This weekend is the big Emerald City Con in Seattle, and we'll be hosting signings with Jordan Crane (all day Sat. & Sun), Peter Bagge (Sat. 1PM) and Ellen Forney (Sunday at noon). We'll also have new books like Bottomless Belly Button, Explainers, Rebel Visions, Most Outrageous, Amor Y Cohetes and Mome 11. But, if you do one thing this weekend, do this, it's gonna be fun and the Jordan Crane art is fantastic and goes well with beer: 

THREE BRILLIANT ART STARS SHINE ON CONSECUTIVE SATURDAYS IN MAY AT FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKSTORE & GALLERY!

Jordan Crane on May 10, Peter Bagge on May 17, and SHAG on May 24

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery springs into action in May with a succession of events featuring three of the country’s most celebrated cartoonists and remarkable illustrators. The public of all ages is invited to join us in an exciting series of exhibitions featuring Jordan Crane on May 10, Peter Bagge on May 17, and SHAG on May 24.

Los Angles artist Jordan Crane’s evocative and bittersweet meditations on the human condition in comics and illustration have gained him an enthusiastic following among art aficionados of all ages. His economical narrative observations have been published by Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books, including two issues of the comic book series Uptight, and graphic novels The Last Lonely Saturday and The Clouds Above, recently issued in trade paperback. His exhibition opening Saturday, May 10 includes exquisite limited edition prints and original artwork from his comics. The reception, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, serves as the after-party for exhibitors and guests of the Emerald City Comicon, where Crane is among the featured artists. The opening also coincides with the lively Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack, featuring art, music and more at over 30 locations throughout the enchanting Georgetown neighborhood.

Seattle’s Peter Bagge is one of the most accomplished and admired cartoonists in the world. On Saturday, May 17 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM, Fantagraphics Bookstore will host the launch party for a line of skateboards and related product produced by Seattle-based Manik Skateboards. On display will be the debut of skateboard decks drawn from the pages of his landmark comic HATE. Bagge’s grunge-era imagery is ideally suited to the skateboarding subculture. At once hilarious and poignant, Bagge’s work of this era went beyond satire, and helped fashion both the attitudes and aesthetics of Seattle’s only significant indigenous youth movement. In the opinion of Fantagraphics Books’ resident curator Larry Reid, “Peter Bagge’s HATE is the most fully conceived and executed comic book series ever published.” These delightful boards remain as funny and compelling as his comics of the 1990s.

SHAG (Josh Agle), of Santa Ana, CA, is the Andy Warhol of the new millennium. His distinctive artwork is characterized by a deceptively simple fluid line quality and contemporary interpretations of mid-century Americana. His work is simultaneously fresh and familiar, drawing on oddities of American popular culture both past and present. SHAG’s imagery resonates with audiences worldwide, and over the course of the last decade he has become a cottage industry – certainly one of the most prolific and successful artists working today. For good reason. The exhibition opening and book signing on Saturday, May 24 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM will feature work from his new book, SHAG: A to Z, published by Fantagraphics Books, natch. The book is comprised of 26 original paintings corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. Each piece is accompanied by a short verse extolling the pleasures of a hedonistic lifestyle and the virtues of overindulgence. Join us in welcoming this extraordinary artist.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle’s Georgetown district. Open daily, 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: 206.658.0110. A selection of imagery in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information, please contact Larry Reid.

LISTING INFORMATION

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

Jordan Crane
Book signing and art show
Saturday, May 10, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
(Emerald City Comicon after-party)
Exhibition continues through May 21

Peter Bagge
Manik Skateboard launch party
Saturday, May 17, 6:00 – 9:00 PM

SHAG: A to Z
Book signing and art show
Saturday, May 24, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through June 25

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street. (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

If you're coming to Seattle next weekend for the Emerald City Con, here's your don't miss event for Saturday night (May 10), happening at our bookstore and gallery. Jordan Crane will be exhibiting (and selling) original art from Uptight and The Clouds Above as well as offering his gorgeous prints for sale, including at least one or two especially new for the show. Oh, and we'll have beer, some good tunes, and a great neighborhood close to the convention to spend a Saturday night in. It's perfect. 

From Jordan Crane... 

Heroes & Villians is a photo series by Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho that "features intimate portraits of the most notable emerging and established figures in the Pop Surrealist, Graffiti and Alt-Comic Book worlds."

I would contest their designation of THE most notable but it is cool to see them documenting SOME of the most notable artists working. Pictured above is the enchanting Jordan Crane. Visit Cho's site for a peek at more comics folks like Anders Nilsen, Johnny Ryan, Sammy Harkham, Souther Salazar, Ron Rege, Jr., and Steven Weissman.

UPDATE: I failed to mention that the show is 2 days only, opening this Tuesday at Corey Helford Gallery .

The no-brainer of the year: Michael Chabon covered by Jordan Crane for McSweeney's.

And, as you'll see by visiting Design:Related, it's a conceptually complex package with three diecut jackets . (Take that carbon footprint!)

God that's gorgeous artwork.

Since we mentioned Jordan Crane and his daughter Andalucia a few posts ago, I thought we should link to this video since we never have before. It's Lavender Diamond's first music video, "Open Your Heart." Lavender Diamond features cartoonist Ron Rege, Jr. on drums and is the fella at the end that the singer, Becky, embraces. But wait, that's not the only comics connection: the cameo of the man in the hat with the little girl? Jordan and Andalucia!

The Clouds Above (Softcover Ed.)
By Jordan Crane

Jordan Crane's all-ages classic is in paperback for the first time! This gorgeously packaged (yet affordable) children's fantasy has become an instant classic since its original hardcover release in 2005, becoming a perennial bestseller for Fantagraphics in three hardcover printings. This paperback edition — a first — includes five new pages not included previously!

On their way through the city to school, Simon and his cat Jack keep taking shortcuts that lead them through fantasy worlds of wooden monsters and insatiable appetites, just for starters. Will they make back home safely? This is undoubtedly one of the more handsome and unique packages in recent memory, with a brilliant graphic novel inside that justifies its elegant format. The Clouds Above calls to mind everything from Where the Wild Things Are to The Wizard of Oz to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with its depiction of a fantastic world that lurks just around the corner from reality and that only children believe exists.

224-page full-color 6" x 6" softcover $16.99
Add to Cart • Read More...

This week's free preview is a downloadable 20-page excerpt from The Clouds Above, the all-ages classic from Jordan Crane which is being released in a new softcover edition this spring. These previews are exclusive to registered Fantagraphics.com users, so sign up and/or sign in to view. As a free bonus for everyone, the two images above, taken from the interior of the all-new cover flaps, are available for download as desktop wallpapers!

(As a reminder, 20/20 Club members receive these previews two weeks before we post them on the website... usually, except the past couple of weeks when we accidentally switched them around!)

We'll have more Fanta-specific news about this show soon, but I liked this new Jeffrey Brown poster enough that I wanted to share. Oh, there is some news to share: Jordan Crane has been added! Jordan will be signing at Emerald City as well as having an art show opening at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery that same weekend. Make your travel plans now!