Monthly Archive for February, 2012

George R.R. Washington Presents A Game of Groans 3/27

Mar ’12
27
7:00 pm

A GAME OF GROANS
A Sonnet of Slush and Soot By George R.R. Washington

It’s the story fans of George R.R. Martin’s series A Song of Fire and Ice know and love—well, sort of. In the wayward world of GEORGE R.R. WASHINGTON’s A GAME OF GROANS:  A Sonnet of Slush and Soot (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin; 1-250-01126-4; March 27, 2012; Trade Paperback Original; $9.99) seasons can last decades. And trouble is brewing. The warmth is returning, and in the thawing tundra of the North of Summerseve, something wicked is coming. A GAME OF GROANS  is the story of the Barkers of Summerseve, headed by Lord Headcase Barker and Lady Gateway Bully Barker, and their children including Allbran, Bobb, Malia, Sasha, and of course, bastard Juan Nieve (all followed by their pet direpandas, natch).

The Barkers are a family unit as hard and unforgiving as the pronunciation of “Daenerys Targaryen” and nothing will be the same after a visit from King Bobbert Baronme and the royal family. Swooping from this land of sweater weather to a balmy kingdom of equestrian delights and outdoor fornication, here is an epic of novella proportions. Amid plots and counterplots, wizards and warriors, poor reception and no wireless, the future of the Barkers, their BFFs, and their enemies dangles in the balance, as each strives to star in that funniest of concepts: a parody of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones

GEORGE R.R. WASHINGTON is the author of many novels. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Outer Limits, Teen Wolf, and many other films and pilots that are currently stored in the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. He lives with the lovely Natalie in Chicago, Illinois.

Tues, March 27th, 7pm

Call for Best American Comics

A word from Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, the series editors of The Best American Comics for comics artists and publishers!

Hi everyone,

This is a note to remind you that we are, as always, collecting submissions for the Best American Comics. Great stuff comes out all year round and we want to get our hands on it as soon as possible. In addition, it makes our guest editors’ jobs much more manageable if we can supply them with a large batch of excellent booty by mid-summer.

So please submit your books published since September 1 of 2011 for Best American Comics 2013. If you don’t publish books, we’ve put you on our reminder list because we know you know people who do, and we hope you’ll pass on this reminder to them. Especially when it comics to minis, webcomics, and very small press, we need your help to make sure we’re seeing what’s great out there in the comics world.

How to submit:
Mail one copy of each of your books to us at the address below. Please make sure to attach your contact information and the RELEASE DATE. If it’s not inside the book, stick a post-it on the cover with that info.

For more details on the submissions process and rules, look here: http://www.hmhbooks.com/bestamerican/comics/contacts.html

BAC11, under guest editor Alison Bechdel, has been one of our most popular volumes yet and I’m pleased to be able to announce to you “officially” the the guest editor for BAC12 is none other than Françoise Mouly! (As for BAC13, you’ll just have to wait and see…)

Looking ahead, Jessica and Matt will both be at MoCCA Fest  and will have a table where you can drop books off if you don’t see us walking the floor. Matt will also be at TCAF the following weekend. We look forward to seeing you.

thanks and get in touch if you have any questions,

Jessica Abel and Matt Madden
Series Editors
The Best American Comics
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
215 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003

Weekly Top 10

1. The Chicagoan #1 $19.95 – The Chicagoan ressurects a long defunct jazz-age magazine and focuses in on non-profit production, local distribution and general excellence in writing and design.

2. Inside Pee-Wees Playhouse: The Untold Unauthorized and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenemenon by Caseen Gaines (ECW) $19.95 – Thanks to everybody that came out to this event this past Friday. We were told Large Marge sent them. The word of the day was AWESOME.

3. Notes For A Peoples Atlas: People Making Maps of Their Cities (AREA Chicago) $8.00

4. Truckface #15 $3.00 – Third year teaching high school English for CPS starts with LB hacking up a foreboding bloody clotball snotball. Truckface continues to be an annual report of both teaching and being taught- moving through all the drama, anger, goofiness and apathy and learning how to learn from it all. -EF

5. Mono Kultur #30 Win 11/12: Chris Ware a Sense of Thereness –  Well, yes…..Surprising, compelling interview zine import with Mr. Ware. 24p, red and black ink, color cover, 6″x8″

6. Gangsta Rap Posse #2 by Benjamin Marra (Traditional Comics) – You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.

