This will be amazing.

Join Gary Panter as he presents his latest exhibit at Fredericks & Freiser in New York City.

Twenty paintings by Panter will be on display through November 5th, with the opening reception tomorrow night, Thursday, October 6th, from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Prepare to have your mind blown.

Fredericks & Freiser is located at 536 West 24th Street in NYC.

You'll wanna hail down one of these wonderful new tees from Jim Woodring, designed for our friends at the non-profit literary organization, Rain Taxi!

I don't even know where to start when it comes to all the great stuff Rain Taxi does for literature. You may already be familiar with their award-winning quarterly-publication Rain Taxi: Review of Books, which is frickin' free all across the nation. But they also power tons of great events, like the annual Twin Cities Book Festival!

So, not only are you sportin' some fine Pushpaw action across your chest, but you're also supporting an awesome organization!

And it looks like they still have some of the Joe Sacco-designed tee in stock, but only in size small!

Tim Kreider and Michael Kupperman will be blinding you with science, tomorrow, Wednesday, October 5th in New York City!

It's part of the long-running comedy series Carousel, hosted by the great R. Sikoryak since 1997. Tomorrow night, it's The Science Edition, featuring a cartoon slideshow from Tim and Michael, as well as Aaron Diaz, Roxanne Palmer, Doug Skinner, Kriota Willberg, and more!

Get ready to get schooled, starting at 7:30 PM at Dixon Place [ 161A Chrystie Street, btwn Rivington & Delancey ].

UPDATE: Kupperman reports, he'll be doing the new Quincy M.E. strip with help from Jackson Publick, creator, director, voice artist and writer of one of the best TV shows ever (according to me & Mike), "The Venture Bros."

After acclaimed runs in San Francisco and Toronto, the touring exhibit Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women is now showing in New York City!

The exhibit runs through April 15th at the Yeshiva University Museum in the Center for Jewish History [ 15 West 16th Street ] and features Fantagraphics artists Miss Lasko-Gross, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Trina Robbins, and Diane Noomin, alongside a ton of other amazing female artists, like Vanessa Davis, Bernice Eisenstein, Sarah Glidden, Miriam Katin, Miriam Libicki, Corinne Pearlman, Sarah Lightman, Sarah Lazarovic, Racheli Rottner, Sharon Rudahl, Laurie Sandell, Ariel Schrag, Lauren Weinstein and Ilana Zeffren.

And on Monday, October 24th, you can join Miss Lasko-Gross and Ariel Schrag, Miriam Katin, and Lauren Weinstein for the panel "Close & Personal: Jewish Women Artists & their Graphic Diaries."  Robin Cembalest, executive editor of ARTnews, will moderate. There will be a viewing at 6:00 PM, with the panel starting at 6:30 PM.  Admission is free, with advance reservation, so get to it!

Paul at the Emerald City Comic-Con, 2009 [ credit: Fantagraphics Flickr ]

Hey Chicago! Guess who's hosting this month's Doodleganza: The Drawing Extravaganza at the Museum of Contemporary Art? GIVE UP?

Yes, it's Paul Hornschemeier! Join him tomorrow Tuesday, October 4th from 6:00-8:00 PM as he runs "through the paces of drawing experiments." Will it involve Smurfs? I'm gonna guess, no. 

Doodleganza is free with museum admission, and is sure to be a blast! The Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 220 East Chicago Avenue. Will Tony Danza be at Doodleganza?  I'm gonna guess... no.

Your brain won't be the same after the Twain in the Membrane Comedy Party!

Join Michael Kupperman and friends tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 4th at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY for the Twain-iest party that ever will be, celebrating the release of the smash-hit Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010!

There will be live comedy from (five-time Emmy nominee!) Jon Glaser, Kate Beaton, David Rees, Max Silvestri, Emily Flake, Dyna Moe, and more. There will be live cartoons. There will be a Mark Twain costume contest, so start grooming those mustaches! And, yes, ladies and gentlemen... there will be a frog-humping contest.

Littlefield is located at 622 Degraw Street in Brooklyn.  Doors are at 7:30 PM, and the show starts at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $5 in advance, or $8 at the door. And, sorry, kids, it's 21 and over only... y'know, frog-humping.

UPDATE: Michael has tweeted a couple additional details: "Free posters for everybody! A FREE BOOK for anyone dressed as Twain!"

We're thrilled to announce that our very own Tim Lane will be joining the great John Porcellino at Subterranean Books this coming Monday, October 3rd!

Together, they will give a slideshow presentation, followed by a Q&A and book signing, so if you haven't picked up Abandoned Cars yet, this is your not-to-be-missed chance!

The fun starts at 7:00 PM! Subterranean Books is located at 6275 Delmar In the Loop in lovely St. Louis.

Thank you so much to everyone who made it out to the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery last weekend for our signings with Warren Bernard, editor of Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising, and Tom Neely, artist behind The Wolf!

Here's artist Tom Neely and warehouse champ Ajax Wood saying hello!

We were thrilled to have editor Warren Bernard in attendance, barely recovered from the most successful SPX: Small Press Expo yet! Here, store curator Larry Reid introduces him to the crowd...

