The Allreds (yep, Mike, Lee, and Laura) will visit Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero Street in San Francisco, on May 23 for a very special signing.
Tag Archives | Comix Experience
Signing: Marjorie Liu with Sana Takeda at Comix Experience (July 27)
One of the most anticipated announcements to come out of Image Expo 2015 was Marjorie Liu teaming up with Sana Takeda on a new creator-owned series called Monstress. 
When Monstress hit shelves later that year the comic more than met expectations. It received high praise and sold out going straight to a second printing (and quickly to a third). The extensive world-building and breath-taking illustrations establish Monstress as a rare beast in modern comics. Not only is it well-written and visually-striking but it deftly tackles complex issues like struggles with inner demons, social stratification, and gender inequality, and racial discrimination. At first glance, it might look like a pretty fairytale but the story is dark and brutal at the core.
It should win all of the awards.
Bay Area fans of Liu and Takeda are in for a rare treat thanks to Comix Experience at 305 Divisadero in San Francisco. The comic book store is hosting a joint signing with the Monstress team on July 27 starting at 5 p.m. The signing will run until 7:30 p.m. when it will become an exclusive meet-and-greet with members of the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club. Members of the club will additionally receive a signed bookplate (see below). If you’re not familiar with the club you can read about it and the numerous benefits here.
Special Event: Paul Dini at Comix Experience (July 6)
One night in 1993, Paul Dini was walking along La Peer Drive in Los Angeles. The writer and producer of Batman: The Animated Series was jumped and assaulted by two men. They left Dini close to death with a shattered skull and other significant injuries. Much like the comic book history of the Caped Crusader this act of violence left Dini a changed man. He told The Hollywood Reporter “Here I am writing these stories for an audience that loves this form, in comics, in animation, but now I was saying to myself, ‘I can’t go on with this. I don’t believe in it anymore. There is no hero for me. Where is my hero?’ The answer is: You have to be your own hero.”
In June, Vertigo published Dini’s autobiography Dark Knight: A True Batman Story. The graphic novel, drawn by 100 Bullets illustrator Eduardo Risso, tells the story of Dini’s journey back to health with the Dark Knight’s cast of characters offering “criticism and advice as if angels and devils on his shoulders.”
Dini visits Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero in San Francisco, on July 6 for a public event. The event starts at 6 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m. After the event, Comix Experience will host an exclusive Q&A with Dini for members of the shop’s graphic novel club.
The Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club was started as a unique method of offsetting rising costs associated with San Francisco’s steadily increasing minimum wage. The Dini event is just one of a number of exclusive events the club provides members. According to the website members receive the following:
- A curated selection of the best new graphic novel each month.
- Monthly live book club meeting and social event to discuss that book. We record and stream the in-store meeting so club members all over the world can also participate.
- Writers and artists of each of our picks participate in our monthly club meetings, (e.g. in person, speaking and doing a live event, or a video chat to answer questions). Click here to see videos of past meetings archived on the bottom of our Events page.
- Exclusive club-only invitations to attend a private after-hours in-person, in-store appearances by authors and artists
- Social media group for members to discuss the book internationally.
- Nice swag (like posters or these awesome bookplates) for the selected book wherever possible
Signing: Chuck Palahniuk at Comix Experience
Begin Disclosure: This disclosure is important, because I’m about to start this blurb about a signing at Comix Experience with the hyperbolic statement “Fight Club 2 is one of the top ten titles of 2015.” I respect Chuck Palahniuk greatly as an author, I believe Cameron Stewart is one of the most important comic artists working, and I consider Fight Club to be a rare perfect film. This disclosure is important, because I want you to be aware of my bias. This disclosure is important, because I want you to consider that while Palahniuk has long been one of my favorite authors I haven’t been enamored by every word, sentence, and paragraph he’s written. He’s even penned entire books where I reach the final period, close the book, and say “meh.” Even so, he remains an author I read in hardcover because of his approach to the narrative craft. By “approach,” I mean the way he’ll use a long-bearded ax to tear away the traditional narrative shield, hack the status quo into little pieces, and reassemble it with the rhythm of war drums as his guide.
