Prison Pit blends Angry Youth Comix creator Johnny Ryan’s fascination with WWE wrestling, grindhouse cinema, first person action video games, Gary Panter’s “Jimbo” comics, and Kentaro Miura’s “Berserk” Manga into a brutal and often hilarious showcase of violence like no other comic book ever created. Even the lead character’s name, which is only one letter away from “Cannibal Duckface” (hint: “Cannibal” is correct) is unprintable.
Prison Pit is so deranged and twisted that even the author’s plot description, while admirably reflecting the spirit of the book, has to be edited into a sea of asterisks in order to be bearable to normal human beings: “A mysterious new a**hole has descended into the Prison Pit. He’s looking for Cannibal F***face and he wants revenge. Revenge for what? Probably for some f***ed up evil s***. But before he can get his hands on the CanMan he’s got to battle his way through some pretty vicious motherf***ers. S***’s about to get real.”
Well, yes, exactly.
Advance Praise:
"Hey are you doing any more scary guys made out of tar ripping each other's dicks off? You know why I like those? Because you don't have to read all them stupid words and stuff. Right? Haa ha, hey Johnny wanna come over and play? Ha Ha!" – Tony Millionaire
• Review: "In this Golden Age of Comic Strip Reprints, Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse was, I had long assumed, the one that had gotten away.... It should go without saying that Fantagraphics has done their usual stellar job in regards to editorial presentation... and design... In addition to over two and a half year's worth of the strip, the book contains an impressive amount of introductory material and contextual essays... There are other neat bonus features, such as cover images from foreign editions collecting storylines from the strip. As for the comics themselves, they entertain on a couple of levels. First, it should be of interest to comics fans as one of the Great Comic Strips Of All Time.... The comic strip should also be of great interest to Disney aficionados, as it represents one of the earliest transitions of the animated characters into another medium..." – Patrick Markfort, Articulate Nerd
• Review: "This is a comic book that feels like a video nasty. Its characters could well have been discovered from drawings scratched into school desks, its plot may well have been cribbed from the insane diary of a 9 year old. But that is what makes the 2 volumes of Prison Pit (published to date) so brilliant and unique. Writer/Artist Johnny Ryan has taken all those dreams, that desensitisation to violence, and our eagerness to doodle the grotesque, and turned it into a full ongoing epic.... Prison Pit is insane; it is a title that simply shouldn’t exist outside of a teenager’s head. But it does, and it’s brilliant. A forgotten level of comedic violence, an absence of exposition and dialogue that all reduces down into a paste of pure barbaric fun." – Kevin Scully, Comicsphere
• Industry: At The Comics Reporter, Eric Reynolds, Peter Bagge and others comment on the imminent shuttering of seminal (and awesomely named) Atlanta alt-comics/music outlet Criminal Records
• The first page of a feature graphic story Tim Lane is doing for the Riverfront Times, to appear later this month, plus some of Tim's sketches for the story
• Louis C.K. fan art on Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin's Quackers blog (I'm not sure who did it — I'm guessing Wendy... and if you don't watch Louie you should) — meanwhile Josh has a couple new doodles on his The Furry Trap blog
That loving portrait of the incomparable Tony Millionaire can be found in the collection Heroes & Villains, out now from Zero+ Publishing. In fact, photographers Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho captured quite a few of our beloved artists in this volume! Take a look:
A book release and signing party is going on tonight in L.A., and an exhibition of selected photographs with contact sheets and Polaroids will be on view! I can't wait to see more!
LAUNCH LA Thursday, September 1st, 7-10 pm 125 East 6th Street Los Angeles, CA 90013
I am pleased as punch to present to you the Fantagraphics low-down for the 2011 Small Press Expo, happenin' September 10th & 11th in Bethesda, Maryland!
We're bringing so many beautiful new books with us, and most of these listed below aren't even in stores yet!
And while you're at the Fantagraphics table, picking up these excellent new titles, why not get them signed by the artists? Many will be there! Check out our action-packed signing schedule below:
And surely you've taken note of our doozy of a panel schedule by now, right? If not, check it out on the Flog! Print it out, and carry it in your pocket, or perhaps stash it in this stunning Jim Woodring SPX exclusive tote bag? In fact, you'll wanna bring an extra tote bag to carry all our incredible debuts, plus, did I mention there will be some bargain boxes?
So, be sure to stop by and say hi to Kim, Gary, and Conrad! See you at SPX!
120-page black & white 6.5" x 8.5" softcover • $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-497-9
Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now
Prison Pit blends Angry Youth Comix creator Johnny Ryan’s fascination with WWE wrestling, grindhouse cinema, first person action video games, Gary Panter’s “Jimbo” comics, and Kentaro Miura’s “Berserk” Manga into a brutal and often hilarious showcase of violence like no other comic book ever created. Even the lead character’s name, which is only one letter away from “Cannibal Duckface” (hint: “Cannibal” is correct) is unprintable.
