http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy4MQsW7HOw
If you happen to be in beautiful Portland, Oregon, this weekend, please come to the Wordstock Literary Festival. I will be appearing at Wordstock on Saturday, Oct. 10, @ 1pm, alongside Laurie Sandell (The Imposter’s Daughter), to share our work via slideshows, do a Q&A, and sign books.
And check out this humorous and clever Wordstock viral video.
Paula L. Woods just posted a review of A.D. on The Defenders Online, the blog of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. I was pleased to see her piece focusing on aspects of the book that many other reviewers have overlooked: the warmth of Abbas and Darnell’s friendship; the sadness and pessimism Leo felt when he first returned home to rebuild; the fulfilment Denise found when she began counseling battered women hurricane survivors. To my mind, Ms. Woods’ piece is one of the more thoughtful discussions of A.D. so far.
[Continuing my run-down of the A.D. book tour…]
I took A.D. to the Boston area September 8 and 9, my first experience on the Bolt Bus (very cheap, very pleasant). My ol’ pal (and Beastles collaborator) dj BC (Bob Cronin) was kind enough to host me in his Somerville abode, where I got to hang a bit with his awesome, feisty wife Stacey and their adorable daughter Stella.
My first event was Tuesday night at Brookline Booksmith, a large, extensive store devoted to new and used books. I did my presentation in front of a good crowd of about 30 folks, which included a motley group of characters from various stages in my life, everywhere from "around the block," to camp, to junior high school, to college, to the 1990s comix scene! It was wonderful catching up with Chris, Jessica, George, Pete, and A. Dave, as well as fielding questions and signing books for a very engaged group. The best moment of the night was when a girl in the audience, just starting college in Boston after moving up from New Orleans, realized she personally knew Kwame, one of A.D.’s characters!
The next day I was scheduled for a late afternoon signing at one of my favorite comics retailers, The Million Year Picnic, operated by the sweetest man in comics, Tony Davis. Beforehand, I had the privilege of getting to see my favorite cousin, Lauren, who took time off work to come into the Harvard area to have lunch with me. I’ve known her since she was a baby, and it’s so great to see how well she’s doing and hear about her wonderful, growing family. Before heading over to The Picnic, Lauren and I passed The Globe Corner Bookstore, which had recently posted a kind review of A.D. on their blog and was featuring A.D. on their shelves.
It was a bit of a slow day at MYP, since the new comics were delayed due to the previous Monday’s Labor Day holiday, but Tony and his employee Anthony kept me engaged and entertained throughout the two-hour signing session. And it turned out that Tony has many family connections to NOLA, and just happened to get stuck in the city in late August 2005 right before Katrina struck. (He made it out of town just in time, and was able to fly back to Boston from Baton Rouge before the shizzle hit the fizzle.)
The signing done, I threw my pens into my case, slung my bag over my shoulder and headed back to South Station. The Bolt Bus delivered me back safely into the welcoming arms of NYC and I made it home before midnight. Not a bad two-day jaunt to Beantown.
Sean Kleefeld of Graphic Novel Review weighs in on whether the expanded, revised, print edition of A.D. is worth buying if you’ve already read the (free) webcomic. The verdict? "Yes. Neufeld’s gone back and reworked some sequences, making the story flow smoother. He’s also reformatted the whole thing with a running calendar to better show readers when they are in the story. The colors work much better on the printed page, as well, and many of the sequences have been recolored accordingly. You can go to the site and read the story for yourself, and see how well Neufeld handles the basic storytelling. But the printed version does indeed take an already solid story and knock it out of the park."
For a longer discussion of the issue (reflecting the explosion of original comics on the web), see Ada Price’s piece in Publishers Weekly, published back in late August.
My first SPX in three years — but by my count, my tenth overall — got off to a great start with the ride down. The four musketeers of JahFurry, Heidi MacDonald, Brian Heater, and Ben McCool added my fifth wheel since Ben was jetting off to England for a fortnight, so Jeff, Heidi, Brian and myself made the rest of the trip after dropping Ben off at Newark. Good times — with lots of cutting people off — were had, including a stop in Baltimore at Atomic Books for the Nerdlinger Awards.
