Category: comics

  • Aaron Renier Signs THE UNSINKABLE WALKER BEAN

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    Adventure on the high seas!  A cursed skull!  Fearsome pirates!  Wicked sea-witches!  And almost certain peril!    Boy inventor Walker Bean and his scruffy new friends must summon their courage to face the direst scourges of the sea in this all-new graphic novel by Aaron Renier.  For this signing, Quimby’s presents a unique event with Aaron, with a signing followed by piratical interactive drawing activities.

    “So beautiful are the drawings that I can smell the sea salt and feel the spray as giant creatures of the deep draw near the ocean’s surface.  Outrageous and wonderful!” – Jeff Smith, creator of Bone

    “Aaron’s work makes me feel ten years old again.  He makes me want to whip up a root beer float, climb into a pirate-ship-playhouse, slap on a record of sea chanteys and read Walker Bean over and over.  The guys’a bit of a mad genius.” – Lane Smith, illustrator of The Stinky Cheese Man

    “The Unsinkable Walker Bean is gorgeous.  Jump feet first into this rip-roaring, wild-eyed, high-sea adventure story.  Join up with a young, pudgy, bespectacled hero, a brave powder monkey, a terrifying girl with the best red pigtails since Pippi Longstocking, and two seriously revolting sea witches.  Be prepared.  You’re going to love it.”  — Brian Selznick, creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    For more info: http://aaronrenier.com/

  • Edie's The Best!

    gaylord3We’re super proud of Quimby’s employee, Edie Fake for winning the heavily competitive title of Best Alternative Comics Artist Behind the Counter at an Alternative Comics Mecca in the Chicago Reader’s Best of 2010 issue (out today)!

    We’d also like to award him with The Best Alternative Comics Mecca Employee Behind An Alternative Comic title.  The same fantastic craftsmanship, design sense and creativity that go into such comics as Gaylord Phoenix and Rico Mc Taco are applied on a daily basis to the store

    Way to go Edie!

  • "Wilson" Snack Receipt Proves There Is Order In The Universe

    In an Unusual Cosmic Comics Alignment, “Wilson” sold Liz snacks for Daniel Clowes’ Wilson signing yesterday! Regard:
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    Weird, right? Well, being right-proper nerds, and it being a Wilson signing, we had Mr. Clowes sign our copy of this strange “Wilson” receipt:
    signedwilson
    …He also signed so many books we were all amazed he still had hands when it was over. We have a small supply of signed copies of the book still available, so pick one up quick if you missed yesterday’s event. And when you stop in you can gaze in awe at Thee Actual Snack Receipt displayed proudly and prominently on our “Wall of Holy Mysteries” in the back of the store.

  • Alan Goldsher & Artist Jeffrey Brown

    Paul Is DeadWriter Alan Goldsher & Artist Jeffrey Brown will present their new book, Present Paul Is UnDead: The British Zombie Invasion, that Goldsher wrote and Brown illustrated.

    Are readers ready for a world in which the Beatles just wanna eat your brains? ALAN GOLDSHER (Hard Bop Academy) thinks so, and he may be right. In this humor-filled splatterfest, the rise and fall of the zombie Beatles unfolds through eyewitness accounts, newspaper clippings, and interviews. Violence and music go hand-in-hand as the zombiefied Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney fight, eat, and rock their way to fame and popularity while ninja lord Ringo Starr tries to keep them out of trouble. Nothing can stop them–not even a vampiric Pete Best, zombie-killing Mick Jagger, rival ninja Yoko Ono, or bad reviews. In fact, their only enemies may be one another, as personal conflicts threaten to break them up for good. Roughly paralleling the real-world career of the Beatles, this alternate history reimagines successes, failures, and rivalries with over-the-top bizarro charm.

    JEFFREY BROWN illustrated Paul Is Undead. He’s best known for his bittersweet autobiographical graphic novels like Clumsy, Unlikely, and more. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, NPR’s This American Life, the Chicago Reader, the New City, and Time. He has been featured on and created a short animated music video for the band Death Cab For Cutie.

    For more info:
    alangoldsher.com
    Jeffreybrowncomics.com
    http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/jeffrey-brown

  • William Ayers Presents To Teach: The Journey, In Comics

    To TeachThis graphic novel brings to life William Ayers’s bestselling memoir To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. These illustrated stories begin with Ayers’s early days teaching kindergarten and follow this renowned educational theorist on his “voyage of discovery and surprise.” Readers meet fellow travelers from schools across the country and watch as students grow across a year and a lifetime.

