FLOG! Entries tagged 'Robert Williams'

Undergroundhog Day Sale 2013 - 30% Off Underground Comix!

mike

Take the plunge! Starting right now and running through Sunday, February 3, 2013, it's the third annual edition of our "Undergroundhog Day" Sale with at least 30% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Joyce Farmer, Bill Griffith, Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! Yes, this includes new and recent books like Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me: Robert Crumb Letters 1958-1977, Jack Jackson's American History: Los Tejanos & Lost Cause, Malcolm McNeill's The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here, Diane Noomin's Glitz-2-Go, and Spain Rodriguez's Cruisin' with the Hound, plus to-be-released books like upcoming reprints of The Complete Crumb Comics volumes (and don't forget, most of our Crumb books come with an option for an exclusive signed bookplate)! The sale starts now and continues through the weekend. (Discount not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.)

Signed Edition Sale!

mike

Hey, want to get some holiday gift shopping out of the way early and make a big impact without breaking the bank? How about limited, signed edition books (some with exclusive prints) by some of the greatest comics creators around? How about HALF PRICE? That's right, get the following books at 50% off now through next Thursday, Nov. 8!

Conceptual Realism by Robert Williams — A catalog of the Fall 2009 solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the groundbreaking master of "lowbrow" art, with essays on each piece by the artist, sketches and other supplemental material. Hardcover edition with signed bookplate!

Hysteria in Remission by Robert Williams — This gorgeous volume collects the comics and illustrations of the seminal underground artist, much of it out of print for 25 years! Includes work done for Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, student cartoons and more rarities! Signed & numbered hardcover edition!

Hanging Out with the Dream King — The most intimate look yet into the life and mind of the best-selling author and creator of The Sandman. Over two dozen creators share their thoughts on working with Gaiman. Illustrated with many unpublished photos and comic pages! Hardcover signed by Neil Gaiman!

Jimbo in Purgatory by Gary Panter — This giant hardcover re-imagines Panter's cult hero as the protagonist in Dante's most famous work, with text remixed to include Biblical quotes and pop-culture snippets. An exquisite art object, and a brilliant literary game. With signed & numbered print!

Young GODS and Friends by Barry Windsor-Smith — Superficially resembling the 1960s The Mighty Thor, Young Gods is sexy, ribald, politically incorrect and funny, as three errant gods with mismatched goals and personalities seek fun across the universe. Signed hardcover edition!

Undergroundhog Day Sale 2012 - 30% Off Underground Comix!

mike

Tomorrow, February 2, 2012, through Sunday, February 5, 2012, it's the return of our "Undergroundhog Day" Sale with at least 30% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Joyce Farmer, Bill Griffith, Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! Yes, this includes brand new books like Bill Griffith's Lost and Found and the hardcover Fritz the Cat collection, plus not-quite-out-yet books like Diane Noomin's Glitz-2-Go, Spain Rodriguez's Cruisin' with the Hound and the expanded edition of The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 1! The sale starts tonight and continues through the weekend. (Discount not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.)

Bargain Bin Ballyhoo: Conceptual Realism & Fred the Clown

mike

Did you know our website has a well-stocked bargain section of Clearance Sale items and Closeout Deals? Well now you do! Here's just a couple of the excellent items we have marked down & priced to move:

Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical (Softcover Edition) by Robert Williams — A catalog of the Fall 2009 solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the groundbreaking master of "lowbrow" art, with essays on each piece by the artist, sketches and other supplemental material. Comes with a free bonus signature plate while supplies last! $24.99 $16.66 — You Save: 33.33%! Order Now

Fred the Clown by Roger Langridge — Fred the Clown, the thinking man's idiot, has an eye for the ladies, but all they have for him is a carefully placed kneecap. Part Samuel Beckett, part Tex Avery; beautifully drawn, utterly inspired lunacy. Langridge's recent mainstream work has made him a critical darling — pick up this 2004 collection for some pure, unadulterated Langridge! $16.95 $11.30 — You Save: 33.33%!Order Now

Fantagraphics to Publish The Complete ZAP� Comix

Eric

Fantagraphics Books President and Co-Publisher Gary Groth announced today at Comic-Con International that the Seattle-based publisher has entered into an agreement to publish The Complete ZAP Comix in Fall of 2012.

ZAP remains the best-known and most influential underground comic of all-time, and in many ways is Ground Zero for the entire field of underground, alternative, literary and art comics that exists today. Created by Robert Crumb, it was one of the defining events in the counterculture of the 1960s and singlehandedly launched the “underground comix” era.

“ZAP took comics from children to adults, crushing The Comics Code Authority in the process,” proclaimed ZAP artist Victor Moscoso.

The Complete ZAP Comix will be published as a two-volume, slipcased hardcover set, printed slightly larger than the original comics, and shot from the original negatives to the comic books, ensuring the finest reproduction ever seen of the material. It will also include the rarely-seen ZAM, a one-shot mini-comic/jam spinoff of ZAP from 1974, as well as other supplementary features, interviews with the artists, and other surprises.

“ZAP may be the most significant series in the history of American comics,” said Fantagraphics President and Co-Publisher Gary Groth. “Its cultural preeminence is the result of artistic merit, not collectibility or economics and that sets it apart from most comics series that have achieved this level of public awareness or notoriety. The artists that Crumb invited into ZAP each proved to be a stylistic virtuoso with a unique point of view and an uncompromising vision. ZAP was the vanguard of a movement that segued into the alternative comics of the ’80s and the graphic novels of the ’00s. We couldn’t be prouder to collect this landmark series in its entirety in a beautifully packaged two-volume set.”

Originally printed by Beat writer Charles Plymell in an edition of around 3,500 copies, ZAP #1 was the first title published by the late Don Donahue under the Apex Novelties imprint, and was infamously sold on the streets of Haight-Ashbury out of a baby stroller pushed by Crumb’s ex-wife, Dana. Over time, the series’ 16 issues have sold millions of copies.

Although R. Crumb had initially created ZAP as a showcase for his own work, the success of the first issue led him to open up the pages of subsequent issues to several other artists. He invited his peers S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, “Spain” Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin to join him, effectively creating an artists’ collective that has remained mostly constant in the subsequent decades; when Rick Griffin died in 1991, the artist Paul Mavrides was invited to join the group.

“Fantagraphics’ The Complete ZAP Comix, as designed by Victor Moscoso, will be a classy item for the bookshelves of underground comics fans — those who can afford it, that is,” said ZAP artist Gilbert Shelton. “I imagine most of the original readers wish they still had their copy of the first edition of ZAP #1, which sells for over ten thousand dollars now, if in perfect condition. But part of the secret of the success of underground comix was that they were cheaply produced and turned yellow and fell apart quickly, and also that they were borrowed and never returned by one’s friends, thereby forcing you to buy another copy. This will not happen with the new collected edition, which will be produced under the most rigorous of quality control.”

“Much as the effect EC’s MAD had on the mid-20th Century, ZAP was equally influential and disruptive to cultural mores at the end of the 20th Century, but without the hindrance of the old comic book code that cramped graphic novel expression for 40 years,” said ZAP artist Robert Williams. “I’m very pleased that Fantagraphics will release this long-awaited compendium of ZAP Comix.”

“When Robert Crumb started ZAP in 1968, no one had any idea that it would still be alive 45 years later,” Shelton added. “This exercise in anarchy — there were never any rules, restrictions, or editorial policy — is still the flagship of the underground comics movement. I tried, and failed, to get my fellow ZAPsters to correct their spelling errors, but they would not be subjected to such editorial tyranny. I also wanted to let other artists into the group, but it was decided to restrict the number of contributors to seven. So be it. Spell free or die, I now say.”

Fantagraphics will be publishing the The Complete ZAP Comix in Fall of 2012.

The Complete ZAP Comix
By: R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, Spain Rodriguez,
Gilbert Shelton, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, & Paul Mavrides
Release Date: Fall 2012
Page Count: 800 PP
Black & White • Two-Volume, Slipcased Hardcover Set

ZAP is a registered trademark of Zap Comix.

Zap Comix art show curated by Gary Panter opens in NYC tonight

mike

Sorry for the short notice on this must-see exhibit which opens tonight at Andrew Edlin Gallery in NYC:

"Andrew Edlin Gallery is pleased to present Zap: Masters of Psychedelic Art, 1965-74, curated by Gary Panter and Chris Byrne. The exhibition will include works by the seven artists from the original Zap lineup: Robert Crumb, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez and Robert Williams. The focus of the show is the early days of Zap, when these artists begat their visionary deconstruction of the comic book with remarkable innovations in storytelling and drawing. An accompanying catalogue is being published by the gallery."

'Nuff said! (Well, if it's not 'nuff, there's more info and links to preview the artwork here.)

UPDATE: More on the show from Gary at his blog!

Undergroundhog Day one-day sale!

mike

February 2nd 2011, for one day only, it's our "Undergroundhog Day" Sale with at least 30% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Joyce Farmer , Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! The sale starts tonight and it'll be over before you know it, so get ready! (Discount not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. A big tip o'the hat to our own Ted Jouflas for the sale idea!)

Alan Moore Channels Robt. Wms.

Eric

Ran across this one-page Alan Moore strip in an issue of Moore's Dodgem Logic magazine, and although I've seen Moore's "underground" work before, I was struck by just how heavily influenced by Robert Williams that this page was:

See below for a comparison to Williams' style (from Hysteria In Remission). The lettering, the hulking "Brody Bodine"-esque nitwit, the anthropomorphized pen, the "chicken fat" in the last panel, the stonerish detail, etc. It's impressive. Do more underground comics, Mr. Moore.

SALE: 20% Off Underground Comix, One Week Only!

mike

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday we're celebrating independence and freedom of speech by taking at least 20% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! The sale is over at the end of the day on Friday, July 9, so don't delay!

PLUS...

We still have a large selection of backlist titles at great discounts of 1/3 to 1/2 off the cover prices in our Clearance Sale and Closeout Deals sections.

Things to see: 4/27/10

mike

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• It's a brand new installment installments of The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE

• Swedish Slouchers is a new lithograph from John Hankiewicz

• Click to see the latest animated drawing by Lilli Carré in action

• "Lisa in a Pink Blouse" is a circa-1990s portrait by Mark Kalesniko

• Renee French gets buggy

• Eric Reynolds was searching YouTube for Butthole Surfers videos and came across this one which is full of Robert Williams artwork

Daily OCD: 4/8/10

mike

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Troublemakers is... a noirish tale of crosses double and triple, in which the same small cast keeps tripping over each other, making and breaking promises and plans and alliances. ... The dialogue is often overwrought in that trying-to-be-tough way, but the plot is suitably twisty and energetic. " – Andrew Wheeler, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

• Interview: Comic Book Resources' Chris Mautner talks to Gahan Wilson about fifty years of Playboy cartoons and Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons: "The bottom line in horror, or humor, really, is that life is tough and sometimes it's ludicriously disastrous. And yet we cope. We struggle on. That's a large part of the thing. That's very much underlying it. This admiration for us for making it through one day to the next. And taking care of kids and being nice to people. Working it out somehow together."

• Interview: On the MTV Tr3s Blogamole, Daniela Capistrano talks to Gilbert Hernandez about High Soft Lisp: On Fritz: "Well, looks wise, she's an 8 1/2 and she's smarter than any of my other characters. She always has the potential to go anywhere and do anything I want because she's wealthy and childless, giving me free reign to change her life at any time. She's got class and the genetics to age beautifully and gracefully." On what he's going to do with his U.S. Fellows grant: "Spend it on gold rims for my car."

• Interview: Alex Dueben interviews Robert Williams on the Suicide Girls website (SFW): "The arts have to be open for everybody with every kind of style. I’m for making the thing open and free. I don’t think an artist has to learn to paint and draw. I prefer to do that, but I want the ability to have as much right to be in a museum as someone else. I respect their right to put anything in there. If they want to have a pile of sand in the middle of the museum, that’s okay with me. As long as I have room in there."

Daily OCD: 3/18/10

mike

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "It’s vaudevillian and it’s Old Hollywood. It’s rock n’ roll and beat poetry. It’s introspective and depressing and quite often funny, and depicts a world that exists on the fringes of society where the American Dream meets the cold, harsh reality of life as viewed through a grimy windshield. ... When you put all the pieces together, you don’t simply get a story or a group of stories, you get a book that pulls back the curtain on the collective unconscious of a nation. ... Like the myths that it is inspired by, Abandoned Cars lingers long after reading and grows in stature as you re-live and re-tell it." – Chad Derdowski, Mania

• Review: "Part of Pim & Francie’s disconcerting effect is that it confounds easy categorization, leaving the reader uncertain what exactly this book is, or how to approach it. It doesn’t contain discrete, coherent stories, but it’s also more unified and linear than a sketchbook; there are continuing characters, recurring images and situations, even a discernable arc. It’s possible to piece together narratives from the fragments here, the way you might reconstruct a crime scene from bits of evidence, or a nightmare from fading details. These stories may even be all the more potent for having to be inferred, like the phantasms we imagine when we listen to horror stories on the radio." – Tim Kreider, The Comics Journal

•Profile/Review: Thought Balloonists' Charles W. Hatfield has a doozy of a report from Robert Williams's March 10 lecture at Cal. State Northridge, with plenty of insight into the artist, the talk, and the Conceptual Realism exhibit at the CSUN gallery: "Williams and his academic audience met halfway; the bracing, not to say ass-kicking, potency of the paintings seemed to wow most of the crowd. This was a fine performance, enlivened from the start by Williams' genuine gratitude and enthusiasm for being there."

• Plug: Library Journal spotlights Jason's Werewolves of Montpellier among notable July graphic novel releases: "Having subjected zombies to the witty vagaries of his goofy, humanized animals, Eisner Award winner Jason tackles werewolves mixed up in re-creational burglary and romance. It’s the pretender vs. the professionals — who are not happy about amateur competition."

• Television: Adult Swim will start re-running The Drinky Crow Show starting March 30, so mark your calendars and set your DVRs now. Even if you caught it the first time, it merits repeat viewings

Conceptual Realism Heads to So. Cal.

Eric

Robert Williams:
Conceptual Realism in the Service of the Hypothetical
February 20 - April 3, 2010

Cal State University Northridge

Daily OCD: 1/6/10

mike

By the way, multiple belated hat tips to Robot 6, whose roundups of end-of-year links have been invaluable to the last few installments of Online Commentary & Diversions. On with the links:

• List: Publishers Weekly announced the results of their 2009 Comics Week Critic's Poll; among the top vote-getters are You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("I love this autobiographical family story as much for the way Tyler weaves between her own life and her father's, as for its painterly, illustrative panoramas of suburban neighborhoods and army scenes." – Sasha Watson) and Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman ("Milk and other liquids may come out your nose as you read one of the funniest comics ever put to paper. Kupperman's droll absurdism is matched by a stiff, woodcut-like art style that underplays the sometimes outre concepts. A comedy diamond." – Heidi MacDonald). Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman et al, Low Moon by Jason, Luba by Gilbert Hernandez, Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941, West Coast Blues Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi, and You Are There by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Claude Forest all received single votes in the poll

• List: At comiXology, Tucker Stone counts down his top 25 Best Comics of 2009, with Grotesque #3 by Sergio Ponchione at #23 ("...every once in a while, I get a reminder how vast the world of comics really is. Grotesque — European, unusual, brilliant — was one of those, an experimental passport to another universe"), Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga at #7 ("...Ganges captured the thing that all of us spend a lifetime doing — thinking — and turned it into something deserving of examination") and, in the top spot, Prison Pit: Book 1 by Johnny Ryan ("Aggro, obscene, hilarious, compulsive: Prison Pit. It wasn't just the greatest comic of the year, it was one of those comics that operated like the end result of a math equation, a definitive answer to the question of what comics are, and what they should be...")

