Reading at Guapo Comics

I'll be at Stumptown April 18th and 19th, at table #100! Hope to see you there.

Also, if you have the chance, you should vote for the Maisie Kukoc awards. Some pretty great minis have been nominated this year.

COMICS PARTY!
Friday April 17th, 7-11pm, FREE
Guapo Comics & Coffee, 6350 SE Foster Road, Portland
503-772-3638

Sparkplug Comic Books, Guapo Comics & Coffee, Tugboat Press, Teenage Dinosaur, MacTarnahan?s Brewing and the Kukoc Awards throw a party! This gala opening party for the Stumptown Comics Fest will include a comics reading, art show, multi-book premiere, and awards presentation. About as much as we could pack into one evening.

Eight cartoonists will be reading from their work, blown up large for the whole world to see. Readers will include Calvin Wong (2009 Kukoc Award nominee: Ramble On!), Tom Neely (2007 Igantz winner: The Blot), Corinne Mucha (Xeric Award winner: My Alaskan Summer), Hellen Jo (Jin & Jam #1), Jason Martin (Laterborn), Colleen Frakes (Xeric Award winner: Tragic Relief), Julia Gfrörer (All the Ancient Kings), and Jon Chadurjian (2008 Kukoc Award nominee: Leo Geo)

The Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration will be presented during the reading. This prestigious award recognizes self-publishers of small-press, hand-made comics (sometimes called "mini-comics"), and includes a cash prize of 450 bucks.

On display will be "Spaced Out," an art show on the theme of outer space, with works by local (and internationally recognized) artists Zack Soto, Dunja Jankovi?, Theo Ellsworth, Chris Cilla, Sean Christensen, and Andrice Arp.

Seven comic books will make their debut: Reich #6, Papercutter #9, Jag Off, Hey, 4-Eyes! #3, Department of Art #1, Dookieball Jones, and *FREE COMIC BOOK* Bird Hurdler--an anthology of Portland-based cartoonists who will all be present at the event.

Beer from MacTarnahan's Brewing and other drinks & eats from local businesses will be provided.

Take yourself out for a night. You deserve it.

Hey! Four-Eyes! Release party

Last night was the Hey! Four-Eyes! issue #3 book release party at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Robyn Chapman puts this zine together, and does an aaaaaamazing job. I have no idea where you can buy a copy right now (except at Stumptown in a few weeks) but as soon as I do I will post it here.

Yesterday it rained like crazy, so we didn't get as much of the First Friday foot traffic as we were expecting, but it was still a pretty nice turnout.

Look at all the happy, bespecktacled faces!

There were copies of all three issues, plus comics by some of the contributors.

And here's issue #3 with cover by Jim Medway, and my own sad eyeglasses, currently held together with scotch tape and hope.

There's more photos of the exhibit (which I believe is coming down today) on my flickr page.

I Still Live

Hey all! A friend and fellow CCS-er has a book coming out. If you're in the Portland OR area, you should check this out:

Event: Book Release, Art Show, and Book-Signing
for
I Still Live: Biography of a Spiritualist
A Xeric Award-winning graphic novella by
Annie Murphy
Friday, April 10th (the first Friday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox), 2009
7:00pm--10:00pm
1914 S.E. Ankeny
Portland, Oregon


Come celebrate Spring and the spirit of renewal, rebirth, and recovery
with this comic book tribute to poet, activist, and spirit-medium Achsa Sprague, and a show of original artwork from the book.

What the people say:

"I Still Live is a masterful hybrid work.
Part adaptation of the spiritualist Achsa
Sprague's diary, part history book, and
part memoir, it channels the past into the
present in a haunting and vivid way."

--Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"Annie Murphy has that rare gift to make
history feel immediate and urgent. I Still Live
is not only well researched but comes alive on
the page. Achsa Sprague has been revived."
--James Sturm, author of The Golem's Mighty Swing

"This was the most self-assured debut of the year by
an artist whose interests include the intersection
between spiritualism and feminism and whose style
occupies the space between quietude and poetic sweep.
As she refines her style, she will be a fascinating talent to watch."
--Rob Clough, of Sequart Research and Literacy Organization.

review at comicrelated.com

news article from Vermont Woman Magazine
#3 on Comics Journal's ten great minicomics of 2008

Thank you to Charles at Eberhardt press for printing this
new and improved, two-color off-set version of the comic,
and thanks so much to the Xeric Foundation for funding it.

I sure hope you can make it.
Sincerely,
Annie Murphy

Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day!

My last strip for BASH! Magazine is up on the web now. Check it out!

This is the second strip I've drawn about the life of a saint this year. Pretty good for someone who has only been to Mass twice.

Sadly, BASH! Magazine is folding, just like hundreds of other newspapers around the country. For a the word was they were going to keep up the comics calendar on the website, but last week decided that wasn't a viable business model.

Not sure how long the site will be up, so check out the archives while you still can! There's work by a lot of amazing cartoonists here: Dan Archer, Theo Ellsworth, Eamon Espy, Sean Ford, Jeff Lok, Morgan Pielli, Bryan Stone...and a whole bunch of other people I'm forgetting. Go read their comics! You just might learn somethin'.

"Hey 4-Eyes!" Gallery Show and Release Party!

The Hey Four-Eyes! zines are a favorite of mine, and I have a six page glasses-themed fairy tale in the latest issue! Come check out the gallery show at CCS:

Hey, 4-Eyes!
A Glasses-Themed Gallery Show
The Center for Cartoon Studies
94 South Main Street
White River Junction, Vermont

Gallery Hours:
Saturday March 21, 11am-5pm
Saturday March 28, 11am-5pm
First Friday Event April 3, 6pm

The Center for Cartoon Studies is proud to present an exhibition of artwork from Hey, 4-Eyes!, the world’s most popular zine about eyeglasses. CCS will showcase original work by acclaimed artists Jason Lutes (Berlin), Sarah Oleksyk (Ivy), Jim Medway (Shorty Loves Wing Wong), Joseph Lambert (Turtle, Keep it Steady), and many more.

Hey, 4-Eyes! is a self-published journal (otherwise known as a “zine”) dedicated to eyeglasses. Filled with original comics, interviews, history, and keen observations, Hey, 4-Eyes! celebrates the continuing evolution of the accessory you can’t live without.

Please join editor/publisher Robyn Chapman as she debuts the third issue of Hey, Four-Eyes! in conjunction with White River Junction’s First Friday on April 3. This event will include book signings, live readings, and educational slide shows.

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is America's premiere cartooning school and studio located in the historic village of White River Junction, Vermont. Faculty and visiting artists include many of today's most celebrated cartoonists. CCS has received national acclaim for its work and prominent mention in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and scores of other publications. For more information, visit http://www.cartoonstudies.org/

Sketchbook Follies

From an all-staff meeting in November 2007:


And something more recent. My roomate's cat keeps life interesting:

I just like orange, that's all.

There's a lot of comics out there that I read. It's part of my job. This past week I've been doodling some fan art for many of them.

Fan art for my friend Josh Frees, whose comic, The Adventures of Hardcore Dan, is pretty great.

My friends (and roomies) at American Stronghold have a mysterious project in the works. Alas, I am not the first to make fan art for this comic that no one has ever seen.

I painted this on Saturday because I was tired of inking. It's not quite so pink in person.