Save the visit to the Library of Congress, which will come up later, these are THE pictures and thoughts on Small Press Expo 2012. We honestly were so busy that there was little time to make the rounds to other aisles and buy books or snag pics of our friends at this family reunion of a show. So please accept my apology for no SWEEPING landscapes of the table set-up as it was busy, busy, busy. SPX'sExecutive Director, Warren Bernard, ran a good show and David Michael Thomas could not have been better with convention previews and making sure we were comfortable throughout.
The Washington alt-weekly newspaper or insert covered the special guests of the con including the Hernandez brothers. Love and Rockets tattoos are the ink du jour as you can see along with Jughead hats and SUPER short skirts (even though we all know leggings that look like wormholes or intestinal tracts are really in this year). Drawing by Thomas Pitilli.
The signing at Politics and Prose in D.C. kicked off the 30th Anniversary Northeast Tour. With trusty escorts like Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds, PR Director Jacq Cohen and myself, what could go wrong? First things first though, toothpicks to make sure teeth are clean.
The first book of the weekend AND the first copy of The Hypo by Noah Van Sciver went to Leon Avelino, publisher at Secret Acres.
Chris Wright draws and signs Blacklung on his dedication page to dearly departed friend, Sparkplug's Dylan Williams.
Future Fantagraphics author Charles Forsman and his cartooning counterpart, Melissa Mendes , run their own micro-publisher Oily Comics. You just can't get enough of them or their comics.
Long lines formed for the Hernandez Brothers both days and were chock full of other exhibitors and cartoonists like First Second's George O'Connor.
Fans got books signed, bought drawings and got their SPX convention badges signed.
That night at the Ignatz awards, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez cleaned up. While humbly accepting their Herriman bricks, they thanked Daniel Clowes & Art Spiegelman for NOT having new stories this year. The Brothers won Outstanding Series for Love and Rockets while Jaime won Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Story for "Return for Me"of Love and Rockets: New Stories #4.
Author Phillip Nel sold his Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss biography to whet everyone's appetite for the Barnaby book. Rich Tommaso sold his The Cavalier Mr. Thompson, a Fantagraphics-distributed book about a 1920s hotel in Texas.
Fans and friends got their signatures and tiny drawings by Tommaso.
Cartoonist TJ Kirsch shows off his Daniel Clowes drawing in Twentieth-Century Eightball.
Despite his dour face, Daniel Clowes genuinely liked Gary Panter's Dal Tokyo while Charles Burns looks on.
John Porcellino (of Spit and a Half, King Cat and Drawn and Quarterly) soaked in the cross hatching glory of Van Sciver's The Hypo. Maybe he was enjoying it too much.
As always, my partner-in-crime Jacq Cohen and I accidentally dressed to match some of our favorite classic books, me with Nancy and Jacq with Peanuts.
Jacq and I ran off after the convention to eat some delicious food with our good friends. Clockwise from the bottom left: Gilbert Hernandez, me, Jaime Hernandez, Tom Neely of Sparkplug, Joseph Remnant of ZAP/Top Shelf, Noah Van Sciver and John Porcellino. Delicious!
And finally, a picture from 2010's MoCCA Fest where I'm handing Jaime minis as a fan. Now we get to argue about baseball uniforms and proper sock height while working the Fantagraphics table. Thank you everyone for coming to the Fantagraphics table to buy our books, talk to our artists and spread more of the convention cheer. See you next year!
Photos by Jacq Cohen and me. Attitude by Fantagraphics.
Yes, the Love & Rockets 30th Anniversary Tour rolls on into the library's Montgomery Auditorium on Wednesday, September 19th! Join the Bros for a presentation at 7:30 PM, followed by a Q&A session. After the talk, fans and friends can get their books signed in the Library Lobby from 8:30-10:30 PM.
Note: there is a limit of 5 signed books per person!
The Philadelphia Free Library is located at 1901 Vine Street, between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway.
