Fantagraphics Grand Opening

Never let it be said that we here at Successless would miss out on a party. Especially not one that has comics, cartoonists, art, artists, music and beer. Double especially if it’s only a 15 minute drive away.

So, with that in mind, we absolutely had to make it back down to the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle for the official grand opening of the Fantagraphics Books retail store, which happily coincided with the Georgetown art walk, and a gallery opening at Belle & Wissell promoting the new book Beasts! Nevermind that we had already hit up the soft opening a month earlier. This time, there would be beer!

The event was scheduled to kick off at 5pm, so we rolled in at a fashionably late 6pm. And boy were we surprised by the turnout! There was already an overflow crowd on the sidewalk out front, and plenty of crossover traffic between the store and the nearby galleries. Getting inside was easy enough, but moving around once inside proved difficult. It was packed, wall-to-wall, with a wide range of folks, from kids there with their parents, to young hipsters soaking in the atmosphere, to older aficionados digging for rare books. The counter staff (which usually consisted of one person) looked happy, bordering on overwhelmed, as I’m not sure they were expecting this kind of turnout.

The store itself was mostly in the same state as it was for the soft opening, just a little more polished and tweaked. The plain banner in the window was replaced with permanent vinyl graphics, based on Daniel Clowes artwork. The side wall was adorned with a selection of original art from Peter Bagge, R. Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, and others, tastefully presented behind plexiglass. The damaged room had a larger inventory, including out-of-print comics (like Penny Century #3, which I was happy to finally find).

We hung around and shopped for a little while, bumping elbows with Ellen Forney, Andrice Arp and Kaz Strzepek (who chatted with us or a while), among others. When it got a little too claustrophobic (and we finished our complementary beers), we made our way over to the gallery to check out the Beasts exhibit. The space was small but elegant, with original artwork hanging on one wall, an interactive projection of pages from the book on the opposite side, and a beautiful diorama on the bookshelf, next to a selection of small-press art books. They were playing a mix of minimal techno from the upstairs staff area/DJ booth, which fit the modern design of the space quite well.

Back at the Fantagraphics store, local band The Rheas played a quick set of synth-laced indie pop, with store counterperson Rhea Patterson on drums. It was around 8 at this point, and the crowd showed no sign of thinning out yet, but we decided to take our leave. It was great to see such a large, diverse turnout for a comic store opening, though. I never would have guessed that even an institution like Fantagraphics could have pulled it off, with the economic state of the artform as it is. But I’m definitely happy to be proven wrong.

Successless loves you

And your Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrains
(Someone took this during the Seattle Zombie walk on Sunday - peek at the group pics if you want)

Happy Halloween everybody!

Fanta-awesome

As one of the first group of patrons to cross the threshold into unchartered Fantagraphics Books retail country, I can say that there is no greater sight than seeing an Acme Novelty Library stand next to a spinner rack swollen with Love and Rockets and Black Hole. But to stay with current blogging trends and to guarantee there isn’t any actual content, let’s make this into a photo post:

Storefront in the Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle. For non-Seattlites, this is a ten minute drive down the freeway from downtown Seattle.

The masses ache to spend cash. Dylan is in the middle of this shot. Yay Dylan!

The wall of signed prints and posters.

The appropriately hyped damage room. Many, many steals.

The Acme Novelty Library stand

I have now found my personal oasis.

Since it was a soft opening there were a few details to be worked out (like a functional credit card machine), but we were told by December 2nd, everything will be perfect. December 2nd is the official grand opening super-fantastic night that everyone should attend. Hey, flights to Seattle aren’t that bad. And if you aren’t totally psycho we may even have some room for you to crash. You just have to ask nicely. And yes, we also accept bribes.

Fantagraphics Store

Seattle comics fans, make some space in your schedule this Saturday to visit the newest comics retailer in the city. Now, this isn’t just any old direct market outlet packed with toys and collectables and a few racks of superhero pamphlets. No siree, this is the long-rumoured, finally real Fantagraphics retail storefront!

