#joyce farmer

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Abortion Eve (1973) by Joyce Farmer

Abortion Eve is historically significant for its frank portrayal of women grappling with the issue of unwanted pregnancies and the potential solution of abortion. The artwork by Lyn Chevely (aka Chin Lyvely here) and Joyce Sutton (later Joyce Farmer or Joyce Farmer Sutton) is rather weak, but the story provides fascinating insights on the physical process and emotional impact of abortion. While there is no question the book is strongly pro-choice, the creators incorporate several messages advocating conventional birth control. This comic is as relevant today as when it was published in 1973.

More than three decades after its publication, Abortion Eve is still cited and quoted by pro-life organizations to make their point about the callousness and cruelty of abortion. Whatever your stance on abortion, you can rest assured that the procedure will be around as long as women get pregnant; whether an abortion is performed legally in a medical facility or illegally in an unsterile alleyway hovel (or germ-laden kitchen or bathroom).

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Never knew about Joyce Farmer until just the other day somehow.

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The Miami Book Fair is a beautiful meeting of literary minds, scholars, writers, cartoonists and readers. This year, the fair will be graced by four brilliant minds, who also happen to have Fantagraphics books out. They are all appearing on some panels on Saturday, November 22nd at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. Most of the comics panels take place in room 1365 in building 1 (see map above) at the intersection of NE 1st Ave and NE 3rd Street. 

Saturday, Nov 22 11 a.m. Lives to the Contrary: Al Capp, Andre the Giant and the 80s Hip Hop Pantheon A lively discussion on going against the grain...at least for a bit with Denis Kitchen, Box Brown and Ed Piskor, moderated by Joan Hilty. Room 1365 12:30 p.m. Best American Comics 2014 A talk with cartoonists Charles Burns, Ben Katchor, Aydin Koch, Ed Piskor, and Raina Telgemeier, moderated by series editor, Bill Kartapoulos.

2:00PM 

In Sickness and in Health: Joyce Brabner, Mark Zingarelli and Joyce Farmer Two remarkable new graphic novels explore mortality, courage and the bonds of family in the face of disease. Brabner and Zingarelli discuss the remarkable true story behind their Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague, and Joyce Farmer discusses her new book Special Exits. Moderated by independent editor Joan Hilty. Room 1365

3 - 4:30pm Of Love and Other Stories Liana Finck on A Bintel Brief: Love and Longing in Old New York, Ray Fawkes on The People Inside, and Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger on The Late Child and Other Animals will each take turns  discussing their new work, then will share time for Q&A. The presentation is followed by a signing. Room 1365  

3:15 - 3:45pm Ed Piskor Signing In-booth autographing in Destination: Comics. Autographing table located in Tate's Comics booth. 

  For more comics panels, check out their website! 

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Time to unveil your first glimpse of a finished bound copy of the new paperback edition of Joyce Farmer's acclaimed, award-winning graphic memoir Special Exits. A moving, uncompromisingly realistic look at the declining health and impending death of the author's parents, Special Exits was a true labor of love for Farmer, and we're pleased to make it available in this accessible softcover format. Arrival is expected in late July with in-store availability by early August. Read an excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.

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Joyce Farmer's acclaimed, award-winning 2010 graphic memoir Special Exits comes to paperback this Summer. Farmer, whose expressive, detailed linework and humane storytelling was a founding staple of feminist underground comix anthologies in the 1970s, spent over a decade crafting this heartbreaking, touching, funny, and unflinching story of caring for elderly parents.

In our downloadable excerpt, you'll meet octogenarians Lars and Rachel. Farmer creates a finely observed and fully realized portrait of her parents, introducing you to their day-to-day activities and infirmities: visits from daughter Laura (Farmer's stand-in), headaches, grocery shopping, backaches, home repair, hobbies, reminiscing, and a fall in the bathtub.

Pre-order and reserve your copy today.

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With a National Cartoonists Society award, Eisner and Ignatz nominations, and best-of-the-year recognition from Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and The A.V. Club, Joyce Farmer's graphic memoir Special Exits was one of our most acclaimed books of 2010. Now we're going back to press for a new softcover edition, coming this Summer, featuring this new cover design. Stand by for more previews in weeks ahead; meanwhile, read all the praise and pre-order a copy right here.

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Our campaign to support our Spring-Summer 2014 season on Kickstarter is ongoing, and we're continuing to spotlight the books in question, a couple at a time. We've also put our season catalog online for you to browse. (Please note that all artwork, contents, prices, specs, and release dates are preliminary and subject to change.)

Special Exits — Paperback Edition by Joyce Farmer

208-page black & white 8" x 10" softcover • $22.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-760-4

The acclaimed, award-winning graphic novel, in a new softcover edition. 

In the vein of Alison Bechdel or Harvey Pekar, Joyce Farmer's memoir chronicles the decline of the author's parents' health, their relationship with one another and with their daughter, and how they cope with the day-to-day emotional fragility of the most taxing time of their lives. Set in southern Los Angeles (which makes for a terrifying sequence as blind Rachel and ailing Lars are trapped in their home without power during the 1992 Rodney King riots), Farmer details the slow, inexorable decline in Lars's and Rachel's health, and perfectly captures the timbre of the exchanges between a long-married couple: the affectionate bickering; their gallows humor; their querulousness as their bodies break down.

For a Kickstarter pledge of $35 or more, pre-order this book signed by Joyce Farmer while supplies last!

Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko / 放浪息子) Vol. 7 by Shimura Takako

200-page black & white (with some color) 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $24.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-750-5

Shimura Takako’s groundbreaking, critically acclaimed, and beloved Wandering Son continues to explore gender identity among its cast of middle school students in our 7th volume. Nitori-kun gets his first signs of acne. This may well be the end of the world. But when he turns to nationally famous model Anna-chan for help, events take an unexpected turn. Meanwhile, Nitori-kun and Chiba-san are scouted by the theater club after the success of their gender-bending play, The Rose of Versailles. But when Takatsuki-san congratulates Chiba-san, Chiba-san calls her a hypocrite. If Takatsuki-san wanted to join the theater club, she wouldn’t congratulate Chiba-san — she’d be jealous. So says Chiba-san, but what does she know?

For a Kickstarter pledge of $40 or more, pre-order this book while supplies last!