Seattle is once again the center of the alternative comix universe with shows opening all over town this weekend. On Friday, January 11 at Roq la Rue from 6:00 to 9:00 PM is the post-apocalyptic group show "I'll Love You Til The End Of The World" featuring Fantagraphics favorites Camille Rose Garcia and Scott Musgrove. The same evening you'll find "Friends" at Cairo, featuring Intruder artists Max Clotfelter, Darin Shuler, Aidan Fitzgerald, Tom Van Deusen, Marc J. Palm, David Lasky, Nikki Burch, Ben Horak, Jason T. Miles, Tim Miller, James Stranton, Kazimir Strzepek and Alexa Kristine Koenings. (The future of alternative comix now.)

The comix action moves to Georgetown on Saturday evening, with a show of "Paintoons" by John Ohannesian at the One Night Stand Gallery (located directly above Fantagraphics Bookstore.) John has been busy in recent months as a Fantagraphics freelancer faithfully restoring classic strips like Nancy, Buz Sawyer, and Popeye for your reading pleasure. It'll be interesting to see how this exercise informs his cartoon paintings. Across the street at LxWxH Gallery is Bette Burgoyne's "Forest," a 30-foot narrative scroll drawing. And, of course, don't miss the Problematic reception with Jim Woodring at our bookstore. Lots of great surprises await.

We'd like to thank everyone involved in making 2012 a spectacular success at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Gifted artists, authors, musicians, and curators coalesced to create a stimulating cultural atmosphere at the space. 

Thanks to artists Peter Bagge, Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Nathan Bulmer, Charles Burns, Art Chantry, Jack Davis, Michael Dougan, Ellen Forney, Camille Rose Garcia, Ruth Hayes, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Tom Kaczynski, David Lasky, Tony Millionaire, Gary Panter, Joe Sacco, Noah Van Sciver, Chris Ware, and Jim Woodring; authors Jim Demonakos, Susan Kirtley, Mark Long, Pat Thomas, and Nico Vassilakos; musicians Geneviève Castrée, Zachary David, Dennis Driscoll, Lori Goldston, Kyle Hanson, and Molly Nilsson; guest curators J. Michael Catron, Max Clotfelter, Michel Gagne, Ben Horak, Cathy Hillenbrand, Tim Miller, Kristy Valenti, and Jen Vaughn; bookstore interns Lillian Beatty and Lillian Morloch; bookstore staff Janice Headley and Russ Battaglia, as well as our retail partners at Georgetown Records.

Most of all we want to thank you - our wonderful patrons - for your enthusiasm and support over the past six years. Cheers!

Turkey smurkey. It's a holiday weekend -- put down that comic book, get off the couch, and come buy more comic books!

Thursday, November 22nd

• Salvador, Brazil: Max launched his retrospective exhibition, Panóptica, at the Instituto Cervantes de Salvador! Check out the FLOG for pics and reports from previous stops on this exhibit's tour! (more info) 

Friday, November 23rd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery has extended our exhibit for Noah Van Sciver's The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln and Frank M. Young & David Lasky's The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song to today! Beat the stampedes this Black Friday, and support independent shops! (more info) 

• Vancouver, BC: It's a Horror Hangover thanks to Robin McConnell of Inkstuds with this group show featuring Fantagraphics' staffers Jason T. Miles and Jen Vaughn, Mome veterans Malachi Ward and Jim Rugg! Plus, check out that poster illustration from Al Columbia! (more info)   

Saturday, November 24th

• Seattle, WA: Join us at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery for the book release party for The Last Vispo Anthology, edited by Northwest literary artists Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill.  Their work will be feted with an exhibition, readings, and a musical performance from Lori Goldston (former Nirvana and Earth cellist, and recent Stranger “Genius Award” recipient) performing with former Black Cat Orchestra bandmate Kyle Hanson. (more info) 

• St. Petersburg, FL: Meanwhile, the Eve N Odd Gallery will be hosting a launch party for The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, as well, with prints from the book on display! (more info)

• Vancouver, BC: You'll be horrified if you miss the last day of Horror Hangover, hangin' at the Hot Art Wet City's Pop-Up Gallery! (more info)

Sunday, November 25th

• Vancouver, BC: And the celebration continues for The Last Vispo Anthology at the STAG (Strathcona Art Gallery) Library with unscheduled pop-up readings and performances by: Jim Andrews (Vancouver), Judith Copithorne (Vancouver), Crag Hill (Idaho), Donato Mancini (Vancouver), Gustave Morin (Windsor), Michael V. Smith (Kelowna), Nico Vassilakis (Seattle) and possibly more! (more info)

The strongest umbrella in the wind of Online Commentaries & Diversions: 

• Review: Paul Constant of The Stranger looks at The Last Vispo: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, edited by Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill. "As an art book, it demands hours of investigation. . . For those linguistic pioneers looking to find the future of fiction, this could be one of the most informative poetry anthologies to be published in the new millennium."