Looks like they;ll be stocking “everything Fantagraphics has in print, including our soon-to-be-legendary damaged room, featuring discounted and often out-of-print books unavailable anywhere else.” I don’t think you can afford to miss out, especially as that damaged room will probably get picked over right quick. Come early.

FANTAGRAPHIC BOOKS
1201 South Vale Street
Seattle, WA 98108
Mon. - Sat 11:30 - 8
Sun 11:30 - 5
206-658-0110

Multimedia ball busting

Ellen Forney, the Capitol Hill and The Stranger (Seattle’s alt-weekly) comic darling, presented her book I Love Led Zeppelin to a fully packed and enthusiastic crowd at Bailey Coy Books. Her book, put out by Seattle’s own Fantagraphic Books, is a collection of pieces she’s done from 1992 to the present, featuring collaborations and autobiographical pieces.

Other comic artists may just do a signing to celebrate and introduce their work. Some artists may book a large town hall for a Q&A and signing (a la Marjane Satrapi in her “Seattle Reads Persepolis” event at Town Hall in June). But no one that I know has ever done something like Ellen. With an admirable amount of gusto she sauntered out in a very tiny skirt with guns in holsters printed on the fabric indirectly announcing how bad ass she is and how everyone should listen up. Everything about her is accessible in her comics: her hairstyle, her love of muscle cars, her love of Led Zeppelin, and her biting sense of humor. But one thing she could never portray is how expressive and commanding she is in performance.

What Ellen did was nothing short of theatrical genius: she acted out four of her stories from her book. With animation of her work. And loud music.

The first vignette was of her piece “The Final Soundtrack”. The story is about a dramatic, glamorous death and what should be playing from the crumpled car’s stereo, from the perspective of the innocent bystander stumbling across this scene straight from film noir. Ideally, the music blaring should be something grand and dramatic, like Led Zeppelin. But as we all know, there is a small, inexcusable chance you could be listening to something sucky and secretly loved, like Sheryl Crow or Berlin. And through use of various audio tracks and animated scenes of the fiery car crash, Ellen expertly tapped into her inner actress to express the woe and embarrassment of such a tragedy.

Following her first act was her exploration of Seattle’s erotic landmarks, like the phallic Key Tower building on Cherry Street and the now retired “Magic Pussy” glowing blue flame on top of the Puget Energy Building. This slightly perverted and sweet ode to Seattle touch many fans in the audience.

Next up was her version of a date with Camille Paglia. Failing in her quest to collaborate with Ms. Paglia, her consolation prize was a date request from the woman who thinks female genitalia resembles a smelly primal swamp. The use of “Immigrant Song” every time her image was on screen was hilarious and well thought out.
Wrapping up the circus was her Margret Cho collaboration, “How to be a Fabulous Fag Hag.” Through the wiping of tears through the recounting of always having a back up ride home and occasionally hanging out with someone who wants to sleep with you, it definitely was appropriate for this audience.

Perhaps it was because I knew this was the first of many presentations, I couldn’t shake the feeling of this being a momentous moment in Ms. Forney’s career. In a field which most disregard as an irreverent art form, she is blazing a new trails by combining theater with art with writing with comedy with music. It’s certainly not something every comic artist could pull off, but using her love of performing and laughter to her advantage is nothing short of brilliant and I hope it takes her very, very far.

Knee Deep In Comic Goodness

I am sure it is obvious (and fairly annoying) how smitten we are with Seattle a mere six months or so into our hometown conversion. And I swear one day we will stop being so in love and move into that no-shaving, lounging on the couch in sweats, chewing with our mouth open phase. But until then I insist that Seattle is the hottest thing around, as it seems as though each week a new comic event pops up to remind us how nice it is to live here.

This week Seattle brings to our doorstep Alison Bechdel, who will be doing TWO events on her Fun Home tour:
Friday June 16
University Book Store, 7:00PM

Saturday June 17
Third Place Books, drop-by signing, 2:00 PM
Bailey Coy Books, 7:00 PM (This will take place at The Wild Rose Bar, 1021 E. Pike Street, Seattle 206.324.9210 )

Lucky us, right?!? Check out her tour page to see if she will be gracing your city as well.

