In their current Sex Issue, the SF Bay Guardian reviewed Best Erotic Comics 2009.
Here’s a snippet of what they had to say:
“Best Erotic Comics, an annual collection of the best and brightest of kinky comics, is yet another reason to be proud of our sexy Bay Area, published as it is by legendary, local institution Last Gasp.”
Here’s the rest of the article.
Preview and interior images for Best Erotic Comics 2009.
Spain Rodriguez is one of the original Zap cartoonists and a fascinating figure with a lot of great stories. He’s having an art show and will be speaking at the Cartoon Art Museum this Thursday, Sept 17.
Here’s the invite:
The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents Spain Rodriguez: Rebel in Ink, a retrospective exhibition celebrating the art of seminal underground comix creator and San Francisco legend Spain Rodriguez.
Rebel in Ink looks back on Rodriguez’s 40-plus years as a comic book artist, providing the most comprehensive gallery exhibition of his work to date. In the late 1960s, Rodriguez was one of the pioneers of the underground comix movement, through work on such groundbreaking publications as The East Village Other, Zap Comix, and the first underground tabloid, Zodiac Mindwarp, which was created by Rodriguez. Trashman, one of Rodriguez’s best known creations, was an icon in underground newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s. Rodriguez was an early pioneer of online comics as well, and he collaborated with the late comics historian and writer Bob Callahan in the 1990s on The Dark Hotel, which was featured on the popular website Salon.com. Rodriguez has also been active as an educator at various Bay Area colleges and schools. Among his more recent works are numerous illustrations for the mainstream press, several anthology comics collections, and the critically acclaimed Che: A Graphic Biography, a 2008 graphic novel depicting the life and times of Che Guevara.
The opening reception for this exhibition will take place on Thursday, September 17, 2009 from 7:00-9:00pm. Spain Rodriguez will look back at his long and storied career in a discussion moderated by Cartoon Art Museum founder Malcolm Whyte. This event is free and open to the public.
Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-CAR-TOON
www.cartoonart.org
Dusty Horn reviews Best Erotic Comics 2009 for Carnal San Francisco:
“Just as the world at large is growing to acknowledge the value of comics, the shelves are hit with a cute, unassuming trade paperback overflowing with half-octopus girls, bull-cunnilingus, drunk pistol-whipping, unprotected male sodomy and an abundance of demon fucking, to say nothing of masturbation, queers, and sexually aggressive females.”
Read the rest of Dusty’s review here.
Michelle Smith reviews Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU for Comic Book Resources:
“I’m not one who enjoys weirdness for the sake of weirdness, but in Junko Mizuno’s hands, the absurdity of certain situations makes me laugh out loud, which is a pretty rare occurrence.”
Read the rest of Michelle’s review here.
John Thomas reviews PELU in his Mecha Mecha Media column for Yuuyake Shimbun:
“As the title suggests, this is not a kid’s book, but is the mind trip one would expect from Mizuno. Pelu is a fluffy alien who travels to Earth (don’t ask me how, you wouldn’t believe me) in order to find a bride. The adventures Pelu begins in this big volume are sometimes cute, sometimes shocking, and always original. Pelu is like finally getting the story behind one of Mizuno’s surprising illustrations. Pelu will not be for everyone, but I enjoyed this title even more than Pure Trance. I didn’t love everything that happens in Pelu, and I think it is hard to connect with the characters, which is probably by design, but Pelu certainly kept be guessing, which I did like.”
Thanks to everyone who came out to see Junko Mizuno and get copies of her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU! And thanks to New People for hosting the signing! Deb Aoki wrote an article about the signing and did an interview with Junko as well. Same Hat also has some pics and a post about the signing and New People.
Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU
Junko Mizuno will be signing her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1, on Saturday, August 22 at 2pm at NEW PEOPLE The Store in San Francisco’s Japan Town.
PELU is a cute extraterrestrial critter who travels to Earth to find happiness in the form of a bride. Prepare to be astounded as the search for fulfillment takes him from the surface of his fantastic alien planet to an off-kilter modern Japan inhabited by aspiring enka singers, sassy girls, paint-sniffing bad boys, sushi chefs with unspeakable secrets and the body-switching students of a mysterious high school.
Preview PELU here.
PELU has been getting great reviews. This is your chance to meet Junko and pick up a signed copy of her newest release!
NEW PEOPLE
1746 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Saturday, August 22, 2pm
Praise for Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU:
…Fluffy Gigolo Pelu suggests that her work is only veering into more vividly mischievous territory. It offers a look at an exercise that is comparable to taking the broken crumbs from the bottom of a bag of candy and trying to melt them into a lollipop – bright and supposedly sweet, but deformed and foul smelling where it’s burned. Pelu’s stories of alienation, unconventional pregnancy and huffing are overtly cracked, but the view that it presents of less incendiary subjects like office work dreariness and career dissatisfaction similarly fit into its scheme of candy colored unhappiness.
