The colorful Georgetown Carnival arts festival enters its 7th year with an eclectic array of entertainment reflecting the sensibilities of one of Seattle's liveliest neighborhoods. This free, family friendly event features diverse music, interactive art, acrobats, circus acts, carnival games and confections, as well as Hazardfactory's world famous Power Tool Races. The fun is from noon to 8:00 PM on Saturday, June 8 in the heart of the historic Georgetown industrial arts corridor.
Don't miss stiltwalkers, aerialists, tall bikes, brass bands, and rock ‘n' roll. Young performers from Georgetown's School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts will be joined by youthful musicians from the Seattle Drum School on the Carnival Stage. Artists from Georgetown's Equinox Studios present intriguing art activities. Sandbox Sports hosts a children's beach party. Students from nearby Cleveland High School screen short films. "Minions" from Despicable Me 2 wander the Carnival grounds. Kids win wonderful prizes at creative carnival games.
Thrill to the spectacle of customized power tools drag racing side-by-side in Hazardfactory's infamous Power Tool Races, concluding with a cacophonous demolition derby. This year's Fantagraphics entry will be unveiled at Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, June 1. Sweet!
More than 15 bands perform on 3 stages, including Tom Price Desert Classic (featuring Fantagraphics own Martin Bland), Cute Lepers, The Billy Joe Show, Rocket Surgery, The Gum, Dead Man, and more, along with the grand opening of the Sub Pop Mega Mart in advance of their Silver Jubilee celebration in Georgetown on July 13. The Stables Midway Sideshow and Georgetown Brewing Beer Garden features mature entertainment including burlesque dancers, drag queens, and lounge acts. An additional beer garden is located at the Georgetown Trailer Park Market of Curiosities and music stage.
Plan to spend your whole summer in the enchanting Georgetown district!
VikingCon describe themselves as, "a cultural convention that serves as a place for individuals involved in the comic world across all levels of experience to come together and engage in meaningful conversations and explorations." And with that in mind, go engage in meaningful conversations with Gary and Mike in the following panels!
11:00 - 12:00 PM // The Age of Modern Comic: The Modern Age of Comics is a period in the history of American comic-books that began in the mid-1980s around the time of the publication of Watchmen, and has gone on to see the revival of the comics industry in the twenty-first century. This panel is a round-table discussion about the Modern Age, focusing on the multimedia popularity of comic books and addressing key issues about the changing nature of comics today. (Room VU 565A)
1:45 - 2:45 PM // Getting Into the Industry: Come meet industry professionals from many different aspects of the comic world, and learn what it takes to get in the business. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, artist, publisher/editor, or simply interested in how to get a career in the film, gaming, comic and graphic novel-inspired industry, this panel is a unique opportunity to ask and learn from people who have been in your shoes. (Room VU 565A)
• Seattle, WA: It's your last chance to see Jen Vaughn's exhibit (with her best friend Nomi Kane) at Chocolati Cafe [ 1716 N. 45th Street ]. Not only is she an amazing Marketing/PR/Outreach Fiend, but she's a kick-ass artist, too! (more info)
Our artists will be partaking in programming throughout the weekend, so check out their panels!
