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  • Amy Lockhart & Maggie Umber Signing, March 12th

    Local treasures, Amy Lockhart and Maggie Umber join forces to celebrate new works at Quimby’s! Animator and cartoonist Amy Lockhart (aka Amy Logheart) will read from and sign her new book, Ditch Life, an absurdist black comedy published via Fantagraphics FU Press imprint. Ditch Life tells the tale of two luckless ditch dwellers as they navigate a shape-shifting pizza box, a botched lobotomy, Hollywood betrayal, celebrity obsession, wealth disparity, and a brood of maggot children who just want to be loved!  The book is published in full-color hardcover and also includes a fold-out board game, Females As: Furniture!

    Amy Lockhart is a filmmaker, animator and artist. Her animations have screened internationally, including the Whitney, NY, British Film Institute, N.Y. Anthology Film Archives, Carnegie Mellon, GLAS Animation Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Hiroshima International Animation Festival and The Ottawa International Animation Festival. Lockhart has received fellowship at the National Film Board of Canada and support from the Canada Council for the Arts. She has completed residencies at Calgary’s Quickdraw Animation Society, Struts Gallery, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her drawings, comics and paintings have been published by Fantagraphics (Ditch Life, 2019), Drawn & Quarterly (Dirty Dishes, 2009), and by Colour Code (Looking Inward), 2016.

    Maggie Umber paints, prints and programs comics and she’s a co-Founder of the alternative comics publishing label 2dcloud. She’s published three graphic novels with 2dcloud (Sound of Snow Falling, Time Capsule and 270°) and her work has been widely anthologized. She’ll be signing a new story, “The Intoxicated” in Now: The New Anthology #8, which will debut at the event and also includes new work from Zuzu, Noah Van Sciver, Tara Booth, and others!

    “[Ditch Life] is legitimately armed and even dangerous stuff, with its barbs aimed at entirely deserving targets.” –Daily Grindhouse

    “Maggie Umber is one of the unsung heroes of art comics.” –Sequential State

    For more info:

    Fantagraphics.com

    Facebook Event Invite

    Thursday, March 12th, 7pm – Free Event

  • Transylvanian Mystic Isabelle Rizo Reads Tarot at Quimby’s, Feb 11th

    In this evening of exploring Tarot with Transylvanian Mystic, Hypnotist, and Artist Isabelle Rizo learn what the tarot cards will tell you. Having used tarot since 2014 as a way to ground herself on her travels she found the collective unconscious easily mirrored through her own experience.You can bring a simple question and we have a conversation with the cards, or bring something that you need specific guidance on. Isabelle’s readings are inspired by her Romanian upbringing, using Eastern European folk stories, symbolism, and ethnographic influences to give nuanced readings and performances. 

    “Isabelle witnesses and holds safe space wherever she goes.” –Emily Stroia, Author of Into the Light

    Isabelle has been featured in such places as: Atlas Obscura, Prague College, The Whoroscope Witch Podcast, and was hired by GOOP as a resident tarot reader. Way Cool Magazine. She is the resident tarot teacher at Inner Sense Healing Arts where she teaches every Wednesday night in Chicago. Her work and workshops have also been featured at Occult of the Bazaar, She Spoke International Art Exhibition, and Sideshow Gallery. She runs her hypnosis practice with a group of amazing diverse and queer therapists at Art of Balance in Chicago as well Head Facilitator of The Coven which is an online and offline group of artists, healers, and liminal space dwellers with international and local members. 

    Readings $5 – $25

    For more info visit isabellerizo.com

    Facebook Event Invite here.

    Tuesday, February 11th, 6pm

  • Zine Club Chicago: Fascination Edition, Feb 27th

     

    Zine Club Chicago: Fascination Edition, at Quimby’s!

    7 p.m. Thursday, February 27

    Quimby’s, 1854 W. North Avenue in Wicker Park

    Free!

    What are you obsessed with right now? Chances are, someone has published a zine (or you’ve created your own) about your deepest passions, no matter how offbeat or obscure. This month at Zine Club Chicago: Fascination Edition, we’ll be discussing the most captivating titles about topics that make our hearts beat faster. Bring your faves and join us for a fun conversation and snacks!

    Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Chicago Zine Fest/Midwest Perzine Fest organizer Cynthia E. Hanifin and hosted by Quimby’s Bookstore.

    Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/866359927134323/

     

    Thanks to Anna Jo Beck for making the flyers, who says this about this month’s AMAZEBALLZ flyer and gif: “The gifs I included are: ASL for the word fascinated, Spock from Star Trek TOS, and a snippet from the movie The Ghost and Mrs. Muir – all topics for very niche zines!”

