FLOG! Entries for janice headley - March 2011

The Comics Journal panel at the Strand Bookstore pre-MoCCA

janice

The infamous Strand Bookstore in New York City is known for its "18 miles of books," and on Friday, April 8th, they're devoting at least one of those miles to Strandicon, a celebration of comics!

The Strand will be hosting an afternoon of special appearances (including a 6:00 pm appearance by Dash Shaw), and the evening concludes with a celebration of The Comics Journal, featuring a panel with editors Tim Hodler and Dan Nadel, along with founding editor Gary Groth and longtime cartoonist and TCJ interviewee Kim Deitch.

So, if you live in New York, or if you'll be town for MoCCA, join us at 7:00 pm for what's sure to be a spirited discussion! (Strandicon will take place in the Comics & Graphic Novels Department of the Strand, on the Second Floor at 828 Broadway / 12th Street.)

Peter Bagge at the Scott Eder Gallery

janice

Peter Does New York!

Comics legend Peter Bagge returns to his east coast roots with a release party at Desert Island on Friday, April 8th, signings at MoCCA that weekend, AND the opening of a new exhibit at the esteemed Scott Eder Gallery!

This exciting exhibition will feature published drawings and works on paper from all phases of Peter's long career in alternative comix and non-commercial illustration, including his album and CD art.

Join us on Saturday, April 9th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. (If you can't make the opening reception, you have until May 5th to view the show!) The Scott Eder Gallery is located at 18 Bridge St. #2-I, Brooklyn.

Peter Bagge and Leslie Stein at Desert Island

janice

Celebrate Hate with the legendary Peter Bagge on Friday, April 8th at Desert Island in Brooklyn, NY!

We'll be debuting the latest adventures of Buddy, Lisa, and Harold in Hate Annual #9, AND we'll have hot-off-the-presses copies of the teengirl-sensation Yeah! for Peter to sign for you. Plus, Desert Island will have a stunning seven-color screenprint designed by Peter that you won't want to miss!

And as a special bonus, Peter will be joined by one of our newest artists, Leslie Stein! Pete sez: “Leslie Stein’s comics inhabit a charming and semi-autobiographical (in the most ‘semi’ sense of the word) yet surreal, insular world where her best friend and closest confidant is an acoustic guitar. What’s not to relate to?”

Find out what Pete means with the release of Leslie's first-ever book, Eye of the Majestic Creature, and get your copy signed on Friday night!

The release party runs from 7:00 to 10:00 pm at Desert Island, located at 540 Metropolitan Ave in the lovely Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. See you there!

Down with OPP*: Thunder in the Building #2

janice

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

One of the things I like about this writing this column is getting the chance to spotlight some great titles that Fantagraphics didn't publish ourselves. But, I'm especially thrilled when I get to present books that are self-published, like this week's spotlighted comic, Thunder in the Building #2!

Admittedly, I wasn't familiar with local artist Margaret Ashford-Trotter until we started carrying her latest comic, that she published herself with funds from the Xeric Foundation.

Her drawing style reminds me a little of Adrian Tomine, and the storyline was certainly gripping, revolving around a romantic break-up and the terrible secret that becomes revealed in the aftermath... See? You're intrigued, right? It's an impressive early effort from a talented local artist, and I'm already looking forward to seeing what Ashford-Trotter publishes next!

Thunder in the Building #2, and many other local self-published comics, are currently in stock at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, 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. See you soon!

Another TKO From Giant Robot

janice

We're especially knocked out by Giant Robot's upcoming group exhibition, Power Punch, curated by Fantagraphics' artist Esther Pearl Watson, along with Mark Todd!

Esther and Mark gave all the artists identical 8" X 8" panels to work on, and starting Saturday, April 2nd, you can see what fellow Fantagraphics artists Johnny Ryan, Jeremy Tinder and Jon Vermilyea did with theirs.

