The Twain in the Membrane tour has rolled from Brooklyn back to Brooklyn, and now the Twain Train is heading for Desert Island. In Brooklyn!

This Thursday, October 13th, join Michael Kupperman for a book release party and signing for the smash-hit Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, and be one of the very first to get a copy of Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7!  Plus, free beer with any purchase!

And don't forget: this is your chance to pick up this excellent exclusive print we mentioned last month on the FLOG! Each 16X20 screenprint will be numbered and signed by Kupperman himself.

Desert Island is located at 540 Metropolitan Avenue, and the merriment starts at 7 PM!  Keep an eye on the Twain in the Membrane tour dates on the Fantagraphics Events page!

Plan ahead for the future with a blast from the past -- it's the 2012 Jim Flora calendars!

There's the Sheffield Island letterpress calendar, as seen above, based on a 1954 Flora woodcut... 

...And there's the smaller classic design, featuring Flora's illustrations from the 1950s: Swingin' Sax, Boogie-Beat Drummer, and Stardust Moon.

These are all hand-printed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress of Knoxville, and as the Jim Flora website promises, they are guaranteed to include your birthday, as well as those of your family and friends!

Got a hole in your jacket from that Chris Ware story that reached in, tore your heart out, and stomped it into the ground? (His writing, that is, not the man himself -- he's pretty laid-back.)

Patch it up with one of these rad new patches from our friends at Quimby's in Chicago!  Heat adhesive, four-color embroidered, and only five freakin' bucks.  Only available at the store for now, but they should be on sale on their website soon.

Two bearded artists with "ham" in their last names have teamed up for this latest release on Drag City Records!

Under his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy nom de plume, Will Oldham has a brand-new album out now featuring cover art by the one-and-only Sammy Harkham. Why, I think it might be time for another edition of Under the Covers with Fantagraphics...

For the chilly month of October, the Center for Sex & Culture in San Francisco is heating things up with their new exhibit Dirty Comics: An Exhibition of Erotic Comic Art.

Bay area erotic artist Jon Macy has curated a show featuring 30 different comic artists, including our very own Dame Darcy!

The Center for Sex & Culture is located at 1349 Mission Street between 9th and 10th Streets, on the corner of Grace Street.

Thanks to the always-intrepid Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter for the heads-up-- uh, I mean, tip-off-- uh, I mean... never mind.

Trina Robbins signing at the Fantagraphics booth at San Diego Comic-Con 2009

I am personally so over-the-moon-excited about this weekend's event, and frankly, you should be, too! We are thrilled to present artist & women's comix "herstorian" Trina Robbins at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, October 8!

The reception runs from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, and we'll be debuting our latest exhibit, showcasing The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons from 1913 - 1940. Trina will be leading a slideshow presentation of Brinkley's work that you do not want to miss, and she'll be signing copies of the book afterwards.

You can also catch Trina earlier that day, as she's a featured guest at Geek Girl Con, making its debut at Seattle Center this October 8th and 9th.

The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. Don't miss your chance to meet this legend of underground comix!

One man. One-hundred-and-one one-panel cartoons.

Our Oil & Water artist Shannon Wheeler presents just that, with an exhibition of his New Yorker artwork opening tonight at PCPA [ 1111 SW Broadway, Portland ]. How perfect is THAT street address?

Comics are taking center stage in America's Heartland this autumn, as the University of Iowa presents the exhibit Graphic Language: The Art and Literature of Comics, which runs through December 11th.

This exhibit is truly impressive, featuring original artwork from Carl Barks, Steve Ditko, Hal Foster, and Jack Kirby, as well as Winsor McCay, Frank Frazetta, and Milton Caniff.

There's gonna be a special section devoted to original work for EC Comics, from artists like Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, and Bernard Kriegstein.

And covering the spectrum, the exhibit also spotlights contemporary cartoonists like Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco, Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, Chris Ware, and Jessica Abel, as well as Alison Bechdel, Phoebe Gloeckner, Craig Thompson, John Porcellino, Jeff Lemire, James Sturm, and Matt Madden.

Holy crap, right? Well, it gets even more envy-enducing...

To tie into the exhibit, the University of Iowa presents Symposium on Comics, Creativity, and Culture: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, running through this weekend with some impressive panels:

Joe Sacco // photo credit: Jacob Covey

Friday, October 6th

3:15-4:15 PM // Preservation and Presentation: The Art and Business of Comics Publishing: Join our fearless leader Gary Groth in panel with Peggy Burns (Drawn and Quarterly) and Craig Yoe (YOE! Books). [ University Capitol Centre 2520D ]

7:30 PM // Joe Sacco: Keynote Lecture and UI Lecture Committee Featured Speaker [ Shambaugh Auditorium ]

Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez // photo credit: Patrick Rosenkranz

Saturday, October 8th

1:30-3:30 PM // Editing Comics Criticism and Scholarship: This round table discussion features Gary Groth, along with John Lent (Editor, The International Journal of Comic Art) and Frenchy Lunning (Editor, Mechademia) [ University Capitol Centre 2520D ]

7:30 PM // Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez: Keynote Lecture and UI Lecture Committee Featured Speaker [ Shambaugh Auditorium ]

You can view the entire schedule of events at the University of Iowa website. If you read this FLOG and live in Iowa, you better be there!

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!