This disclosure is important, because I believe my hyperbolic statement “Fight Club 2 is one of the top ten titles of 2015″ should carry extra weight. My first thought when reading the solicits was that a sequel was unnecessary. A sequel in any format would take away from the original novel and film. My childhood would be ruined. Human beings only have a tentative hold on nostalgia and the smallest affront to that nostalgia, like making Ghostbusters all women, would destroy one of the building blocks that made me. If it happens too often the Universe would likely collapse. The previous four statements are all lies (especially the bit about Ghostbusters). On February 24, I shared a link to the solicit on Facebook and wrote “this is interesting.” This disclosure is important, because this disclosure is unreliable. End disclosure.
Fight Club 2 is one of the top ten titles of 2015. If you’re already aware of this indisputable fact Comix Experience wants to reward you. If you weren’t aware, but wish to become aware, Comix Experience wishes to reward you.
On August 29, Chuck Palahniuk will be signing copies of his Dark Horse Comics series at Comix Experience’s 350 Divisadero Street location. There will be lines and there will be rules.
- If you’re a Comix Experience patron with Fight Club 2 on your subscription list you’ll receive a number for the priority line.
- If you’ve never purchased a copy of Fight Club 2, but go to Comix Experience on the day of the event and purchase all four issues you’ll receive a number for the priority line.
- If you’ve purchased issue one through three at a different location, but subscribe to issue four at Comix Experience (this is so very clever) you’ll receive a number for the priority line.
- There is a secondary line if you have a general disdain for comics as an art form, would prefer to not spend your hard earned dollars on funny books and supporting a local business, and would like for Palahniuk to sign your first edition of the only true Fight Club while asking “oh my god, how could you create this bastardization of such an important book?”
- There will be an exclusive line for speculators and flippers forming at the end of Pier 39. Palahniuk will meet with you, tell you you’re special, and sign every single item in your box. Please be at Pier 39 promptly at 11 a.m. and do not go to Comix Experience.
For an accurate and clear breakdown of the rules of the lines please visit the Comix Experience website.
The signing will begin at 11 a.m., but your numbered place in line will better determine when you should show up. Again, visit the Comix Experience website to better understand your place in line.
Be prepared for the unexpected at this signing. Palahniuk events are known for mayhem.
Signing: Charles Soule at Comix Experience on October 1
When I read that Charles Soule would be hosted for a signing at Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero Street in San Francisco, it was difficult to believe. Soule is, as the Comix Experience flyer touts, on of the hardest working writers in the comic book industry. At times he’s carried eight books a month, so it’s hard to imagine he’d find time to untether from the his writing implement of choice for a signing tour. Perusing the shelves at your local comic book store you’ll find Soule’s name on Red Lanterns, Swamp Thing, She-Hulk, Inhuman, Superman/Wonder Woman, Letter 44, and The Death of Wolverine. Is Comix Experience planning to fool us with a clone?
Doing some intense investigative digging (going to Soule’s website and reading his blog) I learned that Soule is currently embarking on a new journey and starting to wind down his DC work. Soule writes “Writing eight titles a month (which I’ve been doing for quite a while now) is no joke. It’s a constant tightrope walk, requiring serious focus and discipline. I’ve proven to myself that I can do it, but now that I have, it’s time for a different challenge – I want to know what I can accomplish with a smaller slate, where I can really dive in. I’ve accomplished breadth, now I want to see about depth.”
While he’ll be wrapping up his DC work over the next few months Soule assures readers that the fantastic Letter 44 (Oni Press) will continue. “I’m on that one until it’s done, which won’t be for a while yet,” Soule wrote.
So there you have it, no clones.
The October 1 visit to Comix Experience will take place from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.
If you haven’t read Soule’s Letter 44 the entire first issue is available for free on i09.