• List: Johnny Bacardi's Personal Best of the Decade includes Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes

• Review: "Each [panel] almost vibrates with the frenetic, desperate energy of the characters as they try to pull off their cons. That energy explodes in the final pages, as the story comes to a dramatic but ambiguous conclusion. In the end, the work offers an homage to B-movies while standing out as a graphic novel. The Troublemakers will please long-term Hernandez fans. It also should serve as a good introduction to newcomers looking to jump into the Love and Rockets universe." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "...Giraffes [in My Hair], a collection of anecdotes from Bruce Paley's teens and twenties on America's countercultural fringe, is a breezy read. ... Swain's art rarely calls attention to or gets in the way of itself, and in that it meshes seamlessly with Paley's deadpan 'here's what happened' narrative style, his reluctance to overstate or oversell the import of the anecdote reminiscent of Harvey Pekar's." – Sean T. Collins

• Review: "...[The Comics Journal] has reached issue 300 and is celebrating with a fascinating collection of creator-chats as industry tyros and giants come together to interview, share, bitch and generally shoot the breeze about graphic narrative: a tactic that makes this the most compelling read of the year for anyone truly interested in what we all do and why." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review: "Fantagraphics Books continues its series devoted to chronologically packaging [Peanuts] and has not missed a step along the way. ... I’m pleased to inform that the latest edition, the twelfth in the series, is as lovingly curated as the first... [I]t is nice to know that one of the form’s greatest achievements is being held up as the accomplishment it really is." – Dw. Dunphy, Popdose

• Review: "It’s clear from editor/publisher Steffen P. Maarup’s survey [From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium] that, contradicting Horatio’s famous line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is nothing 'rotten' about the state of comics in Denmark today. If anything, it’s nurturing a number of major talents as well as sprouting exciting new shoots." – Paul Gravett (via Robot 6)

• Review: "[In Sam's Strip] Walker and Dumas clearly take pleasure in working in callbacks to classic comic strips... [and] many of the metatextual gags are funny and fun. ... Dumas’s drawings of classic comic-strip characters are excellent... The result is a frustrating, compelling curiosity: the soul of an underground comic trapped in the mortal coil of a Hi and Lois." – Shaenon Garrity, The Comics Journal

• Plugs: At Comics Alliance, Douglas Wolk's recommended comics of the week include The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez ("It's crazy, vivid, grindhouse-y stuff") and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw ("intriguing")

• Plugs: The Gosh! Comics Blog also highlights The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw among the week's noteworthy releases

• Plug: Rob Orange of Seduced by the New features Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams

• Plug: Illustrator Joanna Barnum spotlights Nell Brinkley as an inspiration

• Plug: Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy takes note of the upcoming Kim Deitch book The Search for Smilin' Ed

• Analysis: Robert Boyd examines Popeye's propensity for cross-dressing, with evidence from Popeye Vol. 4 (via Jeet Heer)

• Coming Attractions: Wayno, whose work appears in the forthcoming Newave: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, talks about the book and the (announcement!) upcoming exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Events: Star Clipper is sponsoring a screening of Ghost World at Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis tonight — oh jeez, in like half an hour! — and copies of the graphic novel and other Clowes books will be on sale

• Things to see: Follow your nose to a new Kevin Huizenga-drawn Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip

• Things to see: Finished pages from Robert Goodin's 19-page story "The Spritual Crisis of Carl Jung"

Northwest Film Forum Screens NEW BROW doc

Eric

Seattle's great Northwest Film Forum will be screening the documentary NEW BROW from Jan. 15 thru Jan. 17. View the trailer here. The film features a number of folks close to Fantagraphics' heart, notably Robert Williams and our own Larry Reid.

New Comics Day 12/23/09

mike

Arriving at comic shops in the nick of time for your holiday gift-giving, something for just about every interest and budget:

Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams (Softcover Ed.) — 88 oversized pages of new artwork and writing from the lowbrow master.

The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion (Softcover Ed.) — everything we said last week when the hardcover edition came out still applies!

Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons (Collectors Edition) — just when you thought this collection couldn't get more deluxe! Includes an exclusive signed glow-in-the-dark letterpress print and a nifty box of facsimile Christmas cards Gahan sent to Hef, never before reprinted (not pictured).

The Great Anti-War Cartoons — A stunning collection from editor Craig Yoe. Newsarama calls its arrival "quite welcome."

Sublife Vol. 2 by John Pham — Newsarama says "do yourself a favor and check it out (and be sure to stroke the back cover)"... that's good advice!

Peruse plenty of previews at the preceding links prior to patronizing your preferred purveyor and purchasing these pretty publications. Pow!

Now in stock: Conceptual Realism by Robert Williams (Softcover Ed.)

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical (Softcover Edition)
By Robert Williams

Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical is a catalog accompanying Robert Williams’ Fall 2009 solo exhibition of new work at New York City’s prestigious Tony Shafrazi Gallery; the show will continue on in 2010 to galleries in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and elsewhere. (See photos of the NYC opening reception and exhibit at the Arrested Motion blog.) The book features approximately 25 new paintings, complete with essays on each piece by the artist, insights into the process behind each painting (including sketches, underpaintings, etc.), photos of sculptures in progress, and other surprises, including an introduction by painter, tattoo artist and international tattoo cultural advocate Don Ed Hardy.

The alternative art movement of the late 20th Century found its most congealing participant in one of America’s most opprobrious and maligned underground artists, the painter, Robert Williams. It was Williams who brought the term “lowbrow” into the fine arts lexicon, with his groundbreaking 1979 book, The Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams. It was from this point that the seminal elements of West Coast Outlaw culture slowly started to aggregate.

Williams pursued a career as a fine arts painter years before joining the art studio of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth in the mid-1960s. And in this position as the famous custom car builder’s art director, he moved into the rebellious, anti-war circles of early underground comix. In 1968, Williams linked up with the infamous San Francisco group that piloted the flagship of the miscreant cartoon world, Zap Comix. Along with Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin, Williams learned to function as an artist outside the walls of conventional art.

Known as the “artist’s artist,” in early punk rock art shows held in after-hours clubs, Williams soon pioneered the first break-away art movement in California since the Eucalyptus School’s estrangement from Impressionism in the late 1920s. His bold use of underground cartoon figuration, paired with harshly contrasted psychedelic colors set a style that was an easily recognizable hallmark throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Williams’ new paintings, on display in Conceptual Realism, take the viewer into the world of subjective theory — a mock realm of violated graphic physics, and the next logical step into abstract thought.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 8-page PDF excerpt (1.7 MB).

88-page full-color 11.5" x 13.25" softcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-299-9
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

NOTE: The signed hardcover edition of this book is coming soon and available for pre-order.

Daily OCD: 12/14/09

mike

Oh man these Online Commentary & Diversions links really pile up:

• List: The Daily Cross Hatch presents The Best Damned Comics of 2009 Chosen by the Artists, this year's edition of their essential annual survey of comics pros' top 5 comics. I won't quote all the lists' commentary here since that would steal some of their thunder (not to mention take me all night), but Pim & Francie by Al Columbia merits 5 mentions; You'll Never Know, Book 1 by C. Tyler is on 3 lists; The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit, Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman, Like a Dog by Zak Sally, Prison Pit Book 1 by Johnny Ryan, Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me by Peter Bagge are all mentioned twice; and The Wolverton Bible, Locas II by Jaime Hernandez, Humbug, Popeye Vol. 4, Low Moon by Jason, You Are There by Tardi & Forest, A Mess of Everything by Miss Lasko-Gross, Prince Valiant Vol. 1, Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1, and Lilli Carré's work in Mome all show up once each (plus a couple of 2008 releases like Zak Sally's Sammy the Mouse #2 and Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw sneak in there)

• List: Details magazine names Ghost World #10 on The 25 Greatest Gen X Books of All Time: "This caustically funny duo-tone tale follows the iconic cat-eyed adolescent Enid Coleslaw in her quest to find meaning, or at least cruel humor, in an age where everything's disposable."

• Review: "Strange Suspense collects dozens of Ditko stories from the 1950’s... Almost a decade before Ditko moved to Marvel, these stories bear his unmistakable style. His fine line work and flair for the abstract that would serve him so well on Doctor Strange particularly, is on full display. ... If you only know Ditko for his work at Marvel or later at DC, here is the chance to explore Early Ditko, unconstrained by editors or the Comics Code. While all of this work is marvelous, clearly Ditko is best at home in horror where he could let his imagination run wild, creating monsters and demons and the things that go bump in the night. Rediscover Ditko today!" – Tim Janson, Newsarama

• Review: "Brian Kane, author of the [Definitive Prince Valiant] Companion and surely the world’s foremost authority on the strip and its creator, Hal Foster, has once again done a herculean amount of work, and Fantagraphics has once again clothed that work in a sturdy, pretty volume. Prince Valiant hasn’t been treated this well since the ersatz King of England sang his praises. Those unfamiliar with the character – a young man who finds adventure, fame, and even love at the court of the legendary King Arthur – will find here all the background information they could ever want... But even long-time Prince Valiant fans will find plenty to fascinate them in this volume." – Khalid Ponte, Open Letters

