Tag Archives: floating world comics

In-Between Days Release Party with Teva Harrison, May 24

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Teva Harrison was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 37. In the brilliant and inspiring graphic memoir In-Between Days, she documents through comic illustration and short personal essays what it means to live with the disease.

She confronts with heartbreaking honesty the crises of identity that cancer brings: a lifelong vegetarian, Teva agrees to use experimental drugs that have been tested on animals. She struggles to reconcile her long-term goals with an uncertain future, balancing the innate sadness of cancer with everyday acts of hope and wonder. She also examines those quiet moments of helplessness and loving with her husband, her family, and her friends, while they all adjust to the new normal.

Ultimately, In-Between Days is redemptive and uplifting, reminding each one of us of how beautiful life is, and what a gift.

WHO: Teva Harrison
WHAT: In-Between Days book signing and presentation
WHEN: Wednesday May 24, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

We’re bringing back something we haven’t done for a while, what the team thinks. Our contributors are choosing up to five books each week and why they’re choosing the books.

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Paul

Top Pick: X-Men Gold #3 (Marvel) – This title has been everything I was hoping for and it’s only 3 issues in. I love the line up, love that they’re out being heroes again and they’re out to show that ‘mutant’ isn’t a bad word. Very excited to see this rematch with the Brotherhood and hoping Magma hasn’t switched sides for good.

Jean Grey #1 (Marvel) – I love seeing Jean and the other time displaced X-Men now working with Magneto over in X-Men Blue and I’m more then a little curious to see how a title with only Jean will play out. Of course it’s going to be Phoenix centric, we all knew that. I just hope they explore this Jean Grey a little more deeply and forge something new with her, and not just an eventual host to the Phoenix for things to play out like they have so many times before.

Secret Empire #1 (Marvel) – This is just getting started and I can’t wait for someone to knock Steve Rogers down a peg or two. I have mixed feelings about this event; I absolutely hate what Marvel as let happen to the character and all the back peddling to try and re-imagine Hydra into something we all know it isn’t. But, I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the heroes are going to band together to knock Hydra flat on its ass. Just hoping this doesn’t fall into the ‘ho hum’ category most of Marvel’s recent events have stumbled into.

 

Alex

Top Pick: Batman And Bill (Hulu) – While you’d usually expect to find a (Valiant) comic in this spot, this week one of the very few things I’m genuinely excited for is the Hulu exclusive documentary about Bill Finger. If you’re a Batman fan and you don’t know who Bill finger is, and what Bob Kane did to him, then be prepared for an emotional story that should make you angry. I’ve been waiting for this for months… May 6th can’t get here fast enough.

 

Joe

Top Pick: FCBD Comics – FREE COMIC BOOK DAY COMICS!!!!! What’s not to love about free comics? Remember to go to your local comic book store and get yours!

Batman #22 (DC Comics) – What an ending of The Flash and Batman #21. Especially who Bruce sees at the end. Right in the feels. I am liking The Button so far and want more!

Superman #22 (DC Comics) – One of my favorite books every time it comes out. The Superman Reborn arc looks to be wild, and this along with Action Comics is even better.

Catalyst Prime Noble #1 (Lion Forge) – A new universe with a diverse cast of heroes and creators. I’ve been hyped for this for awhile!

Secret Empire #1 (Marvel) – Maybe I am a sucker, but I am still excited for this event. I want to see where the heck they go with this crazy story. Please don’t be another CWII.

 

Shay

Top Pick: Jean Grey #1 (Marvel) – I read this one before I consigned it and I like it. It has a male writer but, it isn’t utter crap. It’s well written , plausible , fresh & on point.

Top Pick: Harley Quinn #19 (DC Comics) – The “Deadly Sin” arc is ending and Harley’s about to remind these fools why she’s not the woman to mess with! I’ve got popcorn and, I’m ready !

Hawkeye #6 (Marvel) – This arc keeps turning it up to 11 and I’m all the way here for female mentorship, strength and badassery!

 

Brett

Top Pick: Slasher #1 (Alternative Comics/Floating World Comics) – Charles Forsman’s new series about a woman discovering her sexuality and penchant for blood.

Abirato #1 (Lion Forge) – Rebels taking on corporate powers that control a city and vaccine that allows a lifespan of hundreds of years? Sign me up.

