Here are your first glimpses of a couple books we have coming out in the August/September timeframe. They're both big, beautiful and unabashed! Up top we have Captain Easy Vol. 3 by Roy Crane, continuing the globe-trotting adventures of Easy and his pal Wash Tubbs from the Sunday pages of 1938-1940. And below that is Sexytime from Portable Grindhouse mastermind Jacques Boyreau, collecting eye-popping vintage skin-flick posters in an oversized coffee-table art book. Hit their respective links for additional sneak peeks and to pre-order your copies, and stay tuned for more previews!
Jacques, along with fellow curators Tim Colley and Darren Aboulafia, have concocted a SuperTrash mix of sci-fi-fantasy trailers, blistering 80s metal and provocative situations, including a meditation upon fire itself. This 90-minute program will delight nerds of all genders and possibly be worthy of taking notes. Trailers include Space Amoeba, Funky Forest: The First Contact, Xtro 2, Dark Breed, Screamers, Super Inframan and Alien Intruder. Plus, it's your chance to meet Black Terminator! Prepare to have your mind blown starting at 11:00 PM at the Northwest Film Forum [ 1515 12th Ave in the Capitol Hill neighborhood ].
• Northridge, CA: Gilbert, Jaime, & Mario Hernandez will be speaking to Professor Charles Hatfield's class on Monday, March 26th at the California State University, Northridge (in greater Los Angeles). This event is open to the public, not just students! (more info)
Tuesday, March 27th
• New York, NY: Get ready for another editior of The Crime Stoppers Club with Michael Kupperman and co-host Kate Beaton! This month, they welcome Dave Hill, Victor Vardnado, Domitille Collardey, Jim Torok, and Corey Pandolphfor a night of laughter and imagery. This free event starts at 7:00 PM at Luca Lounge. (more info)
• San Francisco, CA: Daniel Clowes will be interviewed by Rene de Guzman, Senior Curator of Art at the Oakland Museum of California, at the Kadist Art Foundation! More details coming to the FLOG very soon!
• Seattle, WA: Join Fantagraphics for the Emerald City Comicon Pinball Party at Shorty's, with your host Jim Woodring! Free fun for all comix and pinball enthusiasts over the age of 21! (more info)
• Columbus, OH: Otterbein professor of philosophy Andrew Mills will speak about Paul Hornschemeier's work in a philosophical context at this free event at the Columbus Museum of Art. (more info)
For our hometown convention, Fantagraphics Books is showcasing our vibrant local comix scene at the 10th Annual Emerald City Comicon!
Visit us at Booth 704 from Friday, March 30th through Sunday, April 1st at the Washington State Convention Center. We're bringing a special collection of titles from seminal Seattle names like Peter Bagge, Megan Kelso, and Charles Burns. And joining us will be some of those brilliant talents from right here in the Northwest, from artists to editors! Special guests include:
Ellen Forney: Named "Best Local Cartoonist" last year by the Seattle Weekly! (top left / photo by Mike Urban)
Jim Woodring: Recipient of The Stranger Genius Award in Literature in 2010! (top right)
On Friday, March 30th at 6:00 PM, Fantagraphics is proud to present the panel Northwest Noir: Seattle's Legacy of Counterculture Comix in room 3AB:
In the mid-seventies a trio of gifted cartoonists emerged from The Evergreen State College in Olympia: Seattle's Lynda Barry and Charles Burns, and Matt Groening from Portland. Their influence helped attract a new generation of cartoonists that fashioned a new comix movement. Among them; Jim Woodring, Joe Sacco, and Peter Bagge. Coupled with this new comix movement was the creation of prominent publisher Fantagraphics Books. The global popularity of the Grunge movement elevated alternative comix to unprecedented heights and firmly established the region as the center of this new form. By the dawn of the millennia, Seattle and Portland boasted no fewer than 6 alternative comix publishing houses. Learn more about the connection between the Northwest and "Alternative" comics in this lively panel Q&A. Panelist include cartoonists Jim Woodring and Ellen Forney, Real Comet Press publisher Cathy Hillenbrand, and Fantagraphics Books associate publisher Eric Reynolds. Moderated by Larry Reid of Fantagraphics Bookstore.
Booth 704 is located right in the frontline of the exhibitor floor, in the second row as you cross the Sky Bridge. Please note: this is a condensed version of the map. You can view the full map here.
Don't miss the action at Shorty's pinball emporium as Fantagraphics Bookstore presents the Emerald City Pinball Party on Saturday, March 31 from 7:00 to 10:00 PM following the Emerald City Comicon. Hosted by celebrated Seattle cartoonist Jim Woodring, this festive affair promises free fun for all comix and pinball enthusiasts over the age of 21.