Warren's slideshow presentation had the audience riveted and clambering for copies of Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising once it was over! You can check out more photos of the presentation at the Fantagraphics Flickr page, and you can listen to audio from his D.C. presentation here on the FLOG!

Gary Groth demonstrates his powerful swivel-arm action to Jim Woodring and Tom Neely.  Jason T. Miles and Warren Bernard stay safely in the background.

Wolftrap wine was served for the occasion!

What goes good with red wine? Ah, yes... (Just kidding... white wine's better for chihuahuas...)

You can check out more photos of this fun event at the Fantagraphics Flickr page! It was a wonderful time! Thanks to all attendees, and thanks especially to Warren & Tom!

And we hope everyone will return to the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, October 1st as we present Oil and Water, with journalist Steve Duin and editor Michael Rosen in attendance!  See you there!

This interview with Michael Kupperman about his new book Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 was conducted by Fantagraphics intern Steven Davis. Thanks to Steven and Michael!

STEVEN DAVIS: You’ve been talking about doing a longer-form narrative for a while. What made you decide on the autobiographical format?

MICHAEL KUPPERMAN: It’s just what I fell into doing. I find the reasons for doing things, the “why,” is very important, and if you’re doing what you’re doing because it genuinely amuses, you’re in the strongest position possible. I just started writing a couple of chapters and I was enjoying it, and it felt like the right thing to do to go for a book.

DAVIS: How do you feel about your results?

KUPPERMAN: Well, I’m always self-critical to a painful degree, but I do find myself laughing when I look at it. I feel pretty good, I guess; the reader’s reaction is all up to whether they find me funny or not.

DAVIS: Was it refreshing to work with a different format?

KUPPERMAN: It’s interesting to notice the difference. Both are wonderful escapes — and with writing I’m able to execute some rapid changes of idiom — but one notable thing is that writing has more of a time limit. You can only write for two or three hours at a stretch before you start to lose focus, I find. Whereas drawing is an activity you can really lose yourself in for as long as you can stay awake — I’ve drawn for as long as 20 hours at a stretch.

DAVIS: Why is Mark Twain a better target for parody than his partner Albert Einstein?

KUPPERMAN: Well, there was the occasion of the anniversary of his death: That really tipped the scales. But Einstein only really works for me as a character in relation to Twain: the same way Harpo only worked in relation to Chico or Groucho. Not alone. I’d love to do more with the two of them, though.

DAVIS: There’s a full chapter in the book that is cartooned, in which Mark Twain finds himself an accidental member of the Apollo 11 mission. Why did you decide to cartoon this section?

KUPPERMAN: I just wanted to break up the text a bit, and the Moon mission seemed like a good excuse to do some cartooning. That’s one in which many of the jokes are more visual.

DAVIS: Did any ideas that you’d originally intended to be comics get transformed into prose?

KUPPERMAN: No. That’s not so easy to do… A lot of ideas only work for the medium you invented them for. I have a bunch of material from my various aborted TV pilot deals that I can’t find a way to re-use, unfortunately.

DAVIS: What is the appeal of autobiographies? How does that translate into satire?

KUPPERMAN: Autobiographies have an automatically funny component in the self-deception that we all practice, which can be inadvertently revealing. The self-justifying and obfuscation that most autobiographies contain are comedy gold. The last two I read were the autobiographies of Jerry Weintraub and Esther Williams. Both contained comedic elements, although Esther was by far the better swimmer.

DAVIS: What specific autobiographical tropes did you most focus on subverting?

KUPPERMAN: False modesty is a big one, also unwittingly revelatory anecdotes, such as when the aliens try to get Twain to have sex with Sophia Loren; and the shaping of one’s life into a narrative, and how unreliable that can be.

DAVIS: You’ve talked about simplifying the cartooning in order to better focus on the humor. How is this reflected in Twain as compared to your past works?

KUPPERMAN: I think the Twain book is a big step forward in that direction. The art is much more streamlined, and less influenced by art from the past. I concentrated on just carrying the jokes through the art.

DAVIS: There’s a momentum in Tales Designed to Thrizzle that moves the reader through the book, even though it lacks a continuous narrative. In what ways did you approach flow and progression for Twain?

KUPPERMAN: I tried to vary the tone of the chapters enough so that the reader would be carried through what is basically a series of routines… I’ve never sustained one scenario for so long, but I’m eager to move on to longer projects still.

DAVIS: How did Snake ‘N’ Bacon become your flagship strip?

KUPPERMAN: People kept asking for it. And when Avon (subsequently bought by HarperCollins) asked me to do a book, they insisted Snake ‘N’ Bacon be in the title. Then later on Scott Jacobson and Rich Blomquist from The Daily Show spearheaded the Snake ’N’ Bacon pilot for Adult Swim, same thing. They’re anti-characters, basically: extremely limited in almost every way.

Some people do really seem to like them. I’ve even seen tattoos!

DAVIS: I’m curious about your past pseudonym P. Revess. Where did this come from and where did it go?