Catalyst Prime Noble #1 (Lion Forge) – A whole new world that’s really thought and featuring diverse characters, diverse voices writing them, and diverse individuals on art. In other words, it’s already ahead of so many others.

Eternal Empire #1 (Image Comics) – Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna team up again, this time for a fantasy series. If you missed their Alex + Ada, you missed out on an amazing series and this one I expect to be just as good.

Youngblood #1 (Image Comics) – I’m looking forward to this, I’ll admit it. I’m fully expecting turn my brain off fun or the reading experience of slowing down to look at a car wreck. Either way….

A 5 page Preview of Charles Forsman’s New Psychosexual Thriller Slasher

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Meet Christina, a data-entry specialist in her early twenties. Seemingly timid and plain to her coworkers she harbors dangerous urges. A lion of sexual violence bubbles just below the surface. The only soul she shares these feelings with is a terminal boy named Joshua in a wheelchair that lives several states away. They strike up a love through the internet but have to keep it hidden from Joshua’s strict and over-attentive mother. Will these two broken people get the freedom to love each other or will Christina’s monster escape its cage and scratch that violent itch that taunts her?

A psychosexual thriller in the tradition of the films of Brian de Palma and David Cronenberg. This 5 issue series by Charles Forsman and published by Floating World Comics will leave you breathless and heartbroken.

Slasher #1 is available to order in this month’s Diamond Previews catalog – FEB171109

slasher__1-1

Wuvable Oaf Blood & Metal Art Exhibit and Release Party this Thursday

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Still the same wuvable Bay Area bear searching for love in the big city, Blood & Metal collects a number of Oaf short stories focusing on his involvement in the local metal and wrestling scenes. Luce celebrates his love of all things wrestling/metal/queercore with his love for his cast of characters to create an immersive environment recalling Scott Pilgrim, Love and Rockets, and Archie. Also featuring tales of Oaf ’s formative childhood years, and much more!

WHO: Ed Luce
WHAT: Wuvable Oaf Blood & Metal art exhibit and release party
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 5, 6-9pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Ed Luce will be atht event for an art exhibit and book signing to celebrate the release of this new volume. Guests will also receive a free Goteblüd enamel pin with the purchase of a book!

wuvable-oaf-party

Review: Sun Bakery #1

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Sun Bakery #1You can call me biased, cause I’ve been reading Corey Lewis’ stuff for a few years now and absolutely love it. So of course I follow him on social media so that I can see his works in progress, these glimpses of what he’s working on means knowing about Sun Bakery for a few months and being even more excited to find a copy in the advance reviews available for Graphic Policy! Like I’m not sure I can even pretend to be unbiased here, so I just want to make sure you start reading the Reyyyyy’s comix any chance you get! Seriously, he’s got a G.I. Joe book coming out, and one thing Corey draws better than anyone else around, is ninja stuff, Snake Eyes looks killer. No seriously, go look…. Lolzzz. That’s a grape dude with a sword, for reals here’s Snake Eyes oh what? That’s like post-apocalyptic Snake Eyes? Well, guess what, maybe it is I dunno! This isn’t a G.I. Joe Review, this is all about Sun Bakery fools! It’s 52 pages of three different stories, Dream Skills, Arem and Bat Rider. Previews World calls it a one-man Shonen Jump. But that don’t do it justice, as I will explain!!!

But if you’re like me, well, probably you’re not and maybe you’ll hate me for this, but I have never made it through an entire issue of Shonen Jump! I can’t do it! Sorry Shonen Jump fans, I love Dragon Ball and love Naruto even though I can’t follow it. Death Note has gotta be one of the best manga and anime ever to come out of such an off the wall concept. Still, have you noticed how freakin big Shonen Jump issues are? Each issue is like nine hundred pages of manga, all in grey scale, that’s like fifty pages from twenty different stories every month! I just can’t do it, I sold all my old paper issues cause every time I saw them I felt guilty. Never fear here tho, this is just right and it offers some nice relaxed colors on some of the stories. Don’t get me wrong, I love black and white art, love grey scale, love manga, just, well, I like colors too, and Corey has got a fine eye for color.