7. Chameleon #2 by Jesse Balmer and Jonny Negron $10.00 – Rage exercises and messy ends. Jesse Balmer gives us a dirty line to feline mind control, Jon Boam does a room study that reminds me of Luke Ramsey’s Islands’ Fold books, Patrick Kyle sends us to the trollverse and keeps us there, Uno Moralez keeps it pixelatin’, Roman Muradov works some stylish melancholy into his piece on sheltering umbrellas- it reminds me a little of Laura Park’s work for Mome- Jonny Negron drafts a great, gritty street fight and Zejian Shen takes the cake with a nocturnal mission – her drawing of a pool of virgin blood is maybe my favorite thing in this book that’s already all-thriller, no-filler. Look straight into these eyes, kiddies. -EF

8. Hark a Vagrant by Kate Beaton (D&Q) $19.95

9. Bust Feb Mar 12 $5.99

10. Giant Robot #65 $4.99

New Stuff This Week

Zingmagazine #22 $30.00 – WHAT? Five years after Zingmagazine #21, the 15th anniversary special, Zing #22 just decides to stroll in the door? One of the best art magazines -uh- ever, this issue is extra beefy, with an emphasis on curated collaboration and cross-reference, artists projects and over 300 pages it’s the magazine that reads like a show catalogue. 300+, 8.5″x11″ color. With CD!

Zines and Zine-Related Books
Brainscan #27 Ten Stories by Alex Wrekk $1.00
East Village Inky #49 by Ayun Halliday $3.00
Domesticated #1 $20.00
Hell House by Nick Hoffman $7.00 – Grunge club monster drawings, haunted surfboards, amatuer hour bewitcheries, mummy maps and pyramid power with audio accompaniment for yer seance hangover. C’mon, everyday is Halloween, right? -EF

Mental The Gorgeous Attitude Novel $5.00
Circles Cycles Circuits by Dunja Jankovic $12.00
Floating Thoughts and Other Miscellaneous Stuff $1.00
Every Reason #8 $1.00
Importance of Writing Things Down #1: Anti Dentities in Theory and Practice 95 04 by Matt Davis $3.00
More zines by Carrie: I Made This Zine At Work, It’s No Secret You Are Beautiful, both $1.00 each
Maximum Rad: The Iconic Covers of Thrasher Magazine by Thrasher Magazine $35.00
Thirty years’ worth! Totally maximum rad. Not to be confused with totally minimum rad.
Note and Bolts #2 A Programme of Pizza Pedantics $4.50 – Local food, art and culture zine.
Zines by kids!: Compiled Thoughts of a Teenager by Faye Adams $1.50, Unlong This is Short I Bet You Have No Life This is Hard To Read by Ima Doof $1.00, Being A 13 Year Old Girl #1 by Liv Love $1.00, Cest La Vie #2 by Imogen R. Hansen $1.50

Comics & Comix
Demon Dust #8 win 12 by Bernie Mcgovern $2.00 – Formally known as Demongun. This issue, the cosmos as reflected in personal decisions.
Naked Heroes #1 by Benjamin Marra $1.00
Pocket Full of Coffee by Joe Decie $5.00
Sodom by Susan Sarandon $4.00 – Life and death in the mousetroshpere from the the celebrity artists at Waxwing studios. -EF

Unwelcome Guests 2 Stories by Brad Gottschalk $3.50
Spuzz #2 Enter the Tube by Jack Mulkern $4.00
You Are What You Sing by Alexis Vert $1.00

Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks
Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass by Susan E. Kirtley (UPressMiss) $25.00
Nature of the Beast by Adam Mansbach et al. (Soft Skull) $23.95 – From author of Go the Fuck to Sleep.
Downsized by Matt Howarth (Adhouse) $6.95
Too Much Coffee Man: Cutie Island by Shannon Wheeler (Boom) $17.99
Long Day of Mr James Teacher by Harvey James $7.99
Black Dynamite #1 by Brian Ash $5.95

Art & Design Books
Tooth: Graphic Art of Dale Flattum (La Mano Press) $20.00 – Don’t miss Dale Flattum here with Zak Sally and John Porcellino on 3/23. showcases 25 years of his graphic art. It includes 250 page volume mixes posters, illustrations & propaganda into a semi autobiographical history, as told through a Xerox machine. *It also includes a CD of music pulled from the author’s shady nine year musical past in the bands Steel Pole Bath Tub, Milk Cult, The Nein, and Agent Nova. (The CD also includes the unreleased Novex second album.)
Zoostalgia: Saudade of the Gigatherid by Manvir Singh $9.95 – Signh continues the exploration of genetic abberance begun in The Evolutionist’s Doodlebook, this time an adventure into extinction – the factual made pleasingly cartoon-ual for easy digestion.

