Reserve your tickets on-line now for "Building Comix" with Chris Ware, Charles Burns, and Chip Kidd at Town Hall in Seattle on Monday, October 22, co-sponsored by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Only $5! This modest admission fee can be redeemed on the purchase of any book by these amazing artists at the signing following the presentations. (One discount per customer.) It promises to be an entertaining and enlightening discussion with three of the most compelling figures in contemporary comix.
Make plans now to attend the opening of "The Horror: Selections from the EC Comics Library" at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, October 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Store patrons will be among the first in the nation to receive complimentary copies of Jack Davis's Tales From the Crypt sampler. We'll also have a limited number of advance copies of the breathtaking Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood EC anthologies available. And we'll have some seasonal surprises.
Entertainment will be provided by Swedish-born, Berlin-based recording artist Molly Nilsson. Her haunting vocals and lyrical approach perfectly complement the EC aesthetic. Seeing this amazing musician in the intimate bookstore environment is Halloween treat you won't soon forget. Here's Molly performing "I Hope You Die" in Prague earlier this year. Don't miss her free show here.
Don't miss the October 13 installment of the Georgetown Art Attack in Seattle's spookiest neighborhood. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery will host "The Horror: Selections From the EC Comics Library" featuring a free concert by Berlin-based recording artist Molly Nilsson. Maybe we can convince her to perform her hit song "Hey Moon!"
Bonus: Visitors to this store event will be among the first in the country to receive a complimentary copy of our sensational EC reprint Jack Davis's Tales from the Crypt. Boo!
Excellent! Mr. Charles Burns will be at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, October 20. Doh! Not that Charles Burns. Or are they one in the same? Cartoonist Charles Burns was an Evergreen State College classmate of Simpsons creator Matt Groening, after all.
And on Monday, October 22 Mr. Burns will be joined by Bart and Homer...ay, caramba! We mean Charles Burns will appear at 7:30 with incomparable cartoonist Chris Ware and book designer Chip Kidd at Town Hall, 1119 8th Avenue in Seattle. Cowabunga!
Fantagraphics lost our dear friend and creative colleague Heather Hughes yesterday following a courageous battle with cancer. Heather played the role of Babs Bradley in a one act play of Peter Bagge's story "You're Not the Boss of Me" directed by Steven Jesse Bernstein at the opening of the "Misfit Lit" comix art exhibition at CoCA in Seattle in 1991. She later performed at Fantagraphics Bookstore with her saucy musical comedy group the Fraus for the 2008 opening of Alex Chun's pin-up exhibition. We'll remember her fondly for this appearance with Bridget Fonda in Cameron Crowe's 1992 feature film Singles. Cute and clever - like Heather herself. (Note the cameo by young Tim Burton as "Brian.") Heather Artena Hughes, beautiful inside and out. We're unspeakably sad and miss her terribly.
Saturday, October 20 is an embarrassment of riches at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. We'll have the incomparable Charles Burns signing copies of The Hive — his long-awaited sequel to X'ed Out.
Joining Burns will be the lovely and talented Gabrielle Bell with her new book, The Voyeurs, on Tom Kaczynski's Uncivilized Books imprint. Tom will also be present.
Bonus: This event coincides with Elysian Brewing's Great Pumpkin Brew Festival at their nearby Georgetown bottling plant, featuring dozens of seasonal pumpkin beers from regional boutique breweries. Store patrons can also sample the latest Black Hole-inspired 12 Beers of the Apocalypse and view our new exhibit "The Horror: Selections from the EC Comics Library." Do NOT miss this one. "Like" Fantagraphics Bookstore on Facebook to keep up with all the action.
Many of you were first exposed to Gary Panter through his early "Jimbo" comix in Slash and RAW magazines. Or maybe through his brilliant work as set designer for Pee Wee's Playhouse. Old school Seattle residents recall his ubiquitous posters for the Screamers, plastered all over town by the late punk performance artist Tomato du Plenty. An industrial-strength adhesive allowed this alluring image to remain visible for the better part of a decade, becoming one of the enduring motifs of the Northwest punk school. Panter's comix appeared prominently in the seminal Seattle music magazine The Rocket. (Coincidentally, he later married former Rocket art director Helene Silverman.) Come meet Gary at his Dal Tokyo art exhibition and book signing this Saturday, September 8 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. We'll be taking attendance.
Originally released in 1999 on Alternative Press, The Lemon Kids, Book 1 is a collection of stories that Steve was self-publishing under the Yikes title, and some stories that were included in the Last Gasp Comix & Stories anthology.
Fans of our other Yikes titles like Chocolate Cheeks and Chewing Gum in Church will definitely want to get their hands on this lost classic while supplies last!
The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110. Closed this Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd.
The newly folded and stapled Online Commentaries & Diversions:
• Review:The Quietus enjoys The Furry Trap. Mat Colegate says, "Put simply, [Josh] Simmons understands the pace of nightmare. That hideous inexorability that stops you from screaming yourself awake, the slow thudding heartbeat of moment on terrifying moment that, if you think about it, comics are a perfect medium to provide."
• Review:Indie Wire and Leonard Maltin take a look at Volume 3 of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "High Noon at Inferno Gulch" by Floyd Gottfredson (edited by David Gerstein with Gary Groth): "The latest in this handsome, lovingly-edited hardcover series of Mickey Mouse daily comic strips (covering 1934-35) is, again, a tribute to the artistry and storytelling skill of the long-unappreciated Floyd Gottfredson."
• Review:Comics Heroes of the UK chimes in on some Hernandez Brothers books. After reading The Adventures of Venus by Gilbert Hernandez Matt Bielby says "...in fun little adventures full of rests, comic books, football and sci-fi daydreams. Kids may not love it, but we certainly did." In regards to God and Science by Jaime Hernandez, Bielby states, "It's a lightweight, bouncy superhero. . . but there's some touching stuff about madness, motherhood and the dangers of getting what you want along the way."
• Review: Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter describes a variety of consumer options that come before purchasing the series Beyond Watchmen. These include buying Love and Rockets in addition to some Popeye or Barnaby from Fantagraphics. "These [Love and Rockets] paperback books they've been doing strike me as super-accessible, lovely little volumes. You can get them for cheap enough that I'm also tossing in the first four issues of the New Stories iteration of the title, which has included some of the best work anywhere over the last half-decade. Los Bros forever."
• Plug:Steven Weissman's got some graphic novel love art for you. Uncut vinyl sheets featuring campaign fun from Barack Hussein Obama are available to purchase here!
• Commentary: We missed this but more praise to Larry Reid for being an example on the Huffington Post on how to save bookstores! By effectively hanging regular shows and inviting guest community curators, you bring in new and/or different audiences. Yay, Larry!
