Mark Your Calendars...What It Is Comes Out Next Week! Lynda Events Galore in 2008!

What It Is is in stores next week, yes, next week! And one of the first reviews are in, the Austin Chronicle weighs in:

"This is the artist Lynda Barry at her enthusiastic best, her most sincerely encouraging, urging readers toward journeys of self-discovery and the joy of making, of appreciating, art. And how does she do this? How does she communicate such ideas, all the while documenting her own travels through those vivid realms? With artwork. With page after page of collaged images and words, with original cartoons and paintings and notes lovingly delivered via sumi-e handwriting and calligraphy. The beauty here, the sheer complexity, is almost overwhelming. It's like, um, seeing a dozen simultaneous sunrises on acid while a redheaded life coach whispers in your ear that you never have to let go of the parts of childhood that are eternally worthwhile. So of course every single page of this volume from Drawn & Quarterly is in full, gorgeous color on good thick paper. So of course, because you're alive, we recommend this book to you."

Check out the rest of the review as I admire how the reviewer recognizes that Lynda has written the how-to book that puts all the other how-to books to shame. You'll see, What It Is is a singularity of creative genius.

And, guess what? Lynda will be pretty much touring for the rest of the year for the book. This spring and summer, you can catch Lynda in NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Diego. And next Fall, you'll be able to catch her in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, DC, Providence, Toronto and Montreal. All events are or will be listed on our events page. Bookmark it.

My sister saw Lynda in Rochester NY last night and emailed me with this: "She was genius. I laughed so hard I snorted and cried real full tears." So if you want to catch an icon of not only American Comics, but an icon of comics worldwide in person don't miss one of these events.

Just how frickin' awesome is Lynda? Well, this pic was taken last month in Pittsburgh where Lynda was doing one of her creative workshops and she made the time to stop by the Mister Rogers Museum (Warhol, who?).

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