Saturday, April 27th
12:00-12:45 pm // Meathaus Reunion: Becky Cloonan, Brandon Graham, Farel Dalrymple and Dash Shaw: A reflective spotlight on Meathaus luminaries, Becky Cloonan, Brandon Graham, Farel Dalrymple and Dash Shaw whose work has appeared in various Meathaus anthologies since 2002. These artists have each maintained their own strong modern stylistic identity receiving both critical and commercial acclaim. Marc Arsenault (Alternative Comics) will introduce the panel with a look at the SVA art groups and graduates that led to the creation of the Meathaus comics collective. (Room B114)
1:00-1:45 pm // Angels and Demons: The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson: Mythology may be the key to understanding the work of highly influential underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, from the self-mythology that Wilson invented and polished over the years as a dashing and dangerous figure, to his personal inner landscape where his archetypal characters dwell when they arena gracing the pages of Zap Comix, Thrilling Murder, or Insect Fear, to the body of language and lore passed down from his hillbilly ancestors. With Patrick Rosenkranz. (Room B117)
2:00-2:45 pm // Two-Faced Artist Lives Double Life in Single Body!: The joys and perils of straddling the worlds of fine art and comics with cartoonists Jon McNaught, Julia Gfrörer, and Daniel Duford, moderated by Chloe Eudaly. Join us for a conversation with our panel of artists, each of whom are experienced in the realms of fine art and comics. We'll explore how they came to work in two seemingly disparate mediums, how their work in each converges with, diverges from, and influences the other, and the the sometimes arbitrary or artificial distinction between the two. (Room B117)
5:00-5:45 pm // Dylan Williams Tribute Panel: Share some time with the friends and colleagues of comics' best friend as we all recount our favorite stories about the late Sparkplug publisher's life and celebrate his philosophy and work as an artist, scholar and publisher. Time permitting, we will also attempt to make sense of his passion for unsettling any and everyone who dared point a camera at him at festivals like this one. Panelists include: T Edward Bak, Julia Gfrörer, Tim Goodyear, David Lasky, Tom Neely; moderated by Milo George. (Room B114)
Sunday, April 28th
1:00-1:45 pm // Submissions Do's and Don'ts: Jen Vaughn (Fantagraphics), Jamie Rich (formerly Oni Press), Bob Schreck (Legendary Comics), Allison Baker (Monkeybrains Comics), and Sina Grace (Image/Skybound) will share their experiences slogging through the submissions pile, everything from finding a diamond in the rough to bartering with the mailman to stop delivering submissions. Your questions? Answered! Your comics published? We'll see. (Room B114)
2:00-2:45 pm // Dash Shaw's New School: Dash Shaw is a cartoonist and animator whose graphic novel New School debuts at Stumptown from Fantagraphics Books. In this spotlight presentation, he will screen and discuss his animations, including his Sigur Ros video and Sundance short Seraph, and show slides of the process behind creating New School as well as some of his other comics. Moderated by Fantagraphics' Jen Vaughn. (Room B111)
4:00-4:45 pm // DIY Publishing: For many micropublishers, making good books is easy; it's the marketing and the selling that's hard. Panelists Tom Kaczynski (Uncivilized Books), Zack Soto (Study Group), Chloe Eudaly (Reading Frenzy), Jason Leivian (Floating World Comics), Keenan Keller (Drippy Bone), and moderator Milo George will look at different printing processes and their costs and compare notes on production/distribution issues including pricing and sustainability. (Room B111)
5:00-5:45 pm // Spain Tribute Panel: Spain Rodriguez, legendary underground cartoonist, tore his way into hearts of readers like the beloved motorcycles that grace the pages of his comics. Patrick Rosenkranz, Jen Vaughn, Eric Reynolds, and Charles Brownstein take you though the wild days of Spain's work from his groundbreaking ZAP anthology contributions to adapting the life of Che Guevara. Get acquainted with this revolutionary cartoonist and his award-winning work. (Room B117)
So, stop by the Fantagraphics Booth this weekend at Stumptown, Booth Q1 right down the aisle when you first walk in!
The Oregon Convention Center is located at 777 NE ML King Blvd, several blocks away from the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall, and conveniently located next to a Portland Tri-Met MAX Line stop for accessibility.