    On the surface, To Teach is primarily the story of William Ayers and his class as they navigate the kindergarten year from introductions to graduation. In the process, we see how Bill Ayers engages with the children as individuals, translates their questions and concerns into fun and educational projects and handles the “weird” people with clipboards who stop by to check his actions against the Regional and National Curriculum.

    Fans of scholarly graphic works such as Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation and A People’s History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation will appreciate this pioneering work from Ayers and Alexander-Tanner, while fans of graphic novel memoirs will find much to love in To Teach’s powerful and progressive message.

    To Teach: The Journey, In Comics is also a landmark work of collaboration. Ryan Alexander-Tanner lived with William Ayers for over 6 months, at his home in Chicago. This includes the period of time during the 2008 presidential election. The result of a fruitful partnership, To Teach is not just Ayers’ story – the authors also show how other teachers have found ways to engage with, and learn from students. To Teach is a timeless work that challenges the student/teacher dichotomy and opens up a world in which the hard questions aren’t avoided, and it is acceptable for a teacher to say, “Let’s learn this together.

    “This fascinating and, yes, educational book will certainly be of interest to teachers, but it will also teach, inspire, and entertain anyone else who picks it up.” —Publishers Weekly

    “It’s profoundly charming…part autobiography, part education reform tract, and entirely enjoyable to read.” — The Huffington Post

    “A serious book, but laced with humor… a novel approach. Required reading for all educators.” —Harvey Pekar, American Splendor series

    “This book is a treasure chest of insight. It represents what dedicated, imaginative teaching is all about and is a blueprint for everyone who wants to explore the intimate connection between teaching and learning.” —Peter Kuper, Diario De Oaxaca

    For more info: http://store.tcpress.com/080775062X.shtml

  • Dan Clowes Signs Wilson

    WILSON.coverWILSON is one of the most anticipated books of the year to hit stores — by Daniel Clowes, the cartoonist of David Boring, Ghost World and Ice Haven and the legendary Eightball comic book series. Meet Wilson, an opinionated middle-aged loner who loves his dog and quite possibly no one else. In an ongoing quest to find human connection, he badgers friend and stranger alike into a series of one-sided conversations, punctuating his own lofty discursions with a brutally honest, self-negating sense of humor. After his father dies, Wilson, now irrevocably alone, sets out to find his ex-wife with the hope of rekindling their long-dead relationship, and discovers he has a teenage daughter, born after the marriage ended and given up for adoption. Wilson eventually forces all three to reconnect as a family – a doomed mission that will surely, inevitably backfire.

    For more information: www.drawnandquarterly.com/blog

  • Mountains of New Stuff!

    We’ve been pretty busy as of late, but wanted to make sure you knew what new things we’ve been getting in lately, so here’s our list of 139 things you simply can not live without (that we conveniently have in our store):

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    (Funny (Not Funny))

    Artsy Fartsy Books

    Mythical Beasts of Japan From Evil Creatures to Sacred Beings (PIE Books) $35
    You Are Forgiven by Matt Leines (Free New Projects) $45
    Art of Bollywood by Rajesh Devraj (Taschen) $29.99

    Kid’s Stuff

    Mama is it Summer Yet by Nikki McClure (Abrams) $17.95

    DIY/How To

    Old Man Drinks Recipes Advice and Barstool Wisdom By Robert Schnakenberg (Quirk Books) $14.95
    Steampunkery Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Projects By Christi Friesen (CF Books) $14.95

    Drugs! (books about)

    Altered State the Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House By Matthew Collin (Seprents Tail) $15.95

    Erotic Comics

    Hot Moms vol 1 TPB By Rebecca (Eros) $18.99

    Fiction

    Awful Possibilities By Christian TeBordo (Featherproof Press) $14.95
    Going in Circles By Pamela Ribon (Simon & Schuster) $15
    Little Brother By Cory Doctorow (Tor Tom Doherty) $9.99
    People Who Watched Her Pass By By Scott Bradfield (Two Dollar Radio) $14.50
    Perscription Errors By Charles Demers (Insomniac Press) $15.95
    Sex Dungeon For Sale By Patrick Wensink $10
    Stories of Ibis By Hiroshi Yamamoto (Haika Soru) $15.99