Prison Pit is so deranged and twisted that even the author’s plot description, while admirably reflecting the spirit of the book, has to be edited into a sea of asterisks in order to be bearable to normal human beings: “A mysterious new a**hole has descended into the Prison Pit. He’s looking for Cannibal F***face and he wants revenge. Revenge for what? Probably for some f***ed up evil s***. But before he can get his hands on the CanMan he’s got to battle his way through some pretty vicious motherf***ers. S***’s about to get real.”
Well, yes, exactly.
Advance Praise:
"Hey are you doing any more scary guys made out of tar ripping each other's dicks off? You know why I like those? Because you don't have to read all them stupid words and stuff. Right? Haa ha, hey Johnny wanna come over and play? Ha Ha!" – Tony Millionaire
• Review: "...[T]he stories [in Maggie the Mechanic], of course, suck you in, because they're absurd and funny and warm, and even though they're the kind of stories where it's not a question of whether the good guys will win, only when they will, they're well told and well plotted, and I was sad when they ended. Apparently they're meant to be the sci-fi version of magical realism, which is neat, but the dinosaurs and aliens and rocket ships were far less interesting than seeing the girls get drunk and run around, or even just try to decide what to wear. I guess Jaime came to the same conclusion, because it seems he started phasing out the sci-fi stuff shortly after the issues in this volume." – Oriana Leckert, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
• Interview:Ain't It Cool News's Mark L. Miller (a.k.a. "Ambush Bug"), who says "I love me some Prison Pit. If you havn’t checked out this amazingly graphic comic book series, you don’t know what kick-ass really is yet," met up with Johnny Ryan at Comic-Con to talk about the series: "...I do have certain ideas that I want to hit, but I also like to be a little spontaneous too, so I’m never really sure what I’m going to come up with. Sometimes I’ll even have an idea and then when I get to the point of using the idea, I’m like 'this idea isn’t fucked up enough. I’ve got to fuck it up a bit more.' (laughs) 'I’ve got to increase the fucked uppedness about it.' So six books seems to be the goal, but depending on how I feel at that point I might continue."
• Commentary:The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon, following up on yesterday's news, contacted our own Kim Thompson for some additional details about the status of our new Pogo reprint series
We're all a-buzz over the 2011 Small Press Expo, which is just around the corner on September 10th & 11th in Bethesda, Maryland! And here are our Fantagraphics panel highlights -- plot your weekend accordingly:
Saturday, September 10th
Excruciating Detail: Drawing the Grotesque 1:00 pm | White Flint Amphitheater
Historical comics ranging from Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy to the horror comics of the 1950s have specialized in images of the grotesque. Sean T. Collins will speak with cartoonists Lisa Hanawalt (I Want You), Benjamin Marra (Night Business), Tom Neely (The Wolf), and Johnny Ryan (Prison Pit) about the act of drawing horrific, visceral, visual detail in contemporary comics that speak to horrors that are both timeless and contemporary.
The Secret History of Women in Comics 1:30 pm | Brookside Conference Room
The increased involvement of women in the comics field over the past several years has been a significant positive change in a historically male-dominated industry. However, just as it’s worth celebrating this progressive revolution, it is also worth noting that today’s women cartoonists are part of a lineage of pioneering women who have made many contributions to the field. Heidi MacDonald will discuss this history with Jessica Abel, Robyn Chapman, Alexa Dickman and Diane Noomin.
Anders Nilsen: Questions and Answers 2:00 pm | White Flint Amphitheater
This year Drawn and Quarterly publishes Anders Nilsen’s opus Big Questions. A dozen years in the making, this book sensitively depicts a philosophical crisis in a community of birds whose lives are forever changed by the destructive intervention of human violence. Nilsen has also published books including Dogs and Water, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow, Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes, and more. Nilsen will discuss his work with moderator Bill Kartalopoulos.
The entry of comics as “graphic novels” into the publishing landscape has encouraged work that conforms to the narrative biases of conventional literary fiction. Joe “Jog” McCulloch will talk to Marc Bell (Pure Pajamas), Matthew Thurber (1-800-MICE) and Jim Woodring (Congress of the Animals) about producing graphic narratives that follow less conventional, more associative, and even visually based narrative logics that lend integrity to apparent surreality.
Stories of Cultural Identity 3:30 pm | Brookside Conference Room
America’s own culture wars are only part of a global struggle with identity, as nations the world over attempt to address the challenges of assimilating multiple cultures within a stable society. Moderator Rob Clough will talk to Jessica Abel (La Perdida), Marguerite Dabaie (The Hookah Girl), Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less) and G. B. Tran (Vietnamerica) about comics that deal with issues of cultural identity.
