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Thursday, August 15, 2013
Announcing SPX 2013 Ignatz Award Nominees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2013
Contact:
Joe Procopio, joseph.procopio@lostartbooks.com, (240) 643‐8714
Matt Baker’s
Canteen Kate collected for first time
in volume one of new series debuting at Small Press Expo 2013
Lost Art Books revives important African American artist’s seminal 1950s work
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND—Picture This Press, a publishing house devoted to the graphic arts, will release the first volume in a planned three book set devoted to golden age “good girl” artist
Matt Baker. As part of the ongoing Lost Art Books imprint, The Lost
Art of Matt Baker: The Complete Canteen Kate
will debut in paperback and hardcover formats at this year’s Small Press Expo on September 14-15 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Every Canteen Kate story ever published—22 in all—is collected for the first time in
The Lost Art of Matt Baker, Volume 1,
judiciously restored
and enlarged 20 percent over their original published size. A rich introduction by veteran comics writer Steven
Ringgenberg
provides insightful historical and biographical context, and a bonus gallery spotlights Baker’s skills as a cover artist.
Best of all, Baker and his good
-time gal bring you weapons‐grade guffaws as well as art that will leave you eager to see more from
this master draftsman.
Matt Baker is considered by comics historians and aficionados to be the preeminent “good girl” artist working in the medium during the 1940s and 1950s. But beyond his gift for drawing some of the most beautiful women in comics, Baker’s accomplishments include
two firsts: (1) he is the medium’s
first important African American comics artist, and (2) he drew in 1950 what has been argued was
the
first graphic novel, It Rhymes with Lust.
Baker honed his skills through the 1940s for several comics publishers, but his tremendous talents came to fruition at St. John Publications, where his realistic style was showcased in western, mystery, and especially romance comics. But regardless of the comics’ genre, one quality emerged in whatever Baker drew: his naturalistically gorgeous women. During this prolific period in his career, this master of "good girl" art latched onto one of St. John’s only recurring characters, Kate of
Canteen Kate. Baker drew every installment of the candid wartime cutie, from her premiere in
Fightin’ Marines (1951) to her final bow in Anchors Andrews (1953).
Unlike the jingoistic comics typically published during the Korean War,
Canteen Kate tales were designed to be morale‐boosting screwball fun. Without radically changing his style, Baker managed to make Kate equal parts comely and kooky in a series of stories that leaned heavily on silly hijinks in a military mess hall. Volume 2 in
The Lost Art of Matt Baker series will collect his entire output for the Wartime Romances comic, and Volume 3 will
provide a sampling of his best war, western, and suspense stories. Both of those volumes are slated for a 2014 release. Volume 1 of the series is available now for pre
‐order directly from the publisher (www.LostArtBooks.com) and from Amazon.com, and will ship
in mid
‐September immediately after the Small Press Expo.
Details
The Lost Art of Matt Baker, Vol. 1: The Complete Canteen Kate
160 pages • 8 ½ x 11” • full color • paperback and hardcover editions
ISBNs:
978‐0‐9829276‐6‐3 (hardcover), 978‐0‐9829276‐8‐7 (paperback)
About
Picture This Press
is dedicated to broadening the appreciation and awareness of artists who work in the fields of illustration,
cartooning, graphic arts, photography, and poster design. Picture This Press founder Joseph Procopio and co
‐publisher Ellen Levy
have a combined 35 years of publishing experience as writers, managing editors, and publications directors for a variety of
organizations.
Lost Art Books
the flagship series from Picture This Press, collects and preserves the works of illustrators and cartoonists from the
first half of the 20th century. Too many of these artists have gone underappreciated for too long, with much of their work uncollected or unexamined for decades, if at all. The Lost Art Books series aims to preserve this cultural heritage by re
‐introducing these artists to new generations of working artists, historians, and admirers of things beautiful.
Links
Pre-order and sample art page:
http://tinyurl.com/pegt8qz
Lost Art of Matt Baker
book trailer on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/lostartbooks/mattbaker
Home page:
www.LostArtBooks.com
Interview with the publisher in the
Washington City Paper: http://tiny.cc/47nl4
Facebook group:
http://tiny.cc/2uw2i
Interview with the publisher in the
Washington City Paper: http://tiny.cc/47nl4
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Chicago Reader on Rep. Lewis's March
John Lewis's long march
With the help of illustrator Nate Powell, a civil rights legend's memoirs become a striking graphic novel.
By Dominic Umile
Chicago Reader August 4 2013
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/congressman-john-lewis-nate-powell-march-memoir/Content?oid=10515381
Game On! Comics Summer's Deal
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Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Neal Adams at Beyond Comics on Sept. 5
Comics legend Neal Adams will appear at Beyond Comics in
Frederick, Md., on Sept. 5 from 4-7 p.m. (Adams will also be at Baltimore ComicCon that weekend, but apparently you can get his signature at the Beyond Comics
event for half the convention price.) The store will have “prints,
books, sketches and all kinds of awesome Adams merchandise. First signature is
free.”
Peter Beagle's appearance at AFI
From guest blogger Bruce Guthrie
Unusual for a film screening, almost everyone at the sold-out 7:15 screening stuck around for the Q&A. (This was in Theatre II which holds about 250 people.) The audience was mostly adult although an earlier 4 pm screening had been added and that was apparently more kid-centric. A lot of questions were about the story or the subsequent pieces in the same universe, but there were also a large number dealing with the other things he had written. He was enjoyable to listen to and his publishing partner, Connor Cochran, filled in details and interesting subtexts.
Peter Beagle's appearance at AFI/Silver last night went well. He did Q&A and signing after a screening of "The Last Unicorn".
The audience, which had been raised on the book and/or cartoon, saw beyond those and loved every minute of the movie.
The line of fans when I left during the signing around 10 looked like it would go on for at least an hour. I found both Peter and Connor to be very personable and approachable and enjoyed myself considerably despite my lack of familiarity.
Pictures are up on http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2013_08_12A_Beagle
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