Small Press Art Show at Fantagraphics Bookstore November 12th

Short Run exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on November 12th

Features small press comics and art by emerging regional artists.

In this age of ubiquitous digital media and gadget fatigue, it’s refreshing to find a community of artists working with their hands to produce tactile works of art on paper. Such is the case with the young cartoonists in the Short Run exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle. This art party on Saturday, November 12 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM follows the Short Run Small Press Fest at the Vera Project at the Seattle Center earlier that day.

The Short Run art show, curated by Kelly Froh, features original comix art, illustration and book works by Max Clotfelter, Patrick Keck, Martine Workman, Elaine Lin, Jason T. Miles, Chris Cilla, Andrice Arp, Tim Root, Billis Helg, Marc Palm, Eroyn Franklin, Tom Van Deusen, Tim Miller, Tory Franklin, Jesse Reklaw, Sean Christensen, and Erin Tanner. A selection of publications by these, and other local artists, will also be available.

The public is invited to meet these remarkable artists at a festive reception on Saturday, November 12 at 6:00 PM. Entertainment will be provided by DJ/musician “Brainfruit.” This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community.

Listing Information:
SHORT RUN: Small Press Fest After-Party & Art Show

Featuring artwork from Max Clotfelter, Patrick Keck, Martine Workman, Elaine Lin, Jason T. Miles, Chris Cilla, Andrice Arp, Tim Root, Billis Helg, Marc Palm, Eroyn Franklin, Tom Van Deusen, Tim Miller, Tory Franklin, Jesse Reklaw, Sean Christensen, and Erin Tanner. Curated by Kelly Froh

Saturday, November 12, 6:00 – 9:00 P M. Show continues through December 10, 2011

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) Seattle. 206.658.0110. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

Kimi Ni Todoke: First Date

I read Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 11

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin.

Dark Horse Digital to Offer Manga

MANGA COMES TO DARK HORSE DIGITAL!

TRIGUN, OLD BOY AND MORE ADDED TO LINEUP!

Manga has arrived! The Dark Horse Digital store now offers a full and ongoing Manga selection featuring Trigun, Crying Freeman, Hellsing, Lady Snowblood, Old Boy and Path of the Assassin. Not only are these titles available digitally, but also the latest version of the Dark Horse Digital app lets you read them in the way Manga was meant to be read…right to left!

Don't have the App? You can download it for free!

As Always, make sure to visit Digital.Darkhorse.com weekly for more great sales and offers.

Until next week, may your battery be fully charged!

Release Date: 11/02/2011
Trigun vol. 1 & 2
BPRD: 1947 #1-5
BPRD Hell on Earth: Russia #2
Crying Freeman vol. 1 & 2
Hellsing vol. 1-3
Lady Snowblood vol. 1
Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 10
Old Boy vol. 1 & 2
Path of the Assassin vol. 1
Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword #3
Star Wars Legacy #13 - 15
Chimichanga
The Goon #26
Star Wars: Crimson Empire III: Lost Empire #1

Release Date: 11/09/2011
House of Night #1
Baltimore: The Curse Bells #3
Conan the Cimmerian #13 - 16
Gear School #2
Lady Snowblood vol. 2
Orchid #2
Paradox Entertainment Presents: Kult #4
Serenity: Downtime and Other Half
Star Wars: Empire #1 - 4
Star Wars: Boba Fett: Overkill
The End League #1 - 4
The Goon #27

Release Date: 11/16/2011
Mass Effect: Invasion #2
Abe Sapien: The Devil Does Not Jest #2
Gigantic #1 - 5
Hellboy: Weird Tales #1-4
Kull: The Cat and the Skull #2
Dark Horse Presents # 5
Samurai Executioner vol. 6
Star Wars: Purge #2
Star Wars: Dark Times #1-5
The Goon #28
The Occultist #1
Fallout: New Vegas

Release Date: 11/23/2011
Usagi Yojimbo # 141 (200th Issue)
BPRD: The Ectoplasmic Man
Conan: Road of Kings #10
Groo: Hell on Earth #1-4
Hellsing vol. 4
Path of the Assassin vol. 2 & 3
Rex Mundi: Book Three
Star Wars Adventures: Boba Fett and the Ship of Fear
Star Wars Invasion #0-5
Star Wars: Invasion: Revelations #5
Star Wars: Knight Errant: Deluge #4
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #19-24
The Goon #29
Trigun Maximum vol. 4

Release Date: 11/30/2011
Hellboy: House of the Living Dead
Color of Rage
Conan the Cimmerian #17-20
Hellboy: House of the Living Dead
Star Wars Adventures: The Will of Darth Vader
Star Wars Legacy #17-20
The End League #5-9
The Goon #30


About Dark Horse Digital Comics
Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has grown to become the third-largest comics publisher in the United States and is acclaimed internationally for the quality and diversity of its line. Now, in 2011, the company that revolutionized the comic industry proudly presents its groundbreaking digital-publishing program, Dark Horse Digital.

Having launched with hundreds of titles, Dark Horse Digital offers its most popular titles at an unprecedented value, while providing the highest-quality reading experience possible. Single-issue comics are priced as low as just $0.99, and there is also an extensive list of free introductory #1 issues. Additionally, DH Digital’s “bundles” group together story arcs spanning multiple issues into affordable packages, allowing readers to get the three or four issues that comprise a complete narrative, starting at just $3.99 and up. And through cloud-based technology, Digital Store purchases can be read and enjoyed on your laptop, desktop, mobile browser, and Dark Horse Bookshelf app, available now on iTunes.

