Northwest Press

Lit Crawl: Phase 2 @ Mission: Comics and Art

// October 10th, 2011 // // A Waste of Time, Events, Glamazonia

Two Northwest Press authors will be appearing Saturday, October 15th at Mission: Comics & Art, as part of Lit Crawl San Francisco, to read from their recent graphic novels. Mission has created a Facebook event for the evening.

Justin Hall is an award-winning cartoonist known for Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, True Travel Tales, and Hard to Swallow, plus contributions to Best American Comics.

Rick Worley is the creator of A Waste of Time, autobiographical comics in which, for obtuse reasons, he draws himself as a rabbit.

There will also be readings by Kane Lynch, an East Bay cartoonist and filmmaker and author of the graphic novels The Relics and Aerial Structures, and MariNaomi, the author/illustrator of Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial) and Estrus Comics (self-published).

The San Francisco Lit Crawl takes place as part of Litquake, San Francisco’s Literary Festival, which has been taking place since 2002. You can check out the full schedule for the Lit Crawl at the Litquake website.

APE was a Glorious “Waste of Time”

// October 5th, 2011 // // A Waste of Time, Glamazonia, Teleny and Camille

Northwest Press made its first solo appearance at San Francisco’s Alternative Press Expo over this past weekend, and introduced con-goers to the latest addition to the NWP lineup: Rick Worley’s delightfully inappropriate A Waste of Time.

Rick was on hand to sign copies of the book, do sketches and chat with fans. The response to the book was overwhelmingly positive, and I think it’s bound to get gift-wrapped and put under a lot of Christmas trees later this year.

The Waste of Time release party at Mission: Comics and Art on Saturday night was a lot of fun, too with beer and wine and comic books galore.

In addition, Northwest’s APE table hosted Lambda-Award-winning artist Jon Macy—who signed copies of Teleny and Camille and his new fantasy series Fearful Hunter. We occasionally got visits from neighboring Justin Hall, author of Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny, who was tabling across the aisle from us.

Northwest Press publisher Charles “Zan” Christensen was featured on Justin’s Queer Cartoonists panel on Saturday, and engaged in a lively discussion about sex, reaching the right audience, and how to make it all work on a shoestring budget.

Next up, Northwest Press will be making appearances at this weekend’s Geek Girl Con in Seattle—including a panel discussion about how our sexual, gender and race identity influence our comics reading and creation—and the next weekend we will be joining Prism Comics for New York Comic Con!

“A Waste of Time” Debut at Mission: Comics and Art

// September 8th, 2011 // // A Waste of Time, Events

We are delighted that Mission: Comics and Art will be hosting the debut party for Rick Worley’s new book A Waste of Time. Come and join us on APE weekend and mix and mingle with Rick and other Northwest Press artists, and be one of the first to take home a copy of Rick’s sweet and salty new book.

Retail Spotlight: “Mission: Comics and Art” in San Francisco

// September 8th, 2011 // // Misc

Here’s the second of my ongoing “Retail Spotlights”, to highlight those comics shops that want to reach out to LGBT customers. The goal is to connect queer folks who are already comics readers to shops they can go and find the stuff they want to read, as well as invite LGBT communities around the country to explore what today’s comics shops have to offer by visiting one near them with a great selection and welcoming staff. If you’re looking for a fun place to shop where you can “come as you are”, then look no further!

This time around, we’re going to shine a spotlight on Mission: Comics and Art in San Francisco, California, courtesy of proprietor Leef Smith. This shop is a “junction point for the worlds of fine art, comic books, and popular culture”, and has a great selection of indie and local graphic novels, as well as all your must-have superhero books. In the back of the store, you’ll find something you don’t usually find at a comics shop: a full gallery space dedicated to showing original comics as well as artwork inspired by comics. Cool!

Mission offers a lot of other stuff you might not expect from a comics shop: they offer a Graphic Novel Rental Library, so you can read more for less money; they host a “monthly Comic Creators Meetup encouraging the creation promotion and distribution of independently produced comics”; and they also have a monthly graphic novel book club where you can enjoy a new work and share a lively discussion about it with other comics lovers. No stereotypical basement-dwelling hermits here!

According to Leef, this is a great time to come explore what comics have to offer, with the new relaunched—and more diverse!—DC Comics. Mission is even playing a part in DC’s big push to embrace digital comics, with digital subscriptions and online management via Comixology.

LGBT customers can rest assured that Mission: Comics and Art will help connect them to fantastic comics and graphic novels. Says Leef:

We’ve got a dedicated LGBT section that includes award winners like Teleny & Camille and Fun Home, and new releases like Gingerbread Girl and Wandering Son. Our local shelves also include Waste of Time and fan-fave Wuvable Oaf. We’re also happy to point out the mainstream superhero comics that do a good job depicting LGBT characters, such as Batwoman, Young Avengers & X-Factor among others.

Mission: Comics & Art has a special focus on comic books as an art form, with our gallery, artist receptions, and strong selection of self-published and Indy books. We offer a Graphic Novel Rental Library, and “buy” back graphic novels to add to the library. We’ve got an excellent coffee shop right next door, Rodgers Coffee & Tea, with fabulous “brew by the cup” coffee.

Mission: Comics and Art is located in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, at 3520 20th Street, Suite B (between Mission and Valencia). They are open Tuesday through Sunday, Noon to 8pm. You can find them on Facebook and check them out on Twitter at @missioncomics. Being true San Francisco tech-heads, they’re also on Flickr, YouTube, Yelp, and Foursquare! (And, as I mentioned earlier, ComiXology…)

Mission will be hosting the big debut party for Rick Worley’s A Waste of Time at the beginning of October, during APE. Don’t miss it!

Glamazonia is on Her Way!

// December 9th, 2010 // // Glamazonia, Teleny and Camille

After making her big debut at the first annual Bent-Con in Los Angeles (and nearly selling out all the copies I brought) Glamazonia: The Uncanny Super-Tranny is about to hit a comics store near you! East coast customers could see her on comic shop shelves as early as this Wednesday the 15th, while us west coasters will have to wait until the 22nd. I’ve also added links so that you can order the book directly from Northwest starting today.

The lucky folks in the San Francisco Bay area will be able to grab a copy before everyone else! This weekend the book will hit select comic shops in S.F.—including Mission Comics and Art!, Whatever… and Isotope—and there will also be some excellent signings and launch events that we’re having to celebrate the arrival of the book.

There will be a reading and signing on December 11th at Mission Comics and Art! Creator Justin Hall will be there, along with Diego Gómez, Jon Macy, Fred Noland, Ed Luce and Christine Smith. Check out the Facebook event and RSVP!

Justin and Diego will also appear at the fabulous Castro comics shop Whatever… on December 15th to sign copies of the book from 7-9pm. Check out the Facebook event and RSVP!

On December 18th, there will be an “Uncanny Holiday Celebration” at Whatever… from 8-10pm. The event will feature Justin, Fred, Diego and Jon and will celebrate the season as well as the first two books from Northwest Press: Glamazonia and Jon Macy’s Teleny and Camille. The party will also be a toy drive; attendees can bring an unwrapped toy and receive a free comic book. Check out the Facebook event and RSVP!

To top it off, there will be limited edition signed and numbered book plates available at all of these events!

If you’re not able to make these fabulous events, there should still be plenty of time to order it direct from Northwest, or head to your local comics shop and get a copy of the book to give as a Christmas present. What could be more in keeping with the spirit of the season than a hard-drinking party girl superheroine? (Well, that’s my Christmas, anyway.)

Happy holidays, everyone, and here’s to a queer New Year!