The highlight of the evening will be a pinball competition with prizes galore, including the grand prize of a colorful Jim Woodring-designed back glass from the forthcoming Frank pinball machine (currently in development.) Other prizes include Jim Woodring hoodies and tee shirts from Americaware, signed copies of Woodring's graphic novels Weathercraft and Congress of the Animals (finalists in consecutive years for the Los Angeles Book Prize), coveted out-of-print issues of Jim and Frank comix, and other Woodring rarities.
In an effort to level the playing field -- so to speak -- pinball tournament contestants will be vying for the lowest score. That's right! Tank it without tilting; the worst games win the best prizes. It's harder than it sounds, but requires little in the way of actual pinball prowess.
Special guest artist Camille Rose Garcia will also appear following her signing down the street at Roq la Rue gallery. A signed copy of her wonderful Fantagraphics title, The Magic Bottle, will be awarded to the top -- (well, bottom) -- female contestant.
Shorty's is located at 2222 2nd Avenue in Seattle's lively Belltown neighborhood, just a few blocks northwest of the Washington State Convention Center, site of the Emerald City Comicon on March 30, 31 and April 1.
Visit the bookstore or Fantagraphics booth at the convention for more details on the Emerald City Pinball Party and other exciting events.
This month's Diamond Previews catalog came out yesterday and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread (download the PDF) with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in May 2012 (give or take — some release dates may have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions.
This month's Featured item is our next Carl Barks Library volume, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man! We've also got the long (long, long) awaited collection of Gary Panter's punk/sci-fi strip Dal Tokyo; Sexytime, the surprising and tantalizing art book of vintage porn movie posters compiled by Portable Grindhouse madman Jacques Boyreau ("Certified Cool"!); the new softcover edition of the out-of-print-for-a-while Black Images in the Comics, a fascinating survey by Fredrik Strömberg; Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture, back for another go-round (yes, we know got some 'splaining to do!); God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls, collecting Jaime Hernandez's superhero fantasia from Love and Rockets: New Stories #1-2 with 30 new pages (!), a Spotlight item; the eagerly-anticipated 3rd volume of Shimura Takako's wonderful manga series Wandering Son; and The Furry Trap, a collection of Josh Simmons's notoriously disturbing horror comics. It's a big month, man!
So, our ol' pal Jacques Boyreau, he of the cinefantastic tomes PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE and the forthcoming SEXYTIME: THE POST-PORN RISE OF THE PORNOISSEUR (a collection of remarkably awesome movie posters from the Golden Age of adult cinema) from Fantagraphics, curated what looks to be an incredible art show in Anchorage, Alaska, of all places. I wanted to spotlight it on the blog, and figured the best way was to simply ask Jacques about. Here's what he had to say.
I've been involved with Fantagraphics for a few years now...as author-editor and all-around-nuisance. I suspect a reason for my insistency is that Gary G. is like the Travis Bickle-friend I always wanted. This association would be easier to make if G. had a buzz mohawk and was popping a red with a smile and several loaded handguns suckling the lean teat of his body, which is NOT out-of-the-question; it is, as they say, in the realm, where all visions are a'chomp.
But realm needs coin, and tomorrow's today's coin is gonna be SuperTrash. And that's what this little fucking blog's entry is gonna tell you a little something about. But back to Taxi Driver...I have always felt very resonant with the character of Easy Andy--the drug-Cadillac-Magnum.44 dealer--and his credo: "I'm just trying to get the right product to the right people"; with the risible connotation that Travis is alright...(and certainly you gotta wonder at least once: What If Travis had bought that pink slip from Andy?). See, Andy and I have the same credo it turns out. I experience selling as Compulsion, and that sutures with what Breton said about Beauty: it must be Convulsive. Society really should, and does take a step back and twist a funny thought out of its head when the Unacceptable becomes Accepted.
Our group mind does not entirely suck. The answer I'm afraid is so simple it's attainable. But why tell you when I cannot and SuperTrash can and you should find out if you can. Let's just say that: an art show purporting to be a portrait of the 20th century told through movie posters was built at the Andy Warhol Museum and is now in Alaska in the quite-enormous Anchorage Museum.
Fantagraphics Booksand the Ninkasi Brewing Company are proud to present... METALHAUS!
