Join us in celebrating the best holiday of the year: Captain Picard Day!

You can view the inspiration here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiKwAS1qaCk

Once again, we will be holding an art contest and show to honor the man, the myth, the legend: Jean Luc Picard. As always, it will be completely free to enter and attend. Since I know all of you will want to spend Captain Picard Day with your families and loved ones, this year we are celebrating it the week before, on First Thursday June 6th.

If you want to submit art for the contest, great! Like I said, it’s free to enter, and there will be hundreds of dollars worth of prizes.

Rules for entry -

1. In order to submit you have two options: You can drop it off at Floating World Comics between Saturday June 1st and the show itself, but we really recommend bringing it in by Tuesday June 4th. Alternately, you can mail it to us.  If you do, please label your package ‘Attn: CAPTAIN PICARD DAY’

2. Attach a label or index card to the back of your art with the following contact info: your name and phone number or email address. If the art is for sale include a price (Floating World takes a 1/3rd commission on art sales), or write NFS (not for sale).

3. We start hanging the art show on Wednesday June 5th. If you bring artwork in the day of the event (Thursday, June 6th) we cannot guarantee good placement. To reiterate, I REALLY RECOMMEND BRINGING IT EARLY.

4. All artists will have the option of selling their art through FWC. Sales are cash and carry, meaning after the prizes are awarded at 9pm, art will be sold directly off the wall. It is important to include your contact info so you can receive payment.

5. All art that does not get sold at the event will be displayed in store through the month of June (if you want it to, that is. If you would rather hide your art in a cave where no one can see it, that’s your business). You are responsible for claiming your artwork anytime before June 30th.

If you don’t want to submit art, but you do want to attend the event… ummm… just show up between 6 and 10 and look at the arts. It is pretty straightforward. But you should really submit some art! Last year I gave out prizes just for submitting stuff! This year I will do that again!

LISTING INFORMATION:

WHO: You, a bunch of TNG fans, guest judges
WHAT: Group art contest
WHEN: Thursday, June 6th, 6-10pm, judging and prizes at 9pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

From Portland Mercury, 2/21/13:

DC Comics recently hired Orson Scott Card to write a story in the first issue of their new Superman comic, Adventures of Superman. Card’s a hell of a writer—he wrote Ender’s Game, one of my favorite novels, the long-awaited film adaptation of which will come out this fall. He’s also a relentless, shameless bigot.

For at least 20 years, the Mormon author has been doing his sanctimonious best to deny respect and basic civil rights to everyone who isn’t heterosexual. There’s a huge chasm between the person who I imagine wrote Ender’s Game—a fantastic, nuanced story about the brutal lies of war, the strength and frailty of human beings, and neat rooms where kids can float around because there isn’t any gravity—and the person Card’s revealed himself to be through actions like serving on the board of the National Organization for Marriage. When he isn’t saying that gays and lesbians should be arrested—

What we do with small children is to establish clear boundaries and offer swift but mild punishment for crossing them. As their capacity to understand and obey increases, the boundaries broaden but the consequences of crossing them become more severe…

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society. (Via.)

—he’s (apparently seriously) vowing to overthrow any government that lets gays and lesbians get married.

Marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down. (Via.)

I also spoke with Floating World Comics’ Jason Leivian, who—like Chicago’s Challengers Comics—has found a pretty fantastic solution: Yes, he’ll be selling the issue, but 100 percent of Floating World’s proceeds from the book will be going to “All Out or another LGBT charity organization.”

“While I feel that a financial boycott may hit DC’s bottom line a little harder,” Leivian says, “I like that there has been a large public response to this story and I’d like to spin it in the opposite direction by using this controversy to directly support organizations Orson Scott Card would be opposed to.”

A couple weeks later artist Chris Sprouse announced that he would not illustrate the story written by Card, citing the media attention surrounding the controversial author. As a result DC has cancelled the Orson Scott Card story, possibly to be published later with a different artist.

WHO: Jeff Parker
WHAT: ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #1 release party, benefit for All Out
WHEN: Wednesday May 29, 5-7pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Comics illustrator Tommi Musturi and editor Ville Hänninen will discuss their work on Finnish comics as part of the International Comic Arts Forum’s 16th Annual Conference in Portland on Thursday, May 23 at 7:30pm. Floating World Comics, located at 400 NW Couch Street, is hosting this special event, which includes a pre-talk reception at 6:30pm and Q&A following the artists presentations.

WHO: Tommi Musturi and Ville Hänninen
WHAT: Art exhibit and artist talk at 7:30pm
WHEN: Thursday May 23, 6:30-9pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Musturi is among the most popular and well-known illustrators and comics artists in Finland today. A member of the Kutikuti Collective, he has published his work in Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now (Fantagraphics, 2012). He also serves as artistic director for the Helsinki Comics Festival and blogs at: boingbeing.wordpress.com.

