Archive for the ‘Guapo Comics’ Category

Fun on Foster, art show, and kid’s art all on 9/26/09

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Saturday September 26th is this year’s Fun On Foster. As usual, the neighborhood will be out celebrating and people will be out vending their crafts, arts, and wares.
Guapo will have some special products for sale including Cotton Candy.
Most importantly, we will be making and presenting our newest art show. Kids of all ages are invited to come hang out and make an art show in collaboration with local comic artists while surrounded by comics!
Art supplies are provided but if you have a particular thing you love to color, draw, or paint with feel free to bring it along. Whatever you do, bring your imagination!

The artwork that is made will be hung on the walls after 3pm that day and then celebrated in the evening at 7pm.

Kids who participate will get a copy of a coloring book that has cartoons by the cartoonists they worked with as well as many more.
The kids art will go up for sale with all proceeds going to P:EAR.

 

 

Here’s the flier:

Fun on Foster art show

Fun on Foster art show

 

 

 

Upcoming hours change for comics

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

We’re going to be changing our hours again here at Guapo. Kinda.

The coffee side of the business will still be open Mon-Fri 630am to 600pm and Sat-Sun 800am to 600pm.

The comics side of the business will no longer be maintaining these hours starting September 1. From 9/1/09 on, the comics side will have the following hours: Mon-Fri 900am to 600pm and Sat-Sun 900am to 600pm. Basically, people can still come in early for their coffee, but won’t be able to make comic purchases until 900am. We’re changing things up because it’s frankly difficult providing for that much coverage throughout the week. By opening the comics side later, we can more easily schedule coverage and can better focus our customer service for each side. And we’ll still have the earliest hours of any comic book store in town.

Jeremy

The Future Art show opening this Saturday!

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

I’m a bit late in posting this, but let me mention that we are having our latest art opening this Saturday, August 1st from 7pm-10pm. The show features pieces all inspired by the “future.” Here’s the flier (unfortunately stretched):

futurz-posters-color-final-small-copy2

There will be plenty of free snacks and drinks! I hope to see you there!
Jeremy

TEA FOR TEETH

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Help Nicole enjoy

bagels again!!


A benefit for Nicole's teeth

toothcomicforweb1

Beast Masters of the Universe!

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

So we’re trying to do regular art shows at the store. Next week, we’re debuting the newest show, “Beast Masters of the Universe” curated by our friend Sean Christensen and featuring a ton of awesome local artists. The opening reception is May 30th (Saturday) and goes from 7pm to 10pm. There will be drinks and snacks.

beast-masters-poster-copy

Upcoming 33 1/3 Books

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

The 33 1/3 books published by Continuum part of one of my favorite series. Even though they are music books (not comics) we sell them because I am such a big fan. And customers seem to really like them as well. For those who haven’t checked out this series, each book is typically a “making of” a classic album. Sometimes, it will be a meditation on the albums themes via an essay, fiction, or autobio.

I was very excited to see the latest batch of accepted proposals announced:

Portishead’s Dummy, by RJ Wheaton
Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, by Tony Tost
Television’s Marquee Moon, by Bryan Waterman
Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, by Gina Arnold
AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, by Joe Bonomo
Ween’s Chocolate and Cheese, by Hank Shteamer
Radiohead’s Kid A, by Marvin Lin
Dinosaur Jr.’s You’re Living All Over Me, by Nick Attfield
Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace, by Aaron Cohen
Slint’s Spiderland, by Scott Tennent
The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls, by Cyrus Patell

I’m definitely going to have to get myself personal copies of the Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, Radiohead’s Kid A, Rolling Stones’ Some Girls, and Portishead’s Dummy books. I’m also pretty interested in the Television, Liz Phair, Aretha Franklin, and Slint books.

I believe the Radiohead and Rolling Stones books mark the first time a band has been covered more than once in the series. I’m especially excited to see this second Radiohead book, because the first (on Ok Computer) was one of the worst I’ve read in the series. Plus, Kid A is a better, but underrated album. This also opens the door to them putting out a second Beach Boys book, an idea for which I’ve been writing and daydreaming on since before the Pet Sounds book came out. I guess I’ll have to get busy on my proposal!

I’ve read 13 or 14 in the series so far (I think there’s 66 out) and my favorites were The Ramones’ Ramones, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, and Love’s Forever Changes. The most popular one these days, which I hear endless good things about is the book on Black Sabbath’s Master Of Reality by indie rocker John Darnielle (from the Mountain Goats).

