The flagship Nordstrom store in downtown Seattle is currently hosting The Seattle Music Project, an exhibit of photos and ephemera commemorating five decades of Northwest music, curated by renowned local photographer Lance Mercer!

The exhibit is on display in the Mens Shop, downstairs...

... next to the rounder of plaid flannel shirts...

...and by the escalators, you'll find this photo by Cam Garrett of the legendary Fallout Skate Shop! Can you spot the employees of the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery? Yup, that's our very own Larry Reid and Russ Batagglia above, circa 1985! Fashion icons! 

[ ETA: Eric informs me, "there's also two ex longtime-employees in that pic: Tom Price and Tim Hayes!" Nice! ]

"We love the grunge music..."

The Seattle Music Project exhibit will be on display at the downtown Seattle Nordstrom location [ 500 Pine Street ] through this Sunday, September 30th. 

For more excellent photos and stories of the grunge-era, get yr hands on a copy of Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind! And stop by the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery [ 1201 S. Vale Street ] to say hi to Larry and Russ!

Having been preoccupied by this past weekend's Emerald City Con, we're a bit late in offering our warmest wishes and hearty congratulations to two of our favorite gentlemen and their lovely significant others.

First up, TheComicsJournal.com co-editor and Picturebox  Founder Dan Nadel and his partner Rachel welcomed their first child, Henry, into the world early Friday morning. (You should do each of you a favor and help keep Henry in fresh diapers by picking up Picturebox's new Rory Hayesand Destroy All Monsters! books). 

Meanwhile, on Sunday, our old pal Jacob McMurray , Senior Curator of Seattle's Experience Music Project and author of our book TAKING PUNK TO THE MASSES , and his wife Sara welcomed their second daughter, Eleanor, into their family. 

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: FEARnet's Joseph McCabe names Richard Sala's The Hidden to their Best of 2011: Books and Comics: "Sala's unique brand of creepy quirk combines Edward Gorey, Chester Gould, and Charles Adams with his own unclassifiable magic. The Hidden, from Fantagraphics Books, is his most ambitious work -- an intimate apocalypse."

• List: The SF Site's Rick Klaw ranks 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente at #4 on his top graphic novels of 2011: "In this emotionally moving biography, the Puerto Rican Wilfred Santiago magnificently chronicles the often tragic life of this icon.... Santiago expertly traverses Clemente's tribulations, losses, and success with ease and skill. His portrayal of the baseball games rank among the finest ever attempted in this medium. Under the masterful hands of Santiago, 21 evolves into far more than just a biography of a sports figure. It showcases a life worth emulating."

• Review: "I’ve been eagerly anticipating Wilfred Santiago’s graphic biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente since I first heard it was the works... Santiago uses black and white and some yellow-orange fill-ins, but really that’s all he needs. His style is clean, ranging in depiction of Clemente throughout the years to religious leaders to baseball action scenes, which he often depicts in a seemingly photo-realistic style with ballplayers drawn against what appears to be a collaged photo background of a baseball setting but is instead a note perfect drawing. ...Santiago does Clemente proud with 21." – David A. Kirschenbaum, Boog City (PDF download)

• Review: "Looking for someone to turn lemons into lemonade? In his own distinctive way, Alexander Theroux might be your man.... In Estonia: A Ramble Through the Periphery, he mines his disappointment and catalogs his discontents to impressively crotchety effect. ...[L]ike the country's many invaders—Russians and Germans, and, before them, Swedes and Danes—Mr. Theroux largely uses Estonia as a space for his own purposes, transforming this admirable country into a grotesque but clever caricature perfect for use as... a stage for Mr. Theroux's verbal pyrotechnics and some fine jokes... I laughed a lot, but guiltily." – Andrew Stuttaford, The Wall Street Journal

• Review: "After years and years and years, Fantagraphics has finally started their deluxe reprint series of Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo. The first volume is available right now, and it's absolutely beautiful, a big comic book with real heft and majesty.... Pogo always felt, to me, like a strip you should read like a novel, a continuing sitcom about the personality-heavy critters who live in a swamp. This collection proves that I was right. This isn't a book you read so much as sink into: Kelly's brilliant ear for dialect and voice lulls you along, and then you're lost in his beautiful artwork.... The whole book is... a series of packed — but crystal clear — panels that grow together to establish a world of curious characters whose misunderstandings lead to great adventures. If I had to make one complaint about this Pogo collection, it'd be that it ends too soon.... If you like comics, or if you know any kids who read comic strip collections, this is the Christmas book for you." – Paul Constant, The Stranger

• Review: "[My] gripes are minor in relation to the beauty and quality of this book presentation, as well as the stories themselves.... The stories, of course, are outstanding. Most of the long adventure tales are classics in their own right.... Plus, Barks comes up with some of the most brilliant schemes and swindles — most perpetrated against Donald for comedic effect. The super-compressed plotting makes everything more frenetic — and more funny! Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes is an excellent start to Fantagraphics’ Carl Barks Library." – K.C. Carlson, Comics Worth Reading