Sun Bakery 1That, that’s from Corey’s twitter feed, and look I forgot that there’s also the Seedless comic, that grape dude I tricked you with earlier, there’s like a few pages of that too, see, I’m basically just trying to get you to follow Corey wherever he is on this internetz, go read his books, make you comic shop order them or go to his site reyyy.com he’s got a Patreon thing too, so you can grab stuff that’s unseen or maybe nekkid stuff if you want. Listen, just go get this stuff. Cause it’s filled with ninjas, crazy hi-tech sword, sweet looking anime styled babes & dudes, robots, Metroid inspired comix (yeah, Arem starterd as metroid fan-art and then turned into this sorta modern day social media commentary exploration comic, I wanna see what happens) and grape dudes. Oh, also, Sharknife, lots more better people than me could tell you to read Sharknife, like Warren Ellis or you could see that I wrote my first gushing review on Amazon years ago too, (not an affiliate link, like I’m not trying to run you down for cash here) I’m just happy to see dude keep leveling up! Here, this is more stuff from his twitter feed! GET THIS!

Sun Bakery 2Graphic Policy was provided with a free preview copy of Sun Bakery #1 this is added in just for ethics in comics journalism sake yo!

Story: Corey Lewis Art: Corey Lewis Alternate Cover: Paul Pope & Jim Mahfood

Review: Test Tube

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Test Tube 1At first I was thinking Test Tube is just random kinda words and images thrown together to make it interesting, I think the right word here is juxtaposition? I’m not sure exactly, what i mean is that seeing two different things together, can form a different idea. For example let’s imagine putting an image of a dog and the word traitor together. That makes a connection in our mind, and leads to ideas that the image or word, on their own might not might. Unless your own pet has eaten your favorite comic book or chewed on the controller for your X-Box or something, then sure you imagine traitor already when you see a dog. But anyways….

This book is filled with seemingly random things, on my first read through of the comic i was floored by how everything works and makes up a complete and total story. Often times comics labeled as “art comix” or “avant-garde” or whatever fancy words are out there, can be pretty hard to penetrate. Artists might use images in ways that are meaningful to them, but hard to see the intended idea without actually climbing inside their brain and understanding things exactly how they do. And though I could see little smudges and doodles in the sidelines of Test Tube that I feel could fall into that definition, the main part of this is not so abstract as to render the comic as impenetrable. No this is something to let soak into my brain for a little bit

Test Tube 2The review copy was a digital file and though I really enjoyed it, numerous times laughing or squirming with disgust, I feel that ultimately the best way to appreciate this is in printed form. This is one of the books that I’m going to make my non-comics friends read, even the ones who avoid me because I have tracked them down at odd hours of the night insisting they just have to read Jim Woodring or Meatcake or whatever latest DeForge book I have. This falls in the same category of a comic that is just pure mind bending, when certain themes and characters resurface throughout the story I felt compelled to go back and see if there were clues as to what they were doing, and why. And the clues were there, not just haphazard but serious thinking has gone into creating this

Somehow, I also have to confess that I have not seen Carlos Gonzalaz‘s work before, and so won’t attempt to tell you about him or his story because basically it’d just be me googling him and reading the articles and interviews with him that i could find and regurgitating them for you folks, and really what good is that gonna do? All that I should say is that he used to hang out at Fort Thunder, makes music that I want to listen to and he’s always found inspiration in the work of Jack Kirby. Although it is an entirely different discussion, I am always amazed by how far reaching the King’s influence is. So go check it out at the publisher Floating World Comics

by Carlos Gonzalez

144 pages, 6″ x 9″, B&W, Softcover $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-942801-92-4

Floating World Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Jonny Negron Selected Works 2012-2013

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selected works 1Hey there folks, this is Benjamin Anthony, aka, myfakehead and this is the first review I’m doing for Graphic Policy and it’s about, well it’s sorta not a comic, but also sorta a comic. It’s this new collection of art from Jonny Negron, and there’s no words with any of the images, aside from a few magazines, pop bottles and dvd cases that help flesh out the scenes. Nor is it some sort of artsy wordless comic story like Frank or something. Though just saying that I find myself curious to see a Jonny Negron interpretation of the white gloved terror that is Jim Woodring’s bucktoothed monstrosity, but I’m getting off track. I’ll start again, hold on…

Hey folks, do you like hyper-sexual, curvy pin-up models? What about Street Fighter? Did you play a lot of Street Fighter when you were younger? Do you still play it? Wait, maybe that’s not right either…

