It’s that time of year again: the days are getting longer, the weather’s getting warmer, and MoCCA Comic Arts Festival is upon us! Once again, SelfMadeHero are in New York City to fly the flag for British and European graphic novels, and we’ve got one very special guest joining us.
Following on from the launch of his brand new graphic novel at the Strand bookstore on Thursday night, Nick Abadzis will be signing copies of The Cigar that Fell in Love with a Pipe at SelfMadeHero’s stand (tables A18 and A19) throughout the weekend. What’s more, if you buy a copy of the book, you’ll go home with one of these exclusive Cigar-themed book plates
Plus, there’ll be exclusive discounts on all SelfMadeHero titles throughout the weekend. There’ll also be a chance to get your hands on our brand new US releases: The Park by Oscar Zarate, a stunning graphic novel by the artist behind the Eisner-winning A Small Killing (with Alan Moore); The Boxer by Reinhard Kleist, a moving biography of Holocaust survivor and champion boxer Harry Haft; and the first volume of Frederik Peeters’ Angoulême-winning science fiction series, Aama.
You’ll be able to get your hands on this wonderful book plate by Reinhard Kleist, and many more exclusive treats.
MoCCA Comic Arts Festival takes place on Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6, 11am-6pm, at the 69th Regiment Armory, 68 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010. To find out what is happening over the weekend, visit MoCCA’s website.
To celebrate the release of his brand new graphic novel, Nick Abadzis will be in conversation with comics journalist and bookseller Tucker Stone at New York City’s Strand bookstore on Thursday April 3, from 7pm.
Written by the French novelist David Camus, The Cigar that Fell in Love with a Pipe is a brilliantly original tale of love, heartbreak and tobacco. Fans of Nick Abadzis’s Eisner-winning graphic novel, Laika, will recognise his bold style and brilliant visual storytelling.
Following the release of his latest movie, Orson Welles – renowned director and smoking aficionado – receives a celebratory box of cigars. As he indulges his habit, Welles comes to realise exactly what he’s smoking: the final creations of Conchita Marquez, Cuba’s finest cigar roller.
Ranging from the heyday of the cigar industry to the glamorous heights of Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Cigar that Fell in Love with a Pipe inventively combines romance, history, imagination and nicotine to ask the burning question: can love triumph over adversity, or does it all go up in smoke?
The event takes place at the Strand bookstore, 828 Broadway, New York City, NY10003-4805, Thursday April 3, from 7pm. If you’re coming, join the event on Facebook here.
To attend the event, you simply need to buy a copy of The Cigar that Fell in Love with a Pipe or a $15 gift card for the Strand bookstore. Wine will be provided!
Finally, we’re able to shout about it! Yesterday it was announced that we’ll be publishing Seconds, a brand new stand-alone graphic novel from Bryan Lee O’Malley. One of the most hotly anticipated books of 2014, Seconds is O’Malley’s first graphic novel since the final instalment of the Scott Pilgrim series – and it’s going to be huge! It will be released to UK readers in August 2014.
Today we publish Vincent, a graphic biography of Van Gogh by Dutch creator Barbara Stok. The second book in SelfMadeHero’s Art Masters series, Vincent documents the brief and intense period of creativity Van Gogh spent in Arles, Provence. Away from Paris, the painter falls in love with the landscape and light of the South of France, and dreams of setting up an artists’ studio in Arles. But attacks of mental illness leave him disorientated and confused. Vincent breathes new life into this fascinating story of art, friendship and brotherly love.
We caught up with Barbara Stok to see what she had to say about the project.
Why did you choose to focus on this part of Van Gogh’s life?
I chose the last couple of years of his life, the period he lived in the south of France, because it’s an extremely interesting time. There was a lot going on: he made his most beautiful paintings, he dreamed about setting up an artists’ house, there was the tragic incident with his ear and, finally, he went to a mental institution. He had hopes and dreams and big disappointments, but in the end he found resignation and consolation in his work and in nature.
I started by reading all of his letters. That was like reading a diary. From his letters I selected scenes and thoughts that I found interesting. I also went to Arles and Saint-Rémy to see where he lived. And I gathered all the necessary facts, for instance: What kind of furniture did they have in the late 19th century? Did they have electricity or gas light? What did their underwear look like? In order to make a drawing, you have to know every little detail.
What was your process and how long did it take?
First I wrote a broad outline of the story. After that I wrote the dialogues and started drawing page-by-page. My husband Rick coloured the book on the computer. We used the colours of Van Gogh’s own paintings: we selected one painting for each scene. All together, from the moment I started reading the letters until the book was finished, it took three years.
The most difficult part of the book to make was when Vincent’s colleague Gaugin visits him in Arles. On the one hand, they get along; on the other, their characters clash. It was a real challenge to find the right balance.
What did you most enjoy about the project?
I most enjoyed making the part set in Saint-Rémy. This is where Vincent finds peace and resignation and where all the themes in the book come together. I could draw full pages of beautiful landscapes and bring forward his ideas about life and consolation: “When I am painting in the countryside, I feel the bonds that unite us all.”
Vincent is available now from all good book shops, brick-and-mortar and online.
Josh Frank, co-author of The Good Inn (with Pixies frontman Black Francis), has written and directed the video for Pixies’ latest release, Greens and Blues. Plus, the titles have been done by the book’s artist, Guardian cartoonist Steven Appleby. Take a look:
The Good Inn will be release in May this year. Here’s the blurb:
“A book based on a soundtrack score that has not yet been composed for a feature film that does not yet exist.” Pixies frontman Black Francis has approached writing his first book as he would do a song: with inventiveness and originality. The Good Inn tells the story of an eighteen-year-old known only as Soldier Boy who, after escaping a devastating explosion at the French port of Toulon, sets out on a bizarre journey across France. Navigating his way past homicidal gypsies, combative soldiers and porn-peddling peasants, he takes refuge at The Good Inn – and promptly finds himself centre stage in the making of the world’s first narrative pornographic movie. Unique and vividly imagined, The Good Inn is a touchingly comic story that brings turn-of-the-century France to life.