    Gewgaw

    Absinthe Flavored Toothpicks (Accoutrements) $2.50
    Absinthe Soap for Hand and Bath An Enchanted Absinthe Sented Soap Fashioned by Green Fairies (Accoutrements) $6.00
    Boo Boo Kisses Adhesive Bandages (Accoutrements) $5.00
    Cal Q Tek 2000 Calculator Watch (Accoutrements) $15.00
    Curry Flavored Kali Mints (Accoutrements) $2.50
    Gesundheit Tissues Uber Absorbent (Accoutrements) $1.00
    High Rollers Exotic Dancers 4 Magnetic Coasters (Gamma Go) $7.50
    Hobo Bubble Gum Cigarettes Campfire Coffee Flavored (Accoutrements) $1.25
    Jackalope Tumbleweed Wine Stainless Steel Water Bottle (Accoutrements) $12.00
    Lil Devils Trick of the Day (Accoutrements) $10.00
    Manly Mustache Mirror Clings (Accoutrements) $3
    Rotting Zombie Mirror Clings (Accoutrements) $3
    Sunrise in Meatopia 500 Piece Puzzle With Bonus 48 Piece Mystery Puzzle (Accoutrements) $10.00
    Yeti BBQ Coffee Mug (Gamma Go) $12.00
    Gama Go Stickers Like Peanut Butter Sandwich These Designs are Stickalicious By Tim Biskup (Gamma Go) $5.00

    Glossy Periodicals

    Artforum Apr 10 $10.00
    Dwell May 10 $5.99
    Famous Mag #11 Desert and Plants $5.00
    Hi Fructose #15 $6.95
    Muddy $12
    2600 Hacker Quarterly vol 27 #1 $6.25
    Bizarre #161 $10.50
    Make vol 22 $14.99
    Tokion vol 3 #4 $6.99
    High Times Jun 10 $5.99
    Taps paraMagazine vol 6 #2 $5.95
    BlackBook #75 Apr 10 $4.50
    Hyphen #20 Spr 10 $4.95
    Time Out Chicago Apr 08 10 $2.99
    826 Quarterly vol 11 (826 Valencia) $15.00
    Iowa Review vol 40 #1 $9.95
    Packingtown Review vol 2 2010 $13
    Fader #67 Apr May 10 $5.99
    Mojo #198 May 10 $9.99
    Uncut May 10 $9.99
    Wire Apr 10 #314 $10.99
    Adbusters #89 May Jun 10 vol 18 #3 Ecopsychology $8.95
    Monocle vol 4 #32 Apr 10 $10.00
    Pin Up Show $15.00
    Skin Art #132 $6.99

    Graffiti and Street Art

    Belio 030 Back to the Roots Experimental Art and Design (Belio Magazine) $35.00
    Calligraffiti the Graphic Art of Niels Shoe Meulman (From Here to Fame) $29.95
    DY005 Nicholas Di Genova (Belio Magazine) $29.95
    DY008 Saner (Belio Magazine) $29.95
    DY009 Gualicho (Belio Magazine) $29.95
    Swoon HC (Abrams) $35.00

    Graphic Novels

    Area 10 By Christos Gage (Vertigo) $19.99
    Batman and Robin Batman Reborn Deluxe Edition HC By Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely (DC) $24.99
    Beats a Graphic History SC By Harvey Pekar (Hill & Wang) $14.95
    Body World HC By Dash Shaw (Pantheon) $27.95
    Crossed vol 1 By Garth Ennis & Jacen Burrows (Avatar)$24.99
    Emberley Galaxy A Tribute to Ed Emberley $12.00
    Funny Not Funny Modest Selection of Comic Art Exhibiting Signs of Black Humor By Ryan Standfest $14.95
    Market Day By James Sturm (Drawn & Quarterly)$21.95
    Melvin Monster vol 2 John Stanley Library By John Stanley (Drawn & Quarterly) $24.95
    Mome vol 18 Spr 10 (Fantagraphics) $14.99
    Neptune By Aron Nels Steinke (Tugboat Press & Sparkplug Comic Books)$14.00
    Other Lives HC By Peter Bagge (Vertigo) $24.99
    Sparky The Life and Art of Charles Schulz By Beverly Gherman (Chronicle Books) $16.99
    Teenaged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls (Pure Imagination) $20.00
    Whirlwind Wonderland By Rina Ayuyang (Tugboat Press & Sparkplug Comic Books) $15.00
    Wonder Woman Amazon Hero Icon HC By Robert Greenberger (Universe) $35.00
    Young Lions By Blaise Larmee $10

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    (Perversity Think Tank)