Okay, listen, there is no right way to do this. Jonny Negron Selected Works 2012-2013 is an art book, it’s filled with pin-up models drawn by Jonny Negron, but, there is a lot more going on here than just sexy looking ladies and gents piled around on beds and bicycles and jungles. All that stuff is going on of course, but, it feels like we’re voyeurs, like when I bought that high powered telescope and told my parents I was really interested in trying to find the Sea of Tranquility and get a closer look at all those craters and mountains on the moon. When of course actually it was aimed at the street behind ours and the bedroom of that girl from fifth period and her foxy round bottom. But it turns out all she did in her room was look at magazines and eat chocolate bars and sometimes drink cocoa out of a spider-man mug. Except that one time…..

selected works 2Make no mistake folks, there’s for sure a bunch of naked bodies, but if you read pin-up and don’t understand that, well, I’m not gonna be the one to explain all that for you. But at the same time Jonny isn’t just drawing naked ladies, it’s more like he’s letting us look in on private lives and moments of these characters, there’s so much going on in each picture, not lots of movement, more reflection and consideration. One page has a girl sitting, maybe hiding, in a patch of grass or ferns or something in the moonlight and I can’t help wondering what is going on? Why is she there? Why does her face look so pained? Another has a man being smothered by the enormous breasts of the woman draping herself over him.

Jonny doesn’t shy away from sex at all, it seems he’s asking us questions, making us consider something else that is going on right under the surface or behind the walls, and he’s not afraid if sometimes the answers we find to his questions are disturbing, or make us feel guilty for slipping a few more quarters into the Street Fighter 2 cabinet. I guess I keep referencing the classic Capcom game because stylistically it feels so similar to Jonny’s work.

You don’t need me to tell you how much anime and manga have influenced artwork all over the world, but where often times the inherent sexual nature of much anime is toned down or edited out, we see here the full untamed effect. If you love art books and surreal scantily clad beauties you can’t go wrong picking up some work by Jonny Negron and this feels like a great start for new explorers in his world as well as already conscious collectors.

 

Floating World Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

MYFAKEHEAD is the online version of Benjamin Anthony, a former chef, janitor, lunatic, prisoner, cultist, clerk, tow motor operator (smooth) and is currently an artist and writer. He is also morally and legally responsible for Super Awesome Comics. You can find him online at myfakehead.com and all your favorite social media internets.

The Secret History Of D.B. Cooper Release Party with Brian Churilla March 14th at Floating World Comics in Portland OR

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THE SECRET HISTORY OF D.B. COOPER Release Party with Brian Churilla March 14th at Floating World Comics in Portland OR

http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/2012/02/13/mar-14-the-secret-history-of-d-b-cooper-release-party-with-brian-churilla/

Join Brian Churilla Wednesday, March 14th to celebrate the release of THE SECRET HISTORY OF D.B. COOPER #1. We’ll have the extra special variant cover by J.H. Williams III available for cover price as well as free promo posters signed by Brian Churilla.

The Secret History of D.B. Cooper is a full-color series written and drawn by Brian Churilla (The Anchor, The Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet) detailing the previously untold story of what really happened forty years ago when a man calling himself D.B. Cooper skyjacked an airplane, collected a ransom, and parachuted into oblivion taking the loot with him. Churilla’s comic book retelling uncovers a vast conspiracy lurking behind the legend of D.B. Cooper. The actual tale is almost too strange to be believed, and yet too important to ignore.

WHO: Brian Churilla
WHAT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF D.B. COOPER book release party
WHEN: Wednesday Mar. 14th, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.

Brian Churilla is a Portlander, born and raised. His work includes The Engineer: Konstrukt for Archaia, The Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet for Marvel Comics, The Anchor for Boom and numerous other works for Oni Press, Dark Horse Comics, and Image Comics. His heavily anticipated series, The Secret History of D.B. Cooper, debuts this March from Oni Press and has already garnered much acclaim from fellow creators.

“This story has intrigued me even since I was a little kid,” Churilla said. “To get to play around with the mythos in comic book form is a dream come true.”

“This is the book Brian Churilla was born to create. Eerie, compelling, energetic, fun … packed with monsters, mystery, mind-tripping and mayhem. I can’t wait to delve deeper into the secrets…”

-Kurt Busiek (Astro City)

“Wow. I love this book.”
-Mike Mignola (Hellboy)

“I love what [Brian] does, it has so much punch, vitality, and fun in it… The book is loaded with fun stuff: inter-dimensional travel, intrigue, otherworldly monsters, a wicked little teddy bear… you won’t be disappointed!”
-J.H. Willaims III (Batwoman)

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