Thank you so much to everyone who braved the chilly weather to attend the opening of "Playing Possum: The Pogo Art of Walt Kelly" at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery last weekend!
The festivities kicked off with a harmonious performance from local choral group Choir of the Sound, featuring Fantagraphics photojournalist (and wife of our own Kim Thompson), the lovely Lynn Emmert! They performed a Walt Kelly original, as well as a Christmas classic, before heading out to spread holiday merriment along the streets of Georgetown!
More musical accompaniment was provided by the trio Sawsome, who performed a delightful set featuring banjo, saw, guitar, and accordion — a perfect accompaniment to the swampy-styles of Pogo!
Of course, everyone was excited to take in the Pogo originals, including 12 dailies and 4 Sunday strips. We sold quite a few on opening night, but there are still some available, so come by the Fantagraphics Bookstore and have a look before the exhibit closes on January 4th! You can see some closer shots over at the Fantagraphics Flickr page.
And even Santa dropped by to take in the exhibit, seen here chatting with Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid! I wonder what Larry asked for Christmas!
This fun event also happened to be the bookstore’s 5th anniversary party, so we just want to take a minute to thank everyone who has supported our storefront for the past five years! We have more exciting events in store for you in 2012 (like our upcoming Tony Millionaire signing!), so here's to another five years and many more!