Please do not outbid Boing Boing on the Sea Shadow, a stealth ship that the US Navy is currently auctioning off. The General Services Administration is requiring that the buyer dismantle and scrap the 1982 vessel within six months of purchase. — Read the rest
Our guest co-host is John Hodgman, actor, "resident expert" on The Daily Show, celebrity judge, and book author. The third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge — That Is All — comes out on November 1. — Read the rest
Malachi Ward's slim science fiction comic chapbook "The Scout" is a perfect, Twilight-Zoneish science fiction short story in graphic novel form. It's the surreal story of an alien scout who awakes and discovers that he's already awakened — and died — before. — Read the rest
I'm late to the party on Elephantmen — the comic has been running since 2006 and there've been three collections to date. I've just read the first one, Wounded Animals and I've got that happy, warm feeling that comes from discovering something great, finishing it, and realizing there's plenty more where that came from (I discovered the series on a visit back to LA's Secret Headquarters, where the curated collection of comics never lets me down). — Read the rest
Bueno Aires's LibrerÃa El Ateneo Grand Splendid used to be a beautiful movie palace. Saved from the wrecker's ball, it is now one of the most majestic bookstores I've ever clapped eyes upon, a veritable temple to books.
Marilyn sez, "El Ateneo Grand Splendid in downtown Buenos Aires is a spectacular bookstore that retains all the glamour of its former life as a 1920s movie palace, with a original balconies, painted ceiling, ornate carvings and crimson stage curtains. — Read the rest
Ryan Heshka is one of three artists in the "Envirus" show at Roq La Rue in Seattle, opening this Friday, October 9.
See Ryan's other paintings for the show here.
Previously:
Fellow mutants: A number of the residents of greater Boingdom (Boing Boing, Offworld, Boing Boing Gadgets, and Boing Boing Video) are heading to San Francisco from 23-27 March for the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), and we're planning to do a comprehensive package of live and produced video reports for your enjoyment. — Read the rest
Emmanuel Guibert's graphic novel Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope is totally different from anything I've ever read. It's a picaresque memoir of a Californian soldier who was shipped to Europe during the last days of WWII, just in time to see the comic, banal, and wrenching scenes associated with the wind-down of hostilities. — Read the rest
The Secret Headquarters (my favorite comic store in LA) is finally selling their hilarious "God Save Stan Lee" tees online. My GSSL shirt has been just about my favorite garment for the past six months — and now you can get one from anywhere. — Read the rest
The Galacticast netshow has produced a great little end-of-year short calling on Canadians to fight the Canadian DMCA in the coming year. This is the on-again/off-again US-inspired copyright act that Industry Minister Jim Prentice wrote without any input from Canadian interest groups, making it into a kind of wish-list for US-based entertainment giants. — Read the rest
Cartoonist Johnny Ryan has an art exhibition this Friday, November 30 at Secret Headquarters.
HORRORSHOW features almost FIFTY brand new paintings inspired by a variety of whacked-out horror, cult and exploitation films. Malo Cantina will be providing a margarita bar, and we'll have movie theater-style treats like popcorn and candy on hand too.
— Read the rest
I've just finished "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!" Paul Karasik's anthology of comics by Fletcher Hanks.
Fletcher Hanks is a mysterious and obscure figure in comics history, the creator of WWII-era strips like "Stardust the Super Wizard" and "Fantomah: Mystery Woman of the Jungle." — Read the rest
I found Other Side, Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart's gripping, savage, thoughtful Vietnam War comic, by going into Secret Headquarters (my favorite comic shop) and asking "What's good?" Dave, the co-owner, said, "I just sent this guy my first-ever fan letter" and passed me a copy. — Read the rest
I just read Cathy Malkasian's "Percy Gloom" (scored from the new release table at LA's Secret Headquarters), a charming, sweet, weird little hardcover graphic novel from Fantagraphics.
Percy Gloom lives with his mother, an inventor. His father, a Gloom, killed himself with the Gloom death-slap shortly before he was born. — Read the rest
The author and illustrator of the fine new graphic novel The Plain Janes are coming to Los Angeles's Secret Headquarters, my all-time favorite comic shop. I've just read The Plain Janes and found it superb — a funny, spirited little story about a gang of girls named Jane at a strait-laced high-school, rejected by the mainstream, and their art adventures. — Read the rest
Volume six of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman's thrilling, terrifying zombie comic, has just come out. I bought my copy this morning at The Secret Headquarters, then sat down for lunch and didn't get up again until I'd read the last page. — Read the rest
Tomorrow, May 5, is Free Comic Book Day, and Salon has celebrated with a tremendous guide to comics for the noviate — lots of great suggestions for people looking to start (or renew) a love affair with funnybooks. Apropos of this, let me reiterate my frequent plugging for my favorite comics store ever, The Secret Headquarters in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. — Read the rest
Last week I dropped by Los Angeles's Secret Headquarters, an amazing comic shop in Silver Lake, to see the new Rob Sato art show. Sato is a relatively new comic artist, but his style — somewhere between Hieronymus Bosch and Yellow Submarine — really tickled me, and I wanted to see the art up on the walls (soon to be on my walls, as I ended up getting a really wonderful painted shovel of Sato's). — Read the rest
I picked up Gene Luen Yang's "American Born Chinese" yesterday at Secret Headquarters, LA's best comic shop, and read it all before bed last night. American Born Chinese is a wonderful, funny, heart-breaking and inspiring graphic novel that tells the story of Jin Wang, a Chinese boy who is one of two Asian kids in his class at an American school. — Read the rest
LA's Secret Headquarters (best comic shop in town!) has a limited supply of t-shirts based on Brian Wood's wonderful DMZ comics. They bear a sterling Wood illustration on the outside, but can be reversed to reveal the word "PRESS" screened in white on the inside, for those moments when you want to be identified as a non-combatant. — Read the rest