Archive for the 'comics' Category

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Derf Reads My Friend Dahmer at Quimby’s 8/9

Published on July 7, 2012 0 Comments
Aug ’12
9
7:00 pm

“If you want to read a heavy story about a disturbing teenager, My Friend Dahmer will certainly quench your dark little desires. But this book is about a lot of other things that matter much, much more: the institutionalized weirdness of the suburban seventies, what it means to be friends with someone you don’t really like, a cogent explanation as to why terrible things happen, and a means for feeling sympathy toward those who don’t seem to deserve it.”
— Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and The Visible Man

 

“A solid job. Putrid serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s origins are explored in this fine book. Dig it—it’ll hang you out to dry.”
— James Ellroy, author of My Dark Places and L.A. Confidential

My Friend Dahmer (Abrams ComicArts; March 2012; Non-fiction; Graphic Novel; Paperback $17.95; ISBN: 978-1-4197-0217-4; Hardcover $24.95; ISBN: 978-1-4197-0216-7) is an original graphic novel that gives a unique perspective on the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. To the public, Dahmer was a monster who committed unthinkable atrocities. To Derf Backderf, he was “Jeff,” a high school friend with whom he had shared classrooms, hallways and car rides. Using a combination of his own memories and journals, conversations with old friends, and Dahmer’s interviews and transcripts, writer-artist Backderf unveils a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man—a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a misfit who never quite fit in with his classmates—struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche.

My Friend Dahmer:

  • offers fascinating and disturbing answers to the question, “What was Jeffery Dahmer like as a kid?”
  • raises the question “Could these murders have been prevented?”
  • touches on the issues of bullying, teen alcoholism, and the role of parents and teachers in a troubled teen’s life.

 

About the Author:

Derf Backderf lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been nominated for two Eisner Awards and has received a host of honors, including the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. His weekly comic strip, The City, has appeared in more than 100 newspapers over the past 22 years.

Thurs, Aug 9th, 7pm

The author is available for interviews, and images are available upon request. Contact: Katrina Weidknecht, Executive Director, Publicity, kweidknecht@abramsbooks.com

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Quimby’s Bookstore Welcomes Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch 6/15

Published on May 15, 2012 0 Comments
Jun ’12
15
7:00 pm

Gloriana is a long-form poem in graphic form, and within its pages, Kevin Huizenga exposes the mechanics that underpin everyday life. His protagonist, Glenn Ganges, has conversations about dish soap and library visits that are both faithful depictions of mundane interactions and existential dissections of the units that construct our lives.
In Gloriana, Kevin Huizenga exposes the mechanics that underpin everyday life. His protagonist, Glenn Ganges, has conversations about dish soap and library visits that are both faithful depictions of mundane interactions and existential dissections of the units that construct our lives. Huizenga has an understated, quiet approach to story writing that allows his characters (and his readers) the self-awareness to recognize the humor and tragedy of every moment.

Huizenga’s much-lauded work is finely detailed, and in its innovative use of form, it explores the boundaries of the comic medium, deconstructing and reconstructing panels to express temporality and lived experience more fully. Presented in this expanded edition, Gloriana employs familiar settings and thorough, sometimes scientific explanations to reach thoughtful conclusions.

Dan Zettwoch’s Birdseye Bristoe celebrates the visual complexity of our world, and the impossibility of distilling this into a single digital signal. In Birdseye Bristoe, there are homes rigged entirely from bungee cords and 3-liter soda bottles, geodesic domes that have been turned into jungle gyms, an array of lawn-mowing routes, and guessing games inspired by the ambiguity of religious and heavy metal iconography.

It’s a story line we know all too well: “A mysterious stranger comes to town.” Only the town is not really a town and the stranger is a gigantic cell-phone tower. The town is Birdseye Bristoe—a portmanteau created from an interstate sign that points to two real towns—and it has only one real permanent resident, an old-timer known only as Uncle. A confirmed bachelor and World War II veteran, he owns most of the real estate in town. His teenaged great-niece and -nephew visit occasionally, though the town doesn’t have much to offer apart from an adult superstore, a gas station, and a tackle shop.

Uncle reluctantly agrees to lease his land to a conglomerate of telecommunications carriers, and sets the somewhat random condition that the tower be built with a huge crossbar set horizontally into the mast, making it also the world’s largest cross. Birdseye Bristoe begins with the destruction of the cell tower and works backward to unravel the story of its fall.

For more info about both books, see drawnandquarterly.com

Don’t miss Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch here at Quimby’s Bookstore Fri, June 15th, 7pm

This event is in tandem with The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] June 16th and 17th, celebrates independent, underground, and alternative comics. There will be comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more. Over 200 guests will be in attendance including: Carrie McNinch, Michael Deforge, Brian Ralph, Gabrielle Bell, Anders Nilsen, Laura Park, Lisa Hanawalt, Julia Wertz, Nate Powell, Secret Acres, Sparkplug, Ken Dahl, Nicole J. Georges, Kevin Huizenga, Patrick Kyle, Blaise Larmee, and The Providence Comics Consortium and more! CAKE wil be at Columbia College’s Ludington Building, 1104 S Wabash. Quimby’s is proud to be a co-sponsor, and even prouder to be sponsoring the CAKE panel “Crude and Rude: The Importance of Vulgarity with Ivan Brunetti, Lisa Hanawalt, Hellen Jo, and Onsmith, Moderated by Josh Reinwald and Justin Rosenberg of the comic Crass Sophisticate.” For more info: cakechicago.com

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Brain Frame #6 This Friday!

