Sunday, March 25, 2012

Friday, March 23, 2012

VIZ Media Presents "The Navidad Incident"

VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT RELEASES AWARD WINNING NOVEL THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT: THE DOWNFALL OF MATIAS GUILI

A Modern Classic Of Magical Realism And Political Satire That Reinvents Myths Of 20th Century Japan

VIZ Media’s Haikasoru imprint has announced the release today of author Natsuki Ikezawa’s surrealistic novel, THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT: THE DOWNFALL OF MATIAS GUILI. The book is published by the company’s Haikasoru imprint and carries an MSRP of $24.99 U.S. / $28.99 CAN / £16.99 UK. An eBook edition is also available on the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, the Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store, and the Sony Reader™ Store.

Haikasoru publishes some of the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy stories for English-speaking audiences, and is the first imprint based in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese science fiction and fantasy in translation.

In this sweeping magical-realist epic set in the fictional south sea island Republic of Navidad, Ikezawa gives his imagination free rein to reinvent the myths of the twentieth century Japan. The story takes off as a delegation of Japanese war veterans pays an official visit to the ex-World War II colony, only to see the Japanese flag burst into flames. The following day, the tour bus and its passengers simply vanish. The locals exchange absurd rumors – the bus was last seen attending Catholic mass, the bus must have skipped across the lagoon – but the president suspects a covert guerrilla organization is trying to undermine his connections with Japan. Can the real answers to the mystery be found, or will the president have to be content with the surreal answers?

“Natsuki Ikezawa crafts an engrossing story that combines charmingly surreal set pieces, traditional fantasy tropes such as ghosts, with a story of international politics,” says Nick Mamatas, Haikasoru Editor. “We invite readers to take the journey to the mysterious nation of Navidad and uncover the truth behind these unexplained occurrences in this newest release from Haikasoru!”

Author Natsuki Ikezawa was born in Hokkaido, Japan in 1945 and was formerly enrolled at Saitama University before leaving to become a poet and author. Presently, he writes fiction and literary criticism and is also an active public speaker. Several of his works including STILL LIVES and A BURDEN OF FLOWERS have been published in English. In 1993, THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT: THE DOWNFALL OF MATIAS GUILI was the winner of the prestigious Tanizaki Jun’ichiro Prize.

To read an excerpt of THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT, please visit: http://www.scribd.com/doc/84566677/The-Navidad-Incident-The-Downfall-of-Matias-Guili

To enter to win a copy of THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT, please visit: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/18397-the-navidad-incident-the-downfall-of-matias-guili

For more information on THE NAVIDAD INCIDENT and the Haikasoru imprint, please visit the dedicated website at http://www.haikasoru.com/.


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

"Listen, Whitey!" and Pat Thomas in the U.K. in April

Pat Thomas Travels Over Land and Sea With

Listen Whitey!: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power

Fantagraphics Books and Light in the Attic Records are excited to announce that author, lecturer, and music-man Pat Thomas is hitting the road with Listen Whitey!: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power. Meet the mofo behind the book that pays tribute to the Black Power Movement of the ’60s-’70s. Heading up the West Coast and then across the pond to England, Thomas will be giving talks, signing books, and playing tracks at both bookstores and record shops.

While researching this book project in Oakland, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Elaine Brown, and others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective. Listen, Whitey! chronicles the forgotten history of Motown Records’ Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, which released politically charged albums by Stokely Carmichael, Langston Hughes, Bill Cosby, and Ossie Davis, among others. Obscure records produced by African-American sociopolitical organizations of the period are examined, along with the Isley Brothers, Nina Simone, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Watts Prophets, Roland Kirk, Horace Silver, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, Stanley Crouch, and many more. Thomas will give a slide and music presentation, and then sign copies of Listen, Whitey! and the companion CD of the same title from Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records. The album features rare tracks from African-American activists like Dick Gregory, Eldridge Cleaver, and the Last Poets, with protest music by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Gil Scott-Heron, Roy Harper, and more.

Listen, Whitey! features nearly 200 pages of text accompanied by over 250 large sized, full-color reproductions of album covers and 45 rpm singles — most of which readers will have never seen before. The book creates a cultural context for the iconic images and the accompanying album.

For a preview and more information, visit www.fantagraphics.com/listenwhitey.

LISTEN, WHITEY!: THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF BLACK POWER
By Pat Thomas
$39.99 USA
ISBN 978-1-60699-507-5
Published by Fantagraphics Books

Event listing information:

Monday, April 2, 12-1PM
University of Southern California
Ronald Tutor Campus Center
Geoffrey Cowan Forum, Room 207
Annenberg School across from Heritage Hall.
3607 Trousdale Pkwy
LOS ANGELES, CA 90089
213.821.3015
http://www.annenberg.usc.edu/

Wednesday, April 4, 7pm
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069
310.659.3110
http://www.booksoup.com/

Thursday, April 5, 7-8PM
AMOEBA Records, LA
6400 Sunset Blvd.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90028
323.245.6400
http://www.amoeba.com/

Saturday, April 7, TBA
Warbler Records & Goods
131 E De La Guerra St
SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101
805.845.5862
http://www.warblerrecords.squarespace.com/

Tuesday, April 10, 7:30PM
The Booksmith
1644 Haight St.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117
415.863.8688
http://www.booksmith.com/

Wednesday, April 11, 7:30 pm
Pegasus Books 2349 Shattuck Ave.
BERKELEY, CA 94704
510.649.1320
http://www.pegasusbookstore.com/

Sunday, April 22, 7:30 PM
Powell’s City of Books
1005 W Burnside
PORTLAND, OR 97209
503.228.4651
http://www.powells.com/