…noting the diversity of Earth’s population, Pelu leaps into a magic mirror hoping to find someone like himself. His mad anti-trip-to-Oz whirlwind is captured in a montage of dreary meetings, lottery wins, and over eating – framed by a psychedelic expectoration of bubbles.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu features enough dire absurdity that it’ll force you to laugh.
– Scott Green, Ain’t It Cool News
Whether her stories titillate you or not, it’s hard to deny their unique place in the world of manga. Sans narrative, they’re vintage candy wrappers that you hold on to because you know you’re going to want to just look at them again sometime down the road. In that respect, maybe Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is the lovelorn-tragedy-laced Laffy Taffy of the bunch.
…is there enough love on our cruel planet to include a vomit-green, bow-tie-wearing cotton ball like Pelu? Maybe the answer lies in volume two, but I’m digging the journey so far.
– Joseph Luster, Otaku USA
…certainly does not disappoint if you love Mizuno’s mix of cute / grotesque humor.
– Deb Aoki, About.com Guide to Manga
Beautiful artwork and character designs that find the sexiness in Japanese “kawaii” pop culture. Unapologetic in pushing the envelope in decency and standards.
– The Anime Almanac
The book is filled with bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomitting an acid-like substance all over the town’s local poodle ranch.
– John Jakala, Robot 6
Tokyo Zombie has been nominated for Best Manga – Comedy by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation. Voting is open, so please give us your vote! You’ll find Tokyo Zombie in Category 20.
Here’s part of the press release:
SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF JAPANESE ANIMATION
ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR THE 2009 SPJA INDUSTRY AWARDS
Public Online Voting to Begin at Noon PST on May 4, 2009
Anaheim, California (May 4, 2009) ‹ The Society for the Promotion of
Japanese Animation (SPJA), announces finalists of the 2009 SPJA Industry
Awards today and opens up ALL categories for public voting via both the SPJA
(www.spja.org) and Anime Expo® (www.anime-expo.org) websites. More
information can be found on the website
www.spja.org/spja-industry-awards/spja-industry-awards-polls/
Public voting for the 2009 SPJA Industry Awards will be held via online and
winners will be announced during the Anime Expo® 2009 Industry Reception
held on July 2, 2009 (during Anime Expo®) in Los Angeles, CA.
Video about the seminal graphic novelist Spain Rodriguez and his recent publication, Che: A Graphic Biography
There are few members of the 1960s underground comics wave whose names inspire more awe and respect than that of Spain Rodriguez. He, along with Robert Crumb, was one of the original members of Zap Comics and has a reputation as a political artist who pushes the boundaries of creativity. He is the author of several graphic novels, including CHE: A Graphic Biography.
Sun and warm air dropped over everyone’s roofs and heads on Sunday. I kept the window rolled down as the full Alemany Flea Market appeared on my port side. No shopping for treasures today — I was going to say good bye to a friend of 36 years. S. Clay Wilson’s ventilator had been removed and it
was expected that he would soon pass.
Visiting an ICU is always a grim adventure. The ward is full of hope and folks hanging by one fingernail to our world. Wilson was napping and his hospital bed was inflating and deflating in a slow silent wave under him, keeping bed sores at bay. He had been cleaned up and was breathing quite well on his own. A brace on his ankle was switched daily to make sure his tendon did not deteriorate from lack of use and give him a drop-foot condition.
He seemed peaceful napping. Lorraine and I began to say hello to him and he woke slowly, and batted open his eyes. The tube was now out of his head and the head had returned to almost normal size. A few scabs on his head and a two-week beard growth were all that seemed different about Steve.
We started giving him news and greetings from his friends. He turned his head to where Lorraine was standing and then back to me when I talked. I told him a bad joke and he responded not unlike most people I tell bad jokes to. He didn’t change expression. He was able to cough a bit, and moved his legs several times. The oxygen absorption was at 100%. This was remarkable, I thought. I touched his arm and told him that when he got better we would get him out of there. He responded with a facial expression that seemed to say: “what’s stopping you.” Paul Mavrides saw him today and confirmed that his attentiveness was much greater and that he was improved from last week.
Wilson is not out of the woods by a long shot. Recovery will be a long time, but breathing on his own is a big step. He is able to hear people and some response is clear. They will have to move him soon and perhaps he can get into a facility like Laguna Honda which took care of Gary Arlington for a year and a half. Gary is now living by himself down by the ball park.
I came to say goodbye to Wilson, but said see you later instead.
- Ron Turner
We just released two great fall catalogs. For those of you not on the mailing list, you can download PDF versions of these from the web site MediaFire.
The L.A. Paint Gallery Talk will feature Last Gasp owner and publisher Ron Turner in conversation with Chief Curator of Art Phil Linhares. Ron will discuss the current exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California: L.A. Paint. He will also discuss California’s art scene, share his role as a pioneer underground arts publisher. The event is free with your paid admission to the museum.
1000 Oak @ 10th Street, Oakland, CA, 94607.
One block from Lake Merritt BART
More information: www.museumca.org
