Hurricanes can't stop comics! Visit Fantagraphics at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival this Saturday, November 10th from 12:00 - 7:00 PM! Our lovely Marketing, PR and Outreach Fiend Jen Vaughn will be bringing you the fun!

SIGNINGS:
12:30-2:30 PM      Josh Simmons
1:30-2:30 PM        Olivier Schrauwen
2:30-3:30 PM        Tom Kaczynski / Gary Panter
3:30-4:30 PM        Charles Burns / Olivier Schrauwen

And though they won't be at our table, you can also seek out signings from Lilli Carré, Jordan Crane, John Pham, Tim Hensley, Gabrielle Bell, Charles Forsman, Jon Vermilyea, and more!

UPDATE 11/7: We're sorry to report that Charles Burns will be unable to join us at BCGF after all. Hang on to your copies of Black Hole for any upcoming signing instead!

PROGRAMMING:
These will all take place at The Knitting Factory [ 361 Metropolitan Avenue ], and the panels are free and open to the public:

11:00 AM // The Architecture of Comics: Ware, McGuire & Spiegelman: Comics are more than illustrated literature: they are the poetic application of structure to visual art. Their distinct modes of operation permit unique ways of exploring perception and expressing meaning. Richard McGuire, author of the seminal short comics story “Here,” Art Spiegelman, author of the modern classic Maus and works including In the Shadow of No Towers, and Chris Ware, author of Building Stories and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth will consider the architecture of comics in conversation with Bill Kartalopoulos.

12:30 PM // Shape, Line and Color: Blexbolex, Carré & Schrauwen: Comics have traditionally been bounded by a visual approach that privileges a linear, outline-based approach to art that can survive historically poor methods of reproduction. As technology has developed and as comics have gained from contact with other areas of art, contemporary cartoonists have increasingly embraced a greater variety of approaches to producing narrative graphics. Bill Kartalopoulos will discuss developing aesthetics with Blexbolex (Seasons, No Man’s Land), Lilli Carré (Heads or Tails) and Olivier Schrauwen (The Man Who Grew His Beard).

4:30 PM // The Narrative Collage: Burns, Hensley & Ricard: The mainstream publishing industry has often imposed the standards of conventional literary fiction on the comics form, suppressing comics’ essential status as an assemblage of potentially—and productively—discordant fragments. Charles Burns (Black Hole, The Hive), Anouk Ricard (Anna and Froga) and Tim Hensley (Wally Gropius, Ticket Stub) will discuss the possibilities and pleasures of crafting narratives that capitalize on the collage-like qualities of the comics form—in matters of structure, style and format—in a conversation moderated by Tom Spurgeon.

No need to flip a coin about it -- you simply don't want to miss the new exhibit from Lilli Carré!

Desert Island presents an exhibition of work by Lilli, celebrating her new short story collection Heads or Tails. Join them this Thursday, November 8th from 8:00 to 10:00 PM for the opening reception.

Desert Island is located at 540 Metropolitan in Brooklyn. And don't forget, you can also visit Lilli at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival this Saturday, November 10th!

Join editor Crag Hill for "Visual Poetry, Visual Poetics: A Reading," featuring a reading of The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008!

This event takes place tomorrow, Friday, November 2nd, in the Bundy Reading Room, Avery Hall, at the Washington State University in Pullman, WA, from 1:00-2:00 PM.

Crag will be joined by graduate students Owen Williams and Sarah Thaller for a collaged reading of essays against a slide show of images from the anthology. The reading will stimulate dialogue about visual poetics and multimodal composition.

One of Seattle's most notable artists, Ellen Forney, will discuss her courageous new graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me at the Seattle Public Library central branch on Saturday, November 10 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.