• Review: NPR's My Guilty Pleasure looks at the Jacques Tardi graphics novels of Adèle Blanc-Sec who is "young writer with the brains of Sherlock Holmes, the body of Angelina Jolie and the stoic fortitude of the Marlboro Man." Rosecrans Baldwin states, "The books are part adventure comic, part hardboiled fiction. They're terrific whodunits that conjure up all the precise atmospheric detail of, say, a Georges Simenon novel, but with twice the plot."

• Review: The Crackle of the Frost makes NPR's Graphic Novels that Fell Under the Radar of 2012 list. Glen Weldon states, "it's Mattotti's breathtakingly vivid paintings, pulsating with the mysterious poetry of unsettling dreams, that add a welcome and indelible splash of Kafka and Murakami."

• Review: Blacklung by Chris Wright gets reviewed on Nerds of a Feather. Philippe Duhart says, "Wright’s genius is further evident in his ability to use these aberrant cartoonish characterizations to convey human emotion, particularly terror. Wright’s portrayal of violence is stark and chilling – despite or perhaps because of his singular style. . . Black Lung worked on all counts. Plus, pirates."

• Review (video): Kapow Comics down in Australia reviews Chris Wright's Blacklung. Al states "this is a complicated book with musings on philosophy, literature, mortality and especially, religion has a big focus." Sonya says, "Every single character changes in this story, their journey changes them . . . [Blacklung] prayed on my mind. It lingers with you."

• Review: Glen David Gold looks at Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons edited by Kelly Gerald in the LA Review of Books. In an attempt to see how the bread is made, Gold, "Cartooning was O'Connor's first artistic passion. . . . An article in the local paper and a pile of rejection slips from The New Yorker indicate how serious she was. . . not an early blush of Flannery the fiction writer at work. But I'd still recommend it to the curious. Come at it without expecting same genius, but look at it because it's an extreme close up of biography."

• Review: Publishers Weekly looks at Jack Jackson's Los Tejanos and Lost Causes. "Comics’ current vogue for nonfiction was pioneered in these two works from the late underground comix founding father Jackson, who died in 2006. Jackson brought an R. Crumb–style crosshatching and love of facial grotesquery to these two densely researched historical graphic novels."

• Plug: Publishers Weekly and Ada Price show a sneak peak of The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio. Enjoy 14 pages of pure genius but don't forget to read each one right to left! We're talking manga here.

• Review: Rob Clough of The Comics Journal enjoys The Hypo by Noah Van Sciver."he’s made a fairly significant leap as both a draftsman and a storyteller in a relatively short period of time . . . Van Sciver’s greatest achievement in this book is his storytelling restraint. He lets his cross-hatching gets across the grime . . He wants to show the reader a different side of the Lincoln we grew up reading about in the history books, but also wants the reader to connect this younger man to the future president."

• Interview: Antonio Solina of Italian site Lo Spazio Bianco interviews with Jaime Hernandez .

• Commentary: On the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, Coming Books are Burning in Hell talk non-stop about the mystery cartoonist that is Olivier Schrauwen of The Man Who Grew His Beard. BCGF coverge by The Beat (Heidi) describes the Olivier Schrauwen exhibit and Hannah Means-Shannon on the panels. Julia Pohl-Miranda from Drawn and Quarterly snaps a pic of me and former intern Anna hard at work (and pretty hot, you can see our sweat)

• Commentary: OSU Librarian, Caitlin McGurk, visited the Fantagraphics office and wrote up a nice report on us at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum blog!

Who says Halloween is the scariest holiday? When you can't bear the sight of dirty dishes and leftovers, when the parents have worn your last nerve, or when you can't seem to button your jeans anymore, it's time to head to the Horror Hangover in Vancouver, BC!

(Yeah, I know Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving in October -- it's been a helluva hangover.)

This group show was curated by Robin McConnell of Inkstuds, who explains, "Horror Hangover is a chance for cartoonists to work on some conceptual ideas for visions of times mostly terrible, some exhausting, with a couple of positive examples." Sounds perfect for the holidays to me!

Not only does the show feature Fantagraphics' staffers Jason T. Miles and Jen Vaughn, but you can also find work from Mome veterans Malachi Ward and Jim Rugg! Plus, check out that poster illustration from Al Columbia!

The opening reception is this Friday, November 23rd, from 7:00 to 11:00 PM, and your last chance to see it is on Saturday, November 24th from Noon to 6:00 PM. Hot Art Wet City's Pop-Up Gallery is located at 752 E. Broadway. 

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) 

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!

Thank you to everyone who came by our booth this past weekend at APE: the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, CA! Look at how happy you made our Marketing Director, Mike Baehr! We hope we were able to make you guys happy, too, with all our amazing debuts and wonderful guests.

Our good pal Daniel Clowes made an unofficial appearance, and braved the crowds for a visit with The Hernandez Bros! I think that lady to the right just realized who cut in front of her in line...

