CA – Free Comic Book Day 2013

Gene Luen Yang, James Robinson, Matt Hawkins, Alexis Fajardo, Vicki Scott, and Justin Thompson appear on Saturday May 4, 2013 for Free Comic Book Day!

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11am-2pm
Vicki Scott, penciller (Boom Studios’ PEANUTS)
Alexis Fajardo, writer/editor (Boom Studios’ PEANUTS)
Justin Thompson, inker/storyteller (Boom Studios’ PEANUTS)

2pm-5pm 
Gene Luen Yang (Avatar: The Last Airbender, American Born Chinese)
James Robinson (DC Comics Earth-2, Starman)

4pm-7pm
Matt Hawkins (Top Cow Studios’ Aphrodite IX, Think Tank)

Character Appearances:
Darth Vader

Flying Colors Comics
2980 Treat Blvd (at Oak Grove Rd), Concord, CA 94518

CA – How to Write for Comic Books

Gene Luen Yang speaks and signs at Fantastic Comics on Saturday, April 6, 2013 from 3:00 until 4:30 pm!

Gene says on his blog:

Before the Avatar: The Last Airbender books, I’d written for other artists.  The Eternal Smile was written by me and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim.  Level Up was written by me and drawn by Thien Pham.  In each of those cases, though, I thumbnailed.  The artist didn’t always follow my thumbnails, but I still communicated visually with them.

The Airbender books are the first time I’ve turned in scripts that are pure words.  I’ve had to do a lot of thinking.  How do you lay the foundations of a visual story using just words?  I’ve also read a bunch of advice by words-only writers that I admire: Dwayne McDuffie, Peter David, Alan Moore, Mark Waid.

On Saturday, April 6 at 3pm, I’m going to present some of the stuff I’ve learned at Fantastic Comics in Berkeley.  I’m gonna talk about writing comics from a words-only perspective.  I’m also gonna talk about Aang and Co.  If you’re in town, come by!

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Fantastic Comics
2026 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-2988

CA – Sumo Signing

Thien Pham, writer and artist of Sumo, as well as the artist of the much loved “Level Up” appears at Fantastic Comics on Saturday, January 26th at 2:00 pm. He will sign copies of his book and speak about his process of creating comic books. If you are a fan of his, or just interested in comics in general, this is a wonderful to get a glimpse of how a published creator goes about his process.

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Fantastic Comics
2026 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-2988

CA – Sumo Signing

Author/illustrator Thien Pham signs at Trickster on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 5:00 pm!

Tr!ckster
2631 Ashby Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

CA – Sumo Signing

Thien Pham signs at Book Passage on Friday January 25th at 6:00 pm.

Scott is a washed-up football player who never made it, and whose girlfriend abandoned him along with his dreams of playing pro football. But things have a way of working out, in this sweet, poetic tale–and a new chapter in Scott’s life begins as the old one ends. Offered a position in a Japanese sumo training “stable,” Scott abandons his old life, his old name, and even his old hair color, and becomes an aspiring sumo wrestler. And in so doing, he begins to find some kind of center in himself…a center that had seemed lost for good.

Thien Pham, the acclaimed illustrator of Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, returns as the writer and artist of a unique new graphic novel. Highly poetic and structured to echo the slow build and sudden clash of a sumo match, Pham’s Sumo is an unusual and beautiful book. It’s nearly a contradiction in terms: a delicate, deft, tender tale about… sumo wrestling.

Thien Pham is a comic book and visual artist, based in the Bay Area. He is also a high school teacher. Pham illustrated Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, a YALSA Great Graphic Novel and New York Times Notable Children’s Book. Sumo is his first solo work.

Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA 94925

SF – Leveling Up Lecture

Cartoonist Gene Luen Yang appears at the Sunset Branch of San Francisco Public Library on Monday October 1, 2012 at 7:00pm. Yang says on his website, “Specifically, I will address approaching comics as a writer. Drop by and say hi, especially if you’re interested in writing for comics!”

Press Release:

How do graphic novels get made? Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, author of the Printz Award-winning graphic novel American Born Chinese and recently Level Up, will demystify the inner workings behind this increasingly popular narrative art form.

Renowned for his sensitive depictions of adolescence and mixing of magical realist elements with the everyday to demonstrate the difficulties of growing up as an Asian American, Yang will discuss his own work and the emerging graphic novel medium.

Gene Luen Yang’s works include The Eternal Smile (winner of the Eisner Award), Prime Baby (serialized in The New York Times), Level Up (now in stores), and Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise (from Dark Horse Comics). When he’s not making comics, he teaches at Bishop O’Dowd High School. Visit his site at geneyang.com.

A book sale and signing follows the program.

Sunset Branch of San Francisco Public Library
1305 18th Ave, San Francisco, CA

WI – Zolotow Lecture

Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese, delivers the 14th annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture on Wednesday evening, October 5, 7:30 p.m., at the Wisconsin Union Theater on the UW-Madison campus.

This is a free public lecture sponsored by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Friends of the CCBC.

Author/artist Gene Luen Yang won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature for his graphic novel American Born Chinese (First Second / Roaring Brook Press, 2006). His other books for children and teens include The Eternal Smile (with Derek Kirk Kim, First Second / Roaring Brook Press 2009) and Prime Baby (Roaring Brook Press, 2010). He has also written and spoken extensively on graphic novels as an art form and as a resource for educators in the classroom.

Wisconsin Union Theater
800 Langdon Street, Madison, WI

CA – Level Up Signing

Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham appear at Escapist Comic Bookstore on Saturday September 10, 2011 at 2pm!

Yang posts on his blog:

Thien Pham and I are going to present all the different ways to get your comic book out into the world: mini-comics, webcomics, self-publishing, working with a traditional comics publisher, working with a graphic novel imprint.  There will probably be a lot of Chinese vs. Vietnamese jokes and general verbal abuse along the way.  We’ll also do readings from some of our recent and upcoming books.  Come spend an afternoon with us at Escapist Comics in Berkeley, California!

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Escapist Comics
3090 Claremont Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94705
510-65COMIC

SF – Level Up Workshop

Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham teach a cartooning workshop on Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 1pm to 3pm as they celebrate the release of Level Up, their new graphic novel published by First Second.  Yang and Pham will discuss their collaborative process, sign books, and draw comics with visitors.  This event is free with paid admission to the Cartoon Art Museum. 

Cartoon Art Museum 
655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 227-8666

CA – Level Up Signing

GENE YANG & THIEN PHAM sign at Secret Headquarters on Friday, June 17th from 7pm – 9pm!

Join us in celebrating the release of “American Born Chinese” writer Gene Yang and artist Thien Pham’s new graphic novel, “Level Up”. Stop by this Friday to have a drink and get your book signed!

A rundown of the new book:

“Smackdown! Video Games vs. Medical School!

Which will win the battle for our hero’s attention in Gene Luen Yang’s new graphic novel?

Dennis Ouyang lives in the shadow of his parents’ high expectations. They want him to go to med school and become a doctor. Dennis just wants to play video games—and he might actually be good enough to do it professionally. But four adorable, bossy, and occasionally terrifying angels arrive just in time to lead Dennis back onto the straight and narrow: the path to gastroenterology. It’s all part of the plan, they tell him. But is it?

This powerful piece of magical realism brings into sharp relief the conflict many teens face between pursuing their dreams and living their parents’. Partnered with the deceptively simple, cute art of newcomer Thien Pham, Gene Yang has returned to the subject he revolutionized with American Born Chinese. Whimsical and serious by turns, Level Up is a new look at the tale that Yang has made his own: coming of age as an Asian American.”

Secret Headquarters
3817 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

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