• Review: "It was the best of Momes, it was the worst of Momes. Alright, that’s not quite accurate, and not quite fair, either. But this unwittingly penultimate issue of Fantagraphics’ long-running alternative-comics anthology — page for page the longest-running such enterprise in American history! — is a hit-or-miss affair in the mighty Mome manner. ...[T]he hits... are strong enough to make the book worth checking out.... You gotta take the rough to find the diamonds." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "The ability to make me cry is not generally something I praise in a book.... But in Special Exits Joyce Farmer pulls off something much more difficult — she takes a true story and plays it straight without any overly dramatic embellishment. Her frank honesty lays bare the emotional core of the story.... Farmer’s black and white line drawings are detailed and expressive, but never flashy. Her art is straightforward, as befits the story.... The end product is as honest and unembellished as a personal journal and we’re lucky Farmer’s chosen to share it with us." – Andrew Fuerste-Henry, No Flying No Tights

• Review: "Despite [Taking Punk to the Masses'] coffee table book appearance, McMurray tries to keep the punk rock do-it-yourself ethic by letting the artifacts and punk denizens speak for themselves.... The quotes from the publisher/artists who created them and musicians who were featured weave together nicely to give a sense of moment. And sometimes the creator and object merge, such as the Nirvana show posters hand-drawn by Kurt Cobain." – Ian S. Wilder, Boog City (PDF download)

• Interview: At Heeb, Eli Valley chats with Drew Friedman about old Jewish comedians and Old Jewish Comedians: "A lot of these guys, they get to a point where they’re angry they’re not getting the attention they used to get. I guess that’s true for anybody getting old who used to be in the limelight. I wanted to capture that. 'Pay attention to me, I’m old but I’m still funny and I want you to pay attention to me.' These guys are still in your face, they never slow down, but basically it’s over. There’s no more work. A lot of them would just be happy to receive an award for their work. You just don’t want to be forgotten."

• Lettering by Jason for Athos in America; other recent Cats Without Dogs blog posts include Woody Allen movie reviews and an R.E.M. top 5

• From Kevin Huizenga, a couple of images from an upcoming anthology contribution (the originals of which are part of the Dylan Williams benefit auctions)

• Frank in the Museum of Sex, a recently-completed painting by Jim Woodring; also, Frank and the Living Rock, a drawing; Icebreaker, a drawing; and Frank in an unusual place, a photo

• Aqualad action by Steven Weissman at Repaneled; also his weekly "I, Anonymous " spot

• Unused (amazingly) poster design by Jim Blanchard for EMP's Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit

• Cartoon Utopia drawings by Ron Regé Jr. (still raising cash to aid in the completion of the book)

• Eleanor Davis robot portraits and trial sketches for the GR2 Robots art show; also a band sketch and custom book cover

• Paul Hornschemeier continues posting Forlorn Funnies prep artwork and other drawings on his The Daily Forlorn blog

• Stephen DeStefano gets Trekky in this recent storyboard work

• Versions of Lorenzo Mattotti's cover illustration for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in various states and media

• Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest and more by Max

• Prison Pit fan art by Jon Light

Plus:

• Updates on Frank Santoro's Tumblr including new drawings

• New updates on the Jim Flora blog with vintage spot illustrations

• Glow-in-the-dark prints by Lilli Carré

• A Noah Van Sciver "Chicken Strips" story from 2007

• One of Renee French's patented cute-n-creepy guys

• Steve Brodner redesigns the symbol of justice in light of the Troy Davis execution

• More travel sketches by Anders Nilsen

UPDATE: Corrected with updated date and time!

The Northwest tour for Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind has been hitting some pretty rockin' places, from record stores to college bookstores, but tomorrow's event is totally classy!

Join EMP curator/editor Jacob McMurray on Wednesday, September 28th at the Pan Pacific Hotel in downtown Seattle for a reading and discussion of the "grunge" era in a completely non-grunge-y locale!

Your $30 registration includes a copy of the book, and complimentary appetizers. Seating and noshing starts at 5:30 PM, and the presentation starts at 6:00 PM.  RSVP to 206.654.5005 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Note: seating is limited, so don't delay!

From the pages of Taking Punk to the Masses.

Wanna find out more reasons why Washington State is a cool place to live? Why not visit Seattle? If you book a room at the Pan Pacific Hotel in the "Nirvana Room Package," you'll get a signed copy of Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, as well as passes to the EMP exhibit! Note: do not treat your hotel room like a rock star.

The Taking Punk to the Masses Northwest tour wraps up this Thursday, September 22nd at the University Book Store in Tacoma... a city where apparently this happened:

From the pages of Taking Punk to the Masses

Holy crap, do they mean shoegazer band Lush? With Nirvana? For $5? Less if you brought canned foods?