Actually, we've got a sneak peek from Johnny right here:

"Hey, Lep! Fuck you, lucky charms!"

Power Punch opens Saturday, April 2nd at GRSF [618 Shrader Street, San Francisco] with a reception from 6:30 - 10:00 pm. The show runs until April 24th.

Enter the Dork Forest

janice

It feels kinda wrong that I'm writing about this, and not our resident Star Wars expert, but anyway...

Comedian Jackie Kashian is the overlord of The Dork Forest, a podcast about comic books, movies, music, and more, that she's been doing for five years now.

And this Sunday, March 27th, she'll be recording an episode at The Vera Project with special guest Peter Bagge, featuring music from his delightful pop-combo Can You Imagine?.

Also on the bill is Eisner Award-winning writer Ed Brubaker, Star Wars collector extraordinaire Gus Lopez, and comedians Paul Merrill and Kermet Apio. Tickets are $8, and you can get 'em online here.

Not Tardy to Tardi!

janice

Larry Reid greets the crowd at Better Tardi Than Never

Merci beaucoup! Thank you to everyone who attended the opening of our latest exhibit on Jacques Tardi, "Better Tardi Than Never: How France's Greatest Living Cartoonist Took a Mere 32 Years to Break Through to American Audiences." It was especially wonderful to see our friends from the Alliance Française de Seattle.

Not only did we present the world debut of Tardi's fifth book, the epic "icepunk" tale The Arctic Marauder, but we were fortunate to have Fantagraphics co-publisher, editor, and Tardi translator Kim Thompson on hand for the always-informative and often-hilarious presentation "You Don't Know Jacques. Tardi: 20 Books in 20 Minutes." And you can know Jacques yourself, by watching the entire 45-minute talk below (or on the YouTube page)!

And while supplies last, you can get yourself your very own build-it-yourself Tardi diorama free with a purchase of $100 or more at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Kim put this one together himself that Saturday afternoon!

The exhibit is currently still on display, so be sure to drop on by the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. And for more pictures from opening night, check out our Flickr page.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 - 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

Turn on the Water Works with Giant Robot

janice

This weekend, our friends at Giant Robot kick off a very important exhibit to raise money for the devastation in Japan. Funds will be donated to UNICEF, to help children impacted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

There are so many wonderful, generous artists involved in this show, including Fantagraphics' own Andrice Arp, Renee French, and Esther Pearl Watson.

And not only will Giant Robot donate proceeds from the sale of artwork, they'll also be donating:

1. Proceeds from the sale of water bottles featuring labels created by artists and signed by celebrities.

2. Fifty percent of proceeds from Giant Robot’s small restaurant, gr/eats, on Saturday, March 19.

3. A percentage of all sales at Giant Robot, GR2, and GRSF during the weekend of March 18-20.

4. Raffles for donated merchandise including designer- and artist-signed items, GR gear, horseback rides, and other items.

5. Cash donations accepted for UNICEF.

On top of all that, Intertrend Communications has pledged to match the first $10,000 raised by proceeds and donations through Giant Robot.

Seriously... please help Giant Robot reach this goal, and help the children impacted by this terrible catastrophe. Opening reception is this Saturday, March 19, from 6:30 - 10:00 pm at GR2 [2062 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA], and the show runs until April 13th.

Better Than Spinach

janice

Mike and I spotted these Popeye Candy Treats at the Bartell Drugstore in Ballard. Definitely my preferred method of power.

