Barry is appearing at VanCAF this weekend. Come say hi!

If any of you are in Vancouver BC this weekend, you should drop by VanCAF! It’s free to attend, and many very cool cartoonists (plus me) will be there to show off our comics.

I’ll be at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle This Week

I’ll be at Emerald City Comicon this Thursday through Sunday – if you’re attending, please come and say hi!

I’ll have copies of all three Hereville books, and also of “First Glance,” my short with Becky Hawkins.

I’m sharing a table with Jake Richmond, creator of “Modest Medusa” and colorist of Hereville. Our table is extremely easy to find – we’re actually on the Skybridge! Our booth number is #1114, which is nestled between Dave Kellett’s booth and the gigantic TopatoCo booth, and across the aisle from the (also gigantic) Boom Studios! booth.

Barry will be at PCC Mini Con in Portland, February 4 and 5

I will be appearing at PCC Mini Con in Portland, February 4th and 5th (that’s a Thursday and Friday!), from 10am to 6pm each day. If you’re in SE Portland, please come and say hi!

“Hereville” colorist Jake Richmond will also be there.

That’s at 2305 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR.

Hereville Book Premiere Event, Friday November 13 in Portland

Hereville: How Mirka Caught A Fish is the long-awaited third book in Barry Deutsch’s Hereville series, about “Yet Another 11-Year-Old Time-Traveling Orthodox Jewish Babysitter.” And it’s finally here!

Hereville creator Barry Deutsch will be on hand at 6pm on November 13th at The Spritely Bean, Portland’s comics and coffee cafe, to sign and sketch in books, alongside his collaborators, longtime Hereville colorist Jake Richmond, and new background artist Adrian Wallace. There will also be a presentation at 7pm, featuring live drawing demonstrations, an animated film of the Hereville drawing process, and other fun stuff. The festivities will continue pretty much until people stop showing up.

“Deutsch has created a wonderfully inventive world, in which fantastic creatures believably reside alongside a religious community; Mirka is a delightfully flawed heroine that nearly anyone can relate to and enjoy. Backgrounder Wallace and colorist Richmond augment Deutsch’s busy panels, providing a pleasingly earth-toned setting for Mirka’s latest adventure. This consistently clever and thoughtful series hasn’t lost a particle of momentum.” –Kirkus Reviews

Past Hereville books have been nominated for Eisner, Ignatz, Harvey, and Andre Norton Awards, and have won the Sydney Taylor Book Prize, the Oregon Book Award, and a Sybel Award.

The Hereville Book Premiere event will take place at The Spritely Bean, located at 5829 SE Powell, Portland, Oregon, beginning at 6pm. We’ll have copies of all three Hereville books for sale.

If you’re in or near Portland, I hope I’ll see you there!

Barry will be at Stan Lee’s ComicKaze in LA this Weekend

I’ll be tabling at “Stan Lee’s Comikaze” comic-con in Los Angeles this weekend! And at my table, at least part of the time, will be the award-winning science fiction writer Rachel Swirsky! So if you’re in LA, please come and say hi. The con is open today, Saturday, and Sunday.

This is the first event where I’ll have copies of Hereville 3 on sale, so I hope someone buys it! We’ll be at table #SSA08, which is near the Bob’s Burgers Pavilion and also near the R2D2 maker’s booth.

Bookstore Appearance This Friday!

BOOK READING, SIGNING, AND SLIDESHOW
At Barnes & Noble Vancouver

I’ll be shaking hands and signing books, of course, but I’ll also be doing a slideshow, which will include some live drawing demos, an animated film, and a reading from my most recent Hereville book.

I’ll even thrown in some preview images from my upcoming book! It’ll be really neat.

The talk begins at 7pm, but please get there at 6:45 and come and say hi!

Stumptown 2013 con report

So I decided that for once, I wouldn’t spend the whole con at my table, instead wandering around and looking at other folks comics and even attending panels now and then. It was neat. The best line I can recall from any panel is Dylan Meconis, in her spotlight panel, suggesting that “the Hero’s Journey” is the french fries of story structure.

Here I am at my table, in a photo taken by Joshin Yamada:

Yes, that is one of my favorite shirts. My one regret about this photo is that it doesn’t show my new sneakers, which are bright bright red.

(Edited to add: And actually, I wish I had put my left hand on my chin, so my pose would more closely echo the post of the character on the cover of “How To Make A Man Out Of Tin Foil.” Oh, well, next time.)

More Joshin pictures from Stumptown: Jake Richmond (colorist of Hereville, creator of Modest Medusa, looking as if he’s doing algebra in his head), Becky Hawkins (rockin’ the lace), Ben Hsu (giving the ever-reliable thumbs up. You can’t go wrong giving a thumbs up!), Jaymz Bernard (sporting a t-shirt that matches her arm tattoo), Diana Nock (I don’t have a snarky comment for Diana), and Taran Manley Lee (flanked by Taran’s frequent sidekicks Jenn Lee and Kip Manley).

I was sharing my table with Becky and with Diane Riffe, who was their with her very first mini-comic, an adorable all-ages tribute to Diane’s dog Luna. Alas, Diane didn’t happen to be there when Joshin came by, so as far as I know she escaped unphotographed.