Fiction
Taste of Penny by Jeff Parker (Dzanc) $16.95 – Don’t miss Jeff Parker here at Quimby’s on 3/1 with Eugene Cross, Kevin Chong and Megan Stielstra, presented by Hosted by Joyland co-founder Brian Joseph Davis and Dzanc co-publisher Dan Wickett. We also have Beauty Plus Pity by Kevin Cong (Arsenal) $16.95 who is reading.
Hot Pink by Adam Levin (McSweeneys) $22.00 – New book of short stories from the Chicago-based author of The Instructions. It’s hilarious, tender, quirky and entertaining. He’ll be reading here at Quimby’s on 3/13 with Tim Kinsella, author of The Karaoke Singers Guide to Self Defense and member of such bands as Cap’n Jazz and Joan of Arc.
Pandora 2011 Accounts of the Cursed Shopping Center by Ivan Borodin $9.00
Haunting of Laurilee Inn by TrishAnn Williams $12.95
The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier (Vintage) $15.00- Human wounds and suffering emit visible life. Now in soft cover!

Literary Journals, Poetry & Chap Books
Anobium vol 2 Win 12 $10.00 – Featuring new writing by R.A. Allen, David Applebaum, Annah Browning, Rance Denton, Vernon Frazer, Roxane Gay, Benjamin Goluboff, John Gosslee, Jonathan Greenhause, Jac Jemc, Jeffrey Maclachlan, Kristine Ong Muslim, D.E. Steward, Graham Tugwell. Also features a curatorial section with selections from Derek Sanchez-Hoeksema, Blaster “Al” Ackerman, Patrick Somerville, Jesse Ball. Cover by Jacob van Loon and artwork by Ivan de Monbrison.

After Hours #24 Win 12 $8.00
Brick #88 Win 12 $15.00
Wax Poetics #50 $11.99
Wilt/I Thought I Was Your Favorite by Emily Schikora and Elizabeth Lanell (Habit 2012) $10.00

Mayhem, Miscreants, Memoirs & Misc
Ritual America: Secret Brotherhoods and Their Influence on American Society: A Visual Guide by Craig Heimbichner and Adam Parfrey (Feral House) $29.95 – “Secret society historian Craig Heimbichner follows the Middle Path to wisdom. He stays awake when we are all asleep. He works the graveyard shift in the secret lodge. He break-dances with the skeletons in the closet. He does the hokey-pokey with his whole body in. He shakes it all about. He turns himself around. And he tells us what “IT” is all about.” – Joan d’Arc in Paranoia The Conspiracy Reader.

The Supreme Team: The Birth of Crack and Hip-Hop, Prince’s Reign of Terror and the Supreme/50 Cent Beef Exposed (Gorilla Convict Publications) $19.95 – Seth Ferranti’s Street Legends series. Ferranti himself wound up at the wrong end of the DEA and has been incarcerated since 1993, so he’s met more than a few fat cat criminals and their associates.

Music Books
Madonna and Me Women Writers on the Queen of Pop ed. by Laura Barcella and Jessica Valenti (Soft Skull) $16.95
The Sex Pistols: The Graphic Novel bY J. McCarthy and S. Parkhouse (Omnibus) $15.95
Listen Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 by Pat Thomas (Fantagraphics) $39.99 – Noted music producer and scholar Pat Thomas spent five years researching this book. Featured: Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, the forgotten history of  Motown’s Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum and more.

Childrens Books
Chick and Chickie Play All Day a Toon Book by Claude Ponti $12.95
Zig and Wikki in The Cow a Toon Book by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler (Toon) $12.95

Magazines
Murder Most Foul #83 $9.99
Paper Spr 12 vol 28 #5 $4.00
Harpers Magazine Mar 12 $6.99
Tattoo Society #32 $7.99

Sex & Sexy
Doktor Mentor – The Disturbingly Perverted Diary of the Jail Babe Surgeon – We just got issues of #3 thorugh #5. $9.95 each.
Bettie Page In Danger #1 and #2 $9.95 each. Both come with 3D glasses!
Hot Moms vol 2 TPB by Rebecca (Eros) $18.99
House Wives At Play Kidnapped by Rebecca (Eros) $9.99

Everything we list on our blog is available at our store. But not everything is available on our website. Click here to see what is new in our webstore!

Zak Sally, Dale Flattum and John Porcellino 3/23

Mar ’12
23
7:00 pm

Quimby’s welcomes Zak Sally, Dale Flattum and John Porcellino!