ECCC was A+++!

janice

Fantagraphics staffers Eric Buckler, Gavin Lees, and an appearance from head honcho Gary Groth!
Thanks to everyone who visited the Fantagraphics booth at the 9th Annual Emerald City Comicon! It was great to see everyone there, and we hope you're enjoying the books you bought from us! We sold out of Prison Pit, Vol. 1 and Werewolves of Montpelier pretty quickly -- which I think is awesome and hilarious for this mostly mainstream show. Is Cannibal Fuckface the next great superhero? Clearly, yes.
It was exciting to debut hot-off-the-presses copies of Four Color Fear, Love From the Shadows, Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition, and The Last Rose of Summer. And if you were there on Sunday, our great curator Larry Reid was on hand, presenting a sneak peek at our upcoming release Taking Punk to the Masses, out next month! Thanks to Seattlest for the pic above, and for the "comiconversation" with Larry on their site! We hope you all enjoyed getting your books signed by our artists Peter Bagge and Megan Kelso, and editor Jacques Boyreau, seen above talking "grindhouse" with some ComiCon attendees. Thanks to them for spending time with us at our booth that weekend! And thanks so much to the Fantagraphics staffers who manned the table. I wanna send out an extra-special thanks to the latest member of the Fantagraphics team, Ian Burns, for working all three days of the con! (Congratulations on the promotion from intern to Customer Service Representative!) And another extra-special thanks goes to The Comics Journal contributor Gavin Lees who was a welcome weekend-long surprise addition to the team, along with his intergalactic-sweetie Heather (who got to meet Shatner!!!). Finally, an additional thanks goes out to our friends at AmericaWare for keeping the good-lookin' staffers of Fantagraphics even more good-lookin' with t-shirts sporting the artwork of Jim Woodring, Jim Blanchard, and (not a Jim) Basil Wolverton. These fantastic tees are available for a limited time only at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, so hurry down there for the best selection!
You can check out more pictures from Emerald City ComiCon on the Fantagraphics Flickr. Above is a pic I snuck of friend Brett Warnock at the Top Shelf Productions booth. Top Shelf were the co-sponsors of our "Con Artists" ECCC After-Party, which was a rockin'-fun time! Photos from the party are also up on Flickr, like the ones seen below! Matthew Southworth, of The Capillaries Peter Bagge, to the right, with Can You Imagine? Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds with The Rheas Up next: MoCCA!! Mike, Gary, and I will see you there!

More MoCCA Fest 2011 Guests!

janice

As previously reported, Fantagraphics is gearing up for the 2011 MoCCA Fest in New York City, April 9-10!

And not only will we be joined by Peter Bagge, Michael Kupperman, Ted Stearn, Leslie Stein, Stephen DeStefano, and Gahan Wilson, but we just added Kim Deitch, Drew Friedman, Mark Newgarden, Nate Neal, Derek Van Gieson, and Sara Edward-Corbett to our signing roster, too!

More details (along with a signing schedule) to follow soon! See you there!

Kim Thompson Shows You Contempt

janice

No, really. He does.

Join Kim on Wednesday, March 23rd at 7:00 pm, as he presents a screening of the 1963 Jean-Luc Godard masterpiece, Contempt, at Seattle's Central Cinema.

As he explains, the screening is "Part of their regular 'let a prominent Seattleite choose their favorite movie and talk it up' feature. If you've never seen Godard's Contempt, it is well worth seeing in a theatrical setting (in this case projecting from a Blu-Ray disc, which is the next best thing to a actual film), so grab your chance. If you've seen it, you probably know that it's always worth re-visiting, especially on a larger screen."

Central Cinema is located in Seattle's Central District neighborhood at 21st Avenue and E. Union Street. Tickets are available at the door, or online here.

Not Sick of LOVESICK?

janice

Us neither! But you've only got a couple more days to check out the "Lovesick" exhibit from Seattle's own Bureau of Drawers cartoonist collective. If you haven't had a chance to see this collection of original art, handmade books and prints, get yrself down to the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery tout de suite!

(Mais oui! 'Cause Larry's gonna start installing our Tardi exhibit next!)

And THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to our opening night on Valentine's Day weekend! It was, indeed, lovely to see everyone out, supporting our local comic scene, and show-goers were serenaded by Bureau of Drawers members Dennis Driscoll and Sean Robinson of Landlord's Daughter. We've got video from each performance below:

More pics await you on our Flickr set!

