[Above, I couldn't find a hi-res image of Third Eye Comics, so here an a picture from MTV of Third Eye Blind being super douchey.]
Attention residents of Annapolis, Maryland (Annapolitans? Annapolites? Annapolians?), your friendly local comics shop, Third Eye, is getting into the spirit of Read Comics in Public a little early.
The store is offering up a bunch ways to get the ball rolling on your celebration. First, if you send the store a shot of yourself reading comics in public between now and the 28th, you’ll get 20 percent off of any TPB or hardcover in the store.
Third Eye is also offering a bunch of free books for RCiPD participants on the 28th, including select issues of titles like Walking Dead and Wolverine: Old Man Logan.
And here’s a pretty good one, “the person who takes the most pictures of themselves in different public settings reading comics while rocking their Third Eye Comics t-shirt will win a $50 Gift Card.” Not too shabby. For more information, check out the Third Eye site.
And on a related note, what’s going on in Old Line State? It’s the 42nd largest state in the Union, but the number one supporter of RCiPD? Time to step it up, West Virginia.
This is Mark Frauenfelder, one of the world’s foremost experts on wonderful things. He co-founded Boing Boing, a blog before blogs existed — back when they had print them on the dried pulp of dead trees. I think they called them “zines,” though I can’t be entirely sure.
Frauenfelder is also the editor-in-chief of Make Magazine. He has written a number of books. He raises chickens and keeps bees. He can make a mean cigar box guitar. Frauenfelder also loves comics.
Today his comic of choice is Tippy Teen, a late-60s Archiesque Tower Comics series by Jughead artist, Samm Schwartz. If you look closely at the cover of this $0.25, Comics Code-approved issue, you’ll notice a prescient warning about the dangers of online dating. If you look to the left of Frauenfelder, you’ll see a sign that reads, “Wine. It’s what’s for dinner.” Coincidence? Perhaps.
We tip our hat to you, Mr. Frauenfelder. One-hundred points for style. To everyone else, consider the bar raised.
Hey Baltimore residents, you lived through the Wire and thrilled to the films of John Waters. Now it’s time to take to embrace your love of sequential art?with a little help from the folks at Collectors Corner.
The Baltimore-based comic/game/movie/toy shop is holding a contest to help celebrate Read Comics in Public Day. Five lucky Maryland residents will win a $25 gift certificate to the store. All you have to do is post an image to the store’s Facebook page.
The deadline is actually August 28th — so in order to be eligible, you’ll have to *gasp* read comics in public before then. Fans will then get to vote on the five best images. Good luck, and happy shopping.
All right, all right. We all know how comics-friendly Portland, Oregon is. You’ve got your Dark Horse and your Stumptown, your Floating World, your Craig Thompson and your Brian Michael Bendis.
But what of the other Portland? You know, the one on the other coast? Well, Kevin Eastman live there once (thanks, Wikipedia). Oh, and Stephen King is from there — remember those Marvel Dark Tower books? Those count, right?
Coast City Comics, Portland?s own self-described “friendliest and most eclectic stop for all your comic needs,” wants to help us put the city on the comics map. “Action Chad,” an employee at the shop has agreed to make the store a rendezvous point for our fourth meetup.
According to Chad, “we’ll probably run a sale to coincide with this event. There has already been talk of taping it too.” I mean, just look at how happy that dude in the picture is to be there. You can’t fake that kind of enthusiasm, friends.
For more information on the event, keep checking back over at the official Coast City Comics site.
Hey librarians, have we got a poster for you! As someone pointed out this weekend, the original version of the Read Comics in Public Day poster was very much designed with comic book shops in mind. Given the increased prominence of sequential art in libraries that has developed over the past couple of decades, it seems only fair to create a version of the piece for our librarian friends.
The poster’s artist, Robert Sergel, was kind enough to make a few tweaks to the original poster, creating an updated version geared toward comics-friendly book lenders.
You can find both versions over on our Poster page. Oh, and if you use the new poster to create a cool display like the one from our friends over at Kirkland Library, send it along, and we’ll post it up!
[Above, a shirtless Thor does his thing in Mariatorget Park.]
Number three is easily the most geographically distant Read Comics in Public Day meetups thus far (depending, I suppose on which direction you travel, in which case Omaha is also, arguably, a contender). Stockholm resident Staffan Dahlberg is organizing a meetup at Mariatorget Park in the S’dermalm district of Sweden’s largest city. Amazing.
Dahlberg also works at Stockholm comic shop, Staffars Serier. Thanks to him, anyone in Sweden who posts a shot of themselves reading comics in public on August 28th to the official Flickr stream will get a discount coupon from the store. Thanks guys! For more information about the meetup and discount, visit the Staffars site.
Is this the first step in a RCIP Scandinavian invasion? They gave us ABBA and The Hives, for Odin’s sake — it’s time to give back.
Speaking of libraries (and, frankly, who isn’t?), the Saddlebrook Branch of the Omaha Public Library is looking to host a Read Comics in Public Day Meetup on August 28th. Library specialist Micki Dietrich tells us, “right now I am planning on having an event at the suburban branch that I work at, but I may be able to get other staff to host events at some of our other 11 branches across the city.”
Honestly, I can’t say I know much about Omaha outside of Saddle Creek Records; 90s rap-rock outfit, 311; and their steaks [pictured], which my meat-eating friends tell me good things about — but heck, any city with a library system so supportive of RCIPD is all right in our book! Anyone interested in participating in the Omaha meetup should e-mail Dietrich at mdietrich [at] omahalibrary [dot] org.
Oh, and Dietrich adds, “we would also love to use the poster that you have to help advertise our events, but it is geared toward a comic book shop.” Good call, Micki. We’re working on a library-centric version, as we speak.
I wonder, sometimes, why librarians never really get lumped in with your astronauts and cowboys and firemen. If comics blogs ruled the earth (a truly frightening thought on a number of levels), a well-curated collection would almost certainly garner the respect of, say, a moon landing — without well-run libraries, after all, it’s hard to imagine that we’d have ever made it to that big, dusty rock in the first place.
Just when we thought we couldn’t love the nation’s book lenders any more than we already do, we see something like the above. It’s a Read Comics in Public display created by librarian Sarah Hunt for the Kirkland Library in Kirkland, WA. Hunt designed a free-flowing upright remix of Robert Sergel’s poster panels (handbill copies of the poster are sitting in a tray on the other side of the display). It looks like Hunt picked out Watchmen, Skim, Cat Burglar Black, and Amulet, among other titles — not too shabby.
Hunt also tells us that she’s discussed the initiative with a number of colleagues, so let us know if you see a RCIP display in your own branch.
[Photo from Sidewalk Superheroes.]
All right, Los Angelenos — we already know that a bunch of you plan on cracking out the old long box on August 28th. Wanna meet some fellow comics readers in the process? Brittany W. of the nebulous San Fernando Valley has offered up her services to help organize an event for the greater Los Angeles area.
So, what do you say? A comic shop hop to Golden Apple, Secret Headquarters, and Meltdown? Maybe spend some with the superheroes on Hollywood Blvd — actually, on second thought, probably best to just avoid that last one altogether.
I?m sure you guys will figure something out. They’ve got parks in LA, right? Right?
Anyway, you can drop Brittany a line at beewilliams21 (at) yahoo (dot) com. Send us the meeting details when you guys have everything figured out, and we’ll post the information for all to see. And for everyone else, let’s get the ball rolling on some other cities!
Hey everyone, the online response to Read Comics in Public Day has been terrific, so far. Among other things, lots of folks are discussing the possibility of organizing comics reading meetups in their cities and town. Fantastic idea!
We’d love to help you facilitate such things? I’m not sure what the world record for amount of people reading comics outdoors in a single frame is, but damn it, we’re gunning for it.
If you’re organizing a meetup or just looking for folks to read with in your area, let us know in the comment section below or via our e-mail address readcomicsinpublic@gmail.com. If you’re interested in becoming a team captain for your town — and don’t mind our giving your e-mail address out — let us know that, too.
Of course, we can’t promise to respond to everyone e-mail — we’re busy people, damn it.
