On March 8, 2019, the Cannery Ballroom One in Nashville, Tennessee will host THE GOON 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY, a star-studded celebration of two decades of award-winning GOON comic books by Nashville native Eric Powell. The event will feature a live recording of Steve Agee’s Uhhh podcast, with host Steve Agee (The Sarah Silverman Program, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), guests Brendon Small (Metalocalypse, Galaktikon, Home Movies) Ben Garant (Reno 911!, The State) and The Goon creator Eric Powell, as well as a performance by special musical guest West End Motel, featuring Brent Hinds (Mastodon) and Tom Cheshire (Rent Boys, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves). Advance tickets can be purchased at https://ticketf.ly/2ALRSwg.
For almost two decades, the Goon’s whiskey-fueled adventures have thrilled fans, critics, and creators with their bold creativity, classic style, and irreverent humor. THE GOON 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY is timed to Albatross Funnybooks’ highly anticipated publication of The Goon #1, and attendees will be able to purchase an exclusive 20th Anniversary variant edition which will only be available at the party. The new series features the first full length Goon stories to be published since Dark Horse published THE GOON: ONCE UPON A HARD TIME comics in 2015. The event kicks off a year-long, 20th Anniversary celebration featuring a national signing tour, Albatross Funnybooks’ collected editions of classic GOON graphic novels, limited edition GOON tiki mugs and more.
For more updates on Albatross Funnybooks and the GOON’s 20th Anniversary, follow the company on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
About Albatross Exploding Funnybooks: Launched in 2002, Albatross Exploding Funnybooks has always been a labor of love for award-winning, Nashville-based cartoonist Eric Powell. The label began as a means to publish Powell’s creator-owned series THE GOON, which mainstream publishers had deemed “too different.” Although THE GOON later found a home and wider audience with Dark Horse Comics, Powell continued to publish, celebrate, and cultivate creator-owned titles through Albatross Exploding Funnybooks, including his all-ages comic CHIMