A personal diary keeping people abreast of what I am working on writing-wise.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

THE FORMER ENFANT TERRIBLES

NEW IN THEATRES...



* Killer Joe, a depraved new scorcher from William Friedkin, starring Matthew McConaughey his most finger-lickin' good role.

* Lawless, Nick Cave writes, John Hillcoat directs, and Tom Hardy stars. Mm-hmm.

* Oslo, August 31, a heartfelt new personal drama from the director of Reprise.

* Sleepwalk with Me, in which Mike Birbiglia tries to make friends and influence them to understand his problems.



UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Love on the Run, the conclusion of Francois Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series and my personal relationship to them (for now).

* Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer. As a director, Norman Mailer makes a pretty good novelist. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN BD/DVD REVIEWS...

* Fernando Di Leo's Madness, starring Joe Dallesandro as a human 2x4. It's neither mad nor is it any good. Discuss.

* Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: The Chuck Jones Collection, gathering the director's Sniffles and Hubie & Bertie cartoons under one cover.

* Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, an astonishing remodel of the police drama as existential parable. From Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the director of Climates. Best movie of this whole batch!




Current Soundtrack: Pet Shop Boys, Format



e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Sunday, August 26, 2012

WRITING DOODLE: THE HALLOWEEN HEIRLOOM

The "Daily Doodle" concept is intended to warm up my creative engines, and is essentially free writing, poetry or prose, usually accomplished in under an hour with a minimum of corrections. From time to time, I will post the results here.

In some cases, the piece will also be a special commission, prompted by a particular buyer. Readers can still custom order their own quick short-short stories: details here.


This particular story is for my buddy Matt Strawbridge who wanted something that had a Halloween setting and featured some kind of nod to a Universal monster. This actually fits in with some research I've been doing lately; also, I might have a little of Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder's Halloween Eve on the brain.

*
Every family has heirlooms, and those heirlooms are usually different from clan to clan.

Vinnie Franklin always knew that the object passed down generation to generation in his family was uncommon, but sometimes it takes an outside perspective to see just how different something so familiar really is.

It was the late ’80s. Back when kids still walked the neighborhood freely on Halloween, scuttling from house to house in search of candy and good, scary pranks. Vinnie was living in the Midwest back then. Indiana. It was fall and the leaves had fallen from the trees, blanketing the ground in shifting brown and orange tiles. Vinnie and Elsa were newlyweds, and she looked at his family’s peculiar history with forgiving eyes. Still, it was probably for the best she had a hospital shift that night.

The sun was only just setting, and Vinnie had passed out half his candy. The children had been particularly pleased that he was handing out full-sized candy bars and not the miniatures. It was a perk of the job. Vinnie filled vending machines around town. He got the candy at cost.

He had noticed some shifting in the house. Subtle changes. Not an uneasiness so much as the kind of settling a home does as seasons change and temperatures drop. It got worse as the evening progressed, however, and Vinnie hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was. He hoped it wasn’t the heirloom.

Suspicions were confirmed when a boy of no more than six came to the door wearing the familiar green mask, complete with plastic hair and neck bolts. After “Trick or treat” the child said “Braiiiiins,” which was the wrong creature catchphrase, but it probably wasn’t so bad that someone his age didn’t know the difference.

Vinnie knew the heirloom could see the front walk from the basement window. It was a luxury they allowed him, lest he get bored and seek more unnatural pursuits. The noise wasn’t the house changing. The evening’s traffic, the comings and the goings of the odd-looking creatures, had unsettled him.  

And now he was looking in a mirror. A tiny, miniaturized, funhouse mirror.

It was more than the heirloom could stand, and he came bursting through the wall, pushing his way through the small rectangular window, moaning and groaning, grasping for handholds in the earth to pull himself into the night air.

Vinnie’s family name had been changed to Franklin at Ellis Island. The traveling Frankensteins had brought their Monster with them.

The Monster got halfway out but then he lost his ability to leverage himself and he could go no further. Like Winnie the Pooh stuck in the rabbit hole, he lay there, one half in, one half out.