Ellen Forney has a long history of achievement as a cartoonist, visual artist, and charismatic figure in the Seattle's cultural community. Forney was recently anointed a "Genius" by alternative newspaper The Stranger. She's the featured public artist on the Capitol Hill light rail station project. Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics Books has collected her work in three popular volumes — Lust, I Love Led Zeppelin, and Monkey Food. Her collaboration with author Sherman Alexie on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was honored with a National Book Award in 2007. Beyond these accomplishments, Ellen has followed in the tradition of Lynda Barry, Tom Robbins, Kurt Cobain and other notable artists in cleverly reflecting regional sensibilities to the rest of the nation.

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. Her accessible approach to this difficult subject removes the social stigma associated with mental illness. Please join us on Saturday, November 10 at 7:00 PM at the Seattle Public Library as this extraordinary artist unveils her remarkable new book. 

Listing Information

Ellen Forney presents Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me.
Saturday, November 10, 7:00 PM
Microsoft Auditorium. Seattle Public Library Central Branch. 1000 4th Ave.
Admission free. Reservations not required.

Presented by Seattle Public Library Foundation and Fantagraphics Bookstore.

One of many appealing aspects of David Lasky and Frank M. Young's new graphic biography of The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song is the CD of the Carters performing live on border radio, playing songs featured in the comix. It has the ethereal effect of transporting readers back in time. A big attraction at the reception for Lasky and Noah Van Sciver this Friday, November 2 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is a music performance by Dennis Driscoll. He contributed a sweet version of "Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow" to America Salutes The Carter Family cassette-only release.

Another attraction on Friday is an exhibition of cartoonists associated with Seattle's lively Intruder comix and graphix tabloid at the One Night Stand Gallery, located directly above Fantagraphics Bookstore. This action coincides with the Short Run Small Press Fest November 1 - 3.

During APE weekend, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA launched the exhibit: Love and Rockets: A 30th Anniversary Celebration. This career-spanning retrospective features more than 50 pieces of original artwork from the groundbreaking comic.

People teased me & Mike about how excited we were to see the exhibit ("Don't you see their originals all the time at the office?"), but it really did give me goosebumps to see these 30-year-old pages in person. When Mike & I got back to the hotel, he tweeted this:

Yup, pretty much.

The opening reception was packed from the beginning of the event to the very end! It was hard to keep track of Jaime, Gilbert and Mario as everyone wanted a chance to talk with them!

Speaking of Mario, this show gave me a whole new appreciation for his work! I mean, just check out that groovy Jim Flora-esque portrait of the Bros he drew in 1997! So great! I wanna see more of Mario's artwork!! 

The exhibit runs through March 10th, 2013, so if you live in the San Francisco area, or will be visiting, I cannot urge you enough to drop by the Cartoon Art Museum at 655 Mission Street. Not only will you get to see this jaw-dropping exhibit, but the whole museum itself is an absolute treasure. I wish we could've spent more time there!

For those who can't see it in person, Mike & I have some more low-lit camera-phone photos at the Fantagraphics Flickr page. Thank you to the Cartoon Art Museum for hosting this wonderful retrospective, and of course, thank you, as always, to the Hernandez Brothers!

Oh, THE HORROR!

Earlier this month, the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery launched the exhibit “The Horror: From the EC Comics Library.” And after today, it will be GONE forever! Oh, what a world!

The exhibition celebrated the publication of the first two titles in the EC Comics Library series: Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman and Came the Dawn and Other Stories by Wallace Wood.

If you're in the Seattle area, stop by the store for your last look at the show! Larry might even have some tricks-and-treats in the form of our Tales From the Crypt EC sampler featuring the work of incomparable cartoonist Jack Davis!

If you live elsewhere, you can check out the Fantagraphics Flickr page for more photos from this exhibit... if you dare!

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily (including this Halloween night!) 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110.