To get started, simply log on to Digital.DarkHorse.com or download the app to create an account, and begin building your collection today.

I Reads You Review: UNCLE SCROOGE #401

"Graphic Novelistic"

UNCLE SCROOGE #401
BOOM Kids!

CARTOONIST: Don Rosa
LETTERS: David Gerstein
COVER: Don Rosa with Jake Myler
24pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (March 2011)

Way back in my early college years, some comic book reading friends introduced me to Carl Barks. Barks was a Disney Studio illustrator, but he became famous as a comic book creator. Barks invented the town of Duckburg, where Donald Duck and his three nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie live. Barks created Donald’s tight-fisted uncle, Scrooge McDuck and McDuck’s frequent adversaries, the Beagle Boys. Known as “The Good Duck Artist,” Barks also created many other characters that populate Donald Duck’s world, including Gyro Gearloose and Magica De Spell, among others.

Many readers consider American comic book artist Don Rosa as the heir to Carl Bark’s legacy. Rosa burst unto the scene with his Scrooge McDuck story, “The Son of the Sun,” which was first published in Uncle Scrooge #219 (cover date July 1987; Gladstone Publishing). The now-retired Rosa apparently idolizes Carl Barks (who died in 2000), and Rosa does indeed build almost all his stories on characters and locations that Barks invented. Many of those stories contain references to some fact pointed out in a Barks story, and Rosa has even created sequels to old Barks stories.

Still, Rosa is also a great talent, and he was one of the best cartoonists working in comic books over a period of two decades from the time he began drawing Uncle Scrooge stories until his retirement back in 2007. One of Rosa’s exceptional stories is “The Universal Solvent,” a 1995 Uncle Scrooge story. First serialized in Denmark, “The Universal Solvent” made its U.S. debut in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #604, the story was reprinted this year in Uncle Scrooge #401 (cover date March 2011).

The story begins when Gyro Gearloose invents “the universal solvent,” which is a solution that can dissolve anything, for Scrooge McDuck. The bad thing is that this solvent, which Scrooge gives the trade name, “Omnisolve,” actually works. Scrooge wants to use it to create deep mine shafts in which he can mine “super-pure, flawless diamonds,” and to that end, he drops some Omnisolve on the ground.

Before long, Omnisolve is dissolving its way to the center of the Earth, which precipitates a crisis that could destroy the world. To clean up his mess, McDuck leads a team which includes Donald Duck and the three nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie on a mission that resembles the events depicted in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Now, can the Ducks save the world?

Like Carl Barks, Don Rosa can create comic book stories of 20 or so pages that could easily be stretched to three times the size. In “The Universal Solvent,” Rosa crams in enough drama, twists and turns, scenes, sequences, and set pieces that it reads like a graphic novel of at least 100 pages in length. This rousing adventure is an excellent read, and I hated getting to the last page.

As usual, Rosa’s strong drafting skills shine through; his meticulous line work and his subtle crosshatching create the most gorgeous, almost jewel-like compositions. The understated touches, like the use of light to create shadows, are the things that always capture the eye. The contraptions, sets, and the windstorms that the vacuums create in the story attest to the fact that Don Rosa is a great Duck artist and is certainly one of the best cartoonists of his time.

A-

We Were There: Reunions

I read We Were There, Vol. 13

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin.

Ai Ore: Say You Love Me

I read AI Ore! Love Me!, Vol. 3

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for November 2 2011

DC COMICS

APR110255 ABSOLUTE SANDMAN HC VOL 05 (MR) $99.99

SEP110114 ACTION COMICS #3 $3.99

AUG110279 AMERICAN VAMPIRE #20 (MR) $2.99

SEP110147 ANIMAL MAN #3 $2.99

JUL110245 BATMAN NOEL DELUXE EDITION HC $22.99

SEP110126 BATWING #3 $2.99

AUG118164 DETECTIVE COMICS #1 3RD PTG $2.99

SEP110124 DETECTIVE COMICS #3 $2.99

JUL110277 FLIGHT OF ANGELS HC (MR) $24.99

SEP110106 GREEN ARROW #3 $2.99

SEP110165 HAWK AND DOVE #3 $2.99

MAY110294 JOE THE BARBARIAN DELUXE ED HC (MR) $29.99

SEP110099 JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #3 $2.99

JUN110338 LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN OMNIBUS HC $49.99

SEP110160 MEN OF WAR #3 $3.99

SEP110158 OMAC #3 $2.99

SEP110142 RED LANTERNS #3 $2.99

SEP110206 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #15 $2.99

SEP110163 STATIC SHOCK #3 $2.99

SEP110152 STORMWATCH #3 $2.99

AUG110260 SUPERMAN RETURN OF DOOMSDAY TP $14.99

SEP110212 SUPERNATURAL #2 (OF 6) $2.99

AUG118165 SWAMP THING #1 3RD PTG $2.99

SEP110146 SWAMP THING #3 $2.99

SEP110228 SWEET TOOTH #27 (MR) $2.99