This Saturday, November 24th, the Eve N Odd Gallery hosts a launch party for The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008!

The event runs from 6:00 - 9:00 PM, and there will be prints on display, at the Eve N Odd Gallery, located at 645 Central Avenue #11, St. Petersburg, FL.

This Wednesday, November 21st, preserve yourself internally with some fine Elysian beer, and then get mummified! It's time for the next event in the 12 Beers of the Apocalypse series, our collaboration with Elysian Brewing Company!

This week, they'll debut "Mortis," a Sour Persimmon Ale, available on draft, and in exclusive 22 oz. bottles with labels featuring the artwork of the great Charles Burns from his weirdly apocalyptic Black Hole series.

The official tapping begins at 4:00 PM, followed by a survival demo by Bryan & co. at 5:30 PM, and then from 4:00 to 7:00 PM, you have the opportunity to "get mummified."  

Come by and collect the next stamp in your Apocalypse Beer Survival Guide. Fill your book with survival item stamps at our Apocalypse events throughout the year for an outstanding experience at our final End of the World Celebration on 12.20.12! 

The Elysian Brewing Company is located at 1221 E. Pike Street in Seattle. Can you believe the end is almost here? And the end is BEER!

November 18th - Waxahachie, TX.  HIDDEN BEHIND THE STARS featuring the artwork of Esther Pearl Watson opens up this Sunday on the plains of Texas at Webb Gallery. From 3-7pm on Sunday November 18th, you can rock out with music by Quintron and Miss Pussycat while gazing at amazing paintings by Ester. At 7pm, see a premiere screening of Quintron and Miss Pussycat's new movie "The Mystery in Old Bathbath."

Esther Pearl Watson is one of Webb Galleries favorites. Her work is fantastical, beautiful, witty, colorful, dark and autobiographical all at the same time. Many of the works depict her childhood, of growing up with a father obsessed with the idea he could build a flying saucer and sell it to NASA or Ross Perot. Her newest body of work addresses perception and legibility of painting with the addition of surface texture and sculptural elements such as starry fabrics and sculpted meteorites. She grew up in the DFW metro-plex, but currently resides outside of Los Angeles.

Esther Pearl Watson earned her MFA at California Institute of the Arts in 2012 and a BFA at Art Center College of Design. Her work has been exhibited at Nancy Margolis Gallery, Billy Shire Fine Arts, Lesher Center for the Arts and Oakland Museum of California. This is her first exhibit following her Masters Graduation from CalArts.

In addition to paintings, Esther will also have copies of her two Fantagraphics graphic novels, Unlovable, loosely based on a teenager’s diary from the 1980s found in a gas-station bathroom. Tammy Pierce is one of the most unfortunate teens and unabashed malcontents on the other side of the 80s. Serialized in the back of Bust Magazine, Watson has an incredible talent for humor in frantic, scrawled drawings. Adding paint and gouache to the mix just make everything cuter. Hope ya'll can come out! (my apologies to other non-ya'lling Texans).

Webb Gallery - downtown Waxahachie, Texas
209 W. Franklin
972.938.8085
www.webbartgallery.com 

Party in the city where the heat is on.
All night on the beach til the break of dawn
Welcome to Miami (bienvenido a Miami)

Ain't no party like a Miami Book Fair International party, which kicked off this past Sunday, November 11th. Yes, they party all week long when it comes to books! And, things get even hotter this weekend as our Fantagraphics artists take the scene for the Graphic Novel programming!

Saturday, November 17th

This past Saturday, the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery was proud to co-present an event at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch as Ellen Forney debuted her brand-new graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, out now on Penguin Books' Gotham imprint. Thank you to everyone who came out!

Comics readers are more good-looking that regular readers.

No surprise to anyone, Ellen gave a fantastic, and brave, performance. Marbles is her graphic memoir about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She told the audience that she had hid this from her friends when she first found out, so for Ellen to talk about it years later in front of a packed auditorium filled with strangers was truly inspiring!

Ellen had "Club Van Gogh" membership cards printed up for us to hand-out! (We still have some at the store, if you missed out.) Alas, it does not get you free miles on Alaska Airlines flights, despite what Larry might have told you!

Speaking of Larry, his introduction for Ellen was especially sweet. He reminisced about the days when he was the PR Director for Fantagraphics, and Ellen came to the office saying she wanted to be a cartoonist!

After her amazing presentation, Ellen headed out to the lobby of the Seattle Public Library to sign books...

...the line wrapped around the corner!

Local artists David Lasky and Greg Stump stopped by, seen here with the lovely Leeann Bowen! Megan Kelso was also in the audience, but I didn't manage to get a snap of her.

Back in the now-empty auditorium, Larry chatted with local arts activist Cathy Hillenbrand, who will surely enjoy her new copy of I Love Led Zeppelin!

Thank you so much to the wonderful staff of the Seattle Public Library, who are always a joy to work with!  And thanks again to everyone who made it out for the event. There are more camera-phone-snaps of the event at the Fantagraphics Flickr page!

If you couldn't make it, Larry will have signed (yes!) copies of Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me at the store later this week. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110.

The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998 – 2008 featured at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on November 24.