Drew Friedman on WFMU's Fool's Paradise

janice

The great Drew Friedman was recently a guest on the WFMU radio show Fool's Paradise, discussing everything from, "Drew's early career, Tor Johnson sightings, the healing power of Joe E Ross and Drew's latest masterwork, Sideshow Freaks (Blast Books). Zagnut bars will also be referenced."

If you forgot to tune in, you can listen to the archive here! And toss those guys a few bucks -- it's the WFMU 2011 Marathon through March 13th!

Giant Robot Game Over IV

janice

Giant Robot gets a "1UP" with Game Over IV, their latest group show paying homage to video game culture, with several Fantagraphics artists at the joysticks, including Andrice Arp, Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, and Steven Weissman. That's a sneak peek at Paul's work up there, and below, we've got a piece from Steven.

The show opens Friday, March 4th at GRSF [618 Shrader Street, San Francisco] with a reception from 6:30 - 10:00 pm. Is the princess in another castle? You can catch the show until March 30, 2011.

Michael Kupperman Serves Up Some MEAT

janice

I may be a vegetarian, but how can anyone resist MEAT, an art show opening Thursday, March 3rd at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles? Our very own Michael Kupperman will have some savory art delights, along with a bunch of other carnivorous artists. (Charlyne Yi??? Yay!)
The opening reception runs from 7-10 pm, and Alie and Georgia (of Drinks with Alie and Georgia) will be on hand to make some special meat-themed cocktails for the show. Again, I may be a vegetarian, but mmmmm!

Emerald City Comicon Spotlight: Megan Kelso

janice

Get your book signed by Megan Kelso! // Pic taken at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery The 9th Annual Emerald City Comicon is just days away, Friday, March 4th - Sunday, March 6th at the Washington State Convention Center, and Fantagraphics is thrilled to represent the finest in alternative comics! And breaking news! We just found out we'll have hot-off-the-presses copies of Four Color Fear, Love From the Shadows, Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition, and The Last Rose of Summer. As previously reported, we'll also have the following titles on hand: Twilight of the Assholes: Cartoons & Essays 2005-2009, FUC_ __U, _SS __LE: Blecky Yuckerella Vol. 4, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, King of the Flies Vol. 2: The Origin of the World, Stigmata, Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2, Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition, Special Exits, Little Maakies on the Prairie, Prince Valiant Vol. 3 and Popeye Vol. 5. Oh, and you know what else we'll have? The acclaimed Artichoke Tales and The Squirrel Mother, and on Sunday, March 6th from 2:00 to 4:00 pm, the Ignatz Award-winning artist Megan Kelso will be signing at our booth, space #808! You can still get tickets for Emerald City Comicon at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown. See you there!

Emerald City Comicon Spotlight: Peter Bagge

janice

Peter Bagge could be doing a sketch for YOU! // This pic taken at SDCC 2010.

Can you imagine?... getting your books signed by the great Peter Bagge?! You can make it a reality this weekend, Friday, March 4th - Sunday, March 6th, at the 9th Annual Emerald City Comicon! (Tickets still available at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown!)

Swing by the Fantagraphics booth at space #808 on Saturday, March 5th from 10:00 am to Noon. Bagge will be signing copies of the latest Hate Annual #8, and additional works, such as Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me and Other Astute Observations.

And you can catch Pete later that night playing with his pop combo, Can You Imagine? Fantagraphics and fellow indie-comic publishers Top Shelf Productions are proud to present an Emerald City Comic-Con after-party on Saturday, March 5th at the Jewel Box Theater at the Rendezvous. (Also on the bill is The Rheas, fronted by Eric Reynolds, our Associate Publisher, and Matthew Southworth, frontman for The Capillaries, and co-creator of the comic Stumptown. Yours truly will be spinning tracks between the bands, so don't miss it!)