Email of the day – Author Visit via Skype in a Georgia ELL classroom

I got this email last week (posted with permission, of course):

I am an ELL [English Language Learners] teacher at Freedom Middle School in DeKalb County, Georgia. My students are all refugees who just arrived this year. Most of them are from Nepal or Burma, but I also have students from Thailand, Russia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Eritrea. The languages spoken in my classroom include Tiringia, Amarhaic, Arabic, Karen, Thai, Russian, and Burmese. Depending on their home country and situation, their educational background varies greatly.

We are reading Hereville and they LOVE it! Since they are learning English for the first time, we spent the first part of the year reading children’s books. When we began reading your graphic novel, which is accessible and age appropriate, they were so excited. They whine and complain every day when we finish our lesson.

I was wondering if you would be willing to meet with my students for a Q&A session. They would prepare questions ahead of time to ask you, and then each of the 15 students would ask their questions. I think the students would really enjoy meeting the author of the book they are enjoying so much.

I am not able to pay you for the session as my school does not have extra funding, and our county is struggling as well this year. But I could send you my lessons that I’ve used to teach Hereville. You could include those on your website, and perhaps that would help encourage other teachers to use the books in their classroom.

Thank you!

Sara Lawson
ELL Teacher, Intensive English Program
Freedom Middle School
Stone Mountain, Georgia

Needless to say, I said yes (I always say yes to Skype visits for schools that don’t have funding for author visits). The visit is scheduled to take place tomorrow; I’m really looking forward to it. And I’m looking forward to posting Sara’s Hereville lesson plans sometime in the future.

I’ll be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend

I’ll be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, sharing a table with autobio cartoonist Becky Hawkins and her shoulder angel. We’ll be at table R-06 in Artist’s Alley; if you’re in Seattle, please come and say hi.

Hereville 2 Premiere Event, Thursday the 15th in Portland!

What: Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite book premiere.
When: Thursday, November 15, 7:30pm.
Where: Powell’s on Hawthorne, Portland, Oregon

For those of you in or near Portland, Oregon, please come join me at Powell’s on Hawthorne, 7:30pm on Thursday.

I’ll be there to sign books, answer questions, and show a slideshow (including a super-cool animated film of my drawing process). There will be a reading from one of the Hereville books. For the first time ever at a Hereville event, long-suffering Hereville colorist Jake Richmond will on hand to answer questions and sign books.

About Hereville: How Mirka Met A Meteorite

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite is a sequel to Barry Deutsch’s cult hit kid’s graphic novel (is there such a thing as a cult kid’s graphic novel) about “yet another monster-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish Girl.” It’s published by Abrams Books, through its Amulet imprint, and features writing and art by Barry Deutsch and colors by Jake Richmond.

Story: Mirka thinks she’s ready to be a sword-fighting hero – but she’s totally unprepared for having to save the town from a meteorite strike! But things get even more complex when the meteorite is turned into an exact duplicate of Mirka – except “stronger, faster and prettier,” as the Meteorite would be the first to say. Action and adventure gets mixed with an identity crisis turned to flesh, and Mirka must not only be brave but also make a leap into empathy to make things come out right.

Reviews:

Kirkus (starred review):

Watching Mirka fight the seemingly perfect version of herself is riveting. Deutsch has created a wonderful world in Mirka’s insulated Orthodox village and continues to capture it adroitly—though he has left himself enough room to blast Mirka out to space without readers batting an eye. Mirka is unflinchingly likable because she is so tempestuous and inexact, and really, who can’t relate to that?

This truly clever series is lots of fun.

School Library Journal (starred review):

The endlessly creative panel and perspective work adds visual interest and gives experienced graphic-novel readers plenty to savor. A well-crafted addition to a truly distinctive series.

Horn Book:

Deutsch again melds fantasy, realism, and a whopping dose of imagination, incorporating both the particularities of traditional Judaism and the universal foibles of a girl who dreams big but forgets to plan ahead.

Comics Worth Reading:

Deutsch has become even more accomplished in his story construction, clearly and cleverly setting up later plot points through small, funny scenes early on. His facility with expression continues to be a high point, with Mirka’s reactions, and those around her, entertaining and involving.

Booklist:

Deutsch continues his delightful and unique series featuring a modern Orthodox Jewish girl who is often bolder and braver than most 11-year-olds (boy or girl) might be…. Deutsch is a masterful storyteller.

Starburst Magazine:

…Magical, scary, funny and deeply emotional. Here is a book that is asking your children ‘what sort of person do you want to be?’ In a culture so caught up with cheap reality television and tabloid sensation, this is a little reassuring voice in the crowd. Its central message is all about being the better version of yourself, and perhaps not in the way we expect.

If you have a young daughter into which you’d like to instill a deep and profound love of graphic novels you could do worse than slipping How Mirka Met a Meteorite into their stocking this Christmas.

About the Author

Cartoonist Barry Deutsch lives in Portland, Oregon, in a bright blue house with bubble-gum pink trim. His 2010 graphic novel Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword was the first graphic novel ever to win the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award, and was also nominated for Eisner, Harvey, Ignatz, and Nebula awards. Deutsch won the national Charles M. Schulz Award for best college cartoonist in 2000 and was nominated for Comic-Con’s Russ Manning Award for Promising Newcomer in 2008. He is currently working on a third Hereville graphic novel.