Much like the language of comix, visual poetry employs imagery to supplement the written word. This ocular form of discourse is the subject of a new book, The Last Vispo Anthology, edited by Northwest literary artists Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill.  Their work will be feted with an exhibition, readings, and music performance at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, November 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

The reception will feature short readings by contributors James Yeary, Donato Mancini, Robert Mittenthal, Joseph Keppler and Gustave Morin, as well as editors Hill and Vassilakis. The exhibition will include 15 prints from the anthology. Musical entertainment will be provided by Lori Goldston (former Nirvana and Earth cellist, and recent Stranger “Genius Award” recipient) performing with former Black Cat Orchestra band mate Kyle Hanson. This event marks the departure to New York of editor Nico Vassilakis, a longtime Fantagraphics employee and fixture in Seattle’s cultural community. Admission is always free.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle’s vibrant Georgetown industrial arts corridor. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

Listing Information

The Last Vispo Anthology exhibition, book signing and readings featuring music by Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson.

Saturday, November 24, 6:00 to 8:00 PM.
Exhibition continues through December 6.
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St. Seattle,WA 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

I've been totally remiss on telling y'all about this show! VHS Art New Wave launched last month in honor of Independent Video Store Day at Seattle's own Scarecrow Video.

Scarecrow Video is one of those local landmarks that makes me proud to live here: it's the largest independent video store in the country, and is known for their amazing collection of rare, out-of-print oddness.  Their vast catalog was scoured by the editors of our (now out-of-print itself) collection Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film, with help from employees of the store.

Local cartoonist (and Scarecrow employee) Marc Palm curated the show, inviting over 30 artists to contribute their renditions of video box art, including our own Larry Reid, manager and curator of the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery!

That's Larry's box in the center, featuring a shout-out to Carl Barks's Donald Duck! (Sorry the photo is blurry! Larry's box was high up on the wall, and I was literally on tip-toe trying to take a photo of it!)

Lots of local artists are featured in the show, including David Lasky, whose box is in the center of that pic above.

On Thursday, November 22nd, Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia celebrates the release of The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, and the work of contributor and visual poet Jesse Patrick Ferguson!

Both The Last Vispo and Jesse's solo book dirty semiotics (Broken Jaw Press, 2011) will be featured in an exhibit at the Cape Breton University Art Gallery. At the opening reception, Jesse Patrick Ferguson will present a short talk on the history of visual/concrete poetry and his own practice in particular. 

This event runs from 4:00-5:00 PM, and is free to attend (donations to the gallery welcome). Light refreshments will be served. This event is co-sponsored by CBU's Department of Languages and Letters.

If you can't make it to the opening reception, you'll still have until January 18, 2013 to view the exhibition! Cape Breton University is located at 1250 Grand Lake Road in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

One of Seattle’s most celebrated artists, Ellen Forney, will discuss her courageous new graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me at the Seattle Public Library central branch on Saturday at 7:00 PM. Her slide presentation in the Microsoft Auditorium will be followed by a book signing. Copies will available at the event. Admission is free.

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, from Penguin Books’ Gotham imprint, chronicles Forney’s experience with bipolar disorder in the context of her career in comix. She documents her symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment with both sensitivity and humor.

Forney has 3 previous comix collections from Fantagraphics Books and is a newly anointed Stranger “Genius.” Her collaboration with Sherman Alexie on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was honored with a National Book Award in 2007. Beyond these and other accomplishments, Ellen follows in the tradition of Lynda Barry, Tom Robbins, Kurt Cobain and other notable artists in cleverly communicating regional sensibilities to the rest of the nation. To preview the event, Forney will appear on Seattle's KUOW public radio to talk with reporter Marcie Sillman this morning, Thursday Nov. 8th, at 9:45 a.m.

Please join us this Saturday, November 10 at 7:00 PM at the Seattle Public Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, as this extraordinary artist unveils her remarkable new book. Presented by Seattle Public Library Foundation and Fantagraphics Bookstore.

Thursday, November 8th

• Brooklyn, NY: Desert Island presents Lips and Crumbs: Works by Lilli Carré! She'll also be signing her new collection Heads or Tails from 8:00 to 10:00 PM. (more info) 

• Eugene, OR: The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR is hosting the exhibit GOOD GRIEF! Original Art from 50 Years of Charles M. Schulz's PEANUTS, and our own Gary Groth will discuss the importance of Charles Schulz's work within the larger tradition of newspaper strip comics. This event begins at 5:30 PM, and is co-sponsored by the UO School of Journalism. (more info)

Saturday, November 10th

• Seattle, WA: Ellen Forney will discuss her courageous new graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch at 7:00 PM. Her slide presentation in the Microsoft Auditorium will be followed by a book signing. Copies will available at the event. Admission is free. (more info)

• Brooklyn, NY: Visit Fantagraphics at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival with our special guests Josh Simmons, Olivier Schrauwen, Tom Kaczynski, and Gary Panter! (more info)

Sunday, November 11th

• Sydney, Austrailia: Peter Bagge will be the guest of honor at GRAPHIC 2012 in Sydney, Australia! Join Pete for an in-depth insight into his darkly comic and hysterical semi-autobiographical work. He'll be discussing Hate and other Neat Stuff at the famous Sydney Opera House. (more info)