We have lots of post-SPX catching-up to do but first and foremost congratulations are in order to Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez who swept their Ignatz Award categories and came away from the ceremony lugging 3 brick trophies: Outstanding Series for Love and Rockets: New Stories, Outstanding Artist for Jaime, and Outstanding Story for Jaime's "Return for Me" from Love and Rockets: New Stories #4! Outstanding indeed, and a perfect way to usher in the new issue by capping off a year of universal and thunderous acclaim for the previous issue. We'll hopefully have a first-hand report and photos from the scene once our away team gets settled back in here.
• Brooklyn, NY: Join The Comics Crowd at Bergen Street Comics for an evening of comics readings and panel projections from Michael Kupperman, Gabrielle Bell, Julia Wertz (Drinking at the Movies), Bob Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics), Lauren Weinstein (Girl Stories), Lisa Hanawalt (I Want You), and Aaron Diaz (The Tomorrow Girl). (more info)
Sunday, September 23rd
• Brooklyn, NY: The Love & Rockets East Coast Tour will end with a stop at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Gilbert Hernandez will join many other creators on "The Sex Panel: Taboo in Pictures," featuring obscenity, art and the area between the two. Meanwhile, Jaime Hernandez stars on a panel called "Worlds Built Over Time: Panel to Page, Book to Series" on world building and character development in the long term. Book signings will follow each panel discussion. (more info)
The fastest 'ping' of Online Commentaries & Diversions:
• Review:iFanboy makes Carl Barks man of the month when Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man is Book of the Month. Conor Kilpatrick writes a truly superb review and says "Carl Barks’ genius is not only about his wonderful art. He was an excellent storyteller who used his stories to not only tell jokes and send these characters on great adventures. He also told us about how they were as people and used them to examine real issues."
• Interview (audio): Love and Rockets' Gilbert Hernandez showed up on the short-n-sweet comiXology podcast today. The interview also coincides with the newest collection of work from Gilbert and brother, Jaime, coming out on comiXology the same day as the store release. The very beginning of Love and Rockets in the form of Heartbreak Soup and Maggie the Mechanic is now also available for your e-reading pleasure.
• Plug:The Comics Reporter talks about this weeks' releases and Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 is of course, at the top of the list. Tom Spurgeon says, "The follow-up to last summer's devastatingly good issue isn't as devastating, but it's still really good. Lots of Borneo in the Jaime story. I find that character alternately hilarious and terrifying."
• Review:Another Mag happily turns the pages of Sexytime edited by Jacques Boyreau. Laura Bradley states, "[this] oversized book. . . is a glorious portrait of taboo-busting 'porn chic'. Curated by author-filmmaker-curator Jacques Boyreau, the 100+ re-mastered posters vary in style – some with amusing imagery and tag lines, some darkly surreal, some sleek and stylish; all hosting kitsch appeal."
Following up an exciting summer of digital releases by a variety of Fantagraphics authors, today Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 is on bookshelves and digital bookshelves worldwide. But it is not alone. For newcomers, long-time fans and people who need to move across the country with ease, Fantagraphics announces the new digital release of the first two volumes from the Love and Rockets Library. Maggie the Mechanic by Jaime Hernandez and Heartbreak Soup by Gilbert Hernandez are now also available for download. These volumes assemble the Hernandez Brothers work seperately in perfect chronological order and the intuitive Guided View by comiXology smoothly sends the reader from one beautiful panel to the next.
In Heartbreak Soup, we visit the small Central American town of Palomar and Gilbert's main cast of characters as children. High drama and strong emotions permeate this 288-page volume from "Sopa de Gran Pena" to the great love story "For the Love of Carmen." Maggie the Mechanic follows Maggie and her best friend and sometimes lover, Hopey, and their circle of friends with strong sci-fi stories by Jaime. Gan favorites wrestler Rena Titañon and Maggie's handsome love interest, Rand Race, appear all over this 272-page digital premiere.
