FLOG! Entries for Mike Baehr - October 2009

CBR on TCJ

mike

In a must-read interview at Comic Book Resources, Kiel Phegley talks to the entire editorial staff of The Comics Journal (Mike Dean, Kristy Valenti and el jefe Gary Groth) about the future print and online iterations of the magazine as outlined in our announcement earlier this week. It's quite the scoop, and juicy details and revelations abound!

Now in stock: Like a Dog by Zak Sally

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Like a Dog
By Zak Sally

One man’s heartfelt and irreverent record of his time on this rock, Zak Sally’s unflinchingly veracious book, Like a Dog, is both direct and oblique, which we find rather miraculous considering the messy and murky waters of human experience it manages to navigate. Like a Dog is among the few comic book testimonials burdened by the yen to understand and articulate the mundane and the magnificent. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself laughing and crying as you claw your way through each hard fought page!

Of all of Sally’s creative pursuits (including a career in music spanning 15+ years), Like a Dog is the one he’s been working a lifetime toward. This hardcover book collects the best of his acclaimed short stories from the past 15 years, created in between band tours and recording sessions, published in his Eisner-nominated self-published series Recidivist (the first 2 issues of which are reprinted here in their entirety) and in publications like Mome, The Drama, Your Flesh, Dirty Stories, and more.

Like a Dog spotlights Sally’s uncanny ability to create emotional havoc out of claustrophobic images, situations and dialogue. Stories like “Don’t Move,” “The War Back Home,” and “Two Idiot Brothers” share little in common on the surface but are united by Sally’s forbidding style, creating a sense of dread that permeates almost every page.

Sally also turns his eye towards nonfiction in Like a Dog, including “At the Scaffold,” the story of the imprisonment and trial of Fyodor Dostoyevsky for allegedly subversive behavior, and “The Man Who Killed Wally Wood,” a story about Sally’s brush with a former publisher of the legendary comic artist (who, contrary to the title of this strip, took his own life after a long battle with alcoholism). It also includes two collaborations: “Dread,” written by NEA Fellowship recipient, Edgar Award finalist, and O. Henry Award winning author Brian Evenson (Altmann’s Tongue); and "River Deep, Mountain High," co-created with fellow cartoonist Chris Cilla.

Like a Dog also includes extensive “liner notes” by the artist, previously unpublished material, an introduction by John Porcellino (King Cat), and other surprises.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 10-page PDF excerpt (2.3 MB).

134-page color/b&w 7" x 10.5" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-165-7
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Webcomics update for 10/30/09: NEW STRIP!

mike

We are pleased to debut a brand new weekly strip in this week's webcomics update:

The House of No by Mome contributor Derek Van Gieson! These are Derek's rejected New Yorker cartoons, and we'll be adding a new one every week. We'll leave it up to you to guess why they were turned down — for our money, they're pretty damn funny.

And in our veteran strips:

All-y all-y in-come-free! It's this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and the Zip-a-Toned adventures of Barack H. Obama continue in this week's strip from Steven Weissman!

Daily OCD: 10/30/09

mike

Happy day-before-Halloween — lots of treats in today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Bookmark: And I thought I was thorough! Hats off to Love and Rockets fan blog Love & Maggie, your one stop for comprehensive L&R/Hernandez Bros. link gathering, commentary and more (hat tip to Mike Sterling)

• Profile: Newcity's Beatrice Smigasiewicz talks to Paul Hornschemeier about the conclusion of his Mome serial "Life with Mr. Dangerous" and other topics: “People are routinely surprised to find that in person I joke around all the time and am obsessed with comedy: they think that I must walk around in a constant fog of philosophical conundrums and Weltschmerz.”

• Things to see: It's getting to be time for Giant Robot's annual Post-It Show, with artists such as Johnny Ryan and Tim Hensley revealing their entries

• Things to see: Speaking of Tim, I want this to be a real thing so badly I can feel the flocking on my fingertips

• Things to see: Speaking of Johnny, he reveals that the final (sniff) issue of Nickelodeon magazine includes a strip written by him and drawn by Hector Mumbly (Dave Cooper) — !

