Fantagraphics Blog Larry Reid

  The long held view of Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid that the Pacific Northwest gave birth and momentum to the alternative comix movement provides the premise for a lively PechaKucha presentation by 10 regional cartoonists this Wednesday evening at Cornish Playhouse. Reid will be joined by veteran cartoonists Peter Bagge, Jim Woodring, Ellen Forney and David Lasky, along with emerging artists Eroyn Franklin, Kelly Froh, Max Clotfelter, Tom Van Deusen, Gina Siciliano, and Tatiana Gill. The PechaKucha concept involves each artist showing 20 images for 20 seconds each – an ideal format for narrative art presentations.   Reid maintains the foundation for alternative…

Don't miss the publication party for Inner City Romance this Saturday featuring sweet original art by Guy Colwell at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. The exhibition fittingly opens on Valentine's Day from 6:00 to 9:00 PM and coincides with the 7th anniversary of the colorful Georgetown Art Attack.   Guy Colwell's comic book serial Inner City Romance appeared in 1972, illustrating the unvarnished reality of an emerging urban counterculture. As Matt Gonzalez observes in Juxtapoz magazine, "Colwell's art is motivated by two primary sentiments: first, a deep political strain meant to expose and offer commentary on political, economic, and racial disparities that exist in our…

Guy Colwell's comic book serial Inner City Romance appeared in 1972, illustrating the unvarnished reality of an emerging urban counterculture. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to commemorate the new anthology of this provocative work with an exhibition of original drawings, paintings, and prints opening Saturday, February 14 (on Valentine's Day, appropriately enough.)   Oakland native Colwell distinguished himself from the dominant themes of the period's underground comix movement by rendering in explicit detail the crime, poverty, death and desperation of his inner city protagonists. His approach is at once alluring and grotesque. As Matt Gonzalez observes in Juxtapoz magazine, "Colwell's art is motivated…

  Our thoughts are with the families of the cartoonists and their colleagues senselessly killed in Paris. We trust that in the end, the pen will prove mightier than the sword. By coincidence, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is hosting an appearance by French cartoonist collective Le Cagibi this Saturday, January 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Under the circumstances, this event takes on special significance.   The visiting artists, from Lille, France, will conduct a free workshop on their inventive techniques and present their handcrafted publications. They encourage people to bring tee shirts to be silkscreened on site with their designs. The…

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery begins a new year of lively programming on Saturday, January 10 with the fascinating exhibition Black Light: The World of L. B. Cole and a workshop by French comix collective Le Cagibi.   L.B. Cole created some of the most stunning, proto-psychedelic comic book covers of all time. Black Light: The World of L. B. Cole is the first retrospective of his career, featuring the largest collection of Cole artwork ever assembled. He became famous for his brilliant primary colors – often over black backgrounds – which he used on alluring covers for crime, suspense, science fiction, and romance…

  Our tribute to S. Clay Wilson at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday was a blast! Highlights included an entertaining presentation on the underground master by Patrick Rosenkranz, after which our friend Blaine Cook, frontman for metallic punk pioneers The Accused, showed Wilson's artwork for their More Fun Than an Open Casket Funeral LP. This marked the first time the original artwork had been publicly displayed. (Beware: Blaine is opening the Georgetown location of his award-winning Zippy's Burgers in January just three blocks from the bookstore.) A little later John Doe of X arrived ahead of their show at El Corazon….

  The celebration of our momentous Complete Zap Comix continues with two events this week. On Thursday, December 18 at 7:00 PM, editor J. Michael Catron will give an entertaining "History of Zap Comix" slide presentation at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.   This Saturday, December 20 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, the bookstore hosts A Tribute to S. Clay Wilson with Patrick Rosenkranz, Dennis Dread, and Jim Blanchard. Underground comix authority Rosenkranz will screen a short film and sign copies of The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson: Pirates in the Heartland and related titles. Dennis Dread will present Entartete Kunts, a provocative collection of "degenerate"…

  Don't miss the wild party at Fantagraphics Bookstore this Saturday, December 13 as legendary artist Robert Williams unveils the Complete Zap Comix with an exhibition, book signing and reception from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.  Join us as we commemorate the 8th anniversary of the bookstore with another memorable holiday gala. From the time it first appeared in 1968 – peddled from a baby carriage on the streets of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district – R. Crumb's perversely perceptive observations altered the course of American counterculture. Crumb was soon joined by Robert Williams, Gilbert Shelton, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, S. Clay Wilson, and…

Don't miss a chance to meet two of the country's most compelling contemporary cartoonists this Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.   Tim Lane will sign copies of his fascinating new graphic novel The Lonesome Go. His work is inspired by 1950s pulp magazines, film noir, and EC crime and suspense comic books. The atmospheric artwork perfectly complements the midcentury mythology of Lane's engaging stories.   As an organizer of the recent Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, Eroyn Franklin has kept a prolific schedule. She'll present a preview of her new feature length graphic novel Dirtbag,…

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery welcomes underground comix legend Robert Williams on Saturday, December 13 to celebrate the publication of the Complete Zap Comix Anthology with an exhibition and book signing. This event kicks off a weeklong series commemorating the monumental, multi-volume collection of comix that changed the future of this marginalized medium. From the time it first appeared in 1968 – peddled from a baby carriage on the streets of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district – R. Crumb's perversely perceptive observations in Zap altered the course of American counterculture. The Zap Comix collective came to include eight creative misfits, as…