If you need a refresher on how much I love Alison, check out the previous post I did about a few books in her Dykes to Watch Out For series. She’s an awesome cartoonist and makes me a bit weak in the knees. Just like Seattle.

Marjane Satrapi in Seattle

Of all the amazing work being done in the comics medium today, very few books bubble up from the comics-reading audience into the mainstream of literary recognition. While books like Love & Rockets, or more commonly, Watchmen, might get name-checked in periodic “Blam! Pow! Comics Aren’t for Kids Anymore!” articles, and books like Blankets sometimes show up on adventurous year-end lists, not many comics manage to grab a foothold in that mainstream. Even though we have work like Chester Brown’s Louis Riel, and Joe Sacco’s “comics journalism” in Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde, only Speigelman’s Maus seems to have any enduring presence in the minds of the general populace.

In light of this, it was great to see a packed house at Seattle’s Town Hall (also the site of a recent Harvey Pekar appearance) for Marjane Satrapi’s appearance, the final event in Seattle Public Library’s “Seattle Reads Persepolis” series.

After a brief introduction from one of the event organizers, Marjane took over the stage. She had a lot to say, and said it very quickly, in a seemingly unbroken stream of ideas delivered in a fluent, but heavily accented English, drawing frequent laughter and applause from the crowd. It was a wide ranging talk, beginning with her recently gained French citizenship, and how having a French passport has changed the way she’s treated while traveling. Apparently, an Iranian passport will get you asked what kind of weapons you’re carrying, while a French passport prompts questions about what kind of cheese you have with you.

She spoke a lot about why Persepolis, her memoir of childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, was created as a comic (because the universality of images helped her communicate her story to a wider audience, and because the process of writing seemed linked with the drawing to her), and also about some of her choices in the structure and style of the book. For example, her decision to make the story black and white was partly motivated out of a desire to keep the violent scenes more abstract, feeling that the use of red for blood in theses scenes would rob the victims of some human dignity, turning them into “a piece of meat” on the page.

She also discussed some of the reaction to her choice of medium, including a couple of witty moments, like comparing cartoonists to bisexuals (to paraphrase: “You’re heterosexual? Fine, no one has a problem. Homosexual? OK. But if you can’t choose between sexes, or between words and pictures, then people have a problem!”), and her response to people asking why she didn’t just write a book (again, paraphrasing: “But I did! I just used pictures to write it. Nobody asks the filmmakers ‘Why didn’t you dance instead?’ or asks writers why they didn’t paint a picture”).

There was a lot of talk devoted to Iran, touching briefly on it’s history and it’s impact on Marjane herself. She made it a point to tell us that, even though she had recently become a French citizen, she still considers herself Iranian, or at least considers Iran a part of her (I can’t remember her exact phrasing, and I don’t have a transcript of the event). It’s easy to see why, as the events detailed in Persepolis show a young woman growing up with a political consciousness at an early age, with the realities of revolution and warfare forced on her and her family in unavoidable ways as a matter of daily routine. Another memorable statement: Iranis like her mother, who she didn’t choose, but will always be there. Paris, her new home, is like her wife, who she chose and will probably cheat on.

Next up, after her sprawling, engrossing talk, was a moderated Q&A session. Questions included her artistic influences and favorites (the usual suspects, such as Spiegelman, Ware, Clowes, and Sacco). She was also asked about her feelings on feminism, a label she rejects in favor of humanism. Frankly, my memory is a little hazy on this portion. Maybe if Serene remembers something I don’t', she’ll edit this post to add it (wink wink).

A brief standing ovation and signing session (with a line stretching all the way around the room) concluded the evening. It was great to see a packed house of readers, not just comic readers, for this event, and I’m sure it helps that book is not only incredible, but timely as well. Persepolis and Persepolis 2 are still widely available in bookstores, and come highly recommended from a variety of sources, and the Seattle Public Library will soon have DVD’s of this event available, for locals who missed out.

