Flora’s Incredible Flutist

News from Jim Flora archivist Irwin Chusid: The Incredible Flutist is an uncirculated 1953-54 record cover painting by Flora that was intended for a 7-inch RCA Victor EP. Jim Flora Art LLC is offering a limited edition fine art print. According to a purchase order discovered in the Flora archives, the work was commissioned by RCA in late 1953, but there's no indication it was finished, accepted, or used on a commercially released EP. This painting has not previously been published or offered in any form. An alternate version appeared in the book The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora. Only…

Stumptown 2008 images

Fantagraphics was in full effect at the 2008 Stumptown Comics Fest. Your humble reporter was only there for Saturday of the two-day event, but had a smashing time (and went 200% over budget buying comics, art & t-shirts — yikes). Here's a brief video clip of our table: Pals and table-mates J.R. Williams and Jim Blanchard: Andrice Arp signs issues of Mome at the Fantagraphics table: Georgene and Robert Goodin: Mome contributor Tom Kaczynski: For the full set of photos on Flickr, click here. Stay tuned for new sketchbook scans.

Spanish MOME

Ediciones La Cupula of Barcelona has just published the second issue of their spanish-language edition of MOME. It's pretty unusual for an anthology to get translated into foreign editions, so I just had to Flog these:

Bob Levin talks to Tom Spurgeon

Most Outrageous author Bob Levin talked to Tom Spurgeon over at the Comics Reporter yesterday. This is your must-read interview of the day, from an author you probably haven't read, about a subject you probably thought you had no interest in. Why, then? Because in Most Outrageous, as Spurgeon so aptly put it, "Levin has written what may be the first completely unforgettable book about a modern cartoonist." 

Devotio Moderno May 1 NYC

A new Joe Coleman show opens this weekend in NYC…  Speaking of Joe, if you don't have this comic, you're missing one of the truly great oddities in comic book history:    

Lizz Hickey.

Lizz Hickey is one of the reasons I decided to do another anthology this year. Working with a mythology all her own, her work is the kind of world I love to be let in on and the more I've looked at her portfolio the more she's become one of my favorite young artists. Primarily a printmaker, there is definitely an aspect to Lizz's work where an understanding of traditional print processes reinforces the awesome nature of what she does. Although there's an impulsive quality to her style nothing she makes is easy, nothing is throwaway. It's pure elbow grease….

Chocolate Cheeks for 4/25/08

It's a late update with your weekly installment of Steven Weissman's "Chocolate Cheeks"! In this week's strip: Pullapart Boy ponders parenting. (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)