Tony Millionaire Book Signing Jan. 7th in Seattle

Tony Millionaire: Portraits Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery January 7th

Provocative cartoonist Tony Millionaire will appear in Seattle at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, January 7 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM for a book signing and art show. He'll be exhibiting brilliantly austere work from his new book 500 Portraits, recently released by Fantagraphics Books.

500 Portraits collects over two decades of work by the beloved creator of Drinky Crow's Maakies, Sock Monkey and Billy Hazelnuts. Tony Millionaire's gorgeous fountain pen illustrations, which combine naturalistic detail with strong doses of the fanciful and grotesque, include the famous (Bob Dylan), the infamous (Abu Ghraib soldier/model Lynndie England), the fictional (Yoda), the animal kingdom (a cockroach), and everything in between. Literary figures (Hemingway), literary characters (Don Quixote & Sancho Panza), Hollywood legends (Steven Spielberg), comics icons (Hergé, Daniel Clowes, Hernandez Brothers, etc.) and historical figures (Hitler) also figure prominently.

Many of these 500 portraits were created for The Believer, the magazine founded by Dave Eggers that Millionaire helped define visually with images of interview subjects in every issue. The book also includes dozens of illustrations from various other publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Ephemera Press Historical Maps, The Wall Street Journal, and others.

The artist will be present to sign copies of his many Fantagraphics titles as well as the recent Encyclopedia of Hell and other works. The evening will also feature the premiere of the short live-action film "Everybody Loves Drinky Crow" by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid.

Listing information:

Tony Millionaire
PORTRAITS
Artist reception & book signing
Saturday, January 7, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Exhibition continues through February 8, 2012

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

I Reads a New Year

Welcome to I Reads You.  We just finished the second full calendar year of the blog, and I'm ready for a third fullyear.  In this blog, I write about the things I read (mostly comic books, comics, and related books) and about the things I come across worth reading (mostly about comic books, politics, and entertainment). Sometimes I’ll comment on “real” books and the mass media.

I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I have another blog: http://www.negromancer.com/. I also write for the Comic Book Bin (which has smart phones apps and comics).

All images and text appearing on this blog are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.

Oresama Teacher Has Secret

I read Oresama Teacher, Vol. 6

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has free comics).

Psyren: Baby Universe

I read Psyren, Vol. 2

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has free comics).

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews MISTER WONDERFUL: A Love Story

MISTER WONDERFUL: A LOVE STORY
PANTHEON BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Daniel Clowes
ISBN: 978-0-307-37813-2; hardcover
80pp, Color, $19.95 U.S., $22.95 CAN

The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. Beginning in September 2005, the magazine began a literary section called “The Funny Pages.” One part of “The Funny Pages” is “the Strip,” which is essentially a comics section. Here, some of the top names in alternative comics, like Jaime Hernandez, Megan Kelso, Seth, and Chris Ware, among others, would offer multi-part stories serialized over several months (thus far, from four to 7 months).

Mister Wonderful is a comics serial created by Daniel Clowes and published from September 2007 to February 2008. Dan Clowes modified and expanded Mister Wonderful, and earlier this year (April 2011), Pantheon Books published it as a hardcover color graphic novel entitled Mister Wonderful: A Love Story (at a size of 6” x 11.2” which is similar to books that reprint newspaper comic strips).

The title, Mister Wonderful, refers to the story’s central character, Marshall, a divorced, middle-aged man out on a blind date. Marshall is a loner and is also in financial distress, neither of which is helped by his occasional flaring temper. As the story opens, Marshall is waiting for his blind date, a 39-year-old woman named Natalie. As the minutes tick by, Marshall imagines himself as being on the date that will change his life. Will this date be the one that lets him be a dashing, heroic type, a “Mister Wonderful?” He may be more right than he imagines, but is this rather unconventional fellow up to the task?

Mister Wonderful is completely about Marshall. Clowes tells the story (except for a few odd moments) as a first-person narrative, so readers who cannot engage Marshall will likely dislike the story. Natalie is really a supporting player, and she isn’t so much a character as she is a caricature, cipher, or type.

Marshall, in a sense, is also a type – a Dan Clowes type. Marshall is the self-absorbed, loser-in-distress. He doesn’t think that he is better than anyone else; he simply thinks that getting to know other people, for the most part, doesn’t add value to the rest of his life. In one way, Marshall is largely an enigma, but Clowes is delving into Marshall’s soul; he’s focusing on the parts of Marshall’s personality that will come forward to address the nerve-racking experience – a date. And Marshall has been dateless for six years or so. I can’t help but think that if we knew if Marshall had engaged in sexual intercourse in the time since his marriage dissolved that it would tell us a lot more about him.