The child, recognizing the source of his own grotesque outer wear, perhaps thinking, just like the Monster, that he was looking in a distorted mirror, walked over to the stymied golem. “Neat trick!,” the boy said, laughing and pointing. “Do it again!”



Current Soundtrack: Blur, The Great Escape 2012 Special Edition


e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Thursday, August 23, 2012

SO HE BEGINS TO LIE

NEW IN THEATRES...



* 2 Days in New York, the new one from Julie Delpy. Really, if I were Chris Rock, I'd have tapped out after 12 hours.

* Celeste and Jesse Forever, an almost-there down-to-earth rom-com, co-written by and starring Rashida Jones. I love her, but the script loses focus and eventually lost me.

Though, to be fair, it all may be a matter of perspective. All the male critics at my screening left shrugging and saying, "I dunno," while the lone lady in our audience, Marjorie Skinner, said, "I kind of liked it." Read her review, too, for some balance. There's good points in it,

* The Imposter, a twisted true crime documentary about a story that's so out there, you almost won't believe it.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* La promesse, the breakthrough film from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN BD/DVD REVIEWS...

* The Devil's Needle, and other Tales of Vice and Redemption, three silent films tackling the worst of Amercia's sins, ca. 1915.

* Monsieur Lazhar, a surprising example of quality feel-good cinema, adding a nice spin to the inspirational teacher genre.

* Les Vampires, the 1915 silent crime serial from Louis Feuillade.



Current Soundtrack: Bloc Party, Four; 2 Chainz, Based on a T.R.U. Story; various Mary Onettes



e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

WRITING DOODLE: THE SWEETEST PUNCH

The "Daily Doodle" concept is intended to warm up my creative engines, and is essentially free writing, poetry or prose, usually accomplished in under an hour with a minimum of corrections. From time to time, I will post the results here.

In some cases, the piece will also be a special commission, prompted by a particular buyer. Readers can still custom order their own quick short-short stories: details here.


This particular story came about when I asked for suggestions on Twitter. Film critic and author Shawn Levy responded with the two pictures featured.

*


The hotel let them keep the room for an extra day.

It wasn’t a part of the contract, but the promoter said it was the least he could do. The fight had brought in a ton of business, and the way Charlie had taken that punch, that was going to be talked about for a long time to come.

“It’s like they say happens about in tornadoes,” the promoter said. “The way the winds will put some crazy object straight through a telephone pole or a big oak or somethin’. I thought Riggs’ fist was going to go past your brain and right out the other side.”

Charlie didn’t want to think about it. He’d heard it described many different ways, seen it on the instant replays. He hadn’t gone looking--what man wants to see himself pummeled like that, professional fighter or no--but it was impossible to avoid. It was on the TV in the bar, the TV in the lobby, even the TV in their room the moment Meg had turned on the box to watch her stories.

Charlie’s face, and Riggs’ gloved fist, meeting square in the middle. One TV commentator said it was like two trains colliding head on. Another compared Charlie to a pug dog getting smacked by a wrecking ball. He even showed it in slow motion just to prove his point. Charlie’s skin shook and flapped and congealed, it was almost cartoonish the way his features shrank from Riggs’ glove and then bounced back. Watching it made his skull throb all over again.

But that wasn’t even what bothered him most. What bothered Charlie most was what he did after.

He just stood there. Frozen. Staring. As precarious as a quarter balanced on its side on a formica counter. He just looked at Riggs, and Riggs was looking back. Neither bruiser was prepared for that much power to come out of the white boy. He was a placeholder. He and Charlie were fighting to see who would get a bid for the champ. No one expected anything from Riggs, least of all Riggs. Charlie wasn’t sure if it was a trick of memory, or if Riggs actually mouthed the words, “What did I do?”

It’s that aftermath that kept playing over in Charlie’s head, and it’s what would have been really humiliating had that been what all the sports channels had decided to loop on repeat. Most days after a fight, Charlie lived it up, regardless of whether he won or lost (he was 10 and 2 before, now he might as well have just been at goose egg). After all the training, after all the abstaining, his management would give him a week or more to cut loose and go nuts.

