We have the great privilege of hosting Gahan Wilson here in our offices today. Mr. Wilson's radio interview on KUOW this morning is already archived and available for streaming or direct MP3 download for those who weren't able to tune in live.

It's an exciting day here at the office, as Gahan Wilson is about to get on a plane in New York and fly to Seattle for his first visit to Fantagraphics (don't miss his appearance at the Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday night!). Tomorrow morning, I will have the great pleasure of taking him to our local NPR station, KUOW, where Wilson will be a guest on their "Weekday" morning program with host Steve Scher. Don't miss it!

If you’re passionate about comix, there’s no place like Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We’ve got “50 Years of Playboy Cartoons” with Gahan Wilson. Meet the living legend from 6:00 to 9:00 PM this Saturday, February 13 for a book signing and reception for his exhibition of original drawings and prints.  

To commemorate the occasion we’re offering a bookstore-only 20% discount on the exquisite 3-volume slipcase edition of GAHAN WILSON: 50 YEARS OF PLAYBOY CARTOONS and an even more generous offer on the limited deluxe edition. Look for specials on other alluring comics and graphic novels. You’ll find affordable gifts to please anyone. 

And if you love R. Crumb, you’ll have your only chance to view Michael Leavitt’s spectacular articulated Crumb sculpture on Saturday before it departs to a private, out-of-state collection. Fantagraphics Bookstore stocks the region’s largest selection of lovely Crumb books.  

Join us on Saturday in Seattle’s enchanting Georgetown arts community for this memorable evening event. It coincides with the Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the neighborhood, as well as a diverse array of dining and drinking establishments.  

Legendary Master of Macabre Cartoonist Gahan Wilson Appears at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, February 13! 

February 2, 2010 - Seattle, WA. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to host a rare appearance by the incomparable Gahan Wilson. Best known for his grotesque gag cartoons commenting on contemporary culture, the revered artist commemorates the publication of GAHAN WILSON: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons with an exhibition of original art and book signing on Saturday, December 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Gahan Wilson's singular aesthetic with decidedly low brow sensibilities has roots in his adolescent exposure to lurid horror comic books and pulp magazines. ''I was a creepy little kid," Wilson recalls. "I did the whole comic book thing, and then I discovered Weird Tales — instantly homed right in on that around high school, and just loved it." His early illustrations found their way to the pages of the pulps and were later published in prestigious periodicals like Collier's, The New Yorker, and Playboy.

His delightfully demented sense of humor is celebrated in GAHAN WILSON: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons, an exquisite 3-volume slipcase edition from Fantagraphics Books that includes over 1,000 comics and illustrations by the acknowledged master of the macabre as well as all of Wilson's prose fiction in Playboy. Don't miss this rare opportunity to meet an American original, one week short of his 80th birthday.

Also on display on February 13 for one night only is a recently completed sculpted portrait of comix legend R. Crumb by Seattle artist Michael Leavitt (pictured below). Commissioned for a private out-of-state collection, this will provide the only opportunity to view the fully articulated wood carved figure — the latest addition to Leavitt's ongoing "Art Army" series.

The reception on Saturday February 13 coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the neighborhood, just in time for Valentine's Day. What better place for art mavens of all ages to observe this romantic occasion than in the enchanting industrial arts quarter of Georgetown.

Listing Information:

Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons

Saturday, February 13, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) Seattle, WA
Phone 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 - 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM.

ALSO: Be sure to tune in to KUOW 94.9's "Weekday" show from 9AM to 10AM,  on Friday, Feb. 12th, when Gahan will be talking to host Steve Scher about the event and his legendary career.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack celebrates is second anniversary on February 13, just in time for Valentine's Day. What better place for art mavens of all ages to observe this romantic occasion than in the enchanting industrial arts quarter of Georgetown? In the short span of two years the Georgetown Art Attack has gained a reputation as one of the region's most provocative and colorful cultural outings. The public is invited to experience the excitement on Saturday, February 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM as dozens of nightclubs, cafes and creative enterprises present a vast array of visual and performing arts.

Among the highlights: "Show Some Heart" by Georgetown artist and blacksmith Lisa Geertsen at FRIDA & Georgetown Tile Works; Pop art pet paintings by Shai Steiner at A Dog's Dream; make your own shrinky art with Shrinkmaster Malice together with paintings by Kris Kirwan and Michelle Robles at ProletariArt in the old Rainier Bottling Plant; new works by M. C. Corley and wine charms by Erika Tedin, as well as a huge assortment of fine wines and boutique beers at Full Throttle Bottles; paintings and prints by Mark Tedin, Kyle Abernethy and Julie Baroh at KrabJab Studio; legendary macabre cartoonist Gahan Wilson celebrates 50 years of Playboy cartoons at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery with the debut of a monumental new sculpture by Michael Leavitt; Annalisa Cristine Barelli's "Into the Dream" at the captivating Engine Room at Georgetown Studios; open house tours with Georgetown Atelier School of Drawing and Painting founder Tenaya Sims; informal music jam with guest musicians at Georgetown Music; diverse dining and drinking at Calamity Jane's, Jules Maes Saloon, Georgetown Liquor Company, 9 Lb. Hammer, Smarty Pants; Stellars Pizza & Ale; All City Coffee; Squid & Ink; Via Tribunali and more.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack is a monthly promotion of the Georgetown Merchants' Association. For more information contact Art Attack coordinator Larry Reid. For map see: www.georgetownartattack.com.