Anyhow, if you’re a music fan I highly recommend the series. It’s consistently great and even the books I’ve read about artists I’m a minor fan of have been very rewarding.

Jeremy

Looking Back on Free Comic Book Day 2009

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Thank you to all our customers and friends who came out to this year’s Free Comic Book Day. It was another great success! I thought I’d share with you some photos from the day and my recounting of the event.


Allie is ready to sell you comics.

Most comic book stores open around 11am, but because we offer coffee, we open at 630am on the weekdays and 8am on the weekends. I knew because of our early hours that people would be hoping and trying to get Free Comic Books early. We decided we’d start giving them out at 10am and put up signs in advance relaying this. Saturday we got in at 959am and found around 12 people already waiting for their comics!

Here’s a scene from one of the less busy periods of the day:

This year we had a constant stream of families coming in, especially from 10am to 12pm. From 12pm on, the day got slowly less and less busy until it picked up again right before closing at 7pm. I think by the end of the day a lot of the other stores in town had already closed up, which is why we got that last minute rush.

Free Comic Book Day is always one of the busiest days of the year at Guapo and we usually don’t go too crazy promoting or setting up for it. Some stores try and get as many artists to come and sign at the store as possible. This is cool, but just not our style. For Free Comic Book Day, I don’t feel the need to try and up the ante and get tons of cartoonists to sign, because the day is already crazy anough as is. Plus, regardless of whether you have the “Best Show In Town,” lots of people will actually tour all the area comic book stores so they can get the maximum amount of free comics.

This dog came to pick up his copy of the Free Comic Book Day offering “Owly & Friends.” He also gave himself a full body mohawk for the occasion.

This year we did have a few special guest however. At 12pm, Dylan Williams, cartoonist and publisher from Sparkplug Comic Books, came by to promote the Free Comic “Bird Hurdler” which he co-published. At the same time, “Bird Hurdler” contributors Andrice Arp and Lisa Eisenberg, both Portland cartoonists, showed up to sign copies of the book from 12pm to 3pm.

Dylan Williams and Lisa Eisenberg are ready to give you comics!

It was great having Dylan, Andrice, and Lisa there because they’re all local, they’re all friends, and they’re all cartoonists putting out work that I enjoy, and personally want to support.

Most stores will put a limit on how many free comics you can take. This year we let customers take three each (plus a “Bird Hurdler”). One of the reasons for the limit is that the comics aren’t actually free for the store. Publishers offer them to us at a reduced rate ($0.10 to $0.50 a copy), but when you’re buying hundreds of these things, the cost adds up fast.
What were your favorite Free Comics? My top two were the “Bird Hurdler” book and the “Nancy/Melvin The Monster” flip-book put out by Drawn and Quarterly. The “Nancy” book had great reproductions of John Irving short stories (he was party of them team behind the amazing “Little Lulu” books) starring the titular characters. I like his kids stuff because it’s all ages, but still very clever and entertaining for adults to read. I can’t wait for the full reprint books to come out on D&Q.  I also enjoyed the Simpsons and Love & Rockets books.

I was beat by the time the day drew to a close. I’m not used to working nine hour days at Guapo anymore. It was a lot of fun though and sales were great. On the coffee side, Megan actually broke her daily sales record which is an awesome feeling.

Our next event at Guapo will be a new art show debuting May 30th, curated by local cartoonist Sean Christensen. Stay tuned for more info.

Jeremy

PS I’m sorry the font sizes are so messed up on this. Only the photo captions are itended to be small. I just don’t have the patence to fix the rest.

MORE STUMPTOWN 2009 INFO

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

As I mentioned before, we had a great time this last Stumptown. Our party was a reall succes and I’d like to thank Jesse Reklaw, Dylan Williams, & MacTarhnahan’s for everything they did.

One of my favorite parts about the party is the Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration. The award was created by Jesse four years ago, and goes to a cartoonist selected by her peers. The main qualification for eligibility is that you have to hand-make your own mini comic (and your peers have to actually like it). I think it’s a great award because it encourages up and coming artists, it encourages DIY culture, and it spotlights exciting and new (relatively) cartoonists. These are all things very important to us and our store mission. The award comes with a cash prize which was $450 this year. This year’s winner was Vanessa Davis for her mini “Spaniel Rage 2008,” a comic collecting her charming, personal, and wonderfully illustrated journal comics. I’m a very big fan of Vanessa’s comic and recomend her book and mini-comics, all available at Guapo. Here’s Vanessa posing with her award at Stumptown.