Hell, after any other fight, the hotel would be begging him to leave by next morning. He and Meg would have torn that room apart. If he didn’t check out, all their neighbors would. Last night Meg slept like a baby--a snoring baby, he might add--and Charlie just lied there and stared at the wall.

Now she was swimming, doing laps wearing her powder blue bikini, pulling handstands and calling for Charlie to watch. Any other guy would have--and there were probably several peeking from their room windows right now--but Charlie couldn’t look at anything without seeing himself. Still standing there. Still in the center of the ring.

Riggs didn’t throw another punch after the one. He didn’t have to. After what seemed like an eternity, Charlie’s head finally got the message to his legs, and he dropped. Actually, more like slumped. Or crumbled. A balloon man losing air, sinking to the canvas. Round 6. With less than a minute on the clock. Charlie was on his back, his body forming the pitiful figure of an S.

And why shouldn’t he be seeing that? Would anyone ever look at him ever again and not see that knock-out? Ask Mike Tyson the last time his biting Evander Holyfield’s ear wasn’t a factor in everything he did. Charlie could hear the smack of the canvas like it had just happened. Like a wet towel smacking against cement.

Then the wet hit him in the face.

Meg’s bikini top.

“Bull’s-eye!” she said.

Her bottoms were on the pavement in front of him.

“What the hell, Meg?”

She was sitting on the side of the pool, arms crossed over her breasts, legs crossed to protect what they could. Her blonde hair fell every which way, an explosion of sunlight and rain. “I’m just trying to get your attention,” she cooed, before sliding back into the water. “I’m right here, and you’re a million miles away.”

“Not a million miles. I’m just across the street.”

“Whatever for? Why do you wanna go there?”

“You saw what happened last night,” Charlie explained.

“Sure. Last night,” Meg replied. “I had already forgotten about that. Now why don’t you strip down, get in the pool, and really give everyone something to talk about?”

Charlie was looking at her. He was looking at her and nothing else, and she was looking at him. Her eyes said it more than her words had. She knew what she saw, and no one could tell either of them different.




Current Soundtrack: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Mature Themes



e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Sunday, August 19, 2012

IMAGE FANTOME: Terry Blas draws It Girl!

My friend Terry Blas has drawn this super cool rendition of It Girl. I love the pose and how she's interacting with the logo.

Terry does a webcomic called Briar Hollow that you should bookmark and read. It updates weekly.



Also, here's a few more reviews from the last week:

* Chopping Block Review over at Pastrami Nation...which is really the best nation to be a part of. I mean, come on! There is no better sandwich meat.

* International House of Geek

* A second one from Newsarama

Current Soundtrack: Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color




Thursday, August 16, 2012

PSYCHOCANDY

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Dark Horse, Todd Solondz hates comedy almost as much as he hates you. And fat people. And everyyyyyyyyonnnnne!

* Paranorman, the second effort from Laika suffers from some growing pains. Great animation, but an overly wordy script.

* Searching for Sugar Man, an amazing music documentary uncovering the secret history of the artist known as Rodriguez.



UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Bed and Board, the third in Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series.

THIS WEEK IN BD/DVD REVIEWS...

* Misfits: Season One, a clever superpowers show from England.

* Private Hell 36, a tightly wound noir with Ida Lupino. Directed by Don Siegel.



Current Soundtrack: The Human League, Credo



e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS #4 solicitation


IT GIRL & THE ATOMICS #4
story JAMIE S. RICH
art MIKE NORTON
cover MICHAEL & LAURA ALLRED


NOVEMBER 21
32 PAGES / FC / E 
$2.99

“DARK STREETS, SNAP CITY” Part Four
LaLa Wah Wah has It Girl right where she wants her: under her boot! The truth about who this mysterious inter-dimensional villain really is comes to light, and the Atomics will have to rally everything they have to stop her. Featuring art from the Eisner-winning team behind Battlepug!

