Comic Book Resources

APE '09 | Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly and more

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.

The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend at The Concourse in San Francisco. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Special guests include Jamaica Dyer, Phoebe Gloeckner, Dean Haspiel, Batton Lash, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw and Jeff Smith. Here are a few more items of interest if you're attending ...

Fantagraphics | Fantagraphics sent over their signing schedule for the show:

Saturday
11AM - 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME) & Frank Santoro (MOME)
12:00–12:45 Spotlight on Dash Shaw
1PM - 3PM: Dash Shaw & T. Edward Bak (MOME)
3PM - 5PM: John Pham
5PM - 7PM: Renee French (MOME) & Andrice Arp (MOME)

Sunday
11AM - 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME), Frank Santoro (MOME) & Dash Shaw
1PM - 3PM: T. Edward Bak (MOME) & John Pham
3PM - 5PM: Renee French & Andrice Arp

They'll have many new releases on hand: The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez, Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams, Pim & Francie by Al Columbia, Sublife #2 by John Pham, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw, MOME Vol. 16 by various, The Great Anti-War Cartoons by Craig Yoe, and Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga.

"As an added bonus, Dash Shaw is an official APE guest this year and will be signing copies of his new book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.," writes Eric Reynolds. "For anyone who buys the book at one of his Fanta signings during APE, Dash will do an original PAINTING on the front cover! You will not want to miss out."

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What Are You Reading?

Map of My Heart

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Pull up a chair and sit down, won't you? Our guest this week is Bill Kartalopoulos, who teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons, is a contributing editor for Print Magazine, and a comics reviewer for Publishers Weekly. But he's probably best known as the Programming Coordinator for the SPX convention in Bethesda, MD.

Bill and everyone else has quite a number of books by their bedside table this week, so we'll get right to it. Be a dear and click on the link below, won't you?

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What are you reading?

The Complete Peanuts: 1973-74

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is the esteemed critic and blogger Robert Clough. Rob is probably best known for his contributions to the seemingly now inert Sequart.com, though you can find most of his recent reviews on his blog, High-Low.

To see what Rob and the rest of us are reading, just click on the link below ...

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SDCC '09 | Sparkplug, free comics, after-hour events and more

The Tumor

Creators | Joshua Fialkov will have an ultra-limited edition ashcan of the first chapter of his new graphic novel, Tumor, that's going to be the first original graphic novel premiering on the Amazon Kindle, releasing during the show. He'll be at the Archaia Comics booth (#2635) for most of the weekend. There's only 50 copies of the book for sale, first come, first serve. He'll also have a few copies of both issues of Punks for anyone interested.

Publishers | First Second has posted their schedule for the con.

After hours | Mark Verheiden reports that the San Diego House Of Blues will host Bear McCreary: The music of Battlestar Galactica on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with appearances by members of the cast. More details here.

The home game | John Parker lists ways you can enjoy Comic Con from the comfort of your home. Here's another way to play the home game that Chris Mautner will certainly enjoy.

Creators | More creator stuff: Jason Aaron's schedule, Paul Hornschemeier's books, Ted Mathot's booth, Chuck BB's schedule and print, David Hahn's Fantastic Four print, Gene Yang's schedule, Stuart Moore's panels, Johnny and Tony's trip video, Shane White's preview and Scott Williams' art book.

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Robot reviews: More potpourri

Wrapped-Up Foxtrot

Wrapped-Up FoxTrot
by Bill Amend
Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99

Here's my basic problem with FoxTrot: I can't stand the family. Not a one of them. They all come across as a bunch of unlikeable clods to me, each one too invested in their own personal tics and desperate obsessions to show any interest in each other. Really, they seem more interested in making each other miserable, especially the bratty youngest child, Jason, who would have been thrown to the lions years ago by any real-life family. Of course, without him we'd miss all those obvious and occasionally desperate attempt to reference contemporary pop culture. "Hey, they're making a Star Trek movie! Let's make a strip about it!" "Here's a joke about World of Warcraft! You know, lots of people play that!" People complain about the saccharine sweetness of The Family Circus, but their are times I prefer that to the insufferable smart-alec attitudes of the Fox family.

This new Treasury collects the last of the daily strips as well as some Sundays. It's certainly readable. It didn't make me want to claw my eyes out the way, say Snuffy Smith does, but still, that's a real annoying family.

More reviews after the link ...

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Sparkplug debuts three new books at Stumptown

Reich 6

Kevin mentioned this weekend's Stumptown Comics Fest in his Comics A.M. post today, and the good folks at Sparkplug sent over information on three books they'll be debuting at the show:

• Department of Art by Dunja Jankovic
• Reich #6 by Elijah Brubaker
• Bird Hurdler by Andrice Arp, Theo Ellsworth, Faryl Dalrymple, Zack Soto, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg and Julia Gfrörer. This is a free book co-published by Sparkplug, Teenage Dinosaur and Tugboat Press.

They also sent over information about a pre-show event on Friday:

On Friday (April 17th) at 4:30-5:30pm @ the Portland Central Library (in the U.S. Bank Room) Sparkplug artists Hellen Jo and Ignatz Award-nominated Dunja Jankovic discuss and read from their work. Make sure you come!

Now, if you'd like to party and see all the new books in person they'll be available on Friday night at the Guapo Comics & Coffee extravaganza. For more info on that you can check out: www.guapocomicsandbooks.com and take a look at the flier for the event, which is a giant reading and Kukoc awards ceremony. Reading at the event will be: Vanessa Davis, Jon Chadurjian, Coleen Frakes, Julia Gfrörer, Jason Martin, Hellen Jo, Calvin Wong and Corinne Mucha There will be all kinds of stuff going on there.

Is the ship sinking? A short chat with Dylan Williams

Reich #5

Besides being a cartoonist in his own right, Dylan Williams is also the brains behind Sparkplug Comic Books, which has published such noteworthy titles as Bookhunter by Jason Shiga, Reich by Elijah Brubaker and Asthma by John Hanckiewicz.

Wondering how a small press operation like Sparkplug would be affected by the turn in the economy, not to mention Diamond's new policy changes, I sent a list of questions to Williams over email and he was kind enough to offer some thoughtful replies. Here's what he had to say:

In general terms, how has Sparkplug Books been doing financially over the past year?

In general terms, Sparkplug keeps on growing. Last year was best one yet. It used to be that we'd get one order a week and now I can basically spend most of my time filling orders. It is kind of great and I keep on crossing my fingers. Money-wise, it is still a break-even affair but it is nice to not having to be "on the grind" as much as I was four or seven years ago.

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The five most criminally ignored books of 2008: No. 3, Inkweed

Inkweed

I really like Chris Wright's art style. I like his not quite-abstract, not-quite cubist characters, and the way they're knocked down to basic geometric shapes that intersect at odd and slightly uncomfortable angles. I like the way his line squiggles, harking back to classic strip artists like E.C. Segar while at the same time suggesting a nervious, barely containable energy. I like that his dialogue frequently sounds as though it walked out of the second act of an Ibsen play to knock back a few at the pub across the street. I like that he frequently goes crazy with the cross-hatching.

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