One of America's most beloved and best known cartoonists, Jack Davis, will make a series of extremely rare appearances in New York City and Brooklyn in early December, to promote his new art book, JACK DAVIS: DRAWING AMERICAN POP CULTURE (published by Fantagraphics Books). These personal appearances will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a living legend and one of medium's greatest practicioners. On Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7PM, Davis will appear at New York's renowned Strand Bookstore, in conversation with Fantagraphics Books Publisher Gary Groth. The event will feature the world premiere of JACK DAVIS: DRAWING AMERICAN POP CULTURE….
Editor’s Notes: 500 Portraits
So, a year or two ago, Tony Millionaire tells us, "I've have over 500 portraits of people on my computer. Let's make a book!" We say, "Sure!" (Because this is what you do when Tony Millionaire says, "Let's Make a Book!") We schedule the book for the end of 2011, and this spring we start to have a conversation about it between myself, Tony and Jacob Covey (designer and co-editor). Tony sends us about 500 files that he's pulled from his hard drive. Jacob and I start going through them. We soon discover that this book is going to be…
The Crockett Johnson Bio
Last week, Philip Nel — my co-editor on our forthcoming Barnaby series , announced that his long-awaited bio of Barnaby (and Harold and the Purple Crayon) creator Crockett Johnson and his wife Ruth Krauss (the towering figure of children's lit responsible for such classics as The Carrot Seed, A Hole is to Dig, I Can Fly and so many others) finally has a title. Nel's bio of Johnson & Krauss will be published next June by the University Press of Mississippi , and we're aiming to release our own Barnaby Vol. 1 simultaneously. It's going to be a great summer for Johnson fans.
APE, Briefly
I took no pictures at APE this year save for the one above, of my pal Dan Shahin in his homemade Rory Root t-shirt (with Root's face comprised of a mosaic of hundreds of comic book covers). If I was to only take one photo, this strikes me as a perfectly appropriate one, as APE always reminds me of Rory, and his memory loomed large over the show for me (I wore my old Comic Relief t-shirt on Saturday in my own small attempt to honor the big guy). This was the first APE I've attended since Rory passed away…
Shut Up, Little Man
I can't remember when I first heard the "Shut Up, Little Man" tapes, but it was almost certainly a cartoonist who introduced me to them, specifically either J.R. Williams, Jim Blanchard or Peter Bagge, all of whom were connoisseurs of the "prank call" genre and sated my growing appetite for same in the early 1990s by making me mix tapes (including the also-essential "Tube Bar" recordings that catapulted "Red the Bartender" into infamy as the inspiration for The Simpsons' Moe Szyslak). The "Shut Up Little Man" tapes weren't phone pranks, per se; they were better! Two hateful drunks chewing each other…
The Infinite Kim Thompson
If you work at Fantagraphics long enough, you will invariably learn to marvel at the way that our fearless co-leader, Kim Thompson , has his hand in virtually everything that happens here. His ability to multitask is a source of endless conversation and awe. He juggles projects as easily as he does multiple languages. How does he do it? Well, thanks to this recent discovery in our archives, we now know the answer, and it turns out he owes it all to former Marvel Comics Editor Mark Gruenwald :
Fantagraphics presents Michael Kupperman: the Twain in the Membrane Tour
(Click here for a larger image; click here for an alternate version!) Fantagraphics Books Presents: MICHAEL KUPPERMANTHE TWAIN IN THE MEMBRANE TOUR Celebrating the release of MARK TWAIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 "Here Mister Kupperman," he said, thrusting a manuscript into my hands. "Publish this, and let the world read of my adventures." My name is Mark Twain, and I write these words to you in the good old days of August 2010. "What's that," you say? "Didn't you die a hundred years ago, you old coot?… The truth is I never died, but the same old rumors got exaggerated and then…
Fantagraphics presents Michael Kupperman: the Twain in the Membrane Tour
(Click here for a larger image; click here for an alternate version!) Fantagraphics Books Presents: MICHAEL KUPPERMANTHE TWAIN IN THE MEMBRANE TOUR Celebrating the release of MARK TWAIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 "Here Mister Kupperman," he said, thrusting a manuscript into my hands. "Publish this, and let the world read of my adventures." My name is Mark Twain, and I write these words to you in the good old days of August 2010. "What's that," you say? "Didn't you die a hundred years ago, you old coot?… The truth is I never died, but the same old rumors got exaggerated and then…
Jim Hanley’s Needs Your Patronage
I don't think I've taken a trip to New York City in the last ten years without making a stop at Jim Hanley's Universe. I wish I could stop by tomorrow. If you're near one, they could use your patronage. Preferably in the form of Fantagraphics books, but that's up to you…
Needs More Borgnine Gravy
I walked into Gary's office to ask him if he'd sent Johnny Ryan a contract for Prison Pit yet. He said he had. I asked him what Johnny's advance was. "Seven dollars," he replied. I was mortified. Gary stated that he meant to offer "seventy dollars" but when he wrote up the contract, he mis-typed and liked how it looked so much he decided to go with it. I suggested that perhaps $7 was more insulting than no advance at all. He laughed. I pleaded with him to reconsider. He wasn't having any of it. Suddenly, a large hawk landed…