Published on May 14, 2012 0 Comments


Adding to the onslaught of Chicago’s Ultimate Weekend of Comics, be sure to catch the 6th edition of Lyra Hill’s outstanding live comics reading series, Brain Frame, this Friday, May 18th.

Featuring the antics and talents and talantics of Krystal DiFronzo, Ian Endsley, Beth Hetland, Carter Lodwick, Kyle O’Connell, Eric Rivera and Sam Sharpe, it’s gonna be a hot night!

Show starts at 8pm around the corner from the Quimbystore at 1542 N. Milwaukee Ave (2nd floor) and it’ll set you back 5 bones (worth every penny).

Australian Cartoonists’ Caravan of Comics 5/9

Published on April 19, 2012 0 Comments
May ’12
9
7:00 pm

Australia’s premier independent  comic creators are hitting the road for three weeks in three small cars, stopping at Quimby’s on May 9th! Join us in welcoming:

Pat  Grant – artist-writer­surfer  whose debut  graphic novel  Blue (published by Top Shelf, scroll down to see a picture of it resting on his the coffee table near his bed) about localism and  racism  may  turn  out  to  be  the Great  Australian   Graphic  Novel  Ben Hutchings – a  cartoonist  whose  softly  spoken  manner  belies  a  surprisingly  cheeky streak  that   informs  some  of  the funniest comics in the world Andrew Fulton – a quiet and  unassuming  cartoonist  whose  wordless  action  comics  are breathtaking  in  their  inventiveness  and  sense  of  play  with  the  form Mandy Ord – whose   autobiographical  comics  about  life  in  suburban  Melbourne  (including the  recent  “Sensitive  Creatures”)  are consistently  some  of  Australia’s most   accomplished sequential storytelling Douglas Holgate  – part  Viking,  all  cartoonist – is  the  Caravan’s  most  established  member having   published  numerous  children’s  titles both  in  Australia  and overseas.  His  lively style  speaks  to  an   enormous  enthusiasm  for  comics. Sarah Howell – best  known  as  2009-2010  Co-Director  of  the  National  Young  Writers’ Festival, is an accomplished  illustrator whose  style  is  sometimes  whimsical, sometimes grounded, and always stunning. David Blumenstein – the  cartoonist  behind  the  long-running comedy series  The  Bret Braddock  Adventures  a  comic  that  mines  humor  from  the  guts-­tearing feeling  you  get when  you’re  being  taken   advantage  of  by  a  boss  who  hasn’t  paid  you  in two  months. Gregory Mackay – makes  award-­winning  comics  about  a  strange  kind  of everyday­ness that  are   both  quietly  desperate  and  charmingly  beautiful.  His  long running  Francis  Bear is  published  in   French  through  The  Hoochie  Coochie. Michael Hawkins – tells  stories  of  teen  dramas  and  suburban  explorers  told  in  a  visual style  that  drips  and  bleeds  from  one  panel  into  the  next  through  Hawkin’s  amazing  ink and  watercolours.  Hawkin’s  style  is  completely  unique. Jen Breach – a  short,  bespectacled Australian based  in  New  York  City,  writes  comics about  ordinary   children  in extraordinary circumstances,  collaborating  with  a  number  of talented  cartoonists  (including  some  on the Caravan).and special  guest star  Roadie,  the  Caravan  is  delighted  to  include  John Retallick,  presenter  of  3CR   radio’s  long-running  “The  Comic  Spot.”

More info: caravanofcomics.com

facebook.com/caravanofcomics

twitter.com/caravanofcomics

Wed, May 9th, 7pm

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Jeffrey Brown Celebrates Free Comic Book Day Here on 5/5

Published on April 12, 2012 0 Comments
May ’12
5
3:00 pm

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown explores, What if Darth Vader actively raised his son? What if “I am your father” was just a stern admonishment from an annoyed dad? In this hilarious and sweet comic reimagining, Darth Vader is a dad like any other—except with all the baggage of being the Dark Lord of the Sith. Celebrated artist Jeffrey Brown’s delightful illustrations give classic Star Wars moments a fresh twist, showing that the trials and joys of parenting are universal, even in a galaxy far, far away. Life lessons include lightsaber battling practice, using the Force to raid a cookie jar, Take Your Child to Work Day on the Death Star, and the special bonding moments shared between any father and son. Humorous and touching, Darth Vader and Son is the perfect gift for dads of the Star Wars generation.

And guess what? For Free Comic Book Day Jeffrey Brown is debuting a free comic book specifically for folks who come to this event at Quimby’s!

Jeffrey Brown is the author of numerous graphic novels and comics, including Cat Getting Out of a Bag, Cats Are Weird, Clumsy, Unlikely and other titles. Jeffrey also co-wrote and created artwork for the film Save The Date, which was selected for Dramatic Film Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. A lifelong Star Wars fan, he lives in Chicago with his wife and five-year-old son.

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