Bay Area Comics: Drawing from Life
While the Bay Area’s many contributions to art history are well documented, comics rarely get mentioned in that story. And yet, the region’s comics artists have been responsible for dramatic shifts in the art form. Did you know that Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama’s The Four Immigrants Manga, drawn in San Francisco 1924–1927, is one of the first examples of an autobiographical comic strip? Later, the Bay Area was home to the underground comix movement, wimmen’s comix and the rise of queer comics. Today, the local comics scene is diverse and vibrant, with artists working across memoir, historical fiction and journalism.
Join us for a crash course in comics history with Justin Hall and live, on-stage storytelling with Bay Area artists Rina Ayuyang, Fred Noland and Julia Wertz. In honest, humorous and often difficult stories about their own lives and lesser-known histories, these artists continue to build on the rich legacy of local comics. For those hungry to dive into their next great discovery, a mini zine and comics fest will follow the stage event.
Arrive early to shop zines and graphic novels from Silver Sprocket, Laneha House, CCA Comics, and SF Zine Fest starting at 6:30pm in the lobby!
Fred Noland‘s specialty is visual storytelling, whether in animation, comics, or illustration. Noland’s comics have appeared in the New Yorker, Popula and the East Bay Express. His illustrations have appeared in LA Weekly, Nickelodeon Jr., Xbox Magazine, Revolver, Canoe & Kayak and more. He was the chief artist on the animated short series “Priced Out” which has been shown world-wide. His graphic novel biography about turn-of-the-century champion cyclist Major Taylor is scheduled for release from Drawn & Quarterly in 2025.
Fred lives in Oakland, California, where he is an avid but unremarkable cyclist and a proud poppa.
Justin Hall is a cartoonist, educator, and scholar. He is the creator or co-creator of True Travel Tales, Hard to Swallow, and Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers, and has work in publications such as the Houghton Mifflin Best American Comics, Best Erotic Comics, and the SF Weekly. He edited the Lambda-Award-winning and Eisner-nominated collectionNo Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics and was Producer of the feature-length, award-winning documentary film of the same name. Hall is the Chair of the MFA in Comics program at California College of the Arts, the first Fulbright Scholar of comics, and has curated international exhibitions of comics art and written about comics for academic publications. He is at work on a graphic novel weaving memoir with LGBTQ San Francisco history for Abrams Books. www.justinhallawesomecomics
Rina Ayuyang was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. She was always inspired by the Sunday newspaper funnies and slice-of-life tales. Ayuyang’s new book, The Man in The McIntosh Suit, is a Filipino-American take on Depression-era noir featuring mistaken identities, speakeasies, and lost love in San Francisco’s Manilatown. Her short stories have been nominated for the Ignatz and Eisner awards and she has been honored with a MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence silver medal. Ayuyang’s comics have appeared in Mutha Magazine and The Comics Journal. Her first book published by Drawn & Quarterly was Blame This on the Boogie, which appeared on best of year lists from Forbes, London Free Press, and on Publishers Weekly’s Critics Poll. Ayuyang lives in Oakland, CA. View more of her work at rinaayuyang.com.
Julia Wertz is a professional cartoonist, amateur historian, and part-time urban explorer. She made a number of graphic novels, the latest being Tenements, Towers, & Trash and Impossible People. She does regular short story comics for the New Yorker. She lives in Sonoma County, CA, with her partner Oliver and their son Felix.
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