• Things to see: At the Jim Flora blog, outtakes from The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

• ???: Can anyone translate this page for us? It's photos of Thomas Ott seemingly leading some kind of comics workshop, but beyond that I haven't a clue

• Contest: Create a text-only comic, submit it to Doctor Popular, and you could win a copy of Abstract Comics

• Staff: Oh snap! Our own Jason T. Miles is now blogging at Comics Comics. Holy crap that guy can write

• Crass Google pandering: Sasha Gray tells AOL's Asylum that she likes Ghost World (via AOL's Comics Alliance)

The Comics Journal - new subscription details

mike

In light of our announcement about the newly revamped, semi-annual version of The Comics Journal debuting next year, we have new subscription options available for 6-issue (3 year) and 3-issue (18 month) subscriptions. Also, we are ceasing to offer online-only subscriptions.

If you are a current subscriber, details about the transition from your old subscription to your new one have been sent to you in the mail. We've made sure that, in every case, current subscribers will come out ahead on the deal.

Going forward, all new subscriptions will begin with the first issue of our new expanded semi-annual edition, no. 301, due Summer/Fall 2010, until the issue is released; after that, they will begin with the issue following the currently-available issue (e.g., when no. 301 is released, subscriptions will begin with no. 302, and so on). This means that if you purchase a subscription now and you don't want to miss issue no. 300, you will have to purchase that issue separately when it becomes available. We apologize for this slight, unavoidable hiccup in our subscription schedule.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Every page of Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan on a wall

mike

We recently received the following email:

"Hello, my name is Daniel Maw and I am a graduate art student at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Recently, I worked with some of my fellow graduate colleagues (we range in age from 23 to 31) to curate a show highlighting contemporary print media in all its facets. I recommended we show the work of Chris Ware, including Jimmy Corrigan. In order to showcase the epic nature of this comic we elected to purchase two copies, cut the bindings off each, collate the pages, and display all [390] pages in a grid on a 23 x 10 foot wall. It is quite impressive to take it all in at once as it demonstrates the tremendous amount of talent and work that went in to the creation of the book."

Wow, no kidding! Many more eye-boggling and more-detailed photos, including the installation in progress, can be seen at Daniel's blog. Very cool, Daniel, and thanks for sharing!

(Update: here is a link to the gallery website with more info about the exhibit; when the exhibit ends it will be archived here.)

Daily OCD: 10/29/09

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins's top 6 "deeply creepy 'alt-horror' cartoonists" includes Renee French ("her frequently deformed (more like unformed) characters and hazy, dreamlike, soft-focus pencils recall [David] Lynch's unnerving debut Eraserhead with its dust-mote cinematography and mewling infant thing"), Hans Rickheit ("It just so happens that his 'normal' is grotesque and harrowing to the rest of us"), Al Columbia ("It's as though a team of expert [animation] craftsmen became trapped in their office sometime during the Depression and were forgotten about for decades, reduced to inbreeding, feeding on their own dead, and making human sacrifices to the mimeograph machine, and when the authorities finally stumbled across their charnel-house lair, this stuff is what they were working on in the darkness") and Josh Simmons ("one of a very few comics creators still capable of shocking... doing serious, dangerous work")

• Review: "West Coast Blues is a brilliant story, and Manchette was a phenomenal writer of the modern world, putting others to shame at times. Just that simple, really. This is a book that can’t be reduced to familiar genre markers." – Brian Lindenmuth, BSCreview

• Review: "Bruce Paley tells his tale with no frills and no holds barred. ... The book is at times quite funny and other times terribly depressing, but it is never dull and I found it hard to put down. Carol Swain’s artwork fits the mood of the book well. It’s fairly simple but it hits all the right notes and evokes the right emotions. I was completely unfamiliar with her work prior to this book, but I’ll keep an eye out for her in the future. ... I found this book to be incredibly compelling in its own laid back sort of way. ... There’s no shortage of books out there about the 1960’s and ‘70s, but this one felt a lot more personal than most. Paley’s words mingled with Swain’s artwork so perfectly that you almost felt like the guy was sitting across the table from you, sharing a beer or two and swapping stories. If you’re interested in that era or you just like a good autobiography, I’d give Giraffes in my Hair: A Rock 'n' Roll Life a shot." – Chad Derdowski, Mania.com

• Opinion: Reactions to our announcement about the evolution of The Comics Journal from The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon (with Q&A with Gary Groth), Comic Book Galaxy's Alan David Doane, Johnny Bacardi, The Beat's Heidi MacDonald, and CBR's Steven Grant