KUPPERMAN: It was just the prefect pseudonym I came up with— mysterious, ambisexual — and I stopped using it because some dumb editor at New York Press told me I should just use one name, my own. And I was an idiot and listened to her.

DAVIS: Were your parents supportive as you pursued a career as an artist?

KUPPERMAN: Yes. I don’t know if they saw it coming but they’ve adjusted well.

DAVIS: What type of art were you interested in when you attended art school?

KUPPERMAN: Basically anything and everything (still am):What I didn’t know was how I should fit into it all...

DAVIS: How were you first exposed to surrealism and dadaism?

KUPPERMAN: Through Alice in Wonderland and books like that, but I think it’s just part of the culture now. Comedy now has a strong strain of surrealism in it.

DAVIS: What has kept you interested in surreal humor?

KUPPERMAN: It’s what I respond to. I love idioms sliding into each other and situations that melt and transform: dream logic, where meaning shifts and overturns.

DAVIS: You’ve talked about being influenced by sketch comedy shows, Monty Python and SCTV. A few years ago you had the chance to write some sketches for The Peter Serafinowicz Show. Was that a pretty easy adjustment for you?

KUPPERMAN: It wasn’t an easy situation, because I was so far away. The real writing action was taking place in London, and I was in New York. Even when an idea came from me — the whole acting-class thing, which in my version was with Michael Caine —it would be so heavily re-written that it wasn’t so much mine anymore. That’s just the way things work. I’d love to try again on a more level playing field.

DAVIS: I know you’ve talked a little about this before. But can you discuss some of your experiences writing scripts for DC — Any differences in your process? Any challenges? Any new creative avenues it allowed you to explore?

KUPPERMAN: It was frustrating — the more of those comics I did, the less rewarding it became. The very first one — a Jetsons story where Mr. Spacely becomes a baby— was probably the best. But the editing became more and more severe. The last story I did was a Scooby-Doo — they even changed the name of a character I wrote from Murderous Pete to Homeless Pete! I didn’t pursue it after that.

DAVIS: You’ve called Twitter a "petri dish of comedy.” For you, is the Internet mostly helpful or distracting?

KUPPERMAN: Helpful, but you have to limit your exposure or depression will result. I do love Twitter and the people I’ve met on there, and I try not to let it prevent me working.

DAVIS: You’re currently producing a weekly comic called Up All Night. Will any of these strips or related strips be featured in future issues of Thrizzle?

KUPPERMAN: Perhaps some of them…

DAVIS: In an interview last year you mentioned a potential project with Adult Swim after the Snake ’N’ Bacon pilot wasn’t picked up. Can you elaborate on that at all?

KUPPERMAN: Yes- they hired me to develop a horror pilot. But by the time I had characters and a scenario their attention had completely drifted away. This happened to a lot of talented and well-known comedy people last year, so I’m not alone! Dealing with Adult Swim is like trying to talk to someone peaking on an acid trip. You never know what they’ll say or do next...

DAVIS: Between TV Funhouse and the Snake ’N’ Bacon pilot, you’ve done quite a bit of work in animation. How do you feel about the current state of animation?

KUPPERMAN: I am indifferent, since I’m not involved. There really isn’t anything that’s compelling me to watch lately...

DAVIS: Many alternative cartoonists have transitioned into animation and videogames. How interested are you in pursuing jobs in different media?

KUPPERMAN: I’m only interested as long I continue to exist as an artist! So it has to be on my terms to some extent. I had that with the S&B pilot, which is why it was so amazing. I drew every inch of the animation, that’s why it looks the way it does. But I have a horror of producing crap, and unfortunately most media product ends up being just that.

DAVIS: How does your work reflect what’s going on across media, in terms of humor, today?

KUPPERMAN: I think my humor is very contiguous with the humor that’s going on now in live comedy, the better TV comedy, podcasting the smart stuff. Not comics though: I feel very alone there. Most other humor in comics is excruciating.

DAVIS: You have a serious graphic novel called Henry Spelman in the works. Can you tell us any more about that?

KUPPERMAN: Not at the moment! I’m trying to examine my options with as clear a head as possible. My bank balance is always a concern, and right now I’m just trying to stay alert. I’m hoping to get into the Spelman project soon, but it’s a matter of balancing the work against the chances of an advance in today’s publishing world, truly the worst and least hospitable ever. And I’m waiting to see how the Twain book does…

Don't forget to catch Michael Kupperman on the "Twain in the Membrane" book tour! -- janice

Michael Kupperman IN THE HOUSE, ya'll!

No. He really is.

Michael Kupperman is bringing Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 to the historical Mark Twain House & Museum this Saturday, October 1st.

No. HE REALLY IS.

Mark Twain and his family moved into this self-designed manor in Hartford, Connecticut back in 1874, and since 2003, the Mark Twain House & Museum have offered guests, "an opportunity to learn more about Mark Twain, his family, the historic house, and the author's legacy." Well, what could be a more perfect location for a Kupperman reading than this???

Join Kupperman this Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Mark Twain House & Museum [ 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT ] for what's sure to be a historical event in itself!

And stay tuned to the FLOG for more dates in the Twain in the Membrane fall tour!