• New York City, NY: Get ready for Old Comics, Old Freaks, Old Jews, and LOTS of fun with graphic humorist Drew Friedman at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art. Host Danny Fingeroth will ask this master cartoonist and satirist about his life and career, and Drew will unveil previews of new, unreleased work, including his "Legends of Comic Books" series! Get your tickets now before this sells out! (more info)
• San Francisco, CA: Remember I See What You Say: Visual Stories and Narrative Art, that dreamy exhibit I told you about featuring work by Lilli Carré and Mome-veteran Eleanor Davis? Well, today they'll be holding their public reception at the Cartoon Art Museum, and while Lilli and Eleanor won't be there themselves, it's a fun chance to see their work while meeting lots of other nice artists and writers, like Lemony Snicket! (more info)
MoCCA was a BLAST, as usual. PR Director, Jacq Cohen, and I showed up early on Friday to set up the table. People couldn't wait for Saturday, clumping around the new books. Our two newest EC Comics Library releases featuring Al Williamson and Jack Davis' work are creating a heartbreakingly beautiful rainbow.
One side of the set-up table!
Friday night was Dash Shaw's opening for his New School art exhibition and 30th birthday at Desert Island. His fianceé (sorry, ladies and germs) made a cake that was uber-delicious. Below, Dash talks about his new comics.
Party hardy, Gabrielle Bell is talking to Ariel Shrag (!) in the left-hand corner.
A gentleman was purchasing Julio's Day by Gilbert Hernandez at Desert Island so we had to compliment him on his exquisite taste. Lo and behold, Tony (or so he says) showed up at MoCCA the next day ready to buy more quality comics, this time Castle Waiting Vol. 1 by Linda Medley. My mom would be so proud that I'm still somewhat polite!
I ran into a familiar face, cartoonist and animation intern Andrew Greenstone, who was more than willing to hang out and shot the shit---I mean, talk business.
If I ever become a comic book store owner, I hope I'm as cool as Gabe Fowler. The red print was a Desert Island exclusive!
The next day MoCCA started out with the great Bill Griffith signing new copies of Zippy: The Dingburg Diaries.
Cartoonist Charles Burns showed up to hang out with friends and look at comics. I never ever tire of that man's company, but he did mention some people are reticent to eat with him because of what he draws in his comics. FOOLS, I say! Also, Evan Dorkin makes Chris Duffy guffaw in the background. Doesn't "Griffith, Dorkin, Duffy and Burns" sound like an amazing lawfirm? Like possibly corrupt but they probably have a pastry chef on staff to appease their clients?
Also signing at MoCCA was Kim Deitch, whose new book The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley is coming out soon and is haunting, to put it mildly. Deitch brought his original pages which fans poured over. James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook made their Fantagraphics signing debut for 7 Miles a Second, the moving comic written by David Wojnarowicz. The book has one of those covers that is both oblique and arresting (Jacq adds up some quick math on the right). While I did not stop a child from picking up the book, I did tell a parent or two it had adult material in it. One of my favorite sells of the weekend was selling Prison Pit Book Two to a 14 year old kid whose mom seemed dubious until I brought up the philosophy behind the book. The teen gave me a giant wink as he left, he might not get it still.
Van Cook discussed innovative printing techniques from their travels and non-profit advice while James would sketch in signed copies of the book.
Recently, Alex Dueben talked to Romberger for Comic Book Resources and stopped to meet them in person.
Next up was Leslie and Dash! Local cartoonist Leslie Stein is also in a pretty crazy fun band, Prince Rupert's Drops. If you live in the New York area, check them out. The rest of us will just live via our headphones or listening to their tracks on the recent AudioFemme interview. Leslie signed my old copy of Eye of the Majestic Creatureand we talked about second book that's coming out this fall! I heard some comments from other cartoonists that they feel weird about asking fellow toonies to sign their books but I don't give a humdinkle about that. Make it FANCY for me.
Dash signed the spine of many a Bottomless Belly Button and cover of 3 New Stories for eager fans. Those gorgeous red prints (you can only see a quarter of it) are available from Desert Island if you are looking for something for the Shaw fan who 'has it all.'
One of the favorite books of the con was Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust. Mk Reed confessed to reading the original edition with an English translation, she was so eager. Here, Carl Antonowicz expresses something...yes, it's joy at the book!
Really loved that Bill Griffith whipped out some future Zippy strips (for May!) during a lull during his signings. No big deal.