• Seattle, WA:Well, read the sign! Jen Vaughn, our most marvelous Marketing/PR/Outreach Fiend, is teaming up with her best friend Nomi Kane for a comics art show at Chocolati Cafe [ 1716 N. 45th Street ]. Join them for the opening reception tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, but even if you can't, you'll still have until Friday, May 3rd to see their exhibit! (more info)
• Brooklyn, NY: It's your last day to check out A Little Knotty, an art show by our own Dave Cooper showing at the Cotton Candy Machine! Take in the original watercolored drawings, inkings, new prints and fun merchandise while you can! (more info)
• New York City, NY: And it's your last day to visit us at MoCCA, at tables B64, B65, C80, C81 -- right in front as you walk through the main entrance! (more info)
A flock of rock stars descended on Fantagraphics Bookstore yesterday following a video shoot for the forthcoming Sub Pop Silver Jubilee celebrating 25 years of the storied Seattle record label. From left: producer and musician Jack Endino, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, brother TAD Doyle, and (former Fantagraphics staffer) Mudhoney front man Mark Arm.
Mark your calendars - and make hotel reservations - for Saturday, July 13 when Sub Pop presents 15 bands on two stages of free, all-ages entertainment right outside our bookstore. Inside the store, Fantagraphics curator Larry Reid is teaming with Sub Pop founder Bruce Pavitt for an exhibition focusing on the formative years of the Sub Pop phenomenon, including seminal works from cartoonists that would later become legends in their own right. This event also marks the world premiere of Danny Bland's highly anticipated first novel In Case We Die, from the world's greatest pop culture publisher. Time your summer vacation accordingly.
• Vancouver, BC: Our awesome Marketing/PR/Outreach Fiend Jen Vaughn will be on an Inkstuds panel at the Vancouver Art Gallery, discussing art and tradition of comics, as well as reflecting on their own work. (As she puts it, "I'm very stoked to be talking about periods/menstruation inside a place called VAG." Haw!) She'll be joined by fellow artists Emily Carroll and Brandon Graham, with your host Robin McConnell. This event is free for museum members, and for non-members, Tuesday night are "Pay What You Can," so don't miss this! (more info)
Friday, March 22nd
• St Catharines, ONT:The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 will have its Ontario launch party at the Niagara Artists Centre from 7:00 to 11:00 PM. There will be readings by derek beaulieu, Sharon Harris, Jenny Sampirisi, and Karl Jirgens. It is also the launch party for derek's book, Please, no more poetry: the selected works of derek beaulieu, and his accompanying art show How to Read. (more info)
Kim Thompson has been my partner at Fantagraphics Books for 35 years. He's contributed vastly and selflessly to this company and to the comics medium and worked closely with countless fine artists over that time. This is a tough announcement to make, but everyone who knows Kim knows he's a fighter and we remain optimistic that he'll get through this and report back to work, where he belongs, doing what he loves.
– Gary Groth
I'm sure that by now a number of people in the comics field who deal with me on a regular or semi-regular basis have noticed that I've been responding more spottily. This is because of ongoing health issues for the past month, which earlier this week resolved themselves in a diagnosis of lung cancer.
This is still very early in the diagnosis, so I have no way of knowing the severity of my condition. I'm relatively young and (otherwise) in good health, and my hospital is top-flight, so I'm hopeful and confident that we will soon have the specifics narrowed down, set me up with a course of treatment, proceed, and lick this thing.
It is quite possible that as treatment gets underway I'll be able to come back in and pick up some aspects of my job, maybe even quite soon. However, in the interests of keeping things rolling as smoothly as I can, I've transferred all my ongoing projects onto other members of the Fantagraphics team. So if you're expecting something from me, contact Gary Groth, Eric Reyolds, or Jason Miles and they can hook you up with whoever you need. If there are things that only I know and can deal with, lay it out for them and they'll contact me.
On behalf of Kim, we would like to encourage anyone who would like to reach out to him to feel free to send mail to him c/o Fantagraphics Books, 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, or email.
The best looping GIF of Online Commentaries & Diversions:
• Review: Publishers Weekly gives a Starred Review to Messages in a Bottle by B. Krigstein. "Krigstein’s stories are sometimes epic and sprawling, sometimes compressed and confined…His mastery of chiaroscuro, and his dramatic composition and layout, applied across a very wide range of subject matter, are what make this gorgeous collection so essential."
