This is one plague you'll want to be infested by!

Yes, the countdown continues with the latest beer in our 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series, a collaboration with our friends at the Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle.

And on this Saturday, April 21st, they'll introduce you to Peste, a chocolate chili ale sure to swarm your taste buds!  Peste will be available on cask, draft and in bottles with labels featuring the artwork of the great Charles Burns from his weirdly apocalyptic Black Hole series.

The official tapping of Peste begins at 2:00 PM, followed by a brand-new survival demo by Bryan and Co. at 4:00 PM.  There will also be Peste vaccinations and rat games... rat games! 

So, join us at the Tangletown location of the Elysian Brewing Company, located at 2106 N 55th Street in Seattle!  And bring along your Apocalypse Beer Survival Guide to collect your next survival stamp. (It's never too late to start collecting -- we'll have more guides available at this event.) Fill your book with survival item stamps at our Apocalypse events throughout the year for an outstanding experience at our final End of the World Celebration on 12.20.12!

Remember: the end is BEER!

Hey Chicago! Stop whatever you're doing (yes, that means reading the FLOG) and go register for this NOW! Space is limited, and you do NOT want to miss out.

It's the Comics: Philosophy & Practice conference at the University of Chicago, held May 18th-20th.  And the line-up will make any comics-fan's head spin: it features Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Gary Panter, Joe Sacco, Carol Tyler, and Chris Ware, as well as Lynda Barry, Alison Bechdel, Phoebe Gloeckner, Justin Green, Ben Katchor, Françoise Mouly, Seth, and Art Spiegelman... WOW.

Oh, and did I mention it's FREE? Why are you still reading this?! Registration opens TODAY (Friday, April 13th), but space is limited, so don't delay!

It's a Charles Burns fan's dream (and who among us isn't a fan?): over 90 minutes of Charles speaking about his life and work in a talk given as part of the Caroline Werner Gannett "Visionaries in Motion V" Series of lectures at the Rochester Institute of Technology. (Hat tip: Mike Lynch.)

Last-minute beer alert! Elysian Brewing Company debuts Fallout, the third in the series of 12 Beers of the Apocalypse featuring the artwork of Charles Burns, tonight at their Elysian Fields location in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle! Click the flyer above for legible details.

The Real Comet Press Retrospective reception at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday was a festive affair.

A very special canine friend appeared courtesy of former Fantagraphics administrative assistant Kirsten Olsen and her husband Greg: the infamous "Poodle With a Mohawk" in person.

DJ Russ of Fallout fame with the Charles Burns-inspired beer of the same name, which made its debut at the party.

Northwest comix legend Michael Dougan appeared to sign copies of East Texas and pay tribute to his first publisher. What a fun event.

[Ed. Note: Stay tuned for even more photos and video from the event!]

Tuesday, March 13th

• Leuven, Belgium:  It's your last chance to check out the amazing Charles Burns exhibit at the Museum M Leuven, featuring more than 200 works, including original comic pages from Black Hole, as well as sketches and illustrations for magazines and books, his photographs. Can't make it to Belgium before Tuesday? See below or click here to watch video of Mr. Burns himself walking through the exhibit! (more info)

Thursday, March 15th

• Los Angeles, CA:  Join Joyce Farmer at the Los Angeles Public Library for the panel "From the Outside Looking In: Writers Finding Their Place in Los Angeles." Los Angeles Times book critic David L. Ulin will be moderating the discussion with Joyce and fellow L.A.-based writers Bernard Cooper, Lynell George, Marisela Norte, and Michael Tolkin. (more info)

Visitors to the Real Comet Press Retrospective at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday will be among the first people on the planet to sample the latest Charles Burns-themed beer from Elysian Brewing. The 3rd installment of the 12 Beers of the Apocalypse, offically released on March 21, is a green cardamom ale called Fallout. That's appropriate becuase DJ Russ Fallout will be spinning art damaged punk platters from the 80s in honor of the heyday of Real Comet Press.

We have an amazing array of wonderful artworks, iconic graphics, rare books and long out-of-print comix by the many gifted authors, artists, critics, and cartoonists that helped lay the foundation for Seattle's later ascendence to the forefront of global pop culture. Real Comet Press publisher Cathy Hillenbrand is a goddam civic treasure. Join hosts Michale Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes as we show our appreciation for Cathy's countless contributions to the cultural climate of the region. 

