Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid drawing attention to backlist books you may have missed or deserve another look. This time we’ll discuss No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall. Comics frequently play a prominent role in social justice movements. Such is the case in the LGBTQ community, as demonstrated by No Straight Lines. Cartoonist Justin Hall carefully curated a comprehensive anthology of contemporary comics covering themes of coming out, the response to the AIDS crisis, and current issues and attitudes facing the LGBTQ community. His insightful introduction…
What’s in Store: Ed Luce at Fantagraphics Bookstore on January 7
Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, January 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM as Bay Area artist Ed Luce presents his latest comix collection, Wuvable Oaf: Blood & Metal. Luce chronicles the adventures of Oaf Jadwiga, a gay former wrestler looking for love in unlikely places. The oversized Oaf lives in The City with a cluster of kittens and a fondness for Morrissey, queercore, and black metal music. The comical adventures and colorful characters in Luce’s work make for a wildly entertaining modern romance – at once outrageous and charming. With a background in fine art, Luce…
Re/Read: Palestine by Joe Sacco
Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or are worth another look. As much of the world’s attention turns to developments in the Middle East over two thousand years ago, I engage in my annual ritual of re-reading Joe Sacco’s Palestine. Shortly after arriving at Fantagraphics Books in 1992 as marketing and promotions director, Kim Thompson handed me blue line proofs of a new project by Joe Sacco. I remember thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?” There was precious little precedent for this type of treatment of…
What’s in Store: Top Ten of 2016
It’s come time for Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid to select my favorite comix of 2016. A tough task this year with so many wonderful new books – a little like choosing which of my children I love the most. The choices are so close this list could easily be reversed. 10. Hey Lady. With a button affixed to the cover of each issue, I was immediately attracted to Regina Schilling’s zines. When I was able to fully absorb the contents, it became clear there was more to these creations than a clever premise and seductive artwork. Schilling selects a…
Re/Read: Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or merit another look. This time we’ll focus on Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge. A generation of comix enthusiasts came of age following the foibles of Buddy Bradley and his crew of lovable losers in Peter Bagge’s Hate. This work came to define the youth movement associated with Seattle’s “grunge” counterculture. Bagge became a central figure in illustrating the attitudes and aesthetics of this global phenomenon. A truly remarkable achievement. Buddy Buys a Dump collects the 9 issues…
Re/Read: Love and Rockets: The Covers
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid looking back at books you may have missed or merit more attention. This time we’ll discuss the alluring imagery in Love and Rockets: The Covers by Los Bros Hernandez. The colorful covers of early Love and Rockets comic books by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez foreshadowed profound changes taking shape in both the comix medium and American society as a whole. The work often reflected the artists’ experiences in their native Oxnard, California. They illustrated issues of cultural diversity, gender roles, sexual identity, and youthful alienation…
What’s in Store: 40 Years of Comics As Art
Fantagraphics Books commemorates its 40th anniversary with a series of talks, exhibitions, book signings, performances, and parties celebrating four decades of publishing the world’s greatest contemporary cartoonists. The impressive record of accomplishment and immeasurable influence of this Seattle-based enterprise are chronicled in the new book, We Told You So: Comics as Art, An Oral History of Fantagraphics Books. The festivities begin with a panel discussion on Fantagraphics’ first 40 years on Friday, December 9, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the elegant Folio library, located at 384 Marion Street in downtown Seattle. Moderated by Fantagraphics publisher and co-founder Gary…
Re/Read: Jim Blanchard’s Beasts and Priests
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid examining backlist titles you may have missed or are worth another look. This time we’ll focus on Beasts and Priests by former Fantagraphics art director Jim Blanchard. As the title suggests, Beasts and Priests documents both divine and demonic personalities of American pop culture: from Rat Pack louts and rogue politicians to revered rock ‘n’ rollers and stars of the silver screen. Blanchard employs ingenious treatments to capture the cult of personality that surrounds these figures. Mod fashion model Twiggy, Manson murder victim Sharon Tate, and sixties sex symbols…
What’s in Store: Short Run Marathon Exhibition
Seattle’s Short Run Comix & Arts Festival has become one of the country’s liveliest celebrations of the independent comix movement. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to again host the Short Run Marathon art exhibition and pre-festival reception this Friday, November 4 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The Marathon exhibition includes paintings, drawings, and prints by an international array of the festival’s featured artists: Dash Shaw, Vanessa Davis, Ivana Pipal, Brendan Kiefer, Phoebe Wall, Trevor Alixopulos, Hatem Imam, and Kerascoët (French cartoonists Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset.) Shaw will screen a clip from his new animated feature, My Entire High School…
What’s In Store: Jim Blanchard’s Visual Abuse
Fantagraphics Books continues its 40th anniversary celebration with a book launch party and exhibition for Visual Abuse: Jim Blanchard’s Graphic Art, 1982 – 2002 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, November 12. Blanchard relocated to Seattle in 1987 from Oklahoma City, where he self-published his popular punk fanzine, Blatch. He soon found work as an art director at Fantagraphics Books, while continuing to create posters and graphics for bands associated with Seattle’s emerging grunge movement. He published several comix on Fantagraphics’ provocative Eros imprint, and later worked as inker for Peter Bagge’s influential Hate comic book series….
