Fans of Seattle's grunge era remember poet Jesse Bernstein as the erudite voice of that movement. His larger-than-life persona and charismatic presence made him a frequent subject of cartoonists documenting the period. Bernstein's brilliance was accompanied by depression, substance abuse, and an untimely death by suicide in 1991 that tragically foreshadowed events that would plague many artists in the grunge milieu. A new documentary film celebrating Jesse Bernstein's legacy premieres Wednesday, October 6 at the Moore Theater in Seattle. I Am Secretly an Important Man features archival footage of the poet/performance artist at his peak and interviews with friends of…
Gary Groth: The Early Years, Part 4 (Fantastic Fanzine #11, 1970)
At ComicAttack.net, Ken Meyer Jr. has posted another "Ink Stains" column featuring Gary Groth's pre-Fantagraphics Fantastic Fanzine — this time, number 11, focused on Jim Steranko, from 1970. The entire issue is available as a free PDF download, and Meyer provides some historical background and commentary: "How a high school kid managed to score so many amazing pieces of art points to Groth’s future success as a publisher and muckraker."
Weekend Webcomics for 10/1/10: DeStefano & Weissman
Our weekly strips from the Steves (a little late since I'm on vacation): — Monday's Strip by Stephen DeStefano (view larger) Originally run as an experiment on Stephen's blog starting in 2008, Monday's Strip is re-presented here. — Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):
Daily OCD: 10/1/10
Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The latest collection of Bill Griffith’s newspaper strip Zippy the Pinhead, Ding Dong Daddy from Dingburg is also my first exposure to the long-running underground. […] Zippy is unlike any comic strip, or comic book for that matter, I’ve thus encountered. […] Mixed into a steady stream of seemingly random silliness,… readers also uncover a singular worldview, a commentary on politics, religion, the stumbling newspaper industry and its technological replacements, and seemingly Griffith’s favorite windmill, pop culture. …Griffith [is] a sublimely witty observer." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama • Review: "I happy to…
Pass it on…
From Harlan Ellison's website: HARLAN ELLISON– Wednesday, September 29 2010 18:36:3 DREW FRIEDMAN Due to the (uh)(ahem) inordinately "strained" relations passim one of his publishers and me, I never got a chance to tell the astonishingly wonderful artist/caricaturist Drew Friedman that I am, and was from the beginning of his career, a cockeyed fan of his merciless honesty. He once did a caricature of me and I always wanted to tell him that I considered it a memento mori of exquisite meanness. His is absolutely imperial iconography, and next to his hilarious portrait of my friend Patton Oswalt, his…
Clash of the Titans
Peanuts 60th Anniversary!
The very first Peanuts strip ran on October 2nd, 1950, which means that tomorrow is the 60th Anniversary of the strip! It's been our honor and privilege to continue publishing the definitive collected edition of Charles M. Schulz's immortal masterwork, The Complete Peanuts, and we're joining in the celebration by offering every volume and box set of the series (to date) for 20% OFF from now through the end of October. Treat yourself and your loved ones (I hear there's some kind of gift-giving season coming up) to these beautifully designed and universally acclaimed collections of America's most beloved comic…
Monday’s Strip by Stephen DeStefano – Strip 5
Originally run as an experiment on Stephen’s blog starting in 2008, Monday’s Strip is re-presented here. Stephen’s graphic novel Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man’s History (written by George Chieffet) was released by Fantagraphics in September, 2010.
Estigmas: film adaptation of Mattotti & Piersanti’s graphic novel Stigmata – trailer
This afternoon Kim Thompson was showing off his newly-acquired import DVD copy of Estigmas, director Adan Aliaga's 2009 Spanish film adaptation of the graphic novel Stigmata by Lorenzo Mattotti and Claudio Piersanti, which we will be publishing in English in December. The trailer in Spanish is embedded above; watch it with English subtitles and get more information about the film at the SIFF website (the film screened here in Seattle at the SIFF Cinema last week).
Johnny Ryan motion comic, sorta
Meet Princess Kitty Look what I stumbled on when I went to watch a funny cat video: Johnny Ryan's illustration for the Found Footage Festival has been animated motion-comic style for the intro to the FFF's series of videos for The A.V. Club (see it following the commercial). Neat. Also: you tell 'em, kitty.
