Joe Sacco, Portland cartoon journalist, author of Palestine, and 2012 Oregon Book Award finalist for Footnotes in Gaza, speaks about his work at this rare engagement. Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of Floating World Comics.

Saturday, February 18, 2-4 p.m.
Central Library, U.S. Bank Room
801 S.W. 10th Ave.
Free tickets for seating will be available 30 minutes prior to the program.

Joe Sacco’s most recent book is Footnotes in Gaza. He is internationally known for his journalistic comics, including Palestine, which won the American Book Award and Safe Area Gorazde, which won the Eisner Award and Time Magazine’s best comic book of 2000. His work has been translated into 14 languages and has appeared in magazines, like Harper’s, Time and Details. He is a current resident of Portland.

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Why do some comics read easier than others? Is it the story, the cartooning or the page design? Frank Santoro will demonstrate how some cartoonists such as Hal Foster and Herge used visual harmonies and structures in their page designs much like classical oil painters. Discover the similarities between visual and musical harmonies and how some of the great cartoonists used dynamic symmetry like a map to organize their stories.

Also, after the talk, Frank will lead an informal FREE workshop focusing on formats available for the comic book maker in 2012. Everyone is welcome. Come see what Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course is all about – or come on down just to argue with Frank – maybe even buy a book and get it signed.

LISTING INFORMATION:
WHO: Frank Santoro
WHAT: Frank Santoro’s Comic Book Layout Workshop
WHEN: Thursday Feb. 9th, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Frank Santoro is the artist behind the acclaimed comic books Storeyville and Cold Heat. His work has also appeared in Kramers Ergot. He has exhibited his drawings and paintings internationally. Based in Pittsburgh, Santoro is well known for his visionary colors and evocative sense of place.

http://franksantoro.tumblr.com/

http://www.tcj.com/layout-workbook/

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Before Jules Verne’s flying machines and H. G. Wells’s spaceships, there was Frank Reade, globe-trotting inventor and original steampunk hero. Starting in the nineteenth century, Frank Reade magazines were the world’s first science fiction periodicals. Now Frank Reade and his progeny are back in a new book: Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention! To celebrate the launch of this stunningly designed book, authors Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett—of Boilerplate fame—are hosting a series of events that any Reade family member would be proud to attend.

The events will be held on three consecutive Wednesdays in February, at three Portland comic book stores. Each will have a different theme—Land, Sea, and Air—the three realms Frank Reade explores in his electric vehicles. The authors will also display each of the three model vehicles Guinan himself built for the Frank Reade book, which are rarely shown in public. Attendees will have the chance to talk with the authors and get books signed, as well as meet local steampunks (Land), pirates (Sea), and superheroes (Air).

BONUS: There’s a prize at the grand finale event! The first ten attendees who make it to all three events and get their “Land, Sea, and Air” passports stamped will receive a print of an original Frank Reade engraving signed by both authors, plus custom-stamped Frank Reade chocolate “gold coins” (which will also be available for purchase).

Publishers Weekly predicts Frank Reade will “satisfy even the hardest to please of readers” and praises it as “a stunning multimedia confection of the highest order that creates a detailed and delightful world.”

(more…)

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This February, Floating World is proud to exhibit original artwork by local artists, Emi Lenox and Natalie Nourigat. Each artist will display pages from their two new books, EmiTown Vol. 2 and Between Gears, which will be released later in the month by Image Comics.

Emi and Natalie have each created a brand new archival print which will also be available at the show.

LISTING INFORMATION:

WHO: Emi Lenox, Natalie Nourigat

WHAT: Art exhibit and print release

WHEN: Thursday Feb. 2nd, 6-10pm

WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Art on display until Feb. 29

BIO INFORMATION:

Based out of Portland, Oregon, Emi Lenox is a comic creator widely known for EmiTown which was released into a printed collection by Image in Dec. ’10. She has also had work in Mike Allred’s Madman and Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth. She has just finished working on the second collection of EmiTown. Basically, she’s just a nutty girl with a case of the munchies and a deep fond love for comics, cats, bassets, and iPods.

http://emitown.blogspot.com/

Natalie ‘Tally’ Nourigat, is a sequential artist living in Portland, Oregon. Natalie graduated from the University of Oregon’s Clark Honors College in 2010. Her first book, Between Gears, is about to be published by Image Comics. She is currently working on a new graphic novel and a children’s book series. She appeared in Image Comics’ anthology ‘This Is A Souvenir’ in 2009 and is a member of Periscope Studios.

http://natalienourigat.com/

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I have noticed an interesting manifestation that’s taken place over the past couple years at Floating World. It appears that the majority of our sales are good quality books that I really like. This was the plan all along, to sell books that are worth reading more than once. It’s a mixed blessing when certain mainstream comics get a lot of media coverage but the books are actually pretty bad. So all you’ve done is show a bunch of potential new customers the worst of what comics can offer. It’s good for my health that the majority of my day isn’t serving the lowest common denominator to shrinking audiences. Portland readers (and readers who visit Portland) have really good taste.