Seattle Splendor

Town Hall Seattle, First Hill’s cultural arts center, hosted an evening with Harvey Pekar last night, which we were fortunate enough to attend. Co-sponsored by Elliott Bay Books, the event was mainly to promote Pekar’s newest graphic novel, Ego & Hubris, the story of New Yorker Michael Malice.

The building Town Hall resides in was originally a Church of Christ, Scientist, and still retains most of the distinguishing features in it’s interior, including rows of hard-backed and tightly-packed wooden pews and tall stained glass windows. It’s a large, beautiful room and a perfect venue for this sort of event.

The host of tonight’s activities was Paul Constant, the surprisingly youthful book critic for Seattle’s self-proclaimed “only newspaper,” the Stranger. As he began his introduction, most of the (rather sizable) audience was stealing glances over to the backstage door, where Harvey was intermittently peeking out at us.

Despite his reputation as a somewhat gruff, brusque character, Harvey came across as very warm and open, answering questions freely, both from Paul and the audience. They tackled everything from his upcoming projects (including the very intriguing Macedonia project, which should hit shelves later this year, and DC Comic’s revival of his flagship American Splendor title, starting in September), his brief involvement in adapting Linklater’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly to comics, his writing process and the business end of working with various artist and publishers (apparently DC’s page rates for artists work out almost three times higher than Random House’s…not exactly what I would have expected!), and of course, the process of writing Ego & Hubris. The new book was put together almost entirely from letters and anecdotes told to Pekar by the book’s subject, Michael Malice, which Harvey essentially edited down to a series of panels for artist Gary Dumm.

Following the interview was a brief audience Q&A session, and book sales and signing, during which Harvey cheerfully answered questions and signed books for dozens of people, the line stretching around a row of pews. It was a wide range of ages and styles in attendance, which was nice to see.

Town Hall is definitely a Seattle event center to keep an eye on. Marjane Satrapi will be appearing there June 2nd, in conjunction with the Seattle Public Library’s “Seattle Reads Persepolis” series of events. There’s also an “Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution” debate next week, featuring representatives of the local intelligent design “think-tank” the Discovery Institute, a group responsible for, or at least involved in, much of the drive to undermine this country’s science education. That might be worth checking out.

I Heart Seattle

As Dylan and I weep silently for the loss of Confounded Books, the excellent independent shop selling fine printed works to young and old alike, there are still a few reasons to revel in the emerald hue of this great city we call home.

THIS WEEKEND:
To be honest, I’ve been really surprised to read about how many bloggers are going to Emerald City ComiCon. One of my favorite bloggers, Polite Dissent, is going to be there, along with Comics Should Be Good. It makes me sad since we decided a while back that APE would take the whole of our convention funds this year. While I do admit the exhibitor list left me a tad lukewarm (especially since most I want to see will be at APE), I feel like there is an esprit de corps among comic fans in Seattle. And I’ve left my fellow brethren to fend for themselves. I’m a bad, bad comic fan.

APRIL 19:
Harvey Pekar is making an appearance at Town Hall. And it’s sponsored by the best book shop in all of Seattle, Elliott Bay Books. Yes, moan and groan and give me ten reasons why you hate him while telepathically sending me ten reasons why he is your hero. I personally like him, and I will go encounter the crazy-eyebrowed, egocentric, scary man giddily.

MAY 20:
Olympia Comic Fest. I won’t bore anyone reading this with the reasons, as I’ve already posted about it before. But do note that if you live in the area and are an independent comic book fan and don’t attend without some major catastrophe as an excuse, I will think you suck. And if brave and filled with booze, I might even tell you myself.

JUNE 2:
The Seattle Public Library sponsored a “Seattle Reads Persepolis” event with author Marjane Satrapi at Town Hall. I’m so there. I’m really glad that I move to a city that puts funds towards events like this.

No More Confounded??!!

Sad news for Seattle comics lovers. Confounded Books, on Pine St. in Capitol Hill, will be closing on April 29th. Follow that link to the Comics Journal message board for the full press release.

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