Writer and artist Vanessa Davis has been a fixture online with her site Spaniel Rage and her book of the same name has recently released a collection of short stories and diary works called Make Me A Woman. Published through Drawn and Quarterly, the book reflects the last five years of her work and life since the publication of her first solo book back in 2005.

In that five years, Davis has moved cross country, explored relationships and her Jewish faith, and of course been a productive artist with regular contributions to Tablet magazine.

The pages of her work are often crammed with images and text, as likely to break out of the confines of the normal grid as to ignore it entirely. In line with this, her characters are often exaggerated and rough-hewn, joined by Davis’ curlicue text in crowding the borders of each page and panel. Read more...

Tags Drawn and Quat, Make Me A Woman, Vanessa Davis, Wondercon 2011

By Nick Nadel

If you’re even remotely familiar with the webcomics scene, chances are you’ve heard about Kate Beaton. Since launching her web site, Hark! A Vagrant in 2008, Beaton’s hilarious takes on everything from “Nancy Drew” to Aquaman have earned her a healthy following (over half a million unique visitors a month) and work in both The New Yorker and Marvel’s Strange Tales II (her “Kraven goes to the prom” story was one of the high points of the series).

So it’s no surprise that Beaton’s first hardcover collection will be released from Drawn & Quarterly this fall. Featuring material from her popular web site along with brand new strips, the new Hark! A Vagrant collection should expose Beaton to an even wider audience. (A self-published collection, “Never Learn Anything from History,” is available through Topatoco.) Beaton possesses an uncanny ability to skewer stuffy historical figures, great works of literature, and comic book self-seriousness (her surly, chain-smoking Wonder Woman is one of the most vivid depictions of the character in years) while also showcasing her subject’s basic human foibles. Now that she’s joined the home of Adrian Tomine, Daniel Clowes and other indie comix greats, it’s safe to say Beaton’s profile will only rise higher. Which is great news for fans of fat ponies and Nikola Tesla’s swarthy mustache.

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Tags Drawn and Quarterly, Hark A Vagrant, Kate Beaton, Webcomics

The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival was held last Saturday on December 4th at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Williamsburg. The show was not only a celebration of some of the best independent comics talent today, but of the exciting community of artists who live in Williamsburg.

BCGF, an ongoing project by Desert Island, PictureBox and Bill Kartalopoulos, is unique among comic book festivals and conventions in that it’s an invitation-only event. While this methodology is controversial among some people, it also delivers a highly-curated and talent-concentrated show -- a panorama of excellence in comic creation and graphic design at which it was hard to decide what to look at first.

The Festival's co-organizer, Desert Island's Gabe Fowler, described to MTV Geek about the selection process for BCGF:
"This event has become a curated event, which basically means that me and the other two organizers come to the table with long lists of people we wish could be involved as exhibitors. And we basically chip away at that list and are inviting people to rent tables from us. So that makes it a little unorthodox, relative to other comic events which are usually first come first serve. But because our event is small, the demand just exceeded the supply of tables basically so it just led us to the conclusion that it needs to be a curated event just to keep a small but potent room full of stuff. " Read more...

Tags Adrian Tomine, Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, Charles Burns, Comic Book Conventions, Drawn and Quarterly, Jim Rugg, Julia Wertz, Lynda Barry

If you are in the New York City area on December 4th, the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is a must to attend. Held in the heart of Williamsburg, the BCGF is a one-day festival of cartoon and graphic art featuring such titans of the indie comics scene as Lynda Barry, Kate Beaton, Charles Burns, Evan Dorkin, Adrian Tomine, Paul Pope, Bill Griffith, and many more. There will also be lectures, exhibits, and satellite events.

The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is an ongoing project by Desert Island, PictureBox and Bill Kartalopoulos. It will be held on Dec. 4 from 12-9 pm at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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Tags Adrian Tomine, Bill Griffith, Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, Charles Burns, Comic Book Conventions, Comic Books, Comic Cons, Evan Dorkin, Paul Pope

As first reported by Comics Reporter, Drawn and Quaterly will publish legendary, alternative comic artist Daniel Clowes' superhero graphic novel, The Death-Ray in Fall 2011.

The Death Ray tells the story of Andy, a teen orphan, who, after taking a puff on his first cigarette, discovers he has the super-power-like ability to believe he is capable of anything. Andy's discovery leads to a serious case of rageaholism and the discovery of a gadget that changes everything for him.

Drawn and Quaterly says that The Death-Ray re-purposes the iconic tropes of the superhero genre to tell a tale that is Read more...

Tags Daniel Clowes, Drawn and Quaterly, Eightball, The Death-Ray

To put it simply, Chris Ware's The ACME Novelty Library Volume 20, leveled me. As I finished its final page and closed the beautifully bound cover, I had a lingering, buzzing pain in my chest. A pain that felt like guilt, regret, loss, love, emotion. Everything that Ware's main character, Jordan "Jason" Wellington Lint, felt as his journey ended. The impact of the images, the complexity buried within each word, the layout of the pages, and the raw human intensity of the story affected me deeply.

The ACME Novelty Library Volume 20 is part of Ware's epic graphic novel experiment, "Rusty Brown".  Jordan Lint was the school bully in previous volumes of Ware's examination of the life of a geek named Rusty Brown. But, as we learn in Volume 20, Lint is not a simple thug or a goon. There are reasons for his behavior, as there are reasons for everything humans do. Some kids are the geeks and some are the bullies. Read more...

Tags Chris Ware, Drawn and Quaterly, Rusty Brown, The ACME Novelty Library