Current Soundtrack: Lee Hazlewood, The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes and Backsides (1968-71)




Monday, August 13, 2012

HOW ABOUT YOU? Part III

To go along with this round of press and reviews for It Girl and the Atomics, I am including this great drawing of Mott from Hoople by artist Jake Standley. Check out his blog. I actually have his Under the Influence sketchbook, and it's pretty keen.

In terms of new press for It Girl and the Atomics, tonight I am going to be on the radio in Salt Lake City. I am going to be on Residual Haunting Revived with Tom Carr starting at around 7:30 pm, Pacific Standard Time (the show starts at 8pm Mountain, and they are bringing me on halfway through). My understanding is the broadcast will be streaming here.

The podcast version will then be available here on Tuesday night.

In the meantime, the most recent reviews to come in for the first issue of the book:

* Bleeding Cool

* Comic Booked

* Interested in Sophisticated Fun? <--- one of my favorites!

The deadline to turn #2 in to Image was actually today, so we're going to press on the reprint of #1 and the second issue for It Girl at the same time. There's no stopping us now!

And our boss, Mike Allred, drew this week's issue of Daredevil for Marvel Comics. Daredevil #17 is on sale Wednesday. Here is Mike talking about the issue with iFanboy, and a preview over at CBR.



Current Soundtrack: Melanie C, Northern Star




Friday, August 10, 2012

HOW ABOUT YOU?, Part II

Comicosity broke the news this morning that  It Girl and the Atomics #1 has sold out, and we are doing a second printing. This is pretty exciting. I've seen the numbers, and we did well to begin with, Image printed a smart overrun, and then the demand has exceeded all expectation. I think some folks were maybe waiting to see how it turned out, since the characters are so tied to Mike Allred. Regardless, I'm just thrilled that so many people are getting on board. I'm also so thankful to my collaborators for doing such great work, and to Image Comics for getting behind this book with such vigor. I am a lucky boy.

Early numbers for #2 show us holding steady, which is very rare for a second issue.

Some more It Girl and the Atomics reviews:

* Futile Position

* iFanboy - Best of the Week in Covers

* Multiversity Comics

* Nerd Locker

Also, a new interview with Christian Lipsky at the Comics Examiner. Give it a read.


Current Soundtrack: various Maxine Brown tracks

Thursday, August 09, 2012

BALLOT OR THE BULLET


NEW IN THEATRES...

* The Bourne Legacy, the underprivileged stepchild of the Bourne series still manages to be enjoyable despite some deficiencies.

* The Campaign, the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis comedy is best at insult humor, not so much at political satire.

* Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, Miike remakes Kobayashi in 3D, but without any other added dimension.

Current Soundtrack: The Colbert Report

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

I'VE GOT A SECRET MINIATURE CAMERA

Photobooth in reverse...


Face forward...

(1) Carlos the Jackass

(2) How close is too close? This is too close.

(3) I have a camera in my phone.

(4) Hulkin' out.

Current Soundtrack: The Daily Show

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Some reviews of It Girl and the Atomics #1 have hit the web.

* Comic Bastards

* Comic Book Resources

* Comic Vine

* Geek Smash <---- this guy hates it!

* Newsarama

* Read About Comics

* Stumptown Trade Review

Though, forget It Girl and the Atomics, here is the best review of my work to hit the internet this week, someone commenting on my Total Recall review:
This movie SUCKS and is uneeded, thank you Jamie S. Rich for sticking up for a lame PG-13 remake to one of the action classics of the 90s, that takes real guts. And it also earns my disgust.
I'm a real hero. Like the dude in Drive. Except I don't have a car.

Current Soundtrack: both McAlmont & Butler albums on shuffle

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

LOOK INSIDE AMERICA

Wow, cool! USA Today has posted an It Girl and the Atomics preview, alongside a joint interview with myself and the two Mikes, both Norton and Allred.


Read the whole thing in the link.