    Humor

    99 Classic Movies For People In a Hurry By Nicotext (Nicotext) $9.95
    PS I Hate It Here Kids Letters From Camp By Diane Falanga (Abrams) $12.95
    Youre a Horrible Person But I Like You Believer Book of Advice By Sarah Silverman (Vintage) $13.95

    Low Brow Art

    Another Science Fiction Advertising the Space Race 1957 to 1962 By Megan Prelinger (Blast Books) $29.95
    Beautiful Decay Book 3 The Underdogs (Beautiful Decay) $20.00
    Jime Litwalk Sketchbook vol 3 Monsters Misfits & Maidens By Jime Litwalk (Presto Art) $30.00
    Nymphettes Erotic Elfin Art By Barry Blair (SQ Productions) $14.95
    Sailor Jerry Tattoo Flash vol 3 By Jerry Collins Sailor (Hardy Marks Publications) $50.00

    Mayhem!

    Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You By Robert Brockway (Three Rivers Press) $14.00
    Zombie Combat Manual a Guide to Fightnig the Living Dead By Roger Ma (Berkeley Books) $14.00

    Minicomics

    Clutch #21 Invincible Summer #16 Split By Clutch McBastard & Nicole Georges $2.00
    Feedback #6 By John Isaacson $2.00
    Phase 7 #014 By Alec Longstreth $4.00
    Phase 7 #015 By Alec Longstreth $3.00
    Pop Art Show By Trevor Wayne $8.00
    Pyromania #5 By John Isaacson $3.00
    Roots To Fruits By APAK $4.00

    Video Discs

    Mellodrama The Mellotron Movie DVD (Bazillion Points Books) $24.95
    Wholphin #10 (McSweeney’s) $19.95

    Muckraking, Memoirs & Miscellany

    Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace By David Lipsky (Broadway) $16.99
    Cardboard Gods An All American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards By Josh Wilker (Seven Footer Press) $24.95
    City Kid A Writers Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post Soul Success By Nelson George (Plume) $14.00
    Fix Is In Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL MLB NBA NHL and NASCAR By Brian Tuohy (Feral House) $16.95

    Music Books

    Arcana IV Musicians on Music By John Zor (Hips Road) $34.95
    How to Wreck a Nice Beach Vocoder from World War II to Hip Hop Machine Speaks By Dave Tompkins (Melville House Publishing) $35.00
    Rock And Roll Will Save Your Life HC By Steve Almond (Random House) $23.00
    Swedish Death Metal By Daniel Ekeroth (Bazillion Points Boks) $34.95

    Comic Books!

    Blaster Al Ackermans Tales of the Ling Master Barnes $3.00
    Hate Annual #8 Bagge Peter (Fantagraphics) $4.95
    Rabid Rabbit #11 Tall Tales and Magnanimous Myths By C M Butzer and Ben Trinh $5.00

    Outer Limits

    Great Airship of 1897 By J Allen Danelek (Adventures Unlimited Press) $16.95
    Solomon Islands Mysteries Accounts of Giants and UFOs By Marius Boirayon (Adventures Unlimited Press) $16.95

    Poetry

    Adulthoods By Bambi $10.00
    Dodging Traffic By J Bradley $12.00

    Politics

    Anarchism and Its Aspirations By Cindy Milstein (AK Press) $12.00
    Capitalisms World Disorder Working Class Politics at the Millennium By Jack Barnes (Pathfinder) $25.00
    Che Guevara a Revolutionary Life Revised Edition By Jon Lee Anderson (Grove Press) $20.00
    Common Ground in a Liquid City Essays in Defense of an Urban Future By Hern (AK Press) $17.95
    Crisis In The Global Economy Financial Markets Social Struggles By Andrea Fumagalli (Semiotext(e)) $17.95
    Propaganda Inc Selling Americas Culture To The World By Nancy Snow (Seven Stories) $11.95
    Thousand Machines By Gerald Raunig (Semiotext(e)) $12.95

    Sex Guides & Culture

    Perversity Think Tank By Supervert $15.00
    Pornapocalipse vol 1 By Rachel Gontijo Araujo $10.00
    Worst Laid Plans When Bad Sex Happens to Good People By Alexandra Lydon (Abrams) $14.95

    Sexy Art Books

    Shunga Japanese Erotic Art (PIE Books) $35.00
    Vanessa Del Rio Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior (Taschen) $59.99

    Zines!