3466935618_6fe1ff19af

Allie actually designed and made the trophy Vanessa is holding, It’s based on the “King-Cat” logo by John Porcellino (the award was named after his cat Maisie).

Mini-comics and zines are very important to us at Guapo. They do not always sell like crazy (although they do sell well) but it’s very much something we love and want to support. We always spend most of our earnings at Stumptown stocking up on mini comics. Here’s what we got in this year, most of it is self-published:

NEWLY RELEASED ITEMS, OR NEW TO GUAPO ITEMS
ANTICIPATION OF HUGS MINI
BLACK TEA #2 BY JASON MARTIN
BUZZ #2 MINI BY CORRINE MUCHA
CALVIN & HELLENS BOGUS JOURNEY BY HELLEN JO & CALVIN WONG
CROSS COUNTRY #2 BY MK REED
CYCLE TOURING PRIMER ZINE BY SHAWN GRANTON
DEPARTMENT OF ART #1
DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION MINI
FALLING CAN BE DEADLY MINI
FINDER VOL 01 HC BY CARLA SPEED MCNEIL
FUNDAY SUNNIES
MORE COMIX ABOUT PORTLAND & BICYCLES BY SHAWN GRANTON
MYRTLE WILLOUGHBY MINI BY MK REED
HAND HEWN #1
HEY 4 EYES #3
HISTORYONICS GN
I HATE MOM’S CAT MINI BY CORRINE MUCHA
JOBNIK! GN
LIFE & TIMES OF BABY OTTO ZEPLIN #3 BY BT LIVERMORE
LIFE & TIMES OF BABY OTTO ZEPLIN #4 BY BT LIVERMORE
MIRANDA BABY BY SEAN CHRISTENSEN
MONKEYNAUTS MINI
NERDEGADE MINI
OUIJA INTERVIEW #1
OUIJA INTERVIEW #2
UIJA INTERVIEW #3
PAPERCUTTER #9 BY ARON NELS STEINKE & HELLEN JO
PAPER MASK MINI BY TREVOR ALIXOPULOS
PUMP UP THE VOLUME JAM! BY SEAN CHRISTENSEN, THEO ELLSWORTH, & MORE
REICH #6 BY ELIJAH BRUBAKER
ROBOTS PINE TREES & BROKEN HEARTS
ROUGH GROCERY DIGEST BONANZA #1 BY MAX CLOTFELTER
SHITHOLE MINI BY CORRINE MUCHA
SHORTPANTS OBSERVER #1
SHUTEYE #1 MINI
SHUTEYE #2 MINI
SHUTEYE #3 MINI
SHUTEYE #4 MINI
STEWBREW #2 MINI BY  BY KELLY FROH & MAX CLOTFELTER
TRAINS BIKES & AUTOMOBILES MINI BY SHAWN GRANTON
URBAN ADVENTURE PACK ZINE BY SHAWN GRANTON
VITTLE CHIN MINI BY MAX CLOTFELTER
WHY WE CALL THEM ROBOTS MINI
YOU PAY AS YOU LEAVE MINI BY MAX CLOTFELTER

RESTOCK
BEE FINGER MINI BY GARIET COWIN
BLACK TEA #1 BY JASON MARTIN
CONTROLLER MINI BY ROBIN ENRICO
DUMPSTER MINI BY MAX CLOTFELTER
FIVE YEAR ITCH OF DOROTHY BARRY BY KELLY FROH
HEY 4 EYES #2
I WILL FEAST ON YOUR WHORE HEART BY MK REED
LIFE & TIMES OF BABY OTTO ZEPLIN #2 BY BT LIVERMORE
STEWBREW #3 MINI BY KELLY FROH & MAX CLOTFELTER
STUPID & UNKIND BY ROBIN ENRICO
THINGPART (I WISH YOU WERE DEAD) MINI BY JOEY ALLISON SAYERS
ZINESTERS GUIDE TO PORTLAND

Here’s what we got int his year. Anyhow, it was a great weekend and we look forward to next year. Our next event will be tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium in July.

Jeremy

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, 5/2/09

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

It’s almost time for another FCBD! While we open at 8:00 am, our Free Comic Book Day events won’t be starting until 10am. We’ll be giving out tonds of Free Comics as well as offering the special Portland comic “Bird Hurdler,” co-published by three Portland publishers (Sparkplug Comic Books, Tugboat Press, & Teeanage Dinosaur) and featuring six great Portland artists. Two of the artists featured in “Bird Hurdler” will be appearing at Guapo from 12pm to 3pm. The artists appearing will be Andrice Arp (featured in the MOME anthology published by Fantagraphics as well as Hi-Horse Omnibus) and Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg (creator of the mini-comics “I Cut My Hair” and “Monsters Make Stew”).