Wednesday, October 31st

• Seattle, WA: It's your last chance to see our exhibit The Horror: from the EC Comics Library at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! I wrote myself a note about this in my calendar that just read "The Horror Ends," which cracked up my friend who saw it out of this context. (more info)

Thursday, November 1st

• Seattle, WA: Our own Jason T. Miles is just one of many awesome local artists in the show Handbound: Exploring the Process of Short Run Small Press Fest Exhibitors at SOIL Gallery. This group show explores the creative process of exhibiting book artists through a combination of original art, sketches, ephemera and books. It's high-brow, low-brow and everything in between. Reception is from 5:00-8:00 PM, and the show runs through December 1st. (more info)

Friday, November 2nd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery proudly presents a signing with Noah Van Sciver and David Lasky! Original work from both The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln and The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song will be on display at the store, and K Records artist Dennis Driscoll will provide the musical entertainment, including some Carter Family covers! (more info)

• Los Angeles, CA: Celebrate the release of Prison Pit 4 with Johnny Ryan at Meltdown Comics! Featuring a live performance by the one and only (THANK GOD) Cannibal Fuckface! (more info)

Saturday, November 3rd 

• Seattle, WA: A plethora of Fantagraphics artists and friends will be exhibiting at the 2nd Annual Short Run Small Press Fest at the Vera Project at Seattle Center. This event is FREE, open to the public, and is completely awesome. (more info)

• Athens, GA: The Georgia Museum of Art launches “Beyond the Bulldog: Jack Davis,” an exhibition that will go deeper into Jack Davis’ career than the sports and caricature work for which he is best known, focusing on his black-and-white drawings in particular! (more info) 

Sunday, November 4th 

• Vancouver, WA: Join  Noah Van Sciver at Lucky's Comics from 4:00-6:00 PM for a signing of The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln! (more info)

• Athens, GA: Head back to the Georgia Museum of Art today as Patrick Dean, curator of the exhibit “Beyond the Bulldog: Jack Davis,” and a cartoonist himself who sits on the board of the Jack Davis Foundation, will give a talk from 3:00 to 4:00 PM with a reception to follow. (more info) 

Daylight Savings is upon us this weekend, which means those of us in the Northwest can look forward to darker evenings and some good ol' Seasonal Affective Disorder.

What better time to burrow under the blankies with The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, a documentation of Abraham Lincoln's crushing cloud of depression by Noah Van Sciver! Reading Noah's sensitive look at Lincoln's irrepressible ambition despite his troubled times is even better than one of those sun lamps. After all, Lincoln made it through the darkness, and so will you...

Friday, November 2nd
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
Seattle, WA

Friday, November 2nd
Short Run Small Press Fest
Seattle, WA

Sunday, November 4th
Lucky's Comics
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Tuesday, November 6th
Floating World Comics
Portland, OR

Find your roomiest tote bag, and stop by the bank for dollar bills... It's time for the 2nd Annual Short Run Small Press Fest this Saturday, November 3rd at the Vera Project in Seattle Center!

Since Short Run is a celebration of small press, Fantagraphics won't be there ourselves, but many of our artists will have tables, including  Andrice Arp, Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard, Jason T. Miles (with his distro Profanity Hill), Michael Dowers, Pat Moriarity, and Noah Van Sciver.

Short Run runs (heh) from 10:30 AM - 5:30 PM. A little advice, if I may: get there early! There is so much to do and see at Short Run, and this year's fest is even bigger, if you can believe it!

There's nearly 100 small press exhibitors offering their comics, zines, and art books, from $.50 to $50.00! Plus, enjoy local animation screening all day, featuring Seattle Experimental Animation Team (SEAT), Reel Grrls, and other independent filmmakers. Exhibitors will be showing off all the ways they blend genres, such as advice expert Nicole Georges, writer/professional barber Zach Mandeville who will be giving free haircuts, and puppet master Erin Tanner. You can participate in live silk-screening where you can screen print a comic drawn by local artists or print one of our designs onto clothes you bring yourself. And like last year, there will be another decadent bake sale with donated goodies from Macrina Bakery, Grand Central Bakery, The Bang Bang Cafe, Stumptown Coffee, and our exhibitors and supporters! 

So, run, run, run to Short Run Small Press Fest this Saturday! The Vera Project is located on the corner of Warren & Republican Ave N, next to the Key Arena in Seattle Center. See you there!