  • New Stuff This Week

    Zines

    Walt Loved Zines #3 by Lynne Monsoon $3.50

    PaperCore #02 DIY Punk Zine $3

    14 Days of Strike by Public Collectors & friends $5

    Damn Ice Dam $8

    Comics & Minis

    Fanlee and Spatzle Make Something Perfect by Pseudonym Jones (Silver Sprocket) $12

    Savage Reality of Chasing Dreams by Judiee $12

    Garden Shrine by Tori Holder $4

    Boys By the Lake and Not by the Lake by Jac Dellaria $4

    Graphic Novels

    The Underground Sketchbook by Tomi Ungerer (Fantagraphics) $19.99

    BOWIE: Stardust, Rayguns, and Moonage Daydreams by Michael Allred and Steve Horton and Laura Allred $39.99

    In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home by Kurt Ankeny (Adhouse) $25

    Sports Is Hell by Ben Passmore (Koyama Press) $15

    The Strange Ones by Jeremy Jusay $19.99

    Politics & Revolution

    The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches by Malcom X $16.99

    Fiction

    Agency by William Gibson $28

    The Baudelaire Fractal by Lisa Robertson $17.95

    Help

    Spellcrafting: Strengthen the Power of Your Craft by Creating and Casting Your Own Unique Spells by Arin Murphy-Hiscock $16.99

    Magazines

    Tape Op #135 $5.99

    Lit Journals & Chap Books

    Mizna vol 20 #1 Twenty Years $12

    Overtime Hour #54 In Zugzwang by S. Frederic Liss (Blue Cubicle Press) $2

    Way Your Mom Cuts Oranges by Margaux Wilhite $4

  • Postponing Event Until a Undeclared later date: Let’s Keep Selling Nostalgia!(!!) Pop Culture Historian Mathew Klickstein at Quimby’s

    Mathew Klickstein has spent the past two decades chronicling and (for good or ill?) helping to kick-start the 80s/90s Nostalgia Industry via his prolific spate of books, documentaries, articles, podcasts, and live events across the country. SLIMED! An Oral History of Nickelodeon’s Golden Age (Penguin Random House) presented the first exhaustive history of the “First Kids Network,” has become the ultimate resource for those following in Klickstein’s footsteps, and was re-released as an updated “Fifth Anniversary Edition” for Nick’s recent 40th anniversary. Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons (w/ series writer Mike Reiss; Harper Collins) remains the only long-form “insider” story of the most beloved (and beforehand guarded) cartoon series of all time. Selling Nostalgia: A Neurotic Novel (Simon & Schuster) is an absurdist Fear & Loathing-esque coda to the now-waning “Nerd/Geek Culture” to which Klickstein has been a primary contributor. And the 80s sci-fi/horror inspired comic book series You Are Obsolete (AfterShock Comics) will be released in OGN/paperback edition April 21, exploring our current generational shift in a frightening, hopefully not too prescient way that left critics and fans alike glued to their pages and e-readers during the series’ initial five-issue Sept 2019-Jan 2020 run.

    “Mathew Klickstein might be the geek guru of the 21st century.”

    – Mark Mothersbaugh

    The work of Mathew Klickstein has appeared in such outlets as: Wired, NY Daily News, Vulture, The New Yorker and countless regional and online publications worldwide. His two decades-plus of multi-platform storytelling has also led to: an impressive glut of non-fiction and fiction books authored for both major and independent publishers, podcasting (including his own series running for the past five years), guest lectures at various universities and arts/culture centers, as well as television and film work in partnership with such high-profile entities as: Sony Pictures, Food Network, National Lampoon, and Alamo Drafthouse.

    For more info: www.MathewKlickstein.com

    Saturday, April 25th, 7pm – Free Event

    Facebook link here.

  • New Stuff This Week

    Wrappers Delight: Over Five Hundred Sweet Wrappers from the John Townsend Collection edited by Jonny Trunk & friends (Fuel) $32.95 – The sweetest memories of all: vintage candy-wrapper design.