Be sure to stop on by and get your free comics, 10am to 7pm!

Jeremy

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

Our Stumptown Party on Friday was a great success!! Thank you MacTarnahan’s for the free beer, thank you to all our readers, and thanks to Dylan Williams (Sparkplug), Jesse Reklaw (Slow Wave) for organizing and thanks to Aron Nels Steinke (Big Plans) for the poster art.

Here’s what’s coming in this Wednesday:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #592
ANGEL #20
APES & BABES ART OF FRANK CHO HC
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #23 DKR
AZRAEL DEATHS DARK KNIGHT #2
BART SIMPSON COMICS #47
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL ARKHAM #1
BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #4
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FINAL FIVE #1
BEATS GRAPHIC HISTORY HC
BPRD TP VOL 10 THE WARNING
BUCK ROGERS #0
C E MURPHYS TAKE A CHANCE #4
CASTLE WAITING VOL II #13
CDS LONG COMIC BOX
CDS MAGAZINE STORAGE BOX
CDS SHORT COMIC BOX
CLASSICS ILLUS HC VOL 04 RAVEN OTHER POEMS
CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL MANGA TP VOL 09
DAREDEVIL #118
DARK REIGN ELEKTRA #2
DARK TOWER TREACHERY PREM HC
DEADPOOL SUICIDE KINGS #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #853
ELEPHANTMEN #18
EX MACHINA #41
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 15
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 16
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 17
EXILES TP VOL 15
FALL OF CTHULHU NEMESIS #1
FANTASTIC FORCE #1
FIREBREATHER TP VOL 02 ALL BEST HEROES ARE ORPHANS
FRANK FRAZETTAS NEANDERTHAL FOTOS CVR B
FRANK FRAZETTAS NEANDERTHAL FRAZETTA CVR A
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02
GAMBIT CLASSIC TP VOL 01
GHOST OMNIBUS TP VOL 02
GHOST RIDER #34
GRAVEL #10
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #13
GYO 2ND ED GN VOL 01
HEAVY METAL MAY 2009 #123
HELLBLAZER #254
HULK #11
HULK #9 SANTA HULK VAR
I AM LEGION #3
IDENTITY CRISIS # 1 SPECIAL EDITION
IGNITION CITY #2
IGNITION CITY #2 PAINTED CVR
IGNITION CITY #2 WRAP CVR
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #25
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #128 DKR
INVINCIBLE #61
JACK OF FABLES #33
KICK ASS #6
KITCHEN PRINCESS GN VOL 01
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 12 JUMPING DIG
MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #5
MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #5 (OF 6) B & W VAR
MIGHTY AVENGERS #24 DKR
MISTER X CONDEMNED #4
NARUTO TP VOL 30
NEW AVENGERS #52 DKR
NEW AVENGERS TP VOL 09 SECRET INVASION BOOK 02
NO HERO #5
NO HERO #5 WRAP CVR
PLANETARY #1 SPECIAL EDITION
POISON ELVES VOL 11 DARK WARS PT 2 ALLIANCES TP
PRIDE & PREJUDICE #1
QUESTION TP VOL 04 WELCOME TO OZ
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #21 SPECIAL EDITION
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #1
SCALPED #28 (MR)
SCALPED TP VOL 04 THE GRAVEL IN YOUR GUTS
SGT ROCK THE LOST BATTALION #5
SHE-HULK TP VOL 08 SECRET INVASION
SHOJO BEAT MAY 09
SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES TP VOL 03
SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE DOOM PATROL TP VOL 01
SKRULL KILL KREW #1
SPIDER-MAN 2099 TP VOL 01
STAR WARS DARK TIMES #13 BLUE HARVEST PT 1
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OLD REPUBLIC #40 DUELING AMBITIO
STONECUTTER HC
STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT #1
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY GN
SUPERGIRL #40
TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #5
THOR #601
TICK BIG BLUE DESTINY COMPLETE WORKS TP
TRANSMETROPOLITAN # 1 SPECIAL EDITION
TRINITY #47
VENUS CAPRICCIO VOL 01
VIKING #1
WARREN ELLIS AETHERIC MECHANICS GN
WOLVERINE ANNIVERSARY
WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #14
