Lynda & Maira Tonight! D+Q in Brooklyn! This Saturday! New Adrian Tomine! NYTBR this sunday!

What a difference 24 hours can make! Yesterday in the pouring rain I was running around trying to get ready to leave on a plane to NYC, thwarted by a wallet thief and missing passport, and now I'm sitting here on a beautiful day in Montreal, while the Chief flies down to the City in my place. Fortunately, I am able to console myself with a present that our distributor Farrar, Straus & Giroux faxed over -- 2 reviews from this weekend's holiday books issue of the New York Times Book Review and the world brightened up a bit.

How could it not, an entire page devoted to Picture This, the reviewer states "In more than 200 pages of riotously distinct collages made with brush and paint, notebook paper, cutouts, tape and glue...Barry sets out to show you--no to remind you--the pleasure of inking, smudging, and, most importantly, fumbling your way to inspiration."

And for Vanessa, in a graphic novel group review comics critic D. Wolk states: "It's proudly girly, chatty and frequently hilarious."

D+Q will be in NYC this week and the schedule kicks off with Lynda Barry at a sold event with Maira Kalman at the 92nd St Y 8:00 PM on Thursday night. Is there any other way to describe this event of two of the best creative minds in contemporary art as anything other than epic? No, it's epic plain and simple. Check out DART's review of Lynda by fellow Peggy, Peggy Roalf.

And of course, let's not forget this week's force of nature blowing in Kings County, NY. The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival held in Williamsburg, put on the princely trio of Dan Nadel, Bill Kartalopoulos, and "Babe" Fowler. It's at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church 
275 North 8th Street between Havemeyer and Union, near the BQE. And it's FREE! and amazing! I think it took Chris about 2 minutes flat after I said I didn't feel like going anymore to book his ticket. Also, going from D+Q will be sales associate Julia Pohl-Miranda. Look at the guest list it's amazing. We have 8 signing authors: 
Lynda Barry, Kevin Huizenga, Anders Nilsen, Leanne Shapton, Jillian Tamaki, Adrian Tomine, Vanessa Davis, Keith Jones I had to turn authors away if they did not have a new book, so be sure to look for Gabrielle Bell, R. Sikoryak and Sammy Harkham at the show too.


Speaking of new books, let's just announce this little bomb, Adrian Tomine will be debuting brand new advances of his 2011 book Scenes From An Impending Wedding. Oh yes, not that many at the show either.

And let's not forget the last fricking issue of Big Questions, with Anders Nilsen in attendance! We haven't even received our copies in the office yet so I"ll just post his beautiful poster for the show.

Here is the D+Q schedule:

12:00-2:00 KEITH JONES AND KEVIN HUIZENGA SIGN

1:00 | LYNDA BARRY AND CHARLES BURNS IN CONVERSATION
 Lynda Barry drew the syndicated weekly comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek for more than two decades, and has authored books including Cruddy, One Hundred Demons, What It Is, and this year’s Picture This. Charles Burns is the author of acclaimed graphic novel Black Hole and the recent full color book X’ed Out. Join us for this conversation between two extraordinary artists who also share a personal history as former classmates.

2:00-4:00 LYNDA BARRY & VANESSA DAVIS SIGN

3:00 | TAKING INVENTORY: THE STORY OF THINGS
In their most conventionally narrative form, comics develop a storyboard-like continuity from panel to panel. But how isolated can a panel be? Renée French, James McShane, Jungyeon Roh and Leanne Shapton will discuss the ways in which they construct or suggest narratives by assembling images of objects and moments that retain their individual integrity.

4:00-6:00 LEANNE SHAPTON & ADRIAN TOMINE SIGN

5:00 | ANDERS NILSEN Q+A 
Anders Nilsen’s fine line, radical graphic experimentation, and humane philosophical investigations distinguish him as one of the most notable cartoonists of his generation. This winter sees the conclusion of his series Big Questions, an epic epistemological adventure featuring several cartoon birds (some of them dead) and one disoriented fighter pilot. Anders will discuss his art and career in this spotlight conversation.

6:00-8:00 ANDERS NILSEN & JILLIAN TAMAKI SIGN

7:00 | CHAOS AND PATTERN
 Artwork that is dense with compositional detail, line, pattern and texture encourages a lingering, wandering eye. How does this kind of drawing work in comics? Brian Chippendale, Jordan Crane, Keith Jones and Mark Alan Stamaty will consider the relationship between densely made drawing and the propulsive concerns of visual narrative.

And more from Adrian's book....

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