The Awards set a Rip van Winkle tone for me, as I barely knew a soul — or their comic — there, and that carried through for SPX itself. I saw a few familiar faces, of course, like SPX regulars Chris Staros, Jim Dougan, Rob Clough, Mike Rhode, Calvin Reid, Ed Piskor, Rob Ullman, and the Fantagraphics twins; and of course SPX programmers like Karon Flage, Warren Bernard, and Greg Bennett; and even some sporadic returners like myself: R. Sikoryak, Peter Kuper, James Kochalka, John Porcellino, Mike Fiffe, and Kat Roberts, to name a few.
But there were so many ol’ pals missing: Dean Haspiel, Nick Bertozzi, Alex Robinson, Tony Consiglio, David Lasky, Mike Dawson, Chris Radtke, Joan Reilly, Jason Little, Gabrielle Bell, Jon Lewis, and Karen Sneider, just off the top of my head. I guess what with book deals, kids, and of course the continuing allure of MoCCA, the drive down to D.C. is losing its appeal for those folks. (I have to confess I stayed away from SPX the last few years because I didn’t have anything new to hawk until this year.)
However, despite my sadness at missing so many folks, I have to admit that SPX is alive and well! The great funky/DIY/artsy tradition is still very much in evidence, and the comix tribe is rejuvenated with lots of new blood. That included my tablemates this year, fresh-faced 2009 Xeric winners J.T. Yost and Sophia Wiedeman. I was under strict luggage (and economic) constraints, so I only picked up a few things, but everywhere I looked there were young cartoonists offering tempting delights. I couldn’t resist some purchases, of course, and came away with Yost’s Old Man Winter, Wiederman’s The Deformity, Jeffrey Brown‘s Funny Misshapen Body, Liz Baillie‘s My Brain Hurts, Picture Box’s crazy oversize Real Deal #1, and a decrepit Robin T-shirt by fellow SPX returning veteran Tom Galambos.
As for my end of the show, A.D. sold respectably, with about 30 copies finding new owners. (I also signed a fair amount of previously purchased books.) I had some great conversations with people connected to the NOLA scene, including a high muckety-muck of the Louisiana Redevelopment Authority. And Gina Gagliano was kind enough to moderate my spotlight panel, where I presented my A.D. slideshow and answered questions about the project.
The only major negative for the show this year was the frigid temperatures inside the room on Sunday. I tend to run hot (body temperature-wise) but even I was shivering. I was pleasantly surprised that my nose didn’t fall off due to frostbite, but all the same I think I’m coming down with something: I’ve been achy and off my game ever since Sunday.
The ride back with Jah, Heidi, and Brian was as fun-filled as the trip down, with the added excitement of seeing how far the car could go with an empty tank of gas and the "Change Oil Soon" light flashing. And did we really almost run down Philip Seymour Hoffman on his bike as we tore through the West Village? Brian swore it was him. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. *Cough*
[Continuing my run-down of the A.D. book tour…]
My next stop after the NYC book launch was Chicago, Illinois. There was something fitting about coming back to Chicago, as that was where my comics "career" (such as it is) started: it’s where I lived when I got my first breaks: The Big Book of Urban Legends, Duplex Planet Illustrated, and American Splendor.
Arriving in Chicago Friday, August 28 (earlier than I would’ve liked), I was picked up by my literary escort, who was assigned to get me to the WGN-TV studios for a mid-day news segment. The escort was nothing like what I expected: instead of an effete, rumpled, mustachioed man, Bill was a tall, burly, classic Midwesterner who liked nothing better than talking baseball (specifically the White Sox). He drove me over to the studios where I taped a quick segment on the book. Things went well, but it’s hard for me to watch the tape; they say the camera adds ten pounds, but the way I was slumped back in my chair added at least another ten. Ugh.
The event that night was at the Book Cellar, in Lincoln Park. I’d heard a lot of great things about the place, particularly from Larry Smith and Rachel Fershelisher, who landed there during their Six-Word Memoirs book tour. The Book Cellar serves wine (as well as the usual tea & coffee) while you peruse your favorite books. The event itself went really well, with about 40 people in attendance, including my old Chicago pals Amy & Lee, and Zoe & Mark, as well as some old co-workers from the late, lamented Ligature. A couple of old Chicago area-comics pals showed up as well: Steve Darnall of Empty Love Stories and Uncle Sam, and Mike Fragassi, a comics critic from the baby days of the Internet. And last but not least, noted Chicago cartoonist Jeffrey Brown made the scene as well (and even stayed around to chat afterward, which was a nice treat). The crowd was really receptive to the book and ran me through the best Q&A session to date. After a drink and a bratwurst with Zoe, Mark, my Ligature buddy Angela, and some others at the next-door beerhall, I headed back to Amy & Lee’s, my hosts for the weekend.