Sammy the Mouse: Volume 1 by Zak Sally (Colors throughout, 104 Pages) is the first collection of sammy the mouse comics, all in a beautifully bound, handmade package. This collection is the first three issues of Eisner Award Nominee Zak Sally’s comic Sammy the Mouse (previously serialized as part the international Ignatz line of comics published simultaneously by Fantagraphics Books in the United States and Coconino Press in Italy). For this collection, Sally printed each copy on his own AB Dick 9810 offset press and is releasing it under his La Mano publishing house. Sally is personally responsible for every step in the bookmaking process; from conception to execution to reproduction to delivery, making each hand-signed copy the product of one artist’s unique vision. Volume 1 introduces us to Sammy, his friends and frienemies, and a fantastical town that’s as elegantly drawn and viscerally alive as the characters themselves. Sammy is tugged and pulled about town against his own volition in this first part in the series; from a bar in the shape of a baby to the top of a giant staircase to a picnic on the beach with a mustachioed female stranger. Some characters are seemingly controlled by an unseen voice from above, others by the constant need to get drunk. Throughout the book, Sally offers glimpses of the epic tale ahead between the drinking, arguing, and vomiting. Meticulously drawn and printed using a sophisticated two-color process, Sammy the Mouse: Volume 1 is an extremely funny, weird and intense introduction to what will be a truly unique series.

PRAISE FOR SAMMY THE MOUSE
“A grimy, metaphysical malaise drips from every line of Sally’s lush yet unwholesome artwork, especially when he’s plundering the iconography of innocence and youth in the service of disorienting discomfort… A-” – The Onion AV Club

“And then there’s Zak Sally’s Sammy The Mouse which for me has been a revelation…” – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

“Nothing else I’ve seen in thirty years of self- enforced sobriety has made me want a drink more than Sammy the Mouse. Zak Sally grabs you by the eyes and drags you headlong into a vision of earnest struggle and serial revelation. It feels real. Hell, it is real.” –Jim Woodring

“Sally is producing a real sharp, evocative and haunting work that manages to send a deli- cious chill up my spine upon reading it.” – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

Zak Sally is an Eisner-nominated cartoonist whose work has appeared all over the place. He owns and operates La Mano, an award-winning “micro-publishing” house who has published work by John Porcellino, William Schaff, Nate Denver, Jason Miles, and Kim Deitch. He spent 12 years in the band Low.

——————-

Dale Flattum creates posters, art forgeries, and other screen printed propaganda under the alias TOOTH. His book TOOTH: The Graphic Art of Dale Flattum showcases 25 years of his graphic art. It includes 250 page volume mixes posters, illustrations & propaganda into a semi autobiographical history, as told through a Xerox machine. *It also includes a CD of music pulled from the author’s shady nine year musical past in the bands Steel Pole Bath Tub, Milk Cult, The Nein, and Agent Nova. (The CD also includes the unreleased Novex second album.)

“When I was 16 years old,” Dale explains, “I tore a weird looking poster off of a telephone pole near my house. It was crudely assembled, cheaply produced, and probably the greatest thing I’d ever seen. Later when I started to play music, the poster for the show became almost as important as the show itself. It was proof that something had happened. It was subversive propaganda. It was fun. It was addicting. And what did you need to do it? Scissors? Glue? A Xerox machine? An 8.5 x 11 piece of paper turned out to be a very powerful thing. The possibilities were endless.”

“TOOTH makes needles out of haystacks.” Dirk Fowler

“Blunt, in your face, yet abstract at the same time. Much of this book feels sticky to me for some reason. I’m glad Dale has kept this up and sharpened his art tongs over the years.” -Jello Biafra

“TOOTH’s exquisite work looks so effortless. He can do in a moment what I have to STRUGGLE to do. I’m jealous!” -Art Chantry

“Awesome!!!” -Wayne Coyne

——————-

John Porcellino has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino’s experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005, and Perfect Example, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager. King-Cat Classix and Map of My Heart, published in 2007/2009, offer a comprehensive overview of the zine’s first sixty-one issues, while Thoreau at Walden (2008) is a poetic expression of the great philosopher’s experience and ideals. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, “John Porcellino’s comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive.”

Event Details:
Where and When: Here at Quimby’s, 3/23, 7pm, free
Who & What new title they’re celebrating:
Zak Sally Sammy the Mouse vol 1
Dale “TOOTH” Flattum TOOTH: The Graphic Art of Dale Flattum
John Porcellino “King-Cat Comics #72”