Tuesday, February 21st

• Seattle, WA:  Join us at the Elysian Brewing Company for the release of Rapture, the second beer in our 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series featuring labels with the artwork of Charles Burns! Please note the updated time for the survival demo in the graphic above! (more info) 

Thursday, February 23rd

• New York City, NY:  Head over to the Society of Illustrators for a discussion and Q&A with Mome contributor Eleanor Davis, along with fellow artists Jillian Tamaki and Lisa Hanawalt!  (more info)

The Rapture is coming!!!

Don't fear -- it's just the second beer in our 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series, a collaboration with our friends at the Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle. This heather ale will be available on draft, and in exclusive bottles with labels featuring the artwork of the great Charles Burns!

Join us on Tuesday, February 21st at 6:00 PM for the official tapping of the Rapture ale, followed by an all-important survival demo, and beer blessings til 9:00 PM, because really now, we could all use a blessing (and a beer!) in these uncertain times.

And don't forget to bring your Apocalypse Beer Survival Guide to this event to collect your second survival stamp. If you missed the first party, don't worry, we will have more guides available at this event. Fill your book with survival item stamps at our Apocalypse events throughout the year for an outstanding experience at our final End of the World Celebration on 12.20.12!

So, come survive the rapture with us at Elysian Brewing Comapny, located at 1221 E. Pike Street in Seattle! Don't forget: the end is BEER!

UPDATE: Please note the updated time for the survival demo!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "While other colleagues have seen their short stories and graphic novels draw serious attention in literary circles, Griffith remains the 'Are we having fun yet?' guy to many. Perhaps the long-overdue collection Lost and Found: Comics 1969-2003 will change that. Leaning heavily on the stories Griffith drew in the early ’70s for undergrounds like Young Lust, Short Order Comix, and the revolutionary Arcade, Lost and Found shows off more facets of Griffith, putting his obsessions with Hollywood, suburbia, and a certain type of corporate cockiness into a larger context." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

• Review: "Diane Noomin has seen her work scattered around anthologies like Wimmen’s Comix and Twisted Sisters since she made her comics debut in 1972, but has never received the dedicated study afforded by her new book Glitz-2-Go: Collected Stories, which brings together nearly 200 pages of Noomin’s work.... From the cluttered panels to the bracing honesty, these strips are very much of a piece with the original underground comics movement, and may not be immediately accessible to people unused to that tradition. But for those who fondly remember the glory years of Dori Seda, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Joyce Farmer, and Roberta Gregory, it’s a pleasure to see Noomin get her own showcase." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

• Review: "...Nancy possesses in spades the quality common to all great art — a singularity of vision.... The clarity and unity of purpose made it quite impossible to miss a single punch line. Nancy  is simplistic, yes — but it is simplistic by design, a strip without clutter, diagrammatic in its relentless formalism. Set against today’s comic-strip landscape, where Doonesbury has the ambition and scope of the Great American Satirical Novel and even gentle family comedies like Zits and Foxtrot boast character casts expansive enough to baffle a new reader, the dumbness of Nancy starts to look like some kind of genius. The roly-poly, Brillo-mopped mischief-maker and her lowlife pal Sluggo stand eternal, as iconic as the puppets in a Punch and Judy show or the Columbines and Harlequins of commedia dell’arte." – Jack Feerick, Kirkus Reviews

• Review: "At 7.6% ABV, Nibiru is a beer that doesn’t pull any punches, but its potency is disguised by the refreshing herbal and citrus flavours on offer. Like its European cousin, Duvel, it's light enough to be easy-drinking, but the intensity of alcohol mean that it’s a beer that demands to be savoured." – Gavin Lees, Graphic Eye

• Interview (Audio): On the new episode of the Mostly Harmless Podcast, host "Dammit Damian" chats with Noah Van Sciver about "how Noah got into making comics, his family and making comics for a living," among other topics

• Scene (Video): Graphic Eye's Gavin Lees captured Jim Demonakos & Mark Long's slideshow presentation of their graphic novel (with Nate Powell) The Silence of Our Friends on video at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this past Saturday