limited-edition bookplate for French ANY EMPIRE!/ fundraising for Sarah Kirsch

Here's a a full-color bookplate I just finished, limited to 150 copies of the French translation of Any Empire, to be released in October by Sarbacane!



I'll have the original artwork (9"x12") for sale this weekend at SPX, and will be donating ALL my original artwork sales to help my friend Sarah Kirsch with mounting medical/living expenses during her long and ongoing fight with Fanconi Anemia. If you can't make it to SPX but are interested in this piece (or others), please email me at seemybrotherdance@yahoo.com and let me know. Thanks!

Some of you who were a part of the punk/hardcore scenes of the 1990's (and beyond) may know Sarah Kirsch (formerly known as Mike Kirsch) as the guitarist/vocalist for some of the best punk bands of all time, including Fuel, Sawhorse, Pinhead Gunpowder, John Henry West, Navio Forge, Torches To Rome, Bread And Circuits, Please Inform The Captain This Is A Hijack, Baader Brains, and most recently Mothercountry Motherfuckers. Her music truly changed and shaped my life as an adolescent, lent clarity, power, and passion to my experiences, and inspired me to do the same with my own creative efforts.




 You can directly contribute to Sarah's medical/living expense fund here. The costs have been truly staggering and will remain so-- ANYTHING you can give is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!


SPX time this weekend!

If you're in the DC area, come out to the Small Press Expo in North Bethesda, MD this weekend (Sept. 15th, 11am-7pm / Sept. 16th, 12-6pm)! It's at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center (5701 Marinelli Road). I'll be at Table J14, in my usual spot across from Top Shelf Productions. 

I'll have tons of books, original artwork, and other stuff for sale. SPX is personally my favorite comics event in North America, and this month marks my 20th anniversary of publishing comics. See you there!

Here's a floor map with my table marked:


SOUNDS OF YOUR NAME digital re-release Sept. 19!

I'm pleased to announce that Top Shelf will be digitally reissuing my hard-to-find omnibus Sounds Of Your Name, which collects almost all my long out-of-print comics from 1998-2004. This volume clocks in at around 330 pages, is rearranged chronologically and has additional notes, annotations, and backstories for the comics contained within.

Sounds Of Your Name collects all of Tiny Giants, It Disappears, Walkie Talkie #1-4, Conditions, Frankenbones, and has excerpts from Wonderful Broken Thing and The Schwa Sound, as well as anthology stories from Syncopated, Meathaus, and Paper Rodeo. The print version is still available from Microcosm Publishing, but due to a curse it's nearly impossible to find in any stores anywhere. You can order it directly from me here.

The digital reissue hits on September 19th for a measly $3.99, and my site's store will have a download link (along with digital versions of all the other Top Shelf books).





and here's an excerpt from "Satellite Worlds" (Walkie Talkie #3-4):






A Year Of Freedom for the West Memphis Three!



Jesse Miskelley, Jr., Jason Baldwin, and Damien Echols celebrate a year of freedom after 18 years of incarceration for three terrible murders they didn't commit (a case still unsolved, with thoughts and deep respect going out to the families of the three 8-year-old boys whose lives were taken far too early).

Suppose for a minute that you were framed, convicted, and incarcerated as a 16-year-old without a variety of financial or cultural privileges, and that you spent the next 18 years in prison, on death row and/or in solitary confinement? You'd find yourself completely out of the loop with a variety of pervasive technological and cultural changes (the Internet as a whole, and everything that has shifted as a result!), and would find yourself with a felony stuck to your record, a lifetime of institutionalization to shake, and with an extremely limited set of options.

Click here to contribute to the West Memphis 3 Freedom Fund, a non-profit "legal trust fund that was created to pay for Damien, Jason and Jessie's basic lifestyle needs (food, shelter, healthcare, education and the like) in order to provide them a financial bridge as they re-enter society as free men, with the expectation each will become self-sufficient and live on their own earnings in the near future as they attain their career goals."

Much love and support to these three fellow Arkansans, their families, the memories of the victims, and all whose lives were scarred by these senseless murders. Despite the statistical impossibility of the Marion County or Arkansas law enforcement ever apprehending the true killer(s), here's to the hope of true justice and healing someday.


Pencil pages galore on forthcoming books!

I've been holed up in my fort lately, working away at four books simultaneously. Here's a little sliver of pencil pages-in-progress for each of these projects:

Here's an excerpt from a new short story called "Havens Have Not"-- a return to the Please Release-style autobio comics essay form. It's one of several new stories in my forthcoming collection You Don't Say, which should be out in 2013 on Top Shelf, and collects all of my shorter stories from 2004 to present, including a ton of rare and unpublished stuff.

(you can also read the included short stories "Cakewalk" [one of my all-time favorites, awkward, haunting, and true-- written by Rachel Bormann] and "Bets Are Off" [a comics adaptation of a Pretty Girls Make Graves song] with these links here.)






Next up-- here's a pencil excerpt from my graphic novel adaptation of Rick Riordan's adventure megahit Heroes Of Olympus: The Lost Hero. Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar, Surrogates, The Homeland Directive, Percy Jackson And The Olympians) handled the script adaptation, and this graphic novel will be released in 2014 by Hyperion Books.






