CHRIS WARE ROBOT SHIRT

First of all, I have to give props to my dear friend Capree for posting this in her 'shared items' on her Google Reader - without her doing so I probably wouldn't have seen this.

Chris Ware designed a shirt for Woot and it's going for $10 + free shipping right now! You should probably order one asap. I sure did.

GOOGLE

How did I not hear about this sooner? Ah. This is pretty old news - but iGoogle introduced a new comics theme for the 40th Anniversary of Comic-Con last month. I personally went with Dan Clowes theme, but I also really dig the Jeffrey Brown and Renee French versions.

NERD.

JOHN PORCELLINO

Last month Laurie and I booked a flight to Chicago for my birthday in October. There isn't any particular reason we want to go there -- other than Chicago seeming totally AWESOME, and the hot dogs and pizza looking AWESOME, and, of course, that we really need a vacation. Then a few weeks ago I was reading the Drawn and Quarterly blog and found out that John Porcellino, one of my favorite cartoonists of all time, would be on tour throughout the Northeast and Midwest this fall. Lucky us, he will be doing a signing and debuting his new book Map of My Heart at Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago the very weekend we are there. I am beyond thrilled for this.

From the D+Q website: "MAP OF MY HEART celebrates the twentieth anniversary of John Porcellino's seminal and influential comics zine, KING CAT COMICS, which he started self publishing in 1989 and which has been his predominant means of expression. In this collection, while Porcellino is living in isolation and experiencing the pain of divorce he crafts a melancholic, tender graphic ballad of heartbreak and reflection. Known for his sad, quiet honesty rendered in his signature deceptively minimalist style, Porcellino has a command of graphic storytelling as sophisticated as the medium's more visually intricate masters. Few other artists are able to so expertly contemplate the sadness, beauty, and wonder of life in so few lines."

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 09

I've been enjoying me some Sundance this past week. To be honest, some of the films I saw were just OKAY. However, I did really like the film Precious. I did a quick comic about a funny moment that happened before the movie. The director Lee Daniels was on stage and wasn't quite in the spotlight...

KE7

Kramers Ergot 7! Look at this ridiculous book!
Best Christmas present ever. Thank you Laurie!

JANUARY (COMIC) BOOK CLUB

Next month's pick for the book club is Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw (published by Fantagraphics/June 2008). This 720 page tome is the thickest book we've read as a club, and yet, I read it in three sittings. The story begins with an older couple who bring their three adult children together for a sort of strange family reunion in their childhood home, all to announce that after forty years of marriage they are getting a divorce. For one week after the announcement we follow their three kids. The eldest, Dennis, who is desperate to find the reasons for the divorce. Claire, who is divorced herself and raising a teenage daughter. The youngest, Peter, a filmmaker who feels like an outsider.

This graphic novel has been on many "Best of 2008" lists, including Amazon and Publishers Weekly.

NOVEMBER (COMIC) BOOK CLUB

November's book is Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Okay, let me just say - I was so excited to read Watchmen when I first found out that it was this month's book club pick. I ordered it immediately off of Amazon and still have not received it. The meeting is in three days and I'm really pissed off that I haven't been able to start it yet.

Here's a synopsis taken from wikipedia: "Watchmen takes place in an alternate history United States where the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. After government-sponsored superhero The Comedian is found murdered, the vigilante Rorschach warns his former colleagues of what he believes is a conspiracy to kill costumed heroes. As the story progresses, the protagonists discover that one of the heroes has devised a plan to stave off war between the United States and the USSR by carrying out a plan that will kill millions of innocent people."

The movie, directed by Zack Snyder, comes out March 6 of next year.