• Review:The AV Club also shows extreme love for the comics of B. Krigstein in his new collection Messages in a Bottle. Noel Murray writes, "Krigstein treated each assignment as a chance to put theory into practice, and even among EC’s formidable roster of stylists, Krigstein stands out as one for whom the words around the pictures almost don’t matter, because the art’s so mesmerizing that it’s hard to pay attention to anything else…"
• Review: The Advocate warms up to the reading of Gilbert Hernandez's Julio's Day. Jacob Anderson-Minshall writes "Hernandez is able to illustrate that those events had a global reach and dramatically impacted the lives of everyone — including the people in Julio’s life…A remarkable accomplishment that is likely to find its way on numerous Best of 2013 lists and garner Hernandez more well deserved awards and accolades, Julio’s Day is, at its heart, a gay story."
• Plug:Philip Nel plugs our latest volume of The Comics Journal #302 and it's interview -- the last interview-- with children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. "Above all, in reading Groth’s interview, it’s great to hear Maurice’s voice — his salty, funny, grumpy, insightful, irascible voice — just one last time."
• Review: Neal Wyatt of the Library Journal looks at the new books coming out this year from Fantagraphics. "Browsing the Fantagraphics spring catalog underscores the myriad of styles and literary approaches that graphic novelists and artists explore—be it Anders Nilsen’s near metaphorical images or Dash Shaw’s crowded and kaleidoscopic landscapes." He singles out Good Dog by Graham Chaffee, The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley by Kim Deitch, Lost Cat by Jason, New School by Dash Shaw ("Known for his frenetic and inventive artwork…") and The End by Anders Nilson.
• Plug: Dash Shaw appeared on Tumblr's Editorial Tumblr. He looks very nice, all working hard on comics and such.
• Plug: The Austin Public Library highlighted two of our books on their blog. On Jordan Crane's The Last Lonely Saturday, Betsey Blanche described as "The artwork is simple – drawn in mostly red and yellow – but full and effective." They also pulled out Lilli Carré's The Lagoon: "It’s another haunting but beautiful book about a family, mysteries, and the power of legends."
• Review:The Comicbook Pusherman looks at 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago. "…as a comic it absolutely crackles. The art is stunning. Santiago clearly captures baseball's (and Clemente's) unique energy and the Americas of the '50s and '60s and most distinctly the Puerto Rico of the 30s and 40s," says Jeffrey O. Gustafson.
• Plug: Get ready, MoCCA tablers. Gary Groth is on the esteemed jury for the Awards of Excellence starting up this year so reported by The Beat. Bring your A-game books printed on some uncoated paper.
• Plug (video): Our own Publicity Director, Jacq Cohen, is captured on film at Comic Con India on the Wandering Violinist talking about Joe Sacco's Palestine.
• Plug: Peter Bagge writes an article on cartoonist Al Capp at Reason.
• Plug: Bob Temuka and the Tearoom of Despair pick the perfect albeit spoiler of a panel from Hate by Peter Bagge.
As a recent thank you to Publisher Kim Thompson and editor Kristy Valenti (and more) for moving offices, I hatched up a scheme to paint the library door in our basement. If you haven't visited the Fantagraphics office recently, the lovely 70s shag carpet was ripped up awhile ago leaving the basement aesthetics a bit similar to that of a cattle kill floor. NO LONGER!
Inspired by Guy Peellaert's smashingly neon art in Jodelle, Office Manager Steph Rivers and I pulled out the carbon paper to adapt the drawing to our door. Also called graphite paper and available at art or architecture stores, it is an invaluable tool for mural making or large scale painting projects.
And then we let the Vitamin-C-infused paint hit the door. Now our library door matches the library door in Jodelle! Steph on the left as I sneakily took a photo.
The finished product may have worked too well. Now everyone at the office wants a new door. Maybe a Graham Chaffee one or Johnny Ryan....
Now time to paint all the book spines to match the ones in this library. Mwuhahahaha!