For those of you caught up on the story, Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 collects the newest comics by the Hernandez Brothers! Jaime focuses on less-seen characters Frogmouth and her half-sister, Tonta, while Gilbert views the town of Palomar through the seemingly superficial lens of Hollywood all in 102 pages.
For the low and lovely price of $14.99 you can purchase the beginning of a series that is still going strong after thirty years. Head over to comiXology today and find out why readers, creators and retailers all over are mohawked-head over booted heels for Love and Rockets.
"The Love and Rockets Vol. 1 reprints may be my favorite publishing project of the last five years, and there are a lot of fine projects going on... the smaller, bargain-priced volumes [are] the perfect vehicle for that material, the best comics series of all time." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"I've never seen anything else in comics — I guess there might be something in literature — but in comics there's never been anybody that's touched what the Hernandez brothers have." – Robert Crumb
"An addictive soap opera, replete with humor and heart." – The Washington Post
This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.
144-page two-color 6" x 9" softcover • $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-610-2 Published by Recoil Graphic Novels
"For my splurge, I’d pick up Rich Tommasso’s Cavalier Mr. Thompson, a historical mystery set in Texas in the 1920s. I love history, mysteries, and Tommasso’s work, so that’s a slam dunk for me." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6
"Graeme already mentioned Crackle of the Frost [see below – Ed.], but there’s also The Cavalier Mr. Thompson by Rich Tommasso... Decisions, decisions…" – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"If I had some splurge money, ...there are also some great graphic novels competing for my dollars. ...Cavalier Mr. Thompson: A Sam Hill Novel [is] tempting." – Michael May, Robot 6
"If I could splurge, I’d get go in with my fellow Food or Comic writers and get Cavalier Mr. Thompson by Rich Tomasso. A 1920s crime story set on the dusty oil fields of West Texas? Sweet Jesus, this sounds great. And you can quote me on that, Fantagraphics." – Chris Arrant, Robot 6
"...Rich has a ton of fans, some of whom are going to be quite glad to have a complete work to read from the comics author." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
120-page full-color 8" x 10" hardcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-543-3
"...The Crackle of the Frost... is worth mentioning because it is drop-dead beautiful and highly recommended." – Graeme McMillan, Robot 6
"The Mattotti is ridiculous, I've been picking that one up and looking at it for about three weeks now." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"...the great Lorenzo Mattotti returns with The Crackle of the Frost, a 2001 collaboration with Jorge Zentner, focusing on loosened personal commitments and damned pretty/ominous observations..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
144-page full-color 7.5" x 10.25" softcover • $25.00 ISBN: 978-1-60699-628-7
"Assuming I wouldn’t spend my unlimited gift card on single issues, I’d be looking at... Fantagraphics’ Is That All There Is? trade." – John Parkin, Robot 6
"And then there’s a new softcover edition of the excellent Joost Swarte collection Is That All There Is?, printed at expanded 7.5″ x 10.25″ dimensions..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
104-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" softcover • $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-586-0
"Wow. Lot of good books out this week. My first $15, however, would have to, have to, have to be spent on Vol. 5 of Love and Rockets New Stories, the latest collection from Los Bros. Gilbert returns to Palomar (!) to tell the heretofore secret origin of Vicente, while Jaime follows up on the masterpiece that was 'Love Bunglers' with a look at Vivian the Frogmouth and her relationship with her sister. I dunno how Jaime could possibly match the highs of the last volume, but any new issue of Love and Rockets is cause for celebration." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6
"The follow-up to last summer's devastatingly good issue isn't as devastating, but it's still really good. Lots of Borneo in the Jaime story. I find that character alternately hilarious and terrifying. If Locas/Wire comparisons ever take hold, Borneo is one of those characters of Jaime's the most like that TV show's many memorable supporting-to-minor characters. The Gilbert is Palomar-focused and features both Sheriff Chelo and Tipin Tipin, and it's impossible not to be happy seeing those two on the page. Everyone should visit Los Bros this weekend at Small Press Expo." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter
"Nice looking week – especially because of the new LOVE & ROCKETS (Finally!)" – Brian Hibbs (Comix Experience), The Savage Critics
"Very strong week... proudly headed by the 104-page release of Love and Rockets: New Stories #5, perfect for anyone who can’t quite get out to SPX this weekend but still demand some communal satisfaction in seeing Jaime hone in on his extensive supporting cast and Gilbert return to Palomar for the series’ 30th anniversary with Fantagraphics." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal
• Toronto, ON: It's your last chance to see Gabriella Giandelli: A Toronto Retrospective at the Italian Cultural Institute! This retrospective exhibition features over 80 original drawings from this prolific Italian illustrator and graphic novelist, including work from the celebrated series Interiorae. I'll be writing more about it on the FLOG later this week! (more info)
• Manzanita, OR:Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler will be the special guests at the Manzanita Writers’ Series to discuss what happened after the Deepwater Horizon spill with a reading and discussion of the acclaimed graphic novel, Oil & Water! (more info)
Sunday, September 16th
• Betheseda, MD:It's your last chance to visit Fantagraphics at the 2012 Small Press Expo! Some of our debuts won't be in stores 'til October or November -- don't miss your chance to get yours early! (more info)
Time to catch up with our busy, busy release schedule! As always, we have a slew of new books out with something for everyone, whether your tastes run to the literary, historical or just plain fun — or any combination thereof — and whatever your brow elevation. As a quick reminder, here's a rundown of all of last month's arrivals, including a few of our scheduled September releases which showed up a few days early! (Remember, our New Releases page always lists the 20 most recent arrivals, and our Upcoming Arrivals page has dozens of future releases available for pre-order.)
These books are all in stock in our mail-order department for immediate shipping, and we have nifty exclusive bonuses and special offers with some of them. Read on for all the details!
Easy and Wash Tubbs discover a legendary creature in “Temple of the Swinks,” widely considered the absolute peak of the series! Plus treasure hunts and encounters with pirates, wild animals, and wilder women!
Order this volume and get Vol. 1 and/or Vol. 2 for $29.99 each; that's 25% off! Make your choice when ordering.
Welcome To Big Spring, Texas and The Cavalier Hotel. The new hotel dick thought he had an easy patrol until a slick operator from Chicago named Ross Thompson came to town and turned everything upside down...
Peanuts reaches the middle of the go-go 1980s, a time of hanging out at the mall, “punkers” (wait until you see Snoopy with a Mohawk), killer bees, airbags, and Halley’s Comet. Introduction by Patton Oswalt.
Collecting the seventeenth and eighteenth volumes of The Complete Peanuts (1983-1984 and 1985-1986) in one handsome collector's slipcase designed by the cartoonist Seth, this is the perfect gift book item.
Samuel fled his relationship with Alice when she stated her desire to have a baby. A year later, with her expecting, he embarks on a long journey to see her again. A sumptuous graphic novel masterpiece.
Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown here as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last.
The long-running punk/sci-fi strip finally collected in all its confounding visual and verbal richness in one giant volume. One doesn’t read Dal Tokyo; one is absorbed into it and spit out the other side.
The first English-language collection of this European master compiles all of his innovative comics work from 1972 to date, including his RAW stories, painstakingly restored and reproduced. Introduction by Chris Ware.
The 30th Anniversary issue! Gilbert brings his current character "Killer" into the Palomar milieu in a much-anticipated homecoming; Jaime delves deeper into the sordid world surrounding Vivian "the Frogmouth."
An oversized coffee table book celebrating the art of the 1970s porn movie poster, collecting over 100 of the most outrageously over-the-top examples of the era, pristinely remastered and accompanied by a brain-ripping narration.
