The great Gilbert Shelton signing a stack of the newly released Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus from Knockabout at our Nostalgia & Comics store in Birmingham at the weekend. I can’t help but notice Gilbert has a wee pile of recent Blank Slate releases (Sparky O’Hare, Spleenal and Proper Go Well High) by his side.

Brit comics legend Hunt Emerson came along specially to lend some support. I’m quite jealous of the folks who could be there! (more pics on the FPI Flickr, click the pics for the larger versions, thanks to Dave and the crew at N&C for the pics)

Its a great weekend of comics events coming up at FPI – kicking off on Friday 13th we’ve got the comics legend Gilbert Shelton at our Nostalgia & Comics store in sunny Birmingham from 4 to 5.30pm to celebrate the publication of the Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus; a rare chance to meet a serious comics icon. Let your Freak (brother) Flag fly!

On Saturday 14th its the turn of FP Dublin to put on the comics ritz with two gigs, starting with the Irish comics collective the Eclectic Micks – Stephen Mooney (Angel; After The Fall), Will Sliney (Farscape), Stephen Thompson (Die Hard; Year One) Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke),  Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later) and Nick Roche (Transformers) should all be present from 3 to 5pm to talk to fans and sign copies as they enjoy the Irish launch of their new Sketchbook.

Then on Sunday 15th Dublin FP plays host to Karl Kerschl (Superman, Teen Titans), Cameron Stewart (Seaguy, Catwoman, Batman & Robin) and Ramón Pérez (Star Wars: the Clone Wars, Butternut Squash, JSA), who will be in the store from 3 to 5pm as part of their TX Euro-tour (which also sees them go on afterwards to Comica, Orbital and Thought Bubble; see Karl’s blog for full details here).

It is a real pleasure to tell you that our colleagues in the much-loved Nostalgia & Comics store in Birmingham will be hosting a real legend of the comics scene, Gilbert Shelton, on Friday the 13th of November from 4 to 5.30pm to celebrate the publication of the Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus from the good folks at Knockabout. N&C is located at 14-16 Smallbrook, Queensway, phone 0121 643 0143. I’m seriously jealous – if you’re in the Brum area you really should take this opportunity to meet one of the great comics creators; come along and feed your head. For more fun check out the Freaknet fan site of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

The great Gilbert Shelton will be at Gosh! Comics on Saturday 14th of November from 3 to 5pm (check the blog for details) to sign copies of the recently published Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus from Knockabout; and stay tuned, hopefully have some more Gilbert related news for you in the near future.

by James Danky and Denis Kitchen

Abrams ComicArts

After reading a few of these comic related reference books recently I’m beginning to think they’re doing it wrong. After all, you don’t walk into an art gallery and sit down for an hour to read the brochure before looking at the artwork. But all too often, the artistic content of these books is preceded by essays, introductions, context setting pieces and more. But the art in every case, whether it’s Joe Shuster’s fetish art, Kamishibai Manga or nearly 100 pages of classic Underground Comix, that’s the thing we’re really here for.

(Two classic covers to Dope Comix; #1 by Leslie Cabarga, 1978, #5 by Charles Burns, 1982. With art this good why waste precious pages on text – just one of the ways Underground Classics gets it right.)

Underground Classics is almost the perfect way to do this kind of book. It has a few text pieces at the front, all very good at setting the historical and social importance of the Underground Comix movement into context complete with photos from the time. But after that it’s straight into nearly 100 full page reproductions of the artwork of the movement; covers, interiors and promotional work. And it’s not all  finished art either – much of it is original art, complete with all of the blue lines, corrections, white-out and errors that just add to the magic of the work.

So if you really want to get the most out of Underground Comics, either skip the text pieces completely and go straight to the artwork or just read Jay Lynch’s introduction and then hit the artwork. The other text pieces are worth reading, just not before the artwork. I’d much rather see these books presented with a brief introduction and longer, background filling and context setting pieces after the main draw of the books.

(Three of the most famous faces of the Underground Comix scene – Gilbert Shelton’s Freak Brothers. Page detail from The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers issue 1, 1970. Still a bestseller nearly 40 years on. How’s that for a lasting legacy?)

And the artwork is, as you might expect, pretty damn good. All the artists you’d expect are here, presented in a simple alphabetical order with extensive footnotes on every page, including famous names like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and Art Spiegelman, early pioneers such as Frank Stack, Jack Jackson and many lesser known artists feature in a series of plates taken from the exhibition of underground comics at the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisonsin-Madison that forms the basis for the publication of this book. And it’s that that has really shaped the form of the book – looking through it you really get the sense that this is a really classy exhibition brochure more than some dry historical text – and it’s all the better for it.

(Did you know that Denis Kitchen created a series for Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in 1973? Did you know it was the first to give creators copyright ownership and return original art at Marvel? Me neither. All part of the fascinating world of Underground Comix. Above; cover layout by Peter Poplaski from issue 1. 1973.)

The book is presented as an introduction to Underground Comix and assumes only minimal knowledge. The sad fact is that so many of the important artists of the era covered are relatively unknown today, even sadder that most of them are actually relatively obscure even in comic circles, nevermind the outside world. Yet the works they produced are vitally important in the history of modern comics. The Undergrounds paved the way for creative freedom, the rights of the artist to own their work, the establishment of the direct sales system that freed comic books from restrictive newstand practices and so much more – including influencing many of the greatest comic artists of the modern age.

(Underground Classics also finds room to showcase some of the older, more established artists who not only influenced the cartoonists of the Underground movement but were also influenced by the movement. Detail from Will Eisners tongue firmly in cheek cover to Snarf #3 1972.)

It’s an impressive book, full of informative asides and background on the plates, with a good strong design sense. The plates are presented simply, as they should be so the actual art comes through good and strong. There are quite a few of these Underground Comix reference books out, but this one really does get it right – it is, after all, all about the art. And that makes Underground Classics the best of it’s kind and an essential resource for anyone with even a passing interest in this wonderful medium of comics.

Richard Bruton.

Two bits of news in one here;

British publisher Knockabout have set up a website (finally!). Knockabout have been stalwarts of the UK publishing scene for the longest time, formed in the 80s, publishing some brilliant works from the likes of Alan Moore, Hunt Emerson and Gilbert Shelton and always, always remaining strong when customs and the police came calling. It’s a pleasure to be able to say add this to your bookmarks.

And there’s a new edition of Gilbert Shelton’s Fat Freddy’s Cat coming out – a huge 300+ page omnibus. Definitely one for your bookshelf. Out in September hopefully. Get it here from the FPI webstore at a great price.

The Knockabout website. Tony’s blog (come on Tony, more updates please)

Rejoice, for Knockabout have a huge omnibus collection of the great Gilbert Shelton’s Fat Freddy’s Cat coming out this August. Spliff papers for a roll-up not included.