• Review: Comics Waiting Room on Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti: "...[I]f the material printed Ho! had been created in, say, Soviet Russia, Ivan would be the biggest star in the gulag. As it is, he’s one of the most twisted and funny motherfuckers putting pen to paper right in the U.S. of A. And I’m damned proud he’s one of us... Brunetti’s latest work is as strong as ever, and maybe even sicker. He’s an amazing cartoonist, and I respect his work immensely, even when some of it makes me queasy… especially if it makes me laugh then feel queasy."

• Review: Make It So Marketing's Comics And Pop Culture Blog finds A Mess of Everything by Miss Lasko-Gross to be "an interesting read, and the art style that Miss Lasko-Gross uses is one that actually grabs me the more I read into the graphic novel... I look forward to the third volume being published..."

• Reviews: The "What Are You Reading?" column at Robot 6 includes Tom Bondurant on Gilbert Hernandez's Heartbreak Soup ("At first I was afraid that Beto was introducing so many characters I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them, but the deeper I go into the book the better he manages everyone. The writing reminds me of Will Eisner’s slice-of-life stuff from his later career..."), Tim O'Shea on The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 ("The intro by Mo Willems is great insight into what appealed to many about the series..."), Chris Mautner on A Mess of Everything by Miss Lasko-Gross ("[It] shows a good deal of progression [from Escape from "Special"], both in terms of storytelling and artistry"), and Jeff Lester on The Comics Journal Library Vol. 6: The Writers ("for which a more accurate title might have been 'Gary Groth Browbeats Bewildered Comics Writers'")

• Preview: Urban Aesthete looks at the forthcoming Abstract Comics anthology

• Profile: The Stranger says some nice stuff about Jaime Hernandez, Stan Sakai and Paul Hornschemeier in advance of their visit here this past weekend

• Profile: The Seattle Weekly, previewing Jaime's visit to Seattle, nicely describes Love and Rockets: "It’s a mutable universe that skips between characters at older and younger stages of life, where buxom pro wrestling queens, spaceship mechanics, and touring hardcore bands buoyantly intersect. No one stays lost for long; no grievance goes unforgotten; and deep-fried jungle slugs forever remain a delicacy."

• Interview: Bookslut has a great Q&A with Jules Feiffer. I didn't know that Tarantino had cribbed some dialogue from Feiffer's The Great Comic Book Heroes

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch concludes their 3-part chat with Arnold Roth. Great anecdotes ahoy!

• Things to see: A semi-animated gag cartoon by Kurt Wolfgang

• Things to see: new sketchbook pages from Anders Nilsen. Also: Anders Nilsen exhibit in Chicago April 18-May 3 and new minicomic

It's a honker today! Lots of good stuff out there:

• Review: Blogger Fionnchú considers the place of Alexander Theroux's Laura Warholic in the pantheon of "big, long, thick" maximalist novels (e.g. Wallace, Joyce, DeLillo, Pynchon)

• Review: The Tearoom of Despair pens a loving ode to The Comics Journal: "...[I]t remains the best magazine about comics I’ve ever had the pleasure to read, offering in-depth analysis that has changed my entire opinion of certain comics... And it has some of the best interviews with comic writers, artists and editors that have ever peen published in any medium... Overall, it is still an absolute pleasure to sit down with a new issue of The Comics Journal and read about the craft and love for the medium that is out there... It has recorded the history of comics with style and panache, has published the liveliest letter page in magazines and has been unfailing in its bid to raise comics as an art form."

• Review: Rob Clough has a typically thoughtful take on The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972: "The latest volume of The Complete Peanuts finds Charles Schulz still at his peak... a perfect blend of fantasy, whimsy, jokes, heartbreak, topical references and sturdy characterization."

• Blurb: The Seattle Times' roundup of notable new local books includes a mention of Humbug: "Includes satirical takes on highway congestion, time travel, consumer reports and perspiration."

• Preview: Fictional or not, The Rack's Lydia recommends Mother, Come Home by Paul Hornschemeier ("Paul Hornschemeier's comics always make me miserable, and in a good way. This is a new edition of my favorite work he's done so far.") and Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti ("I like him a lot, but I think that Johnny Ryan should be cutting Ivan Brunetti a check every month and this collection of gag cartoons will show you why") from this week's new comics

• Preview: Rounding up the week's new comics, Jog highlights Boody. The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers ("you will doubt your sanity") and Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti ("excellent, take-no-prisoners gag panels")

• Preview: The Comics Reporter, same tune, different lyrics: on Boody, "Some of the greatest, oddest comics of all time"; on Ho!, "relentlessly naughty... I like these quite a bit"; and on Supermen!, "I liked this book quite a bit... a bunch of frequently weird, hallucinatory adventure fantasies"

• Preview: Atomic Romance also anticipates Supermen!: "In your face golden age stories by some of the greats of comic book history... I love this because it’s a time of experimentation. The writers and artists are learning their craft and there aren’t any established rules yet. Sure to please fans of I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets."

