like…umm…well…fancy office, fun coworkers, free coffee!
Just follow this link and get some details. I promise to be really nice to you. :•D
The advance copies of the King Special Edition came into the office recently. They look SO killer. Eric put them on our shelf, and now everybody who walks by stops to gawk at the awesomeness. I consider this a true WIN for designer Adam Grano.
And, people say that the book is dying. Well, take that eBook readers. This is not only an amazing piece of nonfiction comics, but also a beautiful art object.
I dare anyone to pick out King Special Edition and not marvel at its beauty. Just try it. I triple dog dare you. Yeah, that's right. What are you going to do now, Chump?
The 2013 Fantagraphics Ultimate Catalog of Comics is available now! Contact us to get your free copy, or download the PDF version (9 MB).
Preview upcoming releases in the Fantagraphics Spring/Summer 2013 Distributors Catalog. Read it here or download the PDF (26.8 MB). Note that all contents are subject to change.
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