EARTH PRIME TIME: LIZ PRINCE ‘ALONE FOREVER’ SIGNING AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH

Somerville comic artist Liz Prince celebrates the release of her first feature length graphic novel Alone Forever (Top Shelf Productions) at Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday, February 11. She tells us about the book, OkCupid dates, Valentine heart captions, and fleeting and awkward MBTA romances.

DIGBOSTON: Hey Liz! Thanks for joining us today. Wow, Alone Forever is actually a thing now. Congrats! How excited were to to open your advance copies?
Liz Prince: It was really exciting. The books came while I was visiting my mom in New Mexico, but my boyfriend sent me a photo of a pile of boxes that arrived, so I made him open it and send me photos of the book. Kind of funny that I saw my book for the first time over the phone, but it was awesome to get off the plane and come home and have 3 boxes full of Alone Forever: The Singles Collection waiting for me.

Now I can’t wait to show the world my comics about sadness and cats.

DIGBOSTON: I love the idea of a Singles Collection for your webcomic. Is there any new heartbreak in the book or are these all on your site?
There are about 20 pages of new material, including a comic essay on all of the OkCupid dates I’d been on, that’s embarrassing enough to make you want to get pick up the book for sure.
There are also some comics from other anthologies and zines in the book that never made it online, but definitely fit into the Alone Forever oeuvre. Plus, it’s way easier to read my books on the toilet in paper form. If that isn’t the ultimate endorsement, I don’t know what is.

DIGBOSTON: From Boom to Top Shelf, to making art for one of the most popular break-in related pop punk bands, Masked Intruder, you’ve gotten some great attention lately! How are you coping with the fame?
Easy: I agreed to write and draw a 250+ page graphic novel in under a year, so I really don’t leave the house much. I’m almost done with that project, which is a graphic memoir (buzzword alert) about my childhood called Tomboy; it will be out in the fall (like how I slipped that in there?). There is also more Masked Intruder stuff going on, that band got huge and I couldn’t be happier for them. I’ve always wanted to be a band’s Chris Shary, so I’m trying to take the Masked Intruder thing in that direction.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART TWO)

We continue our talk with underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) at Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest: Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story fromDrawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21.
Interview part 1 HERE.

DIGBOSTON: You could say she was a loudmouth. She wrote columns in newspapers, she was a socialist. There’s so much to her.
Peter Bagge: She lived a long life, she was in her 30′s when she became very active in politics in general and more specifically in birth control.

Her politics, as is the case with most people, evolved over time.

You know that adage, if you are young and not a liberal, you don’t have a heart, if you are old and you aren’t conservative, you don’t have a brain. That would describe her. It’s not like she did some 180.

Some people would say to me, did you know she voted Republican? Technically yes, that was true, she was more supportive by the 1950s of Republicans, but that was only because the only people that would support birth control were the Republicans. By then, the Democrats, a huge part of their constituency were blue-collar Catholics.

Yet one more irony, the one person in Washington who was the most upfront about legal access to birth control was a senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather—who lost re-election for sticking his neck out for birth control.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

Costumes

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH PETER BAGGE (PART ONE)

Underground comics legend Peter Bagge (Hate) joins Earth Prime Time to talk about his latest work, including Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story from Drawn and Quarterly. Peter’s biographical hardcover graphic novel takes a look at one of feminism’s most controversial and important icons. Sanger’s (September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966) life’s work was devoted to legalizing birth control and played a part in forming what is known today as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Peter’s book tour stops at Brookline Booksmith on Monday, October 21 at 7pm.

DigBoston: The most obvious question, and the one you are probably getting a lot, is why Margaret Sanger?
Peter Bagge: I wish I had a short snappy answer to that question! For a while now I’ve been doing nonfiction pieces, mainly for a publication called Reason magazine.

Short journalistic comic strips, most recently I’ve been doing short biographical strips. It felt like it was starting to build up to the possibility of doing a book-length one. I ran a bunch of names by this one particular publisher who I thought would be interested, and they were the ones who published it, Drawn and Quarterly.

One of the names I ran past was Margaret Sanger. What was interesting was the other subjects I had in mind were all literary figures for the most part. I was very interested in women writers from the mid 20th century, from between the two wars. The reason I was interested in them, besides liking their work, was that they lived very autonomous, independent lives. Though these women weren’t the least bit masculine, they lived their lives as if they were men.

They didn’t let their gender hinder them from doing anything. And that made me wonder about birth control. I also couldn’t help but notice these women didn’t get pregnant, they weren’t saddled with a bunch of kids.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of birth control did they use, what was available if they were using anything.

