Fantagraphics Books commemorates its 40th anniversary with a series of talks, exhibitions, book signings, performances, and parties celebrating four decades of publishing the world’s greatest contemporary cartoonists. The impressive record of accomplishment and immeasurable influence of this Seattle-based enterprise are chronicled in the new book, We Told You So: Comics as Art, An Oral History of Fantagraphics Books. The festivities begin with a panel discussion on Fantagraphics’ first 40 years on Friday, December 9, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the elegant Folio library, located at 384 Marion Street in downtown Seattle. Moderated by Fantagraphics publisher and co-founder Gary…
Re/Read: Jim Blanchard’s Beasts and Priests
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid examining backlist titles you may have missed or are worth another look. This time we’ll focus on Beasts and Priests by former Fantagraphics art director Jim Blanchard. As the title suggests, Beasts and Priests documents both divine and demonic personalities of American pop culture: from Rat Pack louts and rogue politicians to revered rock ‘n’ rollers and stars of the silver screen. Blanchard employs ingenious treatments to capture the cult of personality that surrounds these figures. Mod fashion model Twiggy, Manson murder victim Sharon Tate, and sixties sex symbols…
What’s in Store: Short Run Marathon Exhibition
Seattle’s Short Run Comix & Arts Festival has become one of the country’s liveliest celebrations of the independent comix movement. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to again host the Short Run Marathon art exhibition and pre-festival reception this Friday, November 4 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The Marathon exhibition includes paintings, drawings, and prints by an international array of the festival’s featured artists: Dash Shaw, Vanessa Davis, Ivana Pipal, Brendan Kiefer, Phoebe Wall, Trevor Alixopulos, Hatem Imam, and Kerascoët (French cartoonists Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset.) Shaw will screen a clip from his new animated feature, My Entire High School…
What’s In Store: Jim Blanchard’s Visual Abuse
Fantagraphics Books continues its 40th anniversary celebration with a book launch party and exhibition for Visual Abuse: Jim Blanchard’s Graphic Art, 1982 – 2002 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, November 12. Blanchard relocated to Seattle in 1987 from Oklahoma City, where he self-published his popular punk fanzine, Blatch. He soon found work as an art director at Fantagraphics Books, while continuing to create posters and graphics for bands associated with Seattle’s emerging grunge movement. He published several comix on Fantagraphics’ provocative Eros imprint, and later worked as inker for Peter Bagge’s influential Hate comic book series….
Re/Read: Inner City Romance
Re/Read in a recurring column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid that examines backlist titles you may have missed or are worthy of another read. This time we’ll look at Guy Colwell’s essential Inner City Romance. Inner City Romance collects five issues of the transitional underground comic book series of the same name, originally published from 1972 to 1978. Colwell’s comix provide an unvarnished look at the impact of crippling poverty, substance abuse, and violent crime in the aftermath of the Bay Area’s sixties counterculture. His work is informed by his incarceration at McNeil Island federal penitentiary as a Viet…
What’s in Store: Rock is Not Dead
Join us on Saturday, March 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery as we celebrate the release of Rock is Not Dead, a collection of comix and prose inspired by contemporary pop music. This ambitious publication, from Canada’s 11th Dimension Press, comes complete with a CD of the songs referenced in the book. The event will include a performance by Amy Denio, who is featured on the project covering the Throwing Muses “Not Too Soon” which provided the inspiration for Seattle cartoonist Noel Franklin’s contribution to the book. Other subjects include songs by The Clash, Beatles,…
What’s in Store: Northwest Exposure
Don’t miss the Northwest Alternative Comics exhibition at Washington State University’s Museum of Art featuring Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, David Lasky, Max Clotfelter, Tom van Deusen, Eroyn Franklin, Taylor Dow, Mita Mahato, and Paul Chadwick, on view through December 17. Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid served as a consultant and will speak (very briefly) at the opening reception on Thursday, October 6. Artist talks, workshops, and related activities are planned throughout the run of the show. WSU is conveniently located in the middle of nowhere, on the border between Washington and Idaho south of Spokane. Then tune up…
Re/Read: Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull
Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid focusing on books worthy of closer scrutiny. With Halloween season fast approaching, we’ll look again at the exquisitely spooky opus Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull. Ghosts and Ruins contains meticulously rendered drawings of haunted dwellings and the otherworldly creatures that inhabit them. An atmospheric narrative accompanies each image, revealing the mysterious circumstances of the illustrations. In this attractive hardcover volume, Catmull mines similar territory to his acclaimed comic book Monster Parade. Freed from the conventions of sequential comix, this work evokes the sinister charm of Edward Gorey,…
What’s in Store: Incomparable Cartoonist Charles Burns
Fantagraphics continues its commemoration of 40 years of publishing the world’s greatest cartoonists with an event focusing on one of the founders of the alternative comix movement. Charles Burns appears at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, October 8 at 7:00 to discuss his graphic novel masterpiece Black Hole and other seminal works. Seattle native Charles Burns emerged from the Evergreen State College in nearby Olympia with Lynda Barry and Matt Groening in the mid-’70s. Together, this trio of gifted cartoonists popularized a new approach to contemporary comix. Burns came to the attention of future Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman, who…
Re/Read: Big Baby by Charles Burns
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid that examines backlist titles you may have missed or are worthy of another read. This week we’ll focus on Big Baby by Seattle native Charles Burns. Big Baby collects four stories created by Burns between 1983 and 1992 from works published in RAW comix anthology and his syndicated “Big Baby” comic strip. Much like the Hernandez Brothers‘ Love & Rockets stories of this period, science fiction plays an important role, though Burns’ EC horror comics influences are more evident. His primary protagonist is a peculiar little boy with an…