Hänninen has been writing comics criticism for various magazines and newspapers in Finland since 1997. He has written or edited 12 books, including The Finnish Comics Annual 2011, a colossal anthology of Finnish comics, and In the Face, a book of interviews with contemporary Finnish comic artists. He has also co-curatored  “Eyeballing!”,  an exhibition of Finnish comics in the Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA in Helsinki. At the moment he’s working on an education, publication and exhibition project (“Building up the stories”) that aims at getting talented young artists to fulfill their potential as comics artists.

Since 1995, the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) has been dedicated to promoting the scholarly study and appreciation of comic art, including comic strips, comic books, comics albums and graphic novels, magazine and newspaper cartooning, caricature, and comics in electronic media. The forum provides a supportive, collegial environment to showcase innovative comics scholarship and comic art for critics, historians, teachers, and comics professionals from around the world.

For more information, including the full schedule of ICAF 2013 events from May 23-25, please visit: http://www.internationalcomicartsforum.org/

ADAPT #1 by Jonny Negron
Limited to 1000 copies, 24 pages, 15″ x 22.75″ broadsheet newsprint, full color and b&w, $7
Shipping $3 US, $8 INTL, $5 CANADA
Now available to order

A giant sized double feature from the Grandmaster of modern art comics, Jonny Negron.

ADAPT
“Where Are We?” – part 1 of Jonny Negron’s sci-fi exploration of alienation in a utopian society. Inspired by Return From The Stars, by Stanislaw Lem.

ADAPT
“Roses From Concrete” – Matt Seneca’s essay begins with a quote from Lord Jamar in Ice-T’s “The Art of Rap”, pulling back the curtain on the secret origin of hip hop. Hip hop was the creation of something from nothing; taking the materials at hand and turning them into instruments. Parallels are drawn between the outlaw artforms and their revolutionary heritage. Accompanied by over two dozen portraits of the greatest rappers in history as illustrated by Jonny Negron, and a 2Pac comic.

The creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Bottomless Belly Button and Bodyworld hits the road in support of his new graphic novel, New School, as well as the one-shot comic book, 3 New Stories. At Floating World, Dash Shaw will be signing copies of his new books before their wide release, with a gallery full of original artwork and presentations of his animation works (including the Sigur Rós video, “Seraph”).

New School is a full-color, classic coming-of-age story that encapsulates the current generation, both trapped and enthralled by pop culture. Shaw dramatizes the story two brothers, one moving to an exotic country where an ambitious new amusement park recreates historical events and the younger one who goes to find his brother after years of little contact. New School is unlike anything in the history of the comics medium: at once funny and deadly serious, easily readable while wildly artistic, personal and political, familiar and completely new.

Here’s a trailer for the book with art and animation by Shaw, killer music by Lily Benson and Doron Sadja.

WHO: Dash Shaw
WHAT: New School book release & art exhibit, presentation at 7pm
WHEN: Thursday May 2, 6-10pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Artwork will be on display until May 31.

Dash Shaw lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently writing and directing an animated feature film, The Ruined Cast.

“A former student of the genius artist-seer-cartoonist Gary Panter, Dash, it’s fair to say, is something of a genius as well.” – Chris Ware

This Saturday May 4th is Free Comic Book Day at Floating World. In addition to all the free comics produced especially for FCBD (limit of 10 books per customer) we will also have copies of MASTER P’S THEATER, a free book that we co-published with Sparkplug, Teenage Dinosaur and Snakebomb. This issue is fantastic, and as is usual in this yearly co-publishing partnership, we have selected all local artists who have never yet appeared in a free comic:

Covers by August Lipp and Tony Remple. Stories by: John Isaacson, Amriel Simpson, Alex Chiu, Ryan Iverson, Pat Keck, Jason “JFish” Fischer.

It’s gonna be a party. From noon – 3pm we’ve invited some special guests to hang out and sign books.

JFish – Master P’s Theater, Junqueland, Burgermancer
Tyler Crook – BPRD, Petrograd
Ales Kot – Wild Children, Change, Suicide Squad
Robbi Rodriguez – Frankie Get Your Gun, Uncanny X-Force

But wait there’s more. We’ll be running our DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR sale all day from 11-7. Here’s how it works: for every dollar spent at the register you get a FREE dollar comic from our back issue bins. If you buy a $30 book you get 30 FREE dollar comics. If you buy two dollar comics you get two more for FREE! You’re gonna leave with a bunch of comics.

THE THIRD TRIANNUAL GREAT PORTLAND HOME VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT SWAPATHON will welcome Portland’s premiere video cassette swap-tacular  back to the warm bosom of Floating World Comics. Inspired by relaxing weekend getaways to Oregon’s wine country with Floating World owner Jason Leivian and brunch server Mayhaw Hoons, the SWAPATON was formed to take their experiences and supply a haven for Portland’s VHS-enthustiast community to swap video tapes, their concerns and… romance?* Guests are heartily encouraged to bring their own VHS to swap or sell. Please e-mail Jason if you are interested in exhibitor table space.