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #35 DKR
WOLVERINE PRODIGAL SON GN VOL 01
WOLVERINE WEAPON X FILES
WWW HR GIGER COM HC
X-FORCE #14 XMW
X-MEN TIMES AND LIFE OF LUCAS BISHOP #3
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #592
ANGEL #20
APES & BABES ART OF FRANK CHO HC
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #23 DKR
AZRAEL DEATHS DARK KNIGHT #2
BART SIMPSON COMICS #47
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL ARKHAM #1
BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #4
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FINAL FIVE #1
BEATS GRAPHIC HISTORY HC
BPRD TP VOL 10 THE WARNING
BUCK ROGERS #0
C E MURPHYS TAKE A CHANCE #4
CASTLE WAITING VOL II #13
CDS LONG COMIC BOX
CDS MAGAZINE STORAGE BOX
CDS SHORT COMIC BOX
CLASSICS ILLUS HC VOL 04 RAVEN OTHER POEMS
CROMARTIE HIGH SCHOOL MANGA TP VOL 09
DAREDEVIL #118
DARK REIGN ELEKTRA #2
DARK TOWER TREACHERY PREM HC
DEADPOOL SUICIDE KINGS #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #853
ELEPHANTMEN #18
EX MACHINA #41
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 15
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 16
EXCEL SAGA TP VOL 17
EXILES TP VOL 15
FALL OF CTHULHU NEMESIS #1
FANTASTIC FORCE #1
FIREBREATHER TP VOL 02 ALL BEST HEROES ARE ORPHANS
FRANK FRAZETTAS NEANDERTHAL FOTOS CVR B
FRANK FRAZETTAS NEANDERTHAL FRAZETTA CVR A
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02
GAMBIT CLASSIC TP VOL 01
GHOST OMNIBUS TP VOL 02
GHOST RIDER #34
GRAVEL #10
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #13
GYO 2ND ED GN VOL 01
HEAVY METAL MAY 2009 #123
HELLBLAZER #254
HULK #11
HULK #9 SANTA HULK VAR
I AM LEGION #3
IDENTITY CRISIS # 1 SPECIAL EDITION
IGNITION CITY #2
IGNITION CITY #2 PAINTED CVR
IGNITION CITY #2 WRAP CVR
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #25
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #128 DKR
INVINCIBLE #61
JACK OF FABLES #33
KICK ASS #6
KITCHEN PRINCESS GN VOL 01
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 12 JUMPING DIG
MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #5
MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #5 (OF 6) B & W VAR
MIGHTY AVENGERS #24 DKR
MISTER X CONDEMNED #4
NARUTO TP VOL 30
NEW AVENGERS #52 DKR
NEW AVENGERS TP VOL 09 SECRET INVASION BOOK 02
NO HERO #5
NO HERO #5 WRAP CVR
PLANETARY #1 SPECIAL EDITION
POISON ELVES VOL 11 DARK WARS PT 2 ALLIANCES TP
PRIDE & PREJUDICE #1
QUESTION TP VOL 04 WELCOME TO OZ
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #21 SPECIAL EDITION
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #1
SCALPED #28 (MR)
SCALPED TP VOL 04 THE GRAVEL IN YOUR GUTS
SGT ROCK THE LOST BATTALION #5
SHE-HULK TP VOL 08 SECRET INVASION
SHOJO BEAT MAY 09
SHOWCASE PRESENTS LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES TP VOL 03
SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE DOOM PATROL TP VOL 01
SKRULL KILL KREW #1
SPIDER-MAN 2099 TP VOL 01
STAR WARS DARK TIMES #13 BLUE HARVEST PT 1
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OLD REPUBLIC #40 DUELING AMBITIO
STONECUTTER HC
STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT #1
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY GN
SUPERGIRL #40
TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #5
THOR #601
TICK BIG BLUE DESTINY COMPLETE WORKS TP
TRANSMETROPOLITAN # 1 SPECIAL EDITION
TRINITY #47
VENUS CAPRICCIO VOL 01
VIKING #1
WARREN ELLIS AETHERIC MECHANICS GN
WOLVERINE ANNIVERSARY
WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #14
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #35 DKR
WOLVERINE PRODIGAL SON GN VOL 01
WOLVERINE WEAPON X FILES
WWW HR GIGER COM HC
X-FORCE #14 XMW
X-MEN TIMES AND LIFE OF LUCAS BISHOP #3
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES