Blog

  • Chris Onstad creator of Achewood at Quimby’s!

    The elusive creator of Achewood has finally emerged!  Chris Onstad is shedding his usual shroud of secrecy and hitting the road on a national tour to meet, greet, shake hands, and kiss babies.

    On the heels of the release of The Great Outdoor Fight hardcover and a second straight Ignatz award for Best Online Comic, Onstad is making stops in major cities across North America to celebrate the success of Achewood with the dedicated fans that have made it all possible.

    But these aren’t your typical creator signings.  Tattoos, turkey, drinks, machismo bonding for ladies and dudes, topped off with enough Achewood merchandise for everyday of the week, each stop will be an event in its own right.

    Come and join the party at comic shops across the country with the man who spends his days drawing cats and dogs as you’ve never seen them before.

    Since 2001, cult comic favorite Achewood has built a six-figure international following. Intelligent, hilarious, and adult but not filthy, it’s the strip you’ll wish you’d discovered as an underappreciated fifteen-year-old. Dark Horse presents the hardbound edition of Achewood’s The Great Outdoor Fight, the story of “Three Days, Three Acres, Three Thousand Men.”

  • AREA/Chicago Underground Library Welcome Reception for The Alternative Press Center Magazine Archive

    AREA and the Chicago Underground Library are pleased to invite you to a welcome party for the Alternative Press Center, who recently relocated their impressive archive of independent media to Chicago after several decades in Baltimore. Progressive and radical librarians, academics, students, researchers, and concerned citizens of Chicago are invited to come out for a night of complimentary drinks and snacks to say hello and welcome to Alternative Press Center (APC) staff and check out this new amazing local resource.

    The APC is a non-profit collective dedicated to providing access to and increasing public awareness of the alternative press. Founded in 1969, it remains one of the oldest self-sustaining alternative media institutions in the United States. For more than a quarter of a century, the Alternative Press Index has been recognized as a leading guide to the alternative press in the United States and around the world.

    Friday, October 24th, 2008 from 7-9pm, 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave. on the 2nd floor (Location is not handicap accessible.)

  • Chicago kickin' Ignatz!!!

    Ignatz winners were announced last night and among some strong competition a couple of Chicago comics artists took home the golden bricks!

    So congratulations to Laura Park and Lilli Carre!!!

    Click here to see a full list of winners

    or the Comics Reporter blog has a list with winners and nominees!

  • New Stuff Oct 4th 2008

    Wake up, Wake up, Wake up….It’s the first of the month

    (more…)

  • Today's Featured Book: Beautiful Mutants by Mark Mothersbaugh

    Yes, that Mark Mothersbaugh — the lead singer of Devo. Beautiful Mutants is the show catalog for the 2007 exhibition of the same name at CSUF Grand Central Art Center Project Room in Santa Ana, CA. It has lots of old timey photos of interesting people (Carmen Miranda, the Del Rubio Triplets, various circus-y freak people, just to name a couple, even a few pugs! I’ve seen the artist with his pugs. Awesome!) halved and then resewn to show the same half as the opposite side. What do I mean? OK, so let’s say you took a picture of me. Oh, and let’s say I’m a sad-eyed perfumier in Brecksville, Ohio in like, the forties. In one hand I’m holding some flowers. And in the other hand I’m holding lace. So then you take the side where I’m just holding the flowers and make a replica of that side, except that you reverse it. Now both sides are facing each other, totally symmetrical. You cut away the side with the lace, and you attach the side with the reversed image of me holding the flowers. And voila! I look like a very mutilated version of myself. And my sad eyes are way too close together. Or way too far apart so I look freaky like Jackie O. Does this make any sense? Some of the photos in the book the eyes are so close together that it makes one eye, so it’s like a cycloptic magician or something. Crazy!

  • Henry “Chunklet” Owings at Quimby’s!

    Henry Owings will discuss his history and work with Chunklet in addition to explaining how The Rock Bible was conceived/created/written. He will then open up the floor to a Q&A, followed by a signing.

    The Rock Bible is an insider’s guide to living the rock ‘n’ roll dream. This hilarious rulebook is full of dos and don’ts for musicians, wannabe musicians, and rock fans of all ages.

    Complete with faux-biblical illustrations and parables and essays from comedian Patton Oswalt, drummer Brian Teasley, and professional smartass Andrew Earles, The Rock Bible is a rude and raunchy look at the best and worst of rock ‘n’ roll.

    Henry Owings is the publisher of the widely recognized Chunklet Magazine based in Georgia. He was in Entertainment Weekly’s “It List” for his confrontational “100 Biggest Assholes In Rock” issue and another time has been taken to court by Mad Magazine for his similarly parodied issue. “The Overrated Book”, Henry’s first foray into book publishing, came out a couple years ago. Mostly under the Chunklet moniker, he has been a concert promoter since the late 80’s and has put on over 1,000 shows in his career. Through show promotion and the magazine, Henry went on tour with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s Mr. Show comedy tour and has subsequently worked very closely with the Comedians of Comedy tour which has criss-crossed the country for the past four years and has filmed specials on Comedy Central and Netfliz. In addition, he’s produced six comedy releases for Patton Oswalt (Pixar’s Ratatouille) and was instrumental in getting him signed to Sub Pop last spring. Henry has recorded releases for The Oblivians and The Black Lips and has released records on his own label by The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Harvey Milk and Man or Astroman?. Finally, just to keep busy, Henry is also a full-time Grammy-nominated art director who has done graphic design work for such diverse artists as John Cale (Velvet Underground), Captain Beefheart and Charley Patton, and has also done book design for Mr. Show and political cartoonist/ columnist Ted Rall. In his spare time, Henry plays whirlyball and does nothing else except sleep. Henry resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Sarah and dogs Bun and Dave. The Rock Bible is his second book.

  • Bloging about being Bloged?

    Over the weekend Brian from The Daily Cross Hatch blog came though the store. We had a short chat and he did a nice feature about us on his blog. For those of you who have never set foot in the store there are some good pics and some well edited quotes from me waxing about the store and the hood. Looks good, so thanks Brian.

    Check it out!

  • Poster Sale is Ending!!!

    Guess what folks, in less than 24 hours the poster and last chance zine sale will be over.

    So this is your final chance to grab some amazing prints for your pad or dorm!

    All month I’ve watched lucky people walk out of here with sweet posters by Jay Ryan, Seripop, Keith Herzik , and many more. So this is it!!!! You snooze you loose!!!!!

    LAST CALL!!!!!!!!