Johnny Ryan Q+A 5:30 pm | Brookside Conference Room
As comics have increasingly entered into the worlds of literary publishing and gallery arts, Johnny Ryan has almost single handedly extended comics’ satirical, parodistic, disreputable and scatological traditions in his comic book series Angry Youth Comix. More recently, he has entered the realm of visual pulp with his epic, no-holds-barred, manga-inflected graphic novel series Prison Pit. Ryan will discuss the development of his work with moderator Chris Mautner.
Sunday, September 11th
You Don’t Know Jacques: The Work of Jacques Tardi 1:00 pm | White Flint Amphitheater
In a special slideshow presentation, Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson will discuss the career of seminal French cartoonist Jacques Tardi, whose work Thompson has been translating in a new series of English-language editions. Relatively unknown until recently in the US, Tardi is a giant of French comics publishing. Active for over forty years and the author of dozens of books, Tardi is a foundational figure of auteurial bande dessinée.
In the early 2000s, corporate publishers nearly raced to acquire graphic novels. Now, as the mainstream publishing industry faces severe contractions and as online media assumes many traditional functions of publishing, cartoonists face a rapidly changing publishing landscape, one that includes a resurgent small press. Johanna Draper Carlson will speak with Domitille Collardey, Mike Dawson, Meredith Gran, Roger Langridge and Julia Wertz about publishing options today.
Diane Noomin Q+A 4:00 pm | White Flint Amphitheater
Pioneering cartoonist Diane Noomin was among the first contributors to Wimmen’s Comix, the all-female underground comix series. With Aline Kominsky-Crumb, she produced the series Twisted Sisters, and later edited two anthology books by the same name that showcased a new generation of women cartoonists. Celebrating a new book collection of her “Didi Glitz” comics from Fantagraphics, Noomin will discuss her career with moderator Heidi MacDonald.
Jim Woodring: Seeing Things 5:00 pm | White Flint Amphitheater
Jim Woodring first made his mark with his probing, autobiographically-based series Jim. Since then, he has expansively focused on his character Frank, an anthropomorphic cartoon character moving wordlessly through a hallucinatory world of delight and terror, drawn in both meticulous pen-and-ink and gem-like color. His latest book is the Frank graphic novel Congress of the Animals. He will discuss his career in this spotlight session with moderator Ken Parille.
• Review: "I find myself wondering how long Prison Pitcan continue. I don’t really know what’s going on beyond a series of beautiful, awesome things, but that’s reason enough for me to continue loving it." – Nick Gazin, Vice
• Review: "Move over Tintin, Gil Jordan is here to rock! This book is a nice surprise. There’s mystery. There’s a ton of action. There’s really hip looking artwork. Put those three things together and what else do you need from a title? Gil Jordan: Murder By High Tide collects two tales of the classic comic by Tillieux... and doesn’t disappoint in any way, shape, or form.... Both stories are solid detective tales. Each one engaging and a pleasure no matter what age you are. Even more impressive is the art.... Gil Jordan feels like real Europe, where not everything is pretty.... A highly recommended pick up, out on stands now." – Drew McCabe, ComicAttack.net
• Plugs: Martha Cornog of Library Journal spotlights some of our upcoming releases in the latest "Graphic Novels Prepub Alert":
Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips Vol. 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly: "'We have met the enemy and he is us.' Pogo Possum's lament from the 1971 Earth Day strip could be Kelly's most enduring and, unfortunately, accurate legacy. Various Pogo collections have appeared in the past, but the entire daily, plus Sunday run, has never been systematically collected as Fantagraphics is doing in 12 volumes."
Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons: "O'Connor was past mistress of disturbing Southern fiction, the grotesques and violence of flawed lives. But — not making this up — this icon of American literature wanted to be a cartoonist while growing up and drew throughout high school and college. Learning narrative techniques and caricature in the process, she worked in both pen-and-ink and linoleum cuts, lampooning student life and current events issues of the early 1940s. Developing as a visual precursor to her prose, her art suggests a nastily amusing cross between James Thurber and Marjane Satrapi."
The Sincerest Form of Parody: The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics, ed. by John Benson: "No, these aren't parodies published in Mad magazine. They're parodies inspired by MAD, published in copycat wannabes like Crazy, Whack, Unsane, and Bughouse whose backers were looking to tap into MAD's popularity. Needless to say, the work is not of MAD caliber, but sometimes it's just as funny parodies of films, TV shows, comic strips, novels, plays, ads, classics, and historical vignettes. Look for dense panels crammed with background gags and some familiar artists — like Will Elder, who drew for MAD, too."
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