• Preview: Yet more blurbage about this week's new comics, this time from Blog @ Newsarama: on Boody, "comics super-genius Boody Rogers’ work... is almost as beautiful as it is weird. Or almost as weird as it is beautiful. At any rate, it’s really weird and really beautiful"; on Supermen!: "[A] must-read... I can’t recommend this one highly enough"

• Interview: Guttersnipe has a 2-part Q&A with Paul Hornschemeier: part 1 includes discusson of Mother, Come Home; in part 2 he discusses his Northwest tour this week

• Interview: Publishers Weekly chats with C. Tyler about her new book You'll Never Know, Book 1; of the book they say "[Tyler] recreates the experience of thought, in which past and present, parents and children, relationships and variations of the self co-mingle, intersect, and layer over one another. Evocative words and images appear in the background or the margins of Tyler’s panels, drawing out subtleties of the story, or clueing us in to unspoken emotional tones."

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch posts part 2 of their 3-part interview with Arnold Roth; topics covered: nudism, Hex signs, jazz

• Profile: The Oregonian presents an overview of the career to date of Paul Hornschemeier

• Things to see: The Argyle Academy pays homage to Michael Kupperman's Snake 'n' Bacon

• Good deed: Please consider donating to the S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust

Humbug: Limited Signed Edition
By Harvey Kurtzman et al.

This edition of our highly anticipated, much-lauded archival collection of the classic satirical magazine Humbug, limited strictly to 600 copies, includes a special, limited edition bookplate signed by Jack Davis, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth. (Click here and here to view front and back.)

476-page duotone/full-color 8" x 10" two-volume hardcover slipcased set with signed plate • $100.00
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Our pals at the Daily Crosshatch talk to Arnold Roth about HUMBUG and more, in the first of a three-part interview. The site has a spiffy new design, too.

DAZZLING REVIVAL OF HARVEY KURTZMAN’S TIMELESS SATIRE MAGAZINE HUMBUG AT FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKSTORE & GALLERY.

Exhibition and Book Launch of New HUMBUG Anthology On March 7 in Seattle.

Four years after founding notoriously seditious MAD magazine for EC comics in 1952, celebrated American satirist Harvey Kurtzman and his crew of incorrigible cartoonists joined fledgling publisher Hugh Hefner to produce two issues of the equally irreverent Trump. When economic setbacks forced Hefner to cancel the new title, Kurtzman and collaborators Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth pooled their limited resources to self-publish 11 issues of Humbug, skewering American popular and political culture of the Cold War era in unparalleled fashion. Fifty years later, Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books has collected the entire series for the first time in a handsome two-volume slipcase edition. To commemorate this momentous occasion, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery hosts an exhibition of original art and artifacts from Humbug contributors opening Saturday, March 7 and continuing through April Fool’s Day, 2009.

Organized by Humbug anthology assistant editor Jason T. Miles, the exhibition features original illustrations by cartooning legends Will Elder, Al Jaffee, and Arnold Roth together with each of the delicate original issues and related ephemera. The meticulously restored Humbug collection, which includes insightful essays and interviews by Gary Groth and John Benson, will make its debut at the event. The public is invited to preview the exhibition on Saturday, March 7, from 11:30 till 8:00 PM. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman, "Kurtzman has been the single most significant influence on a couple of generations of comic artists." 
With the publication of the complete Humbug, an essential element of Kurtzman’s legacy will be preserved for posterity.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) in Seattle’s Georgetown arts community. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: 206.658.0110.

Don’t miss a special performance and book signing by cult cartoonist Dame Darcy on Saturday, March 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Darcy will perform with her three-piece acoustical combo and sign copies of her wildly popular Victorian gothic comic book series Meat Cake, as well as her new graphic novel Gasoline. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentation throughout the historic neighborhood.

A selection of imagery in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information contact Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics.

Listing Information

Humbug
Original art and artifacts from Harvey Kurtzman’s classic satire magazine featuring MAD artists Will Elder, Arnold Roth, Al Jaffee and Jack Davis collected in a handsome 2 volume slipcase edition by Fantagraphics Books.
Public preview and book launch, Saturday, March 7, 11:30 to 8:00 PM
Exhibition continues through April Fools Day

Saturday, March 14, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Dame Darcy
Music performance and book signing

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM
www.fantagraphics.com/bookstore