A bit late with the Online Commentary & Diversions today due to being a touch under the weather:

• Review: "OK, [Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons] is very expensive, but Wilson's a lot cheaper than Zoloft. Some people fly their inner freak flags as a sign of liberation. This strange dude isn't sure there's another type of flag out there. In his world, there's always something over the horizon ready to eat you, blow you up or turn you into a homicidal maniac. Sounds a lot like life." – Laurel Maury, San Francisco Chronicle

• Review: "...[An] exemplary republishing of Wilson’s Playboy cartoons... One of the many nice features of the new Fantagraphics book is that it is chronological and dated, so we can see Wilson responding to the changing social and political landscapes. ... As a physical object Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons cannot be praised highly enough. ...[L]ooking at Wilson’s work at length, eating it up with my eyes, I came to love his work. He is, in fact, a master. ...[F]or all their morbidity and ghoulishness, Wilson’s cartoons affirm the value of cherishing life. As inhuman as his characters often are, Wilson is a deeply humane cartoonist." – Jeet Heer, Comics Comics

• Review: "Published soon after the conflict that it documents, Safe Area Goradze is an intense reading experience and an active call for the condemnation of tribal and international leaders who put politics ahead of humanity." – Suzette Chan, Sequential Tart

• Review: "There’s a remarkably spare and lean quality to the plot and characterization cooked up by Jean-Patrick Manchette’s West Coast Blues. ... It’s a story that’s both grim and strangely detached (or at least restrained), eschewing the sort of cliches that an American might expect from a crime story. ... If the text felt a bit detached, then Jacques Tardi added muscle, bone and fat to it with his delightfully chunky line. ... It’s the first quotidian crime story that I’ve ever read, and Tardi’s commitment to the depiction of the everyday and the way nightmares crashed into daily life are what made this book work so well." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal (warning: spoilers)

• Feature: Comic Book Resources' Brian Cronin spotlights Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle as part of "A Year of Cool Comics": "Tales Designed to Thrizzle is one of those books where you might really need to see it to believe it. Michael Kupperman delivers thirty-odd pages of the most delightfully absurd ideas that you can imagine, to the point where I don't know if simply describing the comic would do it justice... I, for one, think it's one of the very best comics currently made."

• Interview: Graphic Novel Reporter's John Hogan has a Q&A about Sublife with John Pham: "I hope to have established a sort of model for the upcoming issues with Volumes 1 and 2. So basically, continuing serializations of either Sycamore St. or Deep Space, accompanied by various, shorter strips where I can experiment and joke around."

• Things to see/Bookmark: STL Drawing Club, for fan art and sketchbookery by Huizenga, May, Zettwoch, and several others

• Things to see: "California" by Gabrielle Bell

• Things to see: Page 8 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary, plus a poster for an amazing 2003 exhibit of comic art

• Things to see: A new comic in Finnish and a sexy animated drawing by Lilli Carré

• Things to see: Michael Kupperman says "Another week, another illustration for The New Yorker" (the article's pretty funny too)

• Whoa, Nellie: The Beat spots a similarity. Of course, it's not an uncommon one

On the new episode of The Sound of Young America podcast, host Jesse Thorn talks to the great Gahan Wilson. Listen with the embedded player below or at the link above.

We hear the event was gangbusters! Here's Gahan signing a copy of the Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons collection. Strand TV footage will be up on the Strand's YouTube page in the next week, so we'll be sure to bring you that when it's available. Photo by Christina Foxley, courtesy the Strand — click for a larger version.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to present a remarkable series of exhibitions, signings and receptions on successive Saturday evenings January 30 through February 13. These amazing events will feature both emerging talent and legendary masters of the comics medium.

Fantagraphics Books celebrates the publication of NEWAVE! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s with an exhibition, book signing, and mini comix workshop on Saturday, January 30 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The show will feature original art and graphics by underground mini comix pioneers Jaimie Alder, Jim Blanchard, Wayne Gibson, David Lasky, Wayno, Steve Willis, Dennis Worden, and XNO. NEWAVE editor Michael Dowers will produce and distribute a mini comic on site. This festive reunion also includes live music, a comix jam, and the debut of the NEWAVE! anthology.

On Saturday, February 6 from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, prolific comics creator and illustrator Steven Weissman appears on the occasion of the debut of his latest book CHOCOLATE CHEEKS. The award-winning Weissman explores a peculiar alternative to traditional childhood relationships. Influenced by classic comic strip characters and pop culture icons, this wonderful artist appeals to readers of all ages.

Please join us on Saturday, February 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, when Fantagraphics Bookstore is honored to host an art exhibition and reception for living legend Gahan Wilson. His delightfully demented sense of humor is celebrated in GAHAN WILSON: 50 YEARS OF PLAYBOY CARTOONS, an exquisite 3-volume slipcase edition that includes over 1,000 comics and illustrations by the acknowledged master of the macabre. Don't miss this rare opportunity to meet one of America's most incredible idiosyncratic artists.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street, only minutes south of downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110. See you all soon.