Harbor Lights Restaurant, South Street Seaport Pier 17 3rd Floor, 6-8
Gone to Amerikay, the new Vertigo original graphic novel by Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran, will have a book launch party, benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. McCulloch and Doran will both be at Harbor Lights Restaurant in New York City on March 30 from 6 to 8 pm, celebrating the release of their new book and demonstrating their support of the CBLDF’s mission. All are welcome to join the celebration; admission will be free, though donations to the CBLDF are suggested. There will be complimentary hors d’oeurves, and special guests from the comics community will be on hand to inaugurate Gone to Amerikay. Copies of the book will be on sale, courtesy of Midtown Comics.
Hm, when events are promoted only through Facebook, I never see ’em!
Anyway, Here’s a profile of the book, Doran, and McCulloch in the WSJ:
The book started off as an adaptation of “Thousands are Sailing,” a song about immigrants by the Irish band the Pogues. While it ultimately moved away from that, Irish music and folk ballads still play a key role in the story – they were “the obsessive soundtrack of my childhood,” Mr. McCulloch said.
But how to convey the impact of music in a medium where the reader can’t hear it? It was “tricky,” Mr. McCulloch said. Ms. Doran said she didn’t want to use the clichéd method of simply putting musical notes into the art, so she tried to convey the impact of the music by showing the listeners’ reactions.
She also faced an enormous amount of research to make sure everything was depicted authentically. One small panel, depicting a uniform, took her forever to do – because while she could find what the uniform looked like easily enough, it was nearly impossible to find what it looked like in color. “We were pulling our hair out.”
I suppose it’s beating a horse after it’s left the gate, but this event was promoted at the CBLDF website and the author’s websites, as well as in USA Today. So, you just weren’t paying attention.