Fantagraphics Blog Larry Reid

One of the most "unusual" references to Roberto Clemente can be found on the cover of Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual LP. The Pittsburgh Pirates legend's name appears prominently above the doorway behind the twisting pop diva in the photograph by Annie Liebovitz. Go figure. This 1983 recording sold over 9 million copies, yet won only a single Grammy award for album packaging. Apropos of little, other than a reminder to read Wilfred Santiago's wonderful graphic novel biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente.

Join us this Saturday, June 18 at 6:00 PM as two of the country’s most gifted young cartoonists debut their recent publications at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Paul Hornschemeier, from Chicago, presents Life with Mr. Dangerous and Seattle’s own Eroyn Franklin premieres the highly anticipated Detained.   Paul Hornschemeier’s latest book, Life with Mr. Dangerous, was serialized in Fantagraphics Books Mome anthology before being collected by Random House/Villard. It follows the saga of a newly single woman in her mid-20s stuck in an unfulfilling job as she struggles to find meaning and order in her life. The story is insightful…

Don’t miss Jim Woodring signing his latest work of genius, Congress of the Animals, at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Jim’s appearance is part of the lively Georgetown Carnival festivities featuring attractions that will appeal to all: circus entertainers, sideshows, aerial acts, carnival games, confections, music, alluring art, power tool races, and more! The Georgetown Carnival promises free fun for everyone from noon to 8:00 PM, rain or shine.  So plan to arrive early and stay late. For details see www.georgetowncarnival.com. You’ll want to see Larry, Bella and Stacey defend their title at Hazardfactory’s…

Cartoonists Paul Hornschemeier and Eroyn Franklin Present New Books on June 18 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle. June 7, 2011 – Seattle, WA – Two of the country’s most gifted young cartoonists will debut their recent publications at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, June 18 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Paul Hornschemeier, from Chicago, presents Life with Mr. Dangerous and Seattle’s own Eroyn Franklin debuts the highly anticipated Detained. Eroyn Franklin’s Detained explores immigrant detention centers in Washington State. Each side of the book is a continuous panorama that follows two immigrants as they navigate Seattle’s former…

Iconoclastic cartoonist Jim Woodring will be touring the Northwest in June behind the release of his latest masterpiece, Congress of the Animals. Woodring will appear in Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle to sign books and illuminate the allusions in his second full-length graphic novel. In Congress of the Animals we are treated to the pitiful spectacle of Woodring's signature protagonist Frank losing his house, taking a factory job, falling in with bad company, fleeing the results of sabotage, escaping in an amusement park ride, surviving a catastrophe at sea, traveling across hostile terrain toward a massive temple seemingly built in his image, being…

The opening reception for the Taking Punk to the Masses exhibition on May 14 was a stellar affair – a reunion of misfits and miscreants from Seattle's grunge era together with a new generation of counterculture mavens. The show documents Seattle's grunge scene in its formative period from 1983 – 1985. I often equate Seattle's youth culture in the mid-80s to San Francisco's hippie movement in the mid-60s. Both had a singular music style, provocative graphics, and an anti-fashion sensibility. Beyond that, these movements benefited from a community of gifted cartoonists that disseminated unfiltered observations. Fitting, then, that Peter Bagge was the special guest…

Among all the action this Saturday night at the Taking Punk to Georgetown party, gifted Seattle cartoonist Matthew Southworth will be signing copies of Stumptown. This new collection, written by Greg Rucka, is a hard boiled thriller set in Portland, focusing on a character named Dex — (short for Dexedrine). Southworth will trade pen for guitar at the after-concert where he's reformed the Capillaries, featuring similarly multi-talented Stranger art director Aaron Huffman with Aaron Brown. They'll be joined at Buddy & Jay's Scrap Metal Empiorium by Peter Bagge and Steve Fisk's Can You Imagine? and Wormburner, from Hoboken, New Jersey, appropriately enough.  

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to present "Charles Peterson: Taking Punk to the Masses." Inspired by the recent Fantagraphics book published in association with the acclaimed Nirvana exhibition at EMP, Peterson's photography show will focus on the seminal Seattle musicians and subculture that evolved into a global youth movement. The show opens this Saturday, May 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM with a reception for the artist and a guest appearance by Peter Bagge, who chronicled the emerging grunge scene in his comic book series Hate. Peterson will display 14 exceptional pieces from 1980s Seattle punk underground, the era…