Daily OCD: 10/28/09

mike

Blurbs, "Babe" and big bucks in this episode of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book features two full-length stories, 'The Leaking Cello Case' and 'John Wesley Harding.' Both stories start off in the every day then morph into oddball mysteries that never go quite where you expect them to. As odd as some of the capers and misadventures get they are always conveyed with a kind of casual, deadpan poker face that manages to make them all the more believable. ... The art is a curious mix of cartoonish realism, and the city of Cape Town is vividly portrayed... Red Monkey Double Happiness Book is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read for the mystery/crime comic fan looking for something a bit different than the harder noir stuff that seems to dominate these days." – Brian Lindenmuth, BSCreview

• Review: "...[T]he appearance this week in bookstores of Hans Rickheit’s comix masterpiece, The Squirrel Machine, is a genuine milestone in the... artistic business of reconciling one’s inside to one’s outside, so much so that I must confess that I am truly taken aback by Rickheit’s entire effort, in the best sense of the word. This carefully constructed tale... strikes me as being one of the few original works of art that I’ve seen published in North America over the last two decades, on a par with the better work of Dan Clowes or Charles Burns. ... This is not a tale for the squeamish nor is it a tale for the literal-minded; it is very much a bravura performance in the tradition of Surrealism, or Fantastic Art, or even Symbolism... In short, strongly recommended!" – Mahendra Singh

• Feature: Matthew J. Brady presents "12 Things I Learned from Supermen!" including "In these stories, disbelief must often not only be suspended, but strung up and mercilessly whipped, then drawn and quartered"

• Events: At his blog, Tom Kaczynski (Mome) reports from the Zak Sally/John Porcellino reading/book launch in Minneapolis last weekend

• Things to see: Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine presents a Boody Rogers "Babe" story that does not appear in our Craig Yoe-edited Boody book (via Stephen Thompson at Yoe's Super I.T.C.H. blog)

• Things to see: Halloween greetings from Richard Sala!

• $$$: Via The Beat, somebody sold a mint slabbed copy of Albedo #2 (1st appearance of Usagi Yojimbo) on eBay for $5100, making it possibly the most expensive Fantagraphics comic ever sold (corrections welcome); Stan Sakai comments on his LiveJournal

Popeye Vol. 4 preview video & photos

mike

Here after a slight delay is our preview video/photo slideshow preview of Popeye Vol. 4: "Plunder Island". I went slightly overboard with this one but holy smokes is there a lot of great stuff in this book! Click here if the embedded player is not visible above, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended). And don't forget our exclusive 15-page PDF excerpt (6.4 MB) with 5 pages of Sundays and 10 pages of dailies is still available for FREE download!

Robert Williams x Vans, again

mike

On your way to the Robert Williams exhibit opening at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in NYC this weekend, why not stop and pick up one of 13 pairs of custom, hand-painted Robert Williams Vans sneakers? The above promotional video, passed along by our own Lord of the Lowbrow, Larry Reid, provides all the details (and a fascinating look inside a Chinese sneaker factory)! And if those are a bit out of your range, don't worry, there will be another, less-exclusive Williams Vans release for Fall/Winter, too.

(Previously in sneakers/skatewear: Jim Woodring x Chuck Taylor, Gary Panter x The Simpsons x Vans, Peter Bagge x Manik, Vaughn Bodé x Puma, more Robert Williams x Vans, R. Crumb x Vans, R. Crumb x Burton)

Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons - Pre-Sale Discount, Exclusive Print

mike

We are pleased to announce that we are now taking online pre-orders for Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons and Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons - Collectors Edition, and that we are offering the regular edition NOT ONLY with an exclusive, limited-edition signed 3-color silkscreen print (pictured below – while supplies last) BUT ALSO at a special discounted price!

Attendees at this year's SPX had the opportunity to pre-order the regular edition at a discounted post-paid price of $100 (cover price: $125) and collect the signed silkscreen print; we are extending this offer to all pre-orders direct from Fantagraphics by offering the edition for $92 + shipping (which should be $8 for customers within the U.S., unless you are a 20/20 Club member, in which case the shipping is FREE within the U.S. and you get an additional 20% discount). This discount applies ONLY to pre-orders and will end without advance notice when the set is in stock and ready to ship, sometime in December. In other words: don't dilly-dally!

Click here to pre-order the regular edition and receive your exclusive print and discount; click here to pre-order the limited Collectors Edition, which does not come with the silkscreen print but does include exclusive extras of its own, including a glow-in-the-dark letterpress print and box set of holiday card facsimiles. Stay tuned to Flog for more information and previews of both editions, coming soon!

Daily OCD: 10/27/09

mike

Here you go, today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Locas II, by Jaime Hernandez, combines lush artwork with vivid, heart-in-mouth storytelling. ...[I]f you haven’t encountered its two heroines before, you might find yourself a little lost in the ongoing magic realist soap opera that is Hernandez’s stock-in-trade. It would be a bit like dropping in on Coronation Street for the first time — albeit a Corrie soundtracked by The Germs and Big Black. ... [But] even if you find yourself lost somewhere in the middle of Locas II, the lostness makes a kind of sense. The lives Hernandez chronicles are a little lost. ... Best of all, there's the creamy out-and-out gorgeousness of Hernandez's cartooning, with its echoes of Peanuts, the old Archie comics and 'good girl' art (never, outwith [Russ] Meyer's movies, have so many worn so little so often). Can you fancy a drawing? Look at the portrait of Frogmouth on page 405 and tell me it's not possible." – Teddy Jamieson, The Herald

• Review: "The Good: Prison Pit reminded me a lot of Gwar, professional wrestling and the comic strips my friends and I used to draw in junior high. ... It was gross as hell and filled with blood and gore and just straight-up repulsive juvenile humor. It was a lot of fun. The Bad: It’s probably too awesome for a lot of people to handle. ... The Bottom Line: Dude, it’s great. Just shut up and buy it. ...I’m giving Prison Pit an A and as soon as I’m done writing this review, I’m going to sit down and re-read it." – Chad Derdowski, Mania

• Events: At comiXology, Kristy Valenti (moonlighting from her Assistant Editor position at The Comics Journal) recaps the graphic novels panel with Ellen Forney, Megan Kelso, Gary Groth & Top Shelf's Leigh Walton at last weekend's Seattle Bookfest

The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez: Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Now available for preview and pre-order following its hit debut at APE: The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez. A drug dealer, a rock 'n' roll loser, and über-stacked vixen, and a wily grifter: these greedy low-lifes are chasing the hard luck charm! This second book in Beto's series of "Fritz movie adaptations" (following Chance in Hell) is a lurid, hard-boiled, pulpy delight! Get a sizzling taste by downloading our exclusive PDF of the first 12 pages right here (one word: catfight!). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime in the next 2 weeks and in stores approximately 4 weeks after that (subject to change).

View a photo slideshow preview of the book embedded here. (A video preview will debut exclusively in the near future — we'll let you know!) Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

Daily OCD: 10/26/09

mike

Today brings some big-deal Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: At Comics Comics, Frank Santoro declares The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez "Best in Show" at APE and gives it a wordless review that says it all

• Review: "Translated into English for the first time since it was written, more than 25 years ago, Jacques Tardi & Jean-Claude Forest’s You Are There proves well worth the wait. Forest’s satirical, minimalist writing lampoons French society and human greed with equal skill, and Tardi has never done better art: It’s all deep, dark pools of blackness that perfectly match the pitch-dark humor of the writing. Equal parts Beckett and Kafka, the story explores the conflict between greedy speculators and the last heir of an aristocratic family whose land has been reduced to a series of precarious walls and towers. Tardi’s intricate, gorgeous art gets better and better until the book’s spectacular ending. It’s an absolute must-read for anyone interested in how European comics got to where they are today. Had this been translated earlier, it likely would be counted as one of the masterpieces of the rich period of the mid-’80s… [Grade:] A" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "One of the best things about Mome is that, as a reader, I feel like I'm getting work from each artist that's their 'A' material. [Lilli] Carré and [Dash] Shaw have many other outlets for publication, but it's clear that they take a special delight in having an outlet for their short story ideas. [Nate] Neal and Kurt Wolfgang have Mome as their primary outlet for publication, and clearly go all-out in every story. ... I'd like to see young artists like [Conor] O'Keefe and [Sara] Edward-Corbett grow more ambitious and perhaps even serialize a story in the anthology. Of course, seeing outstanding work from old favorites along with translated short stories of European artists has been another welcome trend for what continues to be a must-read book, issue after issue." – Rob Clough

• Profile: Robot 6's Chris Mautner, undoubtedly echoing the sentiments of many, makes his plea for a collection of the early work of Al Columbia

• Interview: C. Tyler appeared on Cincinnati NPR station WVXU yesterday to discuss You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man on the Around Cincinnati program (direct MP3 link)

• Interview: Art historian and critic Catherine Spaeth talks to Abstract Comics editor Andrei Molotiu: "One thing that is interesting to me about abstract comics is exactly that they contain no preexisting narrative and therefore no excuse for a sense of diegetic time. You’re not following a story, so what you are left with are the actual visual elements on the page (panels, shapes) that move your eye from panel to panel but outside of a fictional time frame."

• Events: Vince Keenan has a brief recap of the Fantagraphics-sponsored comics panel at Seattle Bookfest

• Things to read: Michael Kupperman blogs two short prose stories starring Twain & Einstein

• Things to see: A Halloweeny animated drawing by Lilli Carré

• Things to see: A new Glenn Ganges two-pager, sans dialogue, from Kevin Huizenga

• Things to see: Jim Blanchard sure gets some cool commissions

• Things to see: Bob Fingerman draws a "big butt girl" (I know, shocker, right? I kid, I kid)

Hernandezes & Rosenkranz at Wonder Woman Day

mike

Rebel Visions author Patrick Rosenkranz sent us some photos of the sights (including the Hernandez Bros.) at the Wonder Woman Day charity event at Excalibur Books & Comics in Portland, OR yesterday to share with you. Below: The Bros., their artwork for the charity auction, and Rosenkranz & friend. More of Patrick's photos are in our Flickr set, including the cutest little Supergirl you ever did see.

Hans Rickheit's next things

mike

At his blog, Hans Rickheit presents a first look at his next couple of comics projects. Above: a teaser of a teaser.

Rock Candy window display

mike

Feast your peepers on this amazing window display for Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra at the American Book Center in Amsterdam featuring just some of Femke's collection of creepy/cute toys and figurines (more of which can be seen in the book). The book launch for Rock Candy takes place at the ABC on Saturday — Halloween day, appropriately.

Daily OCD: 10/23/09

mike

Some Online Commentary & Diversions to wrap up your week:

• Review: "Artist Carol Swain brings a sober British reserve to her husband Bruce Paley's tales of hippie and punk excess for a nostalgic feel with the winning Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock ‘n' Roll Life. ...[F]rom the late ‘60s through the early ‘80s, his peripatetic adventures with drugs, women, and punker Johnny Thunders make for a series of fun, roguish vignettes. ... Swain uses pencil to understated effect, and works up a lyrical, nostalgic vibe. Her simple scenes arrange a loose chronological narrative into a warm experience conveyed as in a film or a song—at its best, Giraffes plays like Dylan's 'Tangled Up in Blue,' if you will. ... Highly recommended." – Byron Kerman, PLAYBACK:stl

• Review: "West Coast Blues is just the right mixture of action, suspense, and surprise to keep just about any reader’s attention. ... It’s hard to ignore the strength of Tardi’s art in making West Coast Blues such a strong graphic novel. ... West Coast Blues is a sharp, beautiful book. ... For people looking for a noir thriller, you’ve come to the right place." – Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

• Things to see: At the Covered blog, a version of Love and Rockets #23 by the artist KG

• Things to see: Oh, these fairy tale illustrations for The Guardian by Eleanor Davis are just lovely

Like a Dog book release TOMORROW!

mike

Short notice: Tomorrow night at Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis there's a book release party for Zak Sally's Like a Dog and John Porcellino's Map of My Heart (from D&Q). Festivities start at 5 PM - more info at the La Mano blog. Twin Cities comics fans, this is a Must Do!

Webcomics update for 10/23/09

mike

It's a Very Important Friday webcomics update!

First, an inspirational, and uncomfortably titillating, message in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

... Steven Weissman says of this week's strip "THIS COMIC WILL CHANGE AMERICA FOREVER!" and I cannot disagree! The President earns his Nobel Peace Prize right here!...

...and this week concludes our run of Monday-Friday Rocky strips by Martin Kellerman, wrapping up our presentation of the strips from Rocky Vol. 2: Strictly Business. Debuting next week, a new weekly feature: "The House of No" by Derek Van Gieson!