Fantagraphics Bookstore Features Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Romance Comics

Jack Kirby is among the most influential American artists of the last century, but a substantial body of Kirby’s work has been largely overlooked until recently. In the post-war years, with the popularity of superhero comic books fading, Kirby teamed with writer Joe Simon to create the new genre of romance comics. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrates these forgotten works with “Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics.” The interpretive exhibition opens on Saturday, April 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM with a discussion by Michel Gagné, author of a recent collection of the same title from…

Letter from a young 21 reader

Oh, this is so delightful I can barely stand it! A young reader of 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago sent this illustrated thank-you note to Wilfred's partner & editor Sanlida Cheng, who shares it via the 21 Facebook page.

First Significant Objects sneak peek

At HiLobrow, Significant Objects co-editor Joshua Glenn gives you your first glimpses of the interiors of the book, presenting three two-page spreads as designed by good ol' Jacob Covey and giving a few more details about the book along the way. The excitement is building!

Listen, Whitey! at Amoeba Records Los Angeles!

Editor/curator Pat Thomas is on tour with Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, and it could not be more perfect that his next stop is at Hollywood's Amoeba Records!  This enormous store occupies an entire city block, and Pat will be guest DJ'ing! You'll be sure to hear some picks from the companion CD of the same title from Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records.  Stop by Amoeba on Thursday, April 5th at 7:00 PM to hear what else he might spin, and to get your copy of Listen, Whitey! signed by Pat! Amoeba Records is…

Daily OCD: 4/3/12

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Every one of Giandelli’s surfaces — walls, windows, bedspreads, books — seems alive. Her colors almost wriggle. The darkness she draws is so black it’s wet. She approaches long corridors like David Lynch does in his films: not something you walk down, but something you’re swallowed by. Interiorae is engulfing…. In restored and essential color, this collected edition gives the mood the necessary space to simmer and boil — just like poetry has the white of the page around it to slow you down and give it weight. Even before you notice the…

Bookmark: new Hans Rickheit blog

Hans Rickheit has launched a new blog — or rather, his associate Christian Berntsen has — which is your new HQ for all things Hans, including notification of updates to his ongoing webcomics Ectopiary, Cochlea & Eustachia, and, now being serialized online, his debut 2001 self-published graphic novel Chloe. And of course there will be updates pertaining to the imminent release of Hans's new collection Folly: The Consequences of Indiscretion. Hans fans new and old, lock your computers to these coordinates.

Vote Jaime Hernandez for the Stumptown Comic Art Awards

Jaime Hernandez is nominated for Best Cartoonist in the 2012 Stumptown Comic Art Awards for his work in last year's issue of Love and Rockets — go, vote in all categories here! How you gonna beat "The Love Bunglers" and "Return for Me," huh? His competition in the category includes our good pal Stan Sakai, who is also deserving of every award he gets (including Best Letterer, which he's also nominated for). You just can't praise those guys enough. Award winners will be announced at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR on April 28. We also direct your attention…

Dave Cooper’s animation development deal

It's an official announcement: Dave Cooper has entered into a development deal with TELETOON and Radical Sheep Productions for The Bagel and Becky Show, an animated TV program based on Bagel's Lucky Hat, Dave's children's book under his nom de plume Hector Mumbly. Dave says "just keep in mind this is 'development' not 'going into production' yet. Please cross all your fingers and toes for me over the next several months!!" Congrats and good luck Dave! In more Dave news, check out this badass silkscreen poster he did for a 2010 Mastodon gig, which you can now buy from him…

Gary Groth at The Center for Cartoon Studies This Week!

Gary at APE 2007 // photo credit: Chris Diaz Students at The Center for Cartoon Studies will have a chance to learn from the best, as our own Gary Groth is heading to White River Junction, Vermont for their annual Industry Day! It kicks off tomorrow, Wednesday, April 4th, with a Pizza Party with Gary in the Colodny classroom! The party runs from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, and at 7:30 PM, Gary will regale the guests with "an evening of insight and wisdom," so say our friends at CCS. It's Gary and it's pizza — that's a surefire recipe for…

Monte Schulz Signing in Los Angeles!

Author Monte Schulz will return to Skylight Books to launch the last book in his Jazz Age trilogy, The Big Town! Join Monte on Wednesday, April 4th for a reading and signing of his exciting new novel, starting at 7:30 PM. The Big Town is the story of a failed businessman whose dreams of prosperity hinge on the secret proposition of a millionaire industrialist and a dangerous relationship he finds with a poor orphan girl chasing love in the great American metropolis. Skylight Books is located at 1818 N Vermont Ave in Los Angeles!