*romance will not be provided

WHO: Tabled exhibitors, VHS lovers
WHAT: VHS swap meet
WHEN: Saturday, April 20th, 3-8PM
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Bio info:

The Video Home System (better known by its abbreviation VHS) is a consumer-level analog recording videotape-based cassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan (JVC). The VHS cassette is a 187 mm wide, 103 mm deep, 25 mm thick plastic shell held together with five Phillips head screws. The flip-up cover that protects the tape has a built-in latch with a push-in toggle on the right side. The recording media is a 12.7 mm wide magnetic tape wound between two spools, allowing it to be slowly passed over the various playback and recording heads of the video cassette recorder. VHS tapes have approximately 3 MHz of video bandwidth and 400 kHz of chroma bandwidth, which is achieved at a relatively low tape speed by the use of helical scan recording of a frequency modulated luminance (black and white) signal, with a down-converted “color under” chroma (color) signal recorded directly at the baseband. In modern-day digital terminology, NTSC VHS is roughly equivalent to 333×480 pixels luma and 40×480 chroma resolutions.

On December 31, 2008, the final truckload in the USA of recorded programming on VHS tapes rolled out of a warehouse owned by Ryan Kugler, the last major supplier of VHS-recorded videos.

WHO: Emi Gennis, Sam Alden, Julia Gfrörer, and Graham Kahler
WHAT: Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends book release & signing
WHEN: Wednesday, April 24, 5-7pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Bio info:
Portland-based editor Emi Gennis, known for her own macabre historical and true crime comics, has pulled together the work of over thirty talented cartoonists from five countries for this collection. The book includes work by the following artists: Aaron Whitaker, Andy Glass, Bobby Mono, Box Brown, Danielle Chenette, Duncan, Doug Slack, Emy Bitner, Evan A, Graham Kahler, J. T. Yost, Jackie Roche, Jason Bradshaw, Jenn Woodall, Julia Gfrörer, Lizz Lunney, Melinda Tracey Boyce, Mike Roy, Nate McDonough, NickSouček, Nikki DeSautelle, Noah Van Sciver, Owen Heitmann, Phillip Sevy, Simon Moreton, Sabin Calvert, Sam Alden, Sam Spina, Sarah Benkin, Steve Seck, Tod Parkhill, and William Cardini.

Task Force Rad Squad #1 is a 32-page, full-color calamity by writer Caleb Goellner, artist Buster Moody and colorist Ryan Hill that introduces readers to three teens with radditude, their substance-addled “mentor” and the weary AI known as PhRANCIS. Powered by the specious cosmic tech of an extinct Space Wizard civilization, the team has inherited a universe of messes that they rightfully resent having to mop up. But who knows? Maybe their struggle to protect Earth from sentient birthday cakes and hot garbage will wind up teaching them the true meaning of friendship? Maybe??? Seriously, we have no idea!

“Task Force Rad Squad is hilarious, bizarre, and made of 100% butt kicking radditude.”
—Sam Humphries, writer of Our Love Is Real, Sacrifice and Uncanny X-Force

WHO: Caleb Goellner and Ryan Hill
WHAT: Task Force Rad Squad #1 release and signing
WHEN: Wednesday, April 17, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Caleb Goellner is a blogger based in Portland, OR. He’s originally from Kansas City, where he first met Buster Moody, colorist of Bayou and Screamland: Death of the Party. The duo bonded with Portland illustrator Ryan Hill, artist and colorist of the Dark Horse Comics Avatar: The Last Airbender Free Comic Book Day 2013 issue, over a shared love of tokusatsu, manga and LEGO. Task Force Rad Squad is the trio’s first team-up in an ongoing war against space monsters.

http://www.taskforceradsquad.com/

A welcome read for anyone who ever felt more passion for a sandwich than is strictly speaking proper, Relish is a graphic novel for our time: it invites the reader to celebrate food as a connection to our bodies and a connection to the earth, rather than an enemy, a compulsion, or a consumer product.

“Lucy Knisley’s delightful drawings don’t just tell great stories, they’re a crystal-clear how-to guide to everything worth doing in the kitchen.  Step aside, Joy of Cooking.”
—Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

WHO: Lucy Knisley
WHAT: Relish book release & signing
WHEN: Thursday, April 18, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Lucy Knisley was born in New York City, raised in Rhinebeck, NY, and educated in Chicago. She has come home to roost in a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where she can be closer to her mom’s cooking.  Her comics about life, food, travel and her adventures have gained her a devoted audience on the Internet, and she is now doing food comics for the magazine Saveur, who just sent her to Africa. Lucy’s first book, French Milk, is a travelogue about a trip to Paris. Relish is her most recent work.