    Aristocratic Hands #13 By Gregory Walker $2.00
    Aristocratic Hands #14 By Gregory Walker $2.00
    Blow Jobs In The Afterlife By David Moscovich $1.00
    Box of Chocolates By Leslie Perrine $5.00
    How To Stay Alive In the Metaphorical Woods $2.00
    Lets All Find Awesome Jobs Actual Information By Kevin Fanning $3.00
    No Better Than Apples #6 Piecemeal By Kate Larson $2.00
    Or Let It Sink #3 $1.00
    Reality Mom vol 7 #2 By Corbin Lewars $3.00
    RIP by Steve Katz $1.00
    This Is the End Journeys Toward Armageddon By Aaron Cynic $2.00
    Tragic Genius of Dan Gleason By Dan Gleason $2.00
    Volkerlchau By Melanie Bonajo $10.00
    Welcome to Bend Population 80995 By Laura Walker $5.00

    nobetterthan6
    (No Better Than Apples)

  • Trubble Club Celebrates Free Comic Book Day

    trubbleclub2Like the underground comix artists in 1960’s Berkeley, Trubble Club brings together Chicago’s most talented young comics artists to draw some of the weirdest comics out there today. The group meets every Sunday at a rotating location and draws jam-comics together. One artist draws the first panel of a jam comic, and then passes it to another artist in the group to draw the second panel, who then passes it on to a third artist. This process is continued until the group has a finished comic. Trubble club then self-publishes the finished comics in minicomics.

    Saturday, May 1st is Free Comic Book Day, when comic book stores around the country hand out free promotional comics to customers. Trubble Club will contribute a free comic, which apes PSA comics from the 70’s and 80’s, and will spend the evening drawing at Quimby’s, and prophesizing the future of audience members in comic-book form. Trubble Club contributors at the event will include Aaron Renier, Jeremy Tinder, Grant Reynolds, Russel Gottwaldt, Bernie McGovern, Lucy Knisley, Joe Tallarico, Nate Beaty, and many more. Refreshments for the event will be provided by Metropolitan Brewing, an Andersonville-based brewery whose German-inspired lagers are crafted with toasty malts, spicy hops and a ferocious DIY ethic.

    Though the event starts at 7pm, Free Comic Book Day starts as soon as Quimby’s opens its doors at 11am. Quimby’s will have free comic books while supplies last from a host of artists. Free comics include the Short Pants Observer from Chicago-based small-press publisher, Short Pants Press, and the Xeric Grant winning graphic novel Black Mane by Michael LaRiccia.

    For more info: http://www.trubbleclub.blogspot.com

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  • Melissa Auf der Maur from Smashing Pumpkins and Hole Signs OOOM

    Please note! This event was originally scheduled to start at 6pm. It has been rescheduled for an hour earlier, to start at 5pm.

    Melissa Auf der Maur (MAdM) was a member, songwriter and bass player of Hole from 1994-1999, culminating in the Grammy and Billboard nominated album “Celebrity Skin.” In 2000 she joined the Smashing Pumpkins for their farewell world tour. She has toured and collaborated with bands and members of QOTSA, Marilyn Manson, The Cure, Indochine, NIN, Muse, Ryan Adams, Ric Ocasek and more.

    MADM1

    “OUT OF OUR MINDS” (OOOM ) is a multi-medium release that includes album, film, comic, and photo collection. It is MAdM’s upcoming album, and it is the key component of her independently produced 21st century concept album – a multi-media experience that beyond the rock album, includes a short film with an original score and a comic book. The film portion premiered at Sundance film festival 2009.

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    OOOM ALBUM:     12 track follow-up solo album. Guest Stars: Glenn Danzig, members of NIN, Helmet / Battles and Priestess. OOOM Film: 28min, H-D. Color, Fueled on Solar Power, directed by Tony Stone (“Severed Ways”). Original score to the film by MAdM and the Entrance Band. OOOM COMIC: Illustrated by the young and exceptionally talented Jack Forbes from Brooklyn, NY.

    For more info: http://xmadmx.com/

  • Info Collecting For LADYDRAWERS: Gender and Comics in the US

    LADYDRAWERS: Gender and Comics in the US is a project about gathering information about women and trans peoples’ experiences in all aspects of the comics industry, Whether you’re a creator, bookseller, conventioneer, publisher, inker, or editor, this project will gather personal stories regarding the intersection between media production and issues of gender. This information will eventually be published in the introduction to a book collecting interviews with women and trans comics artists. If you are interested in  answering questions or sharing information regarding professional engagement, gender and sexual identification, and the extent to which gender has been an issue in your own professional pursuits, contact James Payne at james.david.payne.1@gmail.com .