For one night only, join Portable Grindhouse editor Jacques Boyreau, along with Darren Aboulafia and Tim Colley, for a "designer mess-up of VHS flotsam, hipster kitsch, and remastered live shows from seminal provocateurs like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Blondie, Roxy Music, P.I.L., The Clash, and, oh yeah, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, AC/DC."
Oh, and did I mention... there will be a special guest appearance by Killbot, a 9-foot-tall killer robot! Capitol Hill, you are doomed.
The Metalhaus reign of TV-trash-terror starts at 10:00 PM on Saturday, August 20th, at the Northwest Film Forum [1515 12th Ave, Seattle]. You do not want to miss this.
METALHAUS returns to Seattle's Northwest Film Forum for another night of Punk Pricks, Metal Maniacs, and New Wave Hookers. Don't even try to categorize this designer mess-up of VHS flotsam, hipster kitsch, and remastered live shows from seminal provocateurs like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Blondie, Roxy Music, P.I.L., The Clash, and, oh yeah, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, AC/DC. Special Guest Appearance by Killbot. METALHAUS is sponsored by Fantagraphics Books and Ninkasi Brewing Company. Curated by Jacques Boyreau , Darren Aboulafia, and Tim Colley.
If you've been wondering what Portable Grindhouse editor Jacques Boyreau has been up to, we'll soon be swinging into production on his next book project, Sexy Time (stay tuned for sexy details), but in the meantime he's been working on a film project called Color of Hell, and here's the brand new trash-tastic teaser trailer. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fritzi show up in this movie!
... And by that, I mean, I had threeBurgerville Northwest Cherry Chocolate Milkshakes in the two days we were in Portland, Oregon for the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest. They even put espresso shots in my milkshakes. God bless Burgerville.
The calm before the Stumptown storm!
So, WOW! Thank you so much to everyone who came by our booth at Stumptown this year! Mike and I had a blast! Hate Annual #9 flew off the racks, with Jason's latest Isle of 100,000 Graves also selling out quickly.
We were thrilled to be joined by editor Patrick Rosenkranz. While we weren't able to make his panel on the underground comix movement, we could tell from the fans attending his signing that it must've went great! One fellow came by with a huge stack of Zap Comix in hand, including a rare copy of the first printing of #1!
Speaking of successful panels, T. Edward Bak had several of his attendees dropping by the booth, grabbing fistfuls of Momes! Here he is, showing some of his original artwork. Mike pointed out that you can always tell which issues of Mome T. Edward is in by looking for the black pages on the fore edge! (And yes, we had to consult Google to figure out what the sides of a book are called.)
Mome contributor Jeffrey Brown was signing with our booth neighbors Top Shelf, and leaned over for a chat with T Edward. Note: this happened on the next day from the other picture posted above; it's not like T Edward brought two sets of clothes. He's not Lady Gaga.
[Speaking of Jeffrey, here's one of my favorite overheard quotes of the weekend -- girl, on cellphone: "Hello? Mom, I gotta call you back. I'm standing in front of Jeffrey Brown."]
[My second favorite overheard quote of Stumptown comes from our own Customer Service Representative Ian Burns, who was trying to unload his leftovers from lunch: "It is really hard to give away meat in Portland."]
Speaking of Mome, we're always delighted to have the multi-talented Andrice Arp join us. Not only was she signing copies of Mome (including Volume 15, which features her cover art), but she also brought mini-paintings and a totally awesome flip-book she designed, inspired by the A-ha video for "Take On Me." Yeah, that's right.
And finally, editor Jacques Boyreau joined us, engaging customers with his collection Portable Grindhouse. Jacques is always great to talk movies with, and a former French film critic even stopped by to discuss cult classics! And who's that to the left in the pic above? Why it's Monster Parade artist Ben Catmull!
Ben had his own table this year at Stumptown, featuring his award-winning 2001 comic Paper Theater, and some freakin' insane letterpress prints, both of which you can acquire straight from the gentleman himself.
The biggest buzz of the weekend was over the move from the old location (The Lloyd Center) to the much-larger Oregon Convention Center. And yes, while I missed the windows and nearby park of The Lloyd Center, I've really only got one word: Burgerville.
You can check out lots more pics from our Stumptown adventures on the Fantagraphics Flickr page here. And the fun don't stop, as Mike and I are now gearing up for TCAF! Hope to see you there!
The 2013 Fantagraphics Ultimate Catalog of Comics is available now! Contact us to get your free copy, or download the PDF version (9 MB).
Preview upcoming releases in the Fantagraphics Spring/Summer 2013 Distributors Catalog. Read it here or download the PDF (26.8 MB). Note that all contents are subject to change.
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