I've been really excited by the press we've been getting. The reaction is great so far. We also are one of the chosen items in Robot 6's "Food or Comics?" column today. Just one more day to go and you can see what everyone is talking about!

Current Soundtrack: The Nova Saints, Newfoundland




IMAGE FANTOME: L' IT GIRL

My pal Nicolas Hitori de has done a piece of fan art for It Girl and the Atomics, featuring our heroine in repose.

Diamond Comics also has a "Prevue" of the book. Check it out here.

And buy the book tomorrow!

Current Soundtrack: Pet Shop Boys, "Winner" EP




Monday, August 06, 2012

YOU'RE SO GREAT, AND I LOVE YOU


Spend some time over at Comic Book Resources, because not only can you see their exclusive preview of Wednesday's It Girl and the Atomics #1, but the Robot 6 blog has a new interview with me, featured by in the column by that fine journalist Tim O'Shea, Talking with Tim.

What appeals to you more in writing in the Madman universe, the characters or the situations they find themselves in [or that find them]?
I’m always drawn to characters more than plot. I think good characters suggest good stories. You have to do things for things to happen, and what you do depends on who you are. The thing I’ve seized on the most is the idea of self-actualization. Throughout all of the Madman series, the search for self is always up front. That’s always been important to me in my own work. So, to have a group of characters who are all trying to make themselves and the world they live in better, that to me is the perfect scenario. 
It Girl is also just a really pleasant person to be around. She’s a sweetheart with an optimistic outlook and a willingness to experiment and explore. I’d like to be her friend in real life, and writing about her, it’s like I am. I get to pal around with a superheroine!
Read the whole article here.

Current Soundtrack: Blur, Blur Special Edition Disc 2





Saturday, August 04, 2012

IF YOU HAVE TO GO...


I chose my "Desert Island Comics" for the Forbidden Planet blog. You can read the list of eight comics I can't live without right here.

Pictured above: a page from The Death of Speedy Ortiz by Jaime Hernandez.

Current Soundtrack: Estelle, The 18th Day

GREAT GOOGA MOOGA

Comic Book Resources is running a six-page preview of It Girl and the Atomics #1 in advance of the Wednesday release. Check it out.


Also, Rico at the legendary comic book store Heroes Aren't Hard to Find has made the issue his staff pick for the week over at their blog.

RICO’S PICK :: MICHAEL ALLRED’S IT GIRL AND THE ATOMICS #1 : Jaime S. Rich andMike Norton take the reigns on a few of Mike Allred’s creations in this new ongoing title from Image. Rich has a track record of working on quality projects with quality people dating back to his days as Editor-In-Chief at Oni Press and he has been editing Allred’s Madman family of comics for years now. If you’re looking for fun superheroes who ponder things like the silliness inherent in their own genre while fighting crime, beautifully drawn by Mike Norton, check this book out!

Current Soundtrack: Lee Dorsey, Soul Mine - The Greatest Hits and More, 1960-1978


Friday, August 03, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - AUGUST 3, 2012

WRITER JAMIE S. RICH TOURS PORTLAND COMICS SHOP CELEBRATING IT GIRL #1

On Wednesday, August 8, Image Comics will be releasing the premiere issue of It Girl and the Atomics, a new comic book series starring characters from Michael Allred’s long-running Madman. To commemorate the new #1, Portland-based author Jamie S. Rich will be visiting three different hometown comic book stores to sign comics and chat with customers.

“I wanted to do something different,” Rich said. “I could have picked one store and had a standard release party, but instead I decided to go more guerilla. I chose three shops in different parts of town and mapped out a way to hit them all before closing time.”

The three shops on the schedule are Floating World Comics at 400 NW Couch, Bridge City Comics at 3725 N. Mississippi, and Cosmic Monkey Comics at 5335 NE Sandy. Each store will have ample copies of It Girl and the Atomics #1 on hand. The issue retails for $2.99.

Rich will be at Floating World from approximately 2 pm to 3:30 pm, Bridge City from 4 pm to 5 pm, and Cosmic Monkey will close it out, 6 pm to 7 pm.

