The Allen Ginsberg Beat Poet Figurine

Quite possibly the world's first Beat Poet action figure, now available to order from Presspop in Japan! The figurine, packaging and accessories were all designed by Archer Prewitt (also responsible for their previous figurines of music pioneers Raymond Scott and Robert Moog) and feature a cloth jacket, glasses, beaded necklace, papercraft Uncle Sam hat and book, and a CD of live poetry readings. It's adorable!

Charles Burns’ Generation X’ed

I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Charles Burns' amazing masterpiece X'ED OUT. As a fledgling art dealer 30 years ago, I mounted an exhibition of Burns' large-scale graphite drawings at my neo-Dada Rosco Louie gallery in Seattle. His imaginative portraits were strangely grotesque, yet sensuous and alluring. Burns' appeal has grown steadily from that point on, and he is rightfully considered a contemporary master of the comix medium. I can hardly wait for his slide talk, art exhibition and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, October 30. His eerie iconography is perfect…

Daily OCD: 9/27/10

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "This mammoth collection [What Is All This?] presents five decades of Dixon: sex, frustration, and attempts at deeper communication, mostly missed. The 62 stories evoke neuroses, delusion, banality, and everyday absurdities in deceptively simple sentences… There are echoes of Ernest Hemingway and prefigurings of Raymond Carver's lower-middle-class minimalism infusing tales of scrappers and scrapers… Usually sublime, sometimes sloppy, and occasionally bewildering, these stories are a testament to an impressive career spent too much under the radar." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) [Temporary link] • Review: "With its mix of sci-fi, romance, tragedy and…

Jim Woodring’s Genius Award acceptance

We had the honor of witnessing Jim Woodring accepting his Stranger Genius Award for Literature at the majestic Moore Theatre in Seattle on the evening of Friday, September 17. Prior to the speeches cupcakes printed with edible portraits of the winners (or representations of their work) were available (and delicious). I assumed that the ceremony was bing filmed, or else I would have taken video instead of photos, but unfortunately no footage has yet surfaced. Luckily, Jim has posted the text of his acceptance speech, which was a humdinger. Click here for more photos.

More Maggie ink

The fan tattoos are really coming out of the woodwork over at the Love and Rockets Facebook page, where Daniela Smith Brito shares this moody-looking Maggie.