The next day was August 29, the actual fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. My only event was an "author coffee" at Amy Davis’s writing workspace, where I walked 11 people through the origins of A.D. Everyone there was a writer of some kind, with a range of interests in self-publishing, web-to-print projects, and comics, and we spent a lively couple of hours chewing the fat.
I spent the rest of the afternoon hoofing around the old ‘hood, down in Wicker Park, which has changed a lot since the mid-1990s. But my favorite neighborhood Chinese place, Mon Lung, is still in business, and I lunched on the best mongolian beef I’ve found in these United States. I also visited Quimby’s, where I signed a couple of books and where the manager, Liz, snapped my photo. The day ended with an awesome dinner over at Mark & Zoe’s house, along with Amy & Lee.
Sunday was a day off, and I got to hit Wrigley and take in a Cubs game — oddly enough, versus my own hometown Mets — and then later that evening augmented the decadence with an actual movie. District 9 was a bit of a letdown from a great premise, but still eminently entertaining. A mid-day flight Monday from O’Hare brought me back to NYC, and I even made it home in time to pick up Phoebe from daycare.
The weekend in the Windy City was a great balance of flogging A.D. and enjoying some much-needed down-time.
Writer and writing teacher Jill Dearman (Bang the Keys), who just happens to live in my building (and who went to college with
!), just interviewed me for the Barnes & Noble blog "Unabashedly Bookish." I like the title of the piece, "He is a Camera; Josh Neufeld’s Cinematic Take on Hurricane Katrina." The interview is half A.D. and half just me: Jill asked some unusual questions, which I enjoyed answering, including my writing/drawing process, my personal obsessions, and what artists, writers, and teachers have influenced me the most. Check it out here.
[Wherein I continue my rundown of the A.D. book tour, picking up back home in NYC on August 25, 2009. Will I ever catch up?]
A.D.‘s New York book launch and benefit was held at Idlewild Books on August 25. I had just gotten back from New Orleans the day before and barely had time to catch my breath before diving back into the fray. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way, given this chance to celebrate the book’s release with so many local friends and family. And so many of them did attend, including both sets of my parents, Sari’s folks, most of our brothers and their significant others, a cousin, and many, many friends, both new and old — far too many to list — including a generous helping of my compatriots from the cartooning community. I was truly touched by the outpouring of love and support for the book (and me!).
The party was also a benefit for Common Ground Relief, and was augmented by beer, wine, snacks, pralines flown in from NOLA, and best of all, the live music of Mary McBride! By all accounts, it was a smashing success, as the place was packed for the whole three hours. My only complaint — and it’s not a real one — is I didn’t get a chance to say more than the most cursory hello to anyone, as I was kept occupied pretty much the whole time signing people’s books. In that way, someone likened the event to a wedding, and it was like my wedding day in the sense that it is all now a happy blur.
I do know it actually happened, thanks to my wonderful ex-assistant Rachel, who videotaped my rambling incoherent (and ultimately teary) speech of thanks at the event, which if you insist on viewing can be seen here. Also, just as things were heating up, Jason Boog of GalleyCat did a video interview with me, which can be seen here. And my good pal (a.k.a. Heidi MacDonald) covered the event for Publishers Weekly’s "The Beat," which you can read here (even though, weirdly, I am not pictured!).
In the end, Idlewild sold out of all 75 copies of A.D. — and the benefit raised $1,200 for Common Ground! Big ups to the Big Apple!
In the September/October issue of good ol’ Mother Jones magazine is this review from Kiera Butler:
The New York Times (thanks in large part to the advocacy of writer George Gene Gustines) recently created three new bestseller lists, all related to comics (or as the Times calls them, "graphic books"). And A.D. made it on the list!
Debuting on the September 6 "Hardcover Graphic Books" list at #10, A.D. was one of the few graphic books not about Batman. As Larry Smith wrote on the A.D. blog, "It’s a fitting place for a book with seven very real superheroes who go by the names Leo, Michelle, Denise, Kwame, Abbas, Darnell, and The Doctor." Even more exciting, the next week A.D. moved up the list to #4… before dropping off the list entirely the following week.
Still, that makes A.D. an official "bestseller," something we’ll be sure to proclaim proudly if the book goes to press — and when the paperback edition comes out next August.
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