Meet the Author(s)

Proudly introducing an opportunity to meet your favorite Green Apple blog author, me! One time only, the 27th of this July 2011 I'll be at Pegasus books in Berkeley! To be fair though, taking all of your questions, concerns and complaints will come secondary to my primary reason for being there- to observe author, illustrator and artist, Anders Nilsen presenting his soon-to-be released (August 4th) book Big Questions.

A decade long endeavor, I've personally been waiting for the Big Questions series to be collected for quite a few years myself, and although I'm not quite sure how a visual presentation of a graphic novel is structured (read a word balloon, pass the book around so everyone can see the picture?) Nilsen's long resume of accomplishments leaves me assured that any attending will be in for a unique event. Big Questions itself is a drifting, philosophical journey hazily reminiscent of Aesop's fables (talking animals) or a Greek epic filtered through a bizarre lens lent by modern trappings. His installation art has never been short of visually stunning, and furthermore the dude is a pretty good skater.

A link to more information via Peagasus Books can be found HERE.

Below (and I guess above too) I've included only the tiniest taste of Mr. Nilsen's work, if not to get you to go to the event itself, then at least enough to prompt you to start exploring a bit on your own.

The cover to the upcoming Big Questions collection.

An installation by Anders Nilsen composed of buttons, each with individual illustrations or photographs on them.

Anders Nilsen's depiction of Richard Brautigan

Well, tingle my spidey-sense - it's a whopper!

Economic downturn? Not if you you were the lucky seller of a private auction for a Silver Age funny book that happened to feature the debut of SpiderMan. . .

That's right folks - if your mom hadn't of thrown out your stack of comics when you were away at college you too may be a millionaire - just so long as you had a near mint copy of Amazing Fantasy #15. . .

$1.1 million.

Anyone selling?

2010 Comic Selection

The late aughts have been good in the comic world. I've tried to compile a short list of what I think are the ten best books of the genre that have come out this year along with a compelling* image from each and a quick footnote. I was excited to find that not only was each book either a new original story just released this year or is a continuation of a series that began within the last quarter of the decade, but also that the names on talent roster were was a harmonious mix of both old and new blood. So without any further ado, my gift guide for the bleary-eyed, pasty, social-disaster-child in your family:

The birds ponder the origin and meaning of a crashed jet in Anders Nilsen's Big Questions series.

Mosfet the Warlock toys with the very fabric of life and death in his insane epic POWR MASTRS.**

Dan Clowes' much anticipated Wilson, turned out to be a quiet, weird human tragicomedy.

In Matt Furie's Boy's Club series, Pepe falls into himself after stumbling upon a vision of real ugliness.

Jim Woodring unleashed some particularly unfair and brutal circumstances upon poor old Manhog in his newest opus, Weathercraft.

Titular character Wally Gropius, battles for love and money in Tim Hensley's absurd, architecture and money punning new book.

Rob, of Jeff Smith's newest series RASL meets a bizarre lizard faced nemesis.***

Lisa Hanawalt lays down a list of poor pet choices in her new issue of I Want You (#2).

Kevin Huizenga's Wild Kingdom features a whole lot of weird stuff, including Walt Whitman quoting W.S. Merwin in a brief advertisement for um... a hot new thing?

And finally this rather self explanatory page from Johnny Ryan's latest installment of Prison Pit, which only promises to get more gross and gory as the series continues.

Happy holiday shopping!!

* Haha.
** I cannot recommend this one enough.
*** RASL, not quite as kid friendly as Smith's previous work, BONE

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Well, the weather outside is pretty yucky - it's cold and drizzly, but I don't think that it will snow. Which it actually did once here, on Clement Street, on Christmas Eve of all things. Honestly! But even if it's not snowing out, it's still a fine time to get indoors - like in Green Apple's doors, because I just priced a used set of the Complete Spirit Archives and it'll be hitting the shelves tonight.

For those who don't know, The Spirit was a newspaper comic created by Will Eisner that ran from 1940 - 1952 and forever changed the way that comics would be viewed. Eisner's genius extended into all aspects of his strip - the art was superb and often surreal, his plots were engaging, socially conscious, yet somehow self-effacing. Eisner's work on The Spirit was so sophisticated that the Comic Industry even named their top honor after him; The Eisner Award is considered the "Oscar" of comic artists and has been awarded to Dan Clowes, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Chris Ware and many, many others.

So, in the spirit of the season (HA!) I'm reproducing Eisner's Sunday December 21, 1947 in its entirety below. And maybe I'll sneak another strip or two up here before Santa's sled hits town.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Vote for Us!

Mad props to Isotope Comics' proprietor and part-time supervillain James Sime for nominating us for BEST USED BOOKSTORE in the SF Bay Guardian's upcoming Best of the Bay Readers' Poll.

It'd also be nice if you voted for us, too!!!