“Portland is blessed with so many great comic book shops,” Rich said. “Why settle for one when you can have a good time at three?”

It Girl and the Atomics is drawn by Mike Norton, with lettering by Crank! and colors by Allen Passalaqua, the Eisner Award-winning team from Battlepug. Covers are by series creators Michael and Laura Allred. Each issue features 24 pages of story and art, and they will be released monthly. It Girl and the Atomics is suitable for superhero and comics fans of all ages.

For more info on the participating stores:
* Floating World Comics: http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/
* Bridge City Comics: http://www.bridgecitycomics.com/
* Cosmic Monkey Comics: http://www.cosmicmonkeycomics.com/

Jamie S. Rich can be contacted via golightly[a]gmail.com, or visit him at http://www.confessions123.com

I FORGOT TO REMEMBER TO FORGET


NEW IN THEATRES...

* Ruby Sparks, a would-be deconstruction of the "manic pixie girl" concept that doesn't have the gumption to take it all the way. Noble debut writing effort from actress Zoe Cassavetes, however, and she's also really good in the movie.

* Total Recall, a surprisingly action-packed remake with Colin Farrell. Go watch the punching and the shooting and don't worry about it.

Also, if you're in Portland, the NW Film Center is starting Mark Cousins' epic movie about movies, The Story of Film: An Odyssey this week. It's five parts, spread over all of August. I wrote it up for the Portland Mercury. Amongst the many things you'll learn from the movie is the fun fact that this is considered the first ever close-up in all of cinema:


UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

I have begun to review Francois Truffaut's series The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, a landmark of French cinema.

* The 400 Blows
* Antoine and Colette/Stolen Kisses



THIS WEEK IN BD/DVD REVIEWS...

* The Last of England, Derek Jarman's post-apocalyptic poem. A vision of the future from the vantage point of the 1980s.

* Rio Grande, a pre-Quiet Man teaming of John Wayne, John Ford, and Maureen O'Hara.

Current Soundtrack: Nolan Porter, No Apologies




e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

HERE SHE COMES

My comps of It Girl and the Atomics #1 showed up today!


Get yours at comic book stores and on Comixology, next week, August 8th!

Details here.

Current Soundtrack: Paul Weller, "Whirlpool's End (Weller at the BBC Version)"

(THURSDAY) HERE'S WHY I DID NOT GO TO WORK TODAY

For those of you not in Portland, this post may be little more than a curiosity. You see, we have this thing here called "First Thursday." It's a pretty simple concept: on every first Thursday of every month, galleries around the city debut their new shows and they are all open for free to the public. This encourages the citizenry to get out and get about and look at art.

This month, we are blessed (or cursed) with a preponderance of comic book-related events for First Thursday. The ambitious amongst you can maybe hit all three of these things. If not, just thank the cosmos you live in a city where all this stuff is actually possible.


GRENDEL 30TH ANNIVERSARY BOOK RELEASE & EXHIBIT WITH MATT WAGNER


WHO: Matt Wagner
WHAT: Grendel Omnibus book release and art exhibit
WHEN: Thursday, August 2nd, 6-10pm; artwork on display until Aug. 31
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.




JOELLE JONES & NAOMI NOWAK AT HELLION GALLERY


WHO: Joëlle Jones & Naomi Nowak
WHAT: Art Exhibit
WHEN: Thursday, August 2nd and through Aug. 31
WHERE: Hellion Gallery, 19 NW 5th Ave, Suite 204 (
2nd floor at the end of the hall, entrance next to Upper Playground)




COMICS UNDERGROUND: BEN DEWEY, SUZETTE SMITH, SARA RYAN, MATT FRACTION


WHO: Ben Dewey, Suzette Smith, Sara Ryan, Matt Fraction
WHAT: Reading and Celebrating Comics
WHEN: Thursday, August 2nd, 8 pm; $3 at the door!
WHERE: Jack London Bar, 529 SW 4th Ave (downstairs at the Rialto)




Current Soundtrack: Nas, Life is Good