    Zines

    Behind the Zines Jan 20 #9 A Zine About Zines by Billy Roberts & friends $3

    Caboose #12 Jury Duty by Liz Mason $4

    Coffee People Zine #7 $15

    Strange Demise by F. Nelson Moores $12

    Alone With You #1 $10

    My Life With Bad Posture by Anney Bolgiano $5

    Chicago Atlas vol 2 by Elizabeth Tieri & Alex Nall $6

    Toys Toys Toys vol 2 $3

    Weenie Mag #6 $2

    Profesor Bram De Groot’s Life Enhancing Electromagical Devices and Solutions $2

    zines by Jolie Ruin $2 each: Slutcake #7 & The Escapist Artist #59

    How To Throw A Dinner Party Without Having A Nervous Breakdown by Tamara Reynolds and Zora O’Neill $6

    Last Two Weeks by Sara Heymann $5

    Drip #2 $15

    Comics & Minis

    South Korea Scrapbook 2008-2011 by April Malig $10

    Philip K. Dick’s Tony and the Beetles: A Comic Adaptation by Jason Payne $5

    Lil Book: A Comic About Some Relationships That I Have Been In by Katherine Manning $4

    Politics & Revolution

    The US Antifascism Reader edited by Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials (Verso) $29.95

    No Fascist USA!: The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today’s Movements (City Lights) $16.95

    Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha & Ejeris Dixon (AK Press) $18

    Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America’s First Female Terrorist Group by William Rosenau $28

    Graphic Novels

    This Makes Me Sad Anthology Edited by Melissa Sayen $5

    Gender: A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker $18.95

    Magazines

    Broken Pencil #86 $7.95

    Elska #27 Poland $20

    Fortean Times #387 $12.40

    Offscreen #22 $20

    Lit Journals

    Sinister Wisdom #115 $14

    Essay Books

    We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan by Lou Sullivan (Nightboat Books) $19.95

  • Quimby’s Bookstore January Newsletter Now Available

    The January Quimby’s Bookstore Newsletter available now!

  • Postponed: CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) 2020

    Quimby’s is proud to be a sponsor of the 2020 Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE], a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. CAKE features comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. More info at cakechicago.com.

    CAKE 2020 will be held 6/13-6/14 11am-6pm at Broadway Armory (5917 N Broadway) in Edgewater.

    More info TBA.

    Follow CAKE:

    cakechicago.com

    IG: @CAKEChicago

    Twitter: @CAKEChicago

    Art by David Alvarado. @tuffasaurus

  • New Stuff This Week

    Welcome To The Dark Side: Occult London by Kate Hodges + illustrated by Brian Rau (Herb Lester Associates) $14 – This large-format map charts centuries of occult activity of London including the headquarters of the Golden Dawn; Aleister Crowley’s temples; where William Blake saw angels and William Burroughs launched a psychic attack after eating an unsatisfactory cheesecake. For the aspiring occultist, there are shops to buy spells and books on magic, and libraries and museums for further study. Also included is A Guide To Magickal Tools For The Aspiring Occultist, a checklist for those wishing to take their exploration of the subject beyond the physical realm. Folder contains: Map (400 x 690mm), A Guide To Magickal Tools For The Aspiring Occultist card (100 x138mm) Litho-printed in the UK on sustainably sourced paper.

    Zines

    KerBloom #141 $2

    Clumsy issues #12-#14 by Kara Comegys $3 each

    Check Out This Propaganda #2 A Comedy Magazine by Eli Ruffer $10

    Comics & Minis

    King Cat #79 by John Porcellino $5

    Flyblown by RedRottenApple $5

    Graphic Novels

    DITCH LIFE by Amy Lockhart (Fantagraphics Underground) $30

    Fiction

    Punk Snot Dead SC by Morat $15

    Chap Books

    Wave Function by Coco M Keehl $10

    Magazines

    Uppercase #44 $18

    RFD #180 winter $11.95

  • Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep ’Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout! Jan 24th, 6-10pm

    Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep ’Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout!

    6-10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24

    Here at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park

    Free!

    We know that making progress on your zine projects is probably one of your new year’s resolutions, so Zine Club Chicago is kicking off 2020 with a special event: The No Sleep ’Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout!

    Bring your work-in-progress, create a new zine on the spot, or just catch up with other zine folks at our 4-hour Friday night event. (Quimby’s will not be holding a Zlumber Party this year, so our gathering will channel that chill hangout vibe.) We’ll have zinemaking supplies, creative prompts, and lots of snacks on hand. Zinemakers are encouraged to bring their zines to swap with others, as well! We’ll keep the zinemaking party rolling from 6 to 10 p.m.; feel free to drop in anytime during the evening.

    Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome to join us at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Chicago Zine Fest/Midwest Perzine Fest organizer Cynthia E. Hanifin and hosted by Quimby’s Bookstore.

    Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/522787471921314/

    Thanks to Anna Jo Beck for our graphics!