Wednesday, May 9, TBA
University of Southampton
University Road, SOUTHAMPTON SO17 1BJ
+44 (0)23.8059.5000
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/

Thursday, May 10, TBA
SPONSORED AND PRESENTED BY
THE WIRE MAGAZINE
Cafe OTO
18 - 22 Ashwin St.
Dalston, LONDON E8 3DL
http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/

Friday, May 11, TBA
Rough Trade East “Dray Walk”
Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane, LONDON
E1 6QL
+44 (0)207.392.7788
http://www.roughtrade.com/

Tuesday, May 15, TBA
Durham University
Lecture Room of the Music Department
The University Office
Old Elvet, DURHAM
DH1 3HP
+44 (0)191.334.6305
http://www.dunelm.org.uk/


20th Century Boys: The Man Who Came Back

I read Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Vol. 19

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


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 21 2012

DC COMICS

JAN120236 BATMAN #7 $2.99

JAN120239 BATMAN #7 COMBO PACK $3.99

JAN120290 BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #2 $3.99

JAN120286 BATMAN ODYSSEY VOL 2 #6 (OF 7) $3.99

JAN120246 BIRDS OF PREY #7 $2.99

JAN120281 BLUE BEETLE #7 $2.99

JAN120222 CAPTAIN ATOM #7 $2.99

JAN120251 CATWOMAN #7 $2.99

JAN120289 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #26 $2.99

JAN120225 DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #7 $2.99

JAN120321 DIABLO #3 (OF 5) $2.99

JAN120334 DOMINIQUE LAVEAU VOODOO CHILD #1 (MR) $2.99

JAN120329 FABLES #115 (MR) $2.99

DEC110280 FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT GREEN LANTERN TP $17.99

DEC110281 FLASHPOINT WORLD OF FLASHPOINT THE FLASH TP $17.99

DEC110295 GREEN LANTERN CHRONICLES TP VOL 04 $14.99

JAN120256 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7 $2.99

JAN120338 HELLBLAZER #289 (MR) $2.99

JAN128108 JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 7TH PTG $3.99

JAN120210 JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 $3.99

JAN120213 JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 COMBO PACK $4.99

DEC110290 JUSTICE LEAGUE RISE AND FALL TP $17.99

JAN120284 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #7 $2.99

JAN120252 NIGHTWING #7 $2.99

JAN120250 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #7 $2.99

DEC110285 RED ROBIN SEVEN DAYS OF DEATH TP $19.99

JAN128114 SUICIDE SQUAD #6 2ND PTG $2.99

JAN120235 SUPERGIRL #7 $2.99

JAN120292 THUNDER AGENTS VOL 2 #5 (OF 6) (NOTE PRICE) $3.99

JAN120316 TINY TITANS #50 $2.99

JAN120217 WONDER WOMAN #7 $2.99

JAN120317 YOUNG JUSTICE #14 $2.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 21 2012

MARVEL COMICS

JAN120658 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #682 ENDS $3.99

OCT110612 ANITA BLAKE CIRCUS DAMNED SCOUNDREL #5 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99

JAN120757 ANNIHILATORS EARTHFALL TP $14.99

JAN120719 ASTONISHING X-MEN WHEDON CASSADAY ULT COLL TP BOOK 02 $29.99

OCT110707 AVENGERS WEST COAST LOST SPACE TIME PREM HC $34.99

OCT110708 AVENGERS WEST COAST LOST SPACE TIME PREM HC DM VAR ED 86 $34.99

JAN120633 AVENGERS X-SANCTION #4 (OF 4) $3.99

JAN120712 DEADPOOL #52 $2.99

SEP110645 ELEKTRA ASSASSIN PREM HC (MR) $24.99

SEP110646 ELEKTRA ASSASSIN PREM HC DM VAR ED 85 (MR) $24.99

JAN120766 ESSENTIAL HULK TP VOL 03 NEW ED $19.99

JAN120741 FEAR ITSELF DRACULA PREM HC $19.99

JAN120685 FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #11 (OF 12) $2.99

JAN120742 FEAR ITSELF SPIDER-MAN PREM HC $19.99

JAN120653 FORMIC WARS SILENT STRIKE #4 (OF 5) $3.99

JAN120711 GENERATION HOPE #17 $2.99

JAN120763 INCREDIBLE HULK PAST PERFECT TP $39.99

OCT110713 INCREDIBLE HULKS WORLD WAR HULKS HC $49.99

JAN120675 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #514 $3.99

JAN120655 JOHN CARTER GODS OF MARS #1 (OF 5) $2.99

DEC110692 KICK-ASS 2 #7 (OF 7) (MR) $4.99

DEC110738 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS UNITED DIGEST TP $9.99

JAN120637 MARVELS AVENGERS PRELUDE FURYS BIG WEEK #2 (OF 4) $2.99

JAN120708 NEW MUTANTS #39 $2.99

JAN128107 SCARLET SPIDER #1 3RD PTG STEGMAN VAR (PP #1011) $3.99

JAN128106 SCARLET SPIDER #2 2ND PTG STEGMAN VAR (PP #1011) $2.99

JAN120714 SUPERCROOKS #1 (OF 4) (MR) $2.99

JAN120681 THUNDERBOLTS #171 $2.99

JAN120747 ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN BY NICK SPENCER PREM HC VOL 01 $24.99

JAN120696 UNCANNY X-MEN #9 $3.99

JAN120754 VENOM BY RICK REMENDER TP VOL 01 $16.99

JAN120700 WOLVERINE #303 $3.99

JAN120762 WOLVERINE AND NICK FURY SCORPIO TP $19.99

JAN120745 WOLVERINE GOODBYE CHINATOWN PREM HC $19.99

JAN120709 X-FACTOR #233 $2.99

JAN120756 X-MEN FIRST TO LAST TP $15.99