I'm also hard at work drawing March, the graphic novel autiobiography of Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), living architect of the 20th century civil rights movement. The book is co-authored by Andrew Aydin, and will be published in 2014 or 2015 by Top Shelf. Very stoked about this tome!  

(You can read a finished preview chapter of March here.)


Finally, here are a couple of pages from my next solo graphic novel, Cover, which will be published by Top Shelf in 2016. I'm currently working through pencils and dialogue for the entire book, with details about the story later in the fall. There is nothing more satisfying, challenging, and exciting than diving into undiscovered worlds within a new graphic novel, watching the characters and environment evolve and mature in the years between those first scribbles and the finished product.




Thank you for reading my books and continuing to support me, and all comic book creators! Now back to the drawing board.

Drawing MARCH with Congressman John Lewis!

 
I'm proud to announce that I'm drawing MARCH, the autobiographical comics memoir of civil rights icon, Congressman, and true badass John Lewis! 
(Check out the Publishers Weekly announcement here!)

John Lewis is the sole surviving member of the "Big Six" of the Civil Rights movement, was a founding member and chairman of the SNCC, early organizer of the Freedom Rides and groundbreaking lunch-counter sit-ins across the South, worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy throughout the 1960's, was integral in the historic marches from Selma to Montgomery, and generally helped smack institutionalized white supremacy in the nuts and changed the face of 20th century American society. He's currently one of the U.S.'s most progressive Congresspeople, and is a gentle dude.

Top Shelf Productions will be publishing MARCH in 2015.

 

Panels & signings at San Diego Comic Con!



San Diego's very own Comic-Con International is next week (July 11-15)-- prepare yourself for the throngs of humanity! Most of the time you can find me at the Top Shelf booth (#1721), where I'll be selling books, original comic pages, and a promotional minicomic for a forthcoming graphic novel I can finally announce at the Con. Lots of new projects are in the works!

Here's a list of additional panels, presentations, and signings I'll be doing throughout the week:

THURS. JULY 12:


3-4 pm-- "Graphic Novels: The Bookstore Crowd" panel w/ Alison Bechdel, Kate Beaton, Brecht Evens, Jennifer and Matt Holm, and Jason Shiga. Moderated by Tom Spurgeon. (Room 23ABC) 

FRI. JULY 13:


11 am-12 pm-- The Silence Of Our Friends signing at First Second booth (#1323).

2-3 pm -- Artist Spotlight panel (a presentation, Q&A and discussion about my work, and announcement about forthcoming projects!). (Room 9)

SAT. JULY 14:


1-2 pm-- Top Shelf panel w/ Eddie Campbell, Jeff Lemire, Ed Piskor, James Kolchalka, and Chris Ross. Moderated by Leigh Walton. (Room 4)

2:30-3 pm-- The Silence Of Our Friends signing at First Second booth (#1323).


SUN. JULY 15:


10 am- 12 pm-- The Year Of The Beasts signing at MacKids booth (#1220).

12:15- 1:45 pm-- CBLDF Benefit Rock Art Jam w/ Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon! Original artwork done live, projected, and auctioned to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. (Room 5AB)
 
See you there!

THE YEAR OF THE BEASTS is a YALSA Readers' Choice nominee & a review at Shelf Awareness

I'm pleased to pass along word that Cecil Castellucci's and my hybrid graphic novel The Year Of The Beasts is a YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Readers' Choice nominee! 

Here's a sweet new review of the book at Shelf Awareness too.

"Yet there is redemption in this page-turning tale, and an acceptance that feelings alone cannot determine humans' fates."

Group exhibit at The Owlery in Bloomington!



I'll have some original artwork on display/for sale in a group exhibit at The Owlery (118 W. 6th Street) in Bloomington IN-- the show is in conjunction with this weekend's Plan-It-X Fest, and 15% of the artwork sales will go to benefit Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (an essential public food pantry).

My stuff will be alongside works by Erin Tobey, Ryan Woods, Matt Tobey, Sean Mahan, Chris Clavin, Izzy Jarvis, Megan March Mink, Rich Diem, Emily Timm, Alan Crenshaw, and Rebecca Redman.

The show's opening will be Friday, June 22nd from 11pm-1am, and will remain up until August. The Facebook event page is here.

See you there!

Chicago Alternative Comics Expo-- June 16-17!

Chicago folks, I'll be at CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) this Saturday and Sunday from 11-6, at Columbia College (1104 S. Wabash). Come find me at Table 38-- I'll have tons of books and original artwork for sale.

Also be sure to check out the comics wizardry of Gabby Schulz, John Porcellino, Anders Nilsen, Mike Taylor, Lilli Carre, Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, Lisa Hanawalt, Laura Park, Grant Reynolds, Kevin Cannon, Sam Hiti, Kevin Huizenga, Jesse Jacobs, Hellen Jo, Caroline Paquita, Jim Rugg, Mickey Zacchilli, and tons more, all exhibiting at the show!

BLOOMINGTON-- in-store signing/ book release at Vintage Phoenix Comics!



If you live in Bloomington IN, I'll be doing a signing/ book release throwdown at Vintage Phoenix Comics (114 E. 6th St.) on Friday, June 15th from 7-9pm! This will be in conjunction with the year's release of Sweet Tooth #34, The Year Of The Beasts, and The Silence Of Our Friends.

Snacks? Check. Drinks? Check.

Original artwork will also be for sale. See you there!

The Facebook event is here.