This is the kind-of amazing paraphernalia of the grunge-era that you can only find in Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind! Join EMP Senior Curator/editor Jacob McMurray at 5:30 PM for a reading and discussion.

The University Bookstore is located at 1754 Pacific Ave in Tacoma. Somebody, ask him about that Nirvana show.

School is back in session! And this Thursday, September 15th, EMP curator/editor Jacob McMurray will "school" you all on the Seattle music scene, as documented in Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind!

Join Jacob at the University Book Store in Seattle at 7:00 PM, as he discusses the "grunge" phenomenon... on the very street where a lot of those unwashed musicians first bumped into each other, perhaps reaching for a Mudhoney 7" at Cellophane Square at the exact same time?

Sub Pop poster, from the pages of Taking Punk to the Masses, featuring artwork by Peter Bagge AND one of my all-time favorite bands, Velocity Girl

The University Book Store is located at 4326 University Way, N.E. or "The Ave," as it is called 'round these parts. Flannel optional.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "It would take Gottfredson a few years to hit his stride: Many of his best Mickey stories appeared in the later ’30s and ’40s. But the basic characteristics that would make the print version of Mickey popular after the studio curtailed his animated antics can clearly be seen in these first installments.... Race to Death Valley is the latest entry in Fantagraphics’ reprints of classic comic strips, and is sure to delight fans of Mickey Mouse as well as comic strip aficionados. The strips are clearly printed in a readable size, and editors Gerstein and Groth carefully document the origins of the strip." – Charles Solomon, Los Angeles Times Hero Complex

• Review: "A new book from Fantagraphics helps restore the balance to Toth's broader reputation. In Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth, 1952-1954, editor Greg Sadowski has assembled all of the crime, war, science-fiction, horror, and romance titles that Toth produced during his two years working for Standard Comics.... Setting the Standard pays tribute to Toth... by collecting genre-bound stories that the artist made fascinating through the sheer force of his talent." – Casey Burchby, L.A. Weekly

• Review: "Setting the Standard is chock full of stories... Lovers of good retro stories that support heroic warriors and the emotional problems of young women whose heart is between two men will be delighted." – Le Blog de Li-An (translated from French)

• Review: "For anyone with an interest in the Seattle music scene of the 1980s and ‘90s, the subgenre that became known as grunge, Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind is essential reading.... If you can’t make it out to Seattle to visit Experience Music Project’s Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit, this book is a suitable substitute. Tons of gig posters, set lists, and album artwork provide further context. These visuals, accompanied by McMurray’s straightforward commentary and the extensive DVD interviews, create a compelling document of a unique era of music history." – Blogcritics

• Reviews (Video): On the latest Comics-and-More video podcast, hosts Dave Ferraro and Patrick Markfort look at our two most recent Franco-Belgian translations, Gil Jordan, Private Detective: Murder by High Tide by M. Tillieux and Sibyl-Anne Vs. Ratticus by R. Macherot — hope they liked 'em

• History: At Comic Book Resources, Brian Cronin digs into a piece of Carl Barks duck-comic trivia that we'll have to address somehow when that volume of the Carl Barks Library comes around

• Lore: The latest installment of Kim Deitch's epic memoir-in-music "Mad About Music: My Life in Records" at TCJ.com takes us into the Sixties

The tour rolls on for Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind! EMP Senior Curator and editor of the collection, Jacob McMurray, is on tour across the Northwest, doing readings and discussions of the "Seattle sound."

And this Friday, August 19th, Jacob will be appearing at Easy Street Records in West Seattle! Enjoy an ice cold beer as the store spins hits from the "grunge" era, and join Jacob for a presentation, followed by a Q&A.

(And don't miss the vinyl section upstairs at Easy Street, man, oh man...)

Artwork by Ellen Forney, from the pages of Taking Punk to the Masses

This all-ages event starts at 6:30 PM. Easy Street Records is located at 4559 California Ave SW in West Seattle. Stay tuned to the Fantagraphics Events page and our FLOG for upcoming dates on the Taking Punk to the Masses tour!

Our summer tour continues for Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind!

After a sell-out show in Olympia [note: it was free], editor and Senior Curator of the EMP museum, Jacob McMurray, is now heading over the water to bad-ass Bellevue, WA! 

Charles Burns's iconic artwork for Sub Pop 200, from Taking Punk to the Masses

Sub Pop friends like Modest Mouse and Sunny Day Real Estate both formed on that side of the lake, and the East Side used to boast some legendary all-ages venues like Ground Zero and the Fire House.

You can join Jacob this Saturday, August 13th at Silver Platters Records in Bellevue at 2:00 PM for more local music talk and a book signing at this free, all-ages event!

Silver Platters Records is located at 15600 NE 8th St, in the Crossroads Shopping Center, next to the QFC. Keep an eye on the Fantagraphics Events page and stay tuned to the FLOG for upcoming dates on the Taking Punk to the Masses tour!