Truthfully, what I like about this book is what I like about Clowes work. It is his ability to take oddball contrarians and make them so interesting, engaging, and even alluring. After reading Mister Wonderful, I realized that I watched the story of a loser who transforms into a lovable loser as he finally won something, in spite of himself and in spite of what others may think of him. Even when it seems like life is beating him down, Marshall is going to win. It’s a wonderful life, indeed.

A

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 28 2011

DC COMICS

OCT110226 ALL STAR WESTERN #4 $3.99

OCT110281 AMERICAN VAMPIRE #22 (MR) $2.99

OCT110163 AQUAMAN #4 $2.99

OCT110189 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #4 $2.99

OCT110224 BLACKHAWKS #4 $2.99

SEP110179 CHASE TP $29.99

APR110267 COVER GIRLS OF THE DCU STARFIRE STATUE $99.99

OCT110237 DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN BLAZE OF GLORY #1 $7.99

OCT110240 DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN URBAN LEGENDS #1 $7.99

SEP110174 DC COMICS PRESENTS ELSEWORLDS 80 PAGE GIANT #1 $7.99

OCT110235 DC COMICS PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #2 $7.99

OCT110174 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #20 $2.99

OCT110283 DMZ #72 (MR) $2.99

OCT110166 FLASH #4 $2.99

OCT110170 FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #4 $2.99

OCT110277 GEARS OF WAR #21 (MR) $2.99

OCT110206 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #4 $2.99

SEP110218 HELLBLAZER TP VOL 02 THE DEVIL YOU KNOW NEW ED (MR) $19.99

SEP110224 HOUSE OF MYSTERY TP VOL 07 CONCEPTION (MR) $14.99

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SEP110191 ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING TP $29.99

OCT110175 SAVAGE HAWKMAN #4 $2.99

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MAY110250 SUPERMANS GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE ARCHIVES HC VOL 01 $59.99

OCT110228 TEEN TITANS #4 $2.99

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OCT110221 VOODOO #4 $2.99

APR110281 WOMEN OF THE DCU SER 3 ZATANNA BUST $60.00

OCT100360 WORLD OF WARCRAFT SER 8 BLACK KNIGHT AF PI

OCT100362 WORLD OF WARCRAFT SER 8 FORSAKEN PRIESTESS AF PI

OCT100361 WOW SER 8 GNOME ROGUE VS KOBOLD MINER AF PI

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 28 2011

MARVEL COMICS

OCT110639 ALPHA FLIGHT #7 $2.99

OCT110640 ANNIHILATORS EARTHFALL #4 (OF 4) $3.99

OCT110689 ASTONISHING X-MEN #45 $3.99

AUG110613 AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #8 (OF 9) $3.99

OCT110602 AVENGERS SOLO #3 (OF 5) $3.99

OCT118095 AVENGERS X-SANCTION #1 2ND PTG MCGUINNESS VAR A $3.99

OCT118096 AVENGERS X-SANCTION #1 2ND PTG MCGUINNESS VAR B $3.99

OCT110642 BLACK PANTHER MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #527 $2.99

SEP110546 CAPTAIN AMERICA #5 $3.99

OCT110599 CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 $3.99

OCT110636 CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #625 $2.99

OCT110670 DEADPOOL #48 $2.99

OCT110617 DOROTHY AND WIZARD IN OZ #4 (OF 8) $3.99

SEP110684 ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 07 NEW ED $19.99

OCT110651 FF #13 $2.99

OCT110726 GENERATION HOPE SCHISM TP $16.99

OCT110725 HULK BY JOHN BYRNE AND RON GARNEY TP $34.99

OCT118116 INCREDIBLE HULK #2 2ND PTG SILVESTRI VAR (PP #999) $3.99

OCT110655 IRON MAN 2.0 #12 $2.99

OCT110723 KA-ZAR TP BURNING SEASON $16.99

OCT110695 KICK-ASS 2 #6 (MR) (OF 7) $2.99

OCT110594 MIGHTY THOR #9 $3.99

OCT110705 MMW GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS TP VOL 01 $29.99

OCT110706 MMW GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS TP VOL 01 DM VAR ED 36 $29.99

OCT110666 MUPPETS PRESENTS TREASURE OF PEG LEG WILSON $5.99

OCT110716 MYSTERY MEN PREM HC $19.99

OCT110605 SECRET AVENGERS #20 $3.99

OCT110729 SECRET AVENGERS TP VOL 02 EYES OF DRAGON $19.99

OCT110662 SPIDER-MAN #21 $2.99

OCT110623 ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #5 $3.99

OCT110626 ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #5 $3.99

OCT110671 UNCANNY X-MEN #3 XREGB $3.99

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