Jim Woodring delighted fans with sketches of his iconic characters, and he somehow did it with just a cheapie ballpoint pen! (His usual drawing pen decided to give up the ghost right before signings began.)

The great Mark Kalesniko was all-smiles as he signed copies of his books for fans! Mark also brought both an electronic slideshow and some originals, which was a wonderful lesson in cartooning for everyone who stopped by.

photo credit: Ted Abenheim from Prism Comics!

It's the unstoppable Justin Hall, moderating the Queer Cartoonists Panel before his No Straight Lines signing with us! That man is a trooper, I'm tellin' ya.

And we were lucky to steal the always-busy Shannon Wheeler away from his own booth for a couple of signings of Oil & Water!

Our all-star line-up kept us hoppin', but I did manage to sneak away a few times for some shoppin' and some photos of our Fantagraphics friends!

It's an annual tradition to sit side-by-side with our good buddies (and fellow Northwesterners) Jim Blanchard & J.R. Williams! 

Wake up, Gabrielle!!! Oh, well, I'll let her rest up for her signing with Tom Kaczynski (and Charles Burns, not at APE) this coming Saturday, October 20th at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery...

Here's Mome-veteran Jon Vermilyea, with his incredible prints and zines. He told us he was planning to hit the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, so make sure to visit his table, New Yorkers!

Here's fellow Mome-vet Malachi Ward in a rare quiet moment at his booth -- we were excited to get the latest volume of Expansions from him!

We had a quick visit with No Straight Lines-contributor Ed Luce, merchandising mad genius! 

We didn't manage to snap a pic of the elusive Tim Hensley, but he was at APE, debuting his Ticket Stub collection with Rina Ayuyang's Yam Books! And, good lord, can I tell you people, it is a thing of freakin' beauty. Get one, seriously.

Speaking of elusive, the rumors were true: Zak Sally did make an unexpected secret appearance at the show! He snuck away before I could take a photo, though!

While I visited with Fanta-friends Tom Neely and Emily Nilsson of Sparkplug Comics, Mike had to contend with that line you see in the upper-righthand corner of this pic for the Love and Rockets signing! Yikes, sorry, Mike!

A quick run back to our own booth, and I was able to catch the adorable Brett Warnock of Top Shelf kanoodling with Rich Koslowski across the aisle!!!

Going through our photos, I was surprised that neither Mike nor I snapped any pictures of my birthday-buddy Tom Devlin of Drawn & Quarterly. (We both turned a year older on Saturday of the show.) But his v-neck sweater really did look great with the collared-shirt. Happy birthday, dear Tom!

Yay, that was fun! Let's do it again next year, San Francisco!

Thursday, October 18th

• Chicago, IL: Cartoonist and comics scholar Ivan Brunetti will discuss his work, both in and out of the classroom, followed by a Q&A, at EnergyBBDO offices. This event is free and open to the public! (more info)

Friday, October 19th

• Portland, OR: Today kicks off the three-day event The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts, featuring Fantagraphics artists Frank Santoro, Sammy Harkham, Jason T. Miles, among many others! (more info) 

Saturday, October 20th

• Seattle, WA: Join us at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery for a signing with Charles Burns, Gabrielle Bell and Tom Kaczynski from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Charles will be debuting The Hive, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2010’s sensational dreamscape, X’ed Out. (more info)

• Seattle, WA: Jaap Blonk, revered Dutch voice virtuoso and contributor to The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, presents a full live show with visuals at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill at 5:00 PM! (more info)

• Portland, OR: Workshops, panels, and more will continue to happen at The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts! (more info) 

Sunday, October 21st

• Seattle, WA: Join Charles Burns at the Elysian Brewing Company for the monthly unveiling of the latest flavor in their "12 Beers of the Apocalypse" series, "Omen"! (more info) 

• Portland, OR: Today's your last day to check out The Projects: International Festival of Experimental Comics and Narrative Arts! (more info)  

Monday, October 22nd

• Seattle, WA: The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to co-present "Building Comix with Charles Burns and Chris Ware" at Town Hall. The modest $5.00 admission fee can be redeemed on the purchase of any book at the signing following the presentation. (more info)

Waffle days are BACK at Fantagraphics thanks to a hearty group of staffers: Stephanie, Jacq, Kristy, Steph O. and Jen. The waffles proceeded, of course, a staff meeting because we like our sweet AND sour here.

Featuring delicious chicken and some heart-shaped vegan waffles, we chowed down with the regular condiments too like Nutella, peanut butter, fruit, whipped cream and good ol' Vermont maple syrup. Ian nibbles in anticipation of that perfect golden brown waffle.

Emory and Tony talk turkey (bacon).

Grillmasters Jen and Jacq.

Interns were not locked in the basement as per our usual when free food is around so they frolicked wielding doughy forks and wearing happy grins. WAFFLES ARE BACK.

(Beautiful waffle pic by Steph Haynes. There is no grunge appropriate Instagram filter, yet.)