• Review: "Delphine is a morbid interpretation of the symbology of fairy tales resounding with echoes of unrequited love and abandonment. This is perhaps Sala’s darkest and most intricate story ever – impressive in its nuance and ever shifting emotions. One can only hope that it is not ignored." – Ng Suat Tong, The Comics Journal

• Review: At The Hooded Utilitarian (a TCJ.com-hosted blog), reviewer Kinukitty kicks off a critical roundtable on Daniel Clowes's Ghost World on a contrarian note

• Plug: "Just got Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol 1. Faaaaantastic! ... Raw and grotesque and beautifully drawn and presented." – Dave Gibbons (via consecutive Twitter posts)

• Plug: Los Angeles Magazine highlights Conceptual Realism by Robert Williams and Sublife Vol. 2 by John Pham in their monthly roundup of books of local interest

• Plug: Mike Sterling presents a brilliant panel from Popeye Vol. 4 and declares re: the book "Comics don't get much better than this."

• Plug: Alison Nastasi of Horror Squad calls Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box "a tasty opus" and plugs last weekend's Fantagraphics Bookstore events

• Plug: Boing Boing "Boing Boings" the Femke Hiemstra exhibit at Roq la Rue

• Events: The Seattle Times' Christy Karras talks to participants in yesterday's Portable Grindhouse panel discussion at Fantagraphics Bookstore and makes the case for Seattle as Zombie City U.S.A.

• Analysis: Hypergeek crunches direct market sales data and declares Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 the top small-press trade for November 2009, with Pim & Francie by Al Columbia ranking at #12

• Interview: From TCJ.com: "Every weekday from now until December 25, we’ll be posting a conversation between cartoonists from The Comics Journal #300, complete and online! In today’s installment, it’s a chat between L’Association publisher Jean-Christophe Menu and Kramers Ergot publisher Sammy Harkham."

• History: Love & Maggie rounds up the history of Love and Rockets 1979-1982 — even Gary Groth is impressed!

• Things to see: Tim Lane's Temptations diorama... completed? Oops, no, there's an audience in progress

* Things to see: Johnny Ryan did some gag cartoons for a girlie calendar from streetwear purveyors Mishka

• Things to see: An advertisement from Anders Nilsen

• Things to see: At his blog, Drew Friedman pays birthday tribute to old Jewish comedian Morey Amsterdam

• Things to see: The Huffington Post has a previously unseen 1968 photo of R. Crumb by photojournalist Harry Benson

• Things to see: Vince Lombardi by Jim Blanchard (for his pa, aw!)

• Things to see: The newest strip from Gabrielle Bell guest-stars Kim Deitch & Pam Butler

• Things to see: Kevin Huizenga's "Postcard from Fielder" part 2

• Life imitates comics: Failed Russian missile test or event from Jim Woodring's Weathercraft? You decide

Conceptual Realism by Robert Williams: Previews, Pre-Order

mike

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that we've had Robert Williams's new art book/exhibit catalog Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical (both softcover and signed hardcover editions) available for pre-order for a couple of weeks; we've postponed our announcement until we had all of our previews in place. So here you go! Download an exclusive 8-page PDF excerpt right here, and view a photo & video slideshow preview of the hardcover edition embedded below. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended — and we also have a slideshow of the softcover). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship in a couple of weeks (both editions will be released simultaneously) and in stores right around the same time (subject to change).

We�re in the movies Ma!

LarryR

Fresh off his wildly successful show in Manhattan, Robert Williams is celebrated as the Lord High Priest of Low Brow in the documentary film New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art. Shot by Justin Giarla of San Francisco’s Shooting Gallery, the film focuses on badass West Coast art and features all the superstars of modern pop (Ed. note: including an interview with Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery’s curator Larry Reid filmed at the store — the second voice you hear in the trailer — plus interviews with Blab!-published artists like Camille Rose Garcia, Shag and many more — you'll catch a glimpse of a Dave Cooper painting in the trailer too).