Peter Bagge - Self-Portrait / Author Photo (Drawn and Quarterly)

While researching that, I kept getting taken to Margaret Sanger. I kept running across incredible contradictory things that people would say about Sanger.

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

Costumes

80sTees.com, Inc.

11/7 MIDDLE EAST - Rob Delaney Book Tour - Early Evening Show - [Brookline Booksmith & LeaguePodcast Present]

Thu 11/7/13 - Early Evening Show - Brookline Booksmith & League of Ordinary Gentlemen Comic Book Podcast - leaguepodcast Present: Rob Delaney 18+ $30 1 ticket 1 book / $50 2 tickets 1 book *NOTE: 6:00pm doors (event ends at 9:30pm) http://tktwb.tw/13vkC2B Rob Delaney’s career received attention via his Twitter account. As of June 2013, Delaney has 875,300 followers. In 2010, Paste magazine named him one of the ten funniest people on Twitter. In May 2012, he became the first comedian to win the ‘Funniest person on Twitter award’ at the Comedy Central awards. Delaney has written several articles for Vice magazine. In December 2011, Comedy Central announced Delaney would shoot a pilot for a variety show, called “@RobDelaney”. In 2013, Rob was hired to star in the new television show called Big Rob produced by Judd Apatow. This is said to start filming in the Fall. After Kim Kardashian’s divorce from Kris Humphries, Delaney announced on Twitter that he planned on suing Kim Kardashian to prevent the divorce. No lawsuit was ever filed. ******************** Comedian, Writer, 6’3 217 lbs. Preorder my book, ROB DELANEY: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. http://goo.gl/bPHf0c http://www.randomhouse.com/book/216862/rob-delaney-by-rob-delaney/9780812993080 ******************** NO PASSES OR GIVEAWAYS because of the book thing…. [email protected] for press inquiries. http://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/ http://leaguepodcast.com/

EARTH PRIME TIME: LUCY KNISLEY SIGNING AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH

Comfort, home, cooking, and family are all things at the front of our minds and close to our hearts, especially in times like these. Where would we be without the support of our loved ones, or even without having our Mom teach us how to use the toaster for the first time. Our earliest memories are tied into the smells and tastes of cookies baking in the kitchen or in front of the television with marshmallow cereal. Comic book artist and illustrator Lucy Knisley explores her relationship with food, family and cooking in her new book Relish: My Life in the Kitchen from First Second Books. The multi-talented Lucy signs at Brookline Booksmith on Sunday.

DIGBOSTON: Hi Lucy, thanks so much for taking the time today! How has your book tour been so far?
LUCY KNISLEY: Great!  I get to travel all over and talk about food with my readers, so I’m in heaven.

Was this your first MoCCA (The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Arts Fest?
This was my ninth, I believe.

I’ve been doing MoCCA since I was about 18 or 19. It’s my hometown show, and was one of the first conventions I ever attended, so I never miss it.

Relish is really such a wonderful book, have you always wanted to write an autobiography?
It’s something that’s always appealed to me. It comes very naturally for me to write autobiographically, and I enjoy the act of sharing my inner world with readers; creating an empathetic connection.

Relish illustrates your family’s relationship with food but also your relationships in your life. Was it hard for you to expose such personal details for the reader?
Most of the content of Relish is about food and family—both topics that I like sharing—funny stories and tales of epic meals.

I enjoy being honest in my work, as I find that it creates a stronger connection to the reader, and I’m lucky that I have good stories to share.

Even uncomfortable moments in our lives are made better by a great meal or memorable snack. As you say, “…you remember a time you tasted something that would shape you for years to come.” Who or what excites you about food in pop culture? A favorite chef, Top Chef, Emeril?
The shifting foodscape in America is absolutely fascinating to me! I don’t watch much food TV, but I have noticed how the prevalence of food entertainment has changed our culture’s relationship to food. I am a sucker for new technologies in food, molecular gastronomy and cool new restaurants or food fusions, but what I love most about food is that it connects us to ourselves and our surroundings, which is easiest to notice when you have a great meal, grown locally and prepared at home or by a friend.

The Mystery, of the Spice Rack! - Relish, Page 9 - Lucy Knisley

The book is accented by wonderfully illustrated recipes. How did you pick each recipe and did you have to leave some out of the book?
I picked recipes that were relevant to the stories I wanted to tell. They’re all fairly simple, familiar family recipes that I felt comfortable with and have experimented with to get them just right.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]