I’ve been looking forward to putting this 2011 bestseller list, mainly out of curiosity. It’s been a strange year for print and comics. The new Kindle has a miniature incinerator which seems a bit aggressive. Yet our sales were up from last year. The business is still growing. I’ve noticed that customers are buying less monthly comics, but trade and graphic novel sales remain strong. Sales are also great for deluxe hardcovers and expensive omnibus collections. People will invest in quality.

But first let’s look at quantity. Which books brought in the most foot traffic?

Best selling DC title (by quantity): ACTION COMICS #1

Best selling Marvel title (by quantity): FEAR ITSELF #1

Best selling titles published by everyone else (by quantity): DIAMOND #6, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN III CENTURY #2, NONPLAYER #1, LOSE #3, I WANT YOU #2, THB COMICS FROM MARS #2, CRICKETS #3, OPTIC NERVE #12, BOYS CLUB #4, A FIELD GUIDE TO THE ALIENS OF STAR TREK TNG, THICKNESS #2, WITCH DOCTOR #1, BUFFY SEASON 9 #1, HELLBOY THE FURY #2, MADMAN NEW GIANT SIZE SUPER GINCHY SPECIAL, GANGSTA RAP POSSE #2

Ok now the list of bestsellers by dollar amount. I multiplied the quantity sold by the retail price, and these are the books that made the most paper in 2011.

1. INCAL CLASSIC COLLECTION HC (Humanoids)
2. HABIBI (Pantheon)
3. MADMAN ATOMICA HC (Image)
4. ANYA’S GHOST (First Second)
5. EMITOWN (Image)
6. BIG QUESTIONS (D&Q)
7. IVY HC (Oni)
8. DAYTRIPPER (DC/Vertigo)
9. METABARONS SLIPCASE (Humanoids)
10. EYES OF THE CAT HC (Humanoids)

11. LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN III CENTURY #2 (Top Shelf)
12. WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM (Image)
13. PAYING FOR IT (D&Q)
14. ORC STAIN VOL. 1 (Image)
15. FINDER LIBRARY VOL. 1 (Dark Horse)
16. TEKKON KINKREET (Viz)
17. DIAMOND #6 (Floating World)
18. FABLES VOL. 15 (DC/Vertigo)
19. CRICKETS #3 (Self published/Fantagraphics)
20. SUPERGODS HC (Spiegel & Grau)

21. ACTION COMICS #1 (DC)
22. WE 3 DELUXE HC (DC/Vertigo)
23. CASANOVA VOL. 2 (Marvel/Icon)
24. CAPACITY (Secret Acres)
25. BATWOMAN ELEGY TP (DC)

Interesting observations about 2011′s list:

Three books by Jodorowsky, two of those are collaborations with Moebius. I think Humanoids had a good year.

Four out of the top five books made by Portland creators (pretty sure Allred was living in Portland at the time).

Not very many superheroes on the list. No Marvel books unless you include their creator owned imprint, Icon. Image had the most publications on the list.

I thought Alan Moore had left the comics industry? He’s still selling lots of them.

Omnibuses. Collect your single issues in a trade. Then collect your trades in an omnibus. Next publishers will offer something called a “Shelf”.

Capacity and Tekkon Kinkreet have made the list three years in a row. Hey Viz: NUMBER FIVE

We made the list with Diamond 6. I look forward to even more publishing in 2012.

Self publishing! Emitown, Big Questions, Ivy, Finder and Capacity all started as self published books that later got picked up by bigger publishers for distribution. Diamond 6 and Crickets #3 were straight up self published.

Seven titles on the list were more than $30. Only two were saddle stitched. One was unbound.

2012 predictions: Nobrow is working out their US distribution with Perseus. Once the books are readily available they are going to blow up even bigger. Humanoids brings a Moebius book back into print, it quickly goes out of print again. There will be more Brandon Graham comics in the world. Hopefully some new books by Julia Gfrörer and Theo Ellsworth. Michael DeForge, Lisa Hanawalt, Matt Furie, and Benjamin Marra continue their streak of awesome. I’m looking forward to McSweeney’s new children’s book imprint, McMullens, with new books illustrated by Matt Furie, Hanawalt, Jordan Crane, Jack Teagle. Koyama Press and Ryan Sands will deliver more excellent work. Jonny Negron and Uno Moralez are next. Battling Boy?

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