Self Made Hero cartoonist JAKe (according to the internet) is a huge Drew Friedman fan, he just can't take great photos.
Given our close proximity to the stairs to the bathroom, there wasn't much chance for wondering down aisles or buying comics. I really wanted to read L. Nichols' Flocks and she was helpful enough to COME TO ME with her Square for my plastic purchase.
Tucker Stone, of TCJ and Bergen Street Comics, came by to get Gary's signature on a copy of The Comics Journal. Pretty cute, right?
Jacq and me with two of our debut books by Ulli Lust and Gilbert Hernandez! Photo by Dre Grigoropol.
Hung with bossman Gary Groth, Dash, Leslie and Jacq one night.
Charles Forsman was out and about with his Oily Comics micropublishing outfit. Chuck's comic, The End of the Fucking World, will be out this July from Fantagraphics in one single beautiful book. I'm so excited about that. We in no way support NCIS.
Chuck and I go way back, we used to work at the same graphic novel library together in Vermont. A photo from 2009:
Speaking of libraries, the next day Tom Spurgeon and I visited Columbia University's Butler Library and Rare Book room, led around by enthusiastic librarian Karen Green. It was so very cool to see our books with library binding but they've also perfected a myler binding so we don't lose those cool spine designs. Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button and Noah Van Sciver's The Hypo.
Kim, I didn't forget about you, the library has a lot of Jacques Tardi books. Some were checked out, which is even better than finding them at the library.
A grand place I hope to visit again. Thanks to Anelle Miller and her trusty band of volunteers for the enjoyable convention, Gary and Jacq for booth help plus a few of these photos. Lastly, another one of my favorite moments of the week was selling Dungeon Quest Book One to a gentleman on Saturday who came back Sunday to buy the other two after reading the first in one sitting. It was a cherry on top of an awesome convention.
We've always known Peter had excellent taste -- as we've mentioned before on the FLOG, Peter once collaborated with our own Michael Kupperman, and has long been a hugefan of his on Twitter. So, I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised at all to see him tweet this the other day:
One of my favorite comedians meets one of my favorite artists? Be still my heart!!! Do you want to be cool like Peter and own some original artwork from Drew? Well, I'm sorry, you will never be as cool as Peter. But, click this link and you can at least get some gorgeous limited-edition prints from Drew!
"I stand in awe of Drew Friedman's technique and the certain flavor of sad old America he captures. I love his stuff... He's such a wacko!" --R. Crumb
Old Comics, Old Freaks, Old Jews, and LOTS of fun!
Join graphic humorist Drew Friedman on Wednesday, April 24th for the third in a series of Weekly Comic Book Round Table Talks at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art in New York City!
Host Danny Fingeroth will ask this master cartoonist and satirist about his life and career, and Drew will unveil previews of new, unreleased work, including his "Legends of Comic Books" series!
Drew will also discuss/argue all things Old Jewish Comedians, Sideshow Freaks, comic book legends, urban legends, (Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Billy Barty, Lester...), Shemp Howard, Joe Franklin, Abe Vigoda, Sammy Petrillo, Sophie Tucker, Tor Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Officer Joe Bolton, Harvey Kurtzman, Dave Berg, Zagnut, Jimmy Grippo, Plonsky, etc.
Special guests to be announced, once funds are secured for their cab fares.
Tickets are $12 in advance, $17 on the day-of-show and at the door, so you should probably get yours now online at Brown Paper Tickets. This event runs from 6:30-8:30 PM. The Soho Gallery for Digital Art is located at 138 Sullivan St, between Prince & Houston.
• Vancouver, BC: Our awesome Marketing/PR/Outreach Fiend Jen Vaughn will be on an Inkstuds panel at the Vancouver Art Gallery, discussing art and tradition of comics, as well as reflecting on their own work. (As she puts it, "I'm very stoked to be talking about periods/menstruation inside a place called VAG." Haw!) She'll be joined by fellow artists Emily Carroll and Brandon Graham, with your host Robin McConnell. This event is free for museum members, and for non-members, Tuesday night are "Pay What You Can," so don't miss this! (more info)
Friday, March 22nd
• St Catharines, ONT:The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 will have its Ontario launch party at the Niagara Artists Centre from 7:00 to 11:00 PM. There will be readings by derek beaulieu, Sharon Harris, Jenny Sampirisi, and Karl Jirgens. It is also the launch party for derek's book, Please, no more poetry: the selected works of derek beaulieu, and his accompanying art show How to Read. (more info)
An evening celebrating the great cartoonist, writer, and editor Harvey Kurtzman? Awesome. An evening celebrating Kurtzman with fellow amazing cartoonists Drew Friedman, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, and Robert Grossman? Even more awesome!!!
Join these legendary artists tomorrow Tuesday, March 19th as they discuss the life and works of Harvey Kurtzman in a panel moderated by Peter Kuper. The discussion runs from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Society of Illustrators [ 128 East 63rd Street ].
It's all part of that extraordinary retrospective exhibit The Art of Harvey Kurtzman, which runs through Saturday, May 11th.
And UPDATE! We've just got word that Al, Arnold, and Drew will be taking their love of Kurtzman to the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC tomorrow at 1:30 PM EST! You can listen at 93.9 FM and AM 820 in the New York City area, or streaming around the world online here.
Drew Friedman's illustration of former NYC mayor Ed Koch appears in the current issue of The New Yorker. And now Koch is dead. Correlation... or causation? RIP Hizzoner.
The forthcoming exhibit Good Work looks, well, great!
The Nazareth College Department of Art is celebrating the country’s top commercial illustrators, such as our own Steve Brodner, Debbie Drechsler, Drew Friedman, and Richard Sala, along with about 50 other leading artists in the field.
Curators Kathleen Calderwood, associate professor, and David Cowles, lecturer, invited each participant to choose the illustration they think is their best work to date. Here's what Drew chose, but really, how can you possibly choose?!!:
The opening reception for the show is Friday, January 18th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, and the exhibit runs through March 1st.
The first bit of frost of Online Commentaries & Diversions:
• Review (video):Last Gasp's John Longhi reviews The Lost Art of Ah Pook by Malcom McNeill, a story originally created with William Burroughs. Longhi says, "I can see why Burroughs wanted to work with McNeill because he's one of the few guys who could capture the crazy wacked out details of his story writing. . . [It contains] all the wonderful social discord that made his writing fantastic."
• Review:Blacklung by Chris Wright gets high marks on Paste Magazine. Sean Edgar says, "Blacklung is a weird, compelling creation, telling a harrowing story of redemption and savagery through art that could initially pass as adorable before you get to the tongue necklaces. Highly recommended for those with strong stomachs."
• Review:School Library Journal announces their BEST BOOKS OF 2012 and in the graphics novels section, Noah Van Sciver's The Hypo is listed. "Van Sciver makes Lincoln real by picturing one of the hardest times in his younger life. . . Dickens-style squalor and melodrama plus Austen-style romance, all done in gritty cross-hatching."
• Plug:The NY Times listed Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons at the top of the Best Bathroom Reads of 2012. Dwight Garner believes "the prints collected here are droll and strange." Two of our favorite words to describe Fantagraphics-style creators such as Flannery O'Connor.
• Plug: Drew Friedman is Boing-Boing-ed thanks to his amazing drawings, this time of John Severin from MAD/EC/Cracked comics.
• Plug:Black and White adores Raymond Macherot's Gil Jordan, Private Detective: Murder By High Tide and Sibyl-Anne Vs. Ratticus . Miguel saw the English and French versions, "And I fell in love. . . [Macherot's] worlds are (usually) full of deceptively cute anthropomorphic animals, and in his best work, under that kids-friendly surface of pretty little animals there is real threat."
• Review: Roughly translated from Ediciones La Cupula, Jaime Hernandez's God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls is reviewed. "Theexcitementthat overwhelms usafter readingeach of theinstallments ofthe sagaof [Ti-Girls] isdirectly proportional to itsartistic excellence,histalentas a storytellerandhuman greatnessthat livesin his cartoons."
• Review:Lanacion reviews the writings and works of Alexander Theroux (Laura Warholic, Estoniaand The Strange Case of Edward Gorey) and translated, barely, Matias Serra Bradford states, "If left as an untreated rarity,AlexanderTherouxseemsmysteriousto the fantasticand impossible point of determiningthe trajectoryofa particle and itsposition."
• Review:The Snipe News looks at Joe Sacco's Journalism collection. "the decade’s worth of stories. . . are most notable not from any kind of torn-from-the-headlines sensationalism but for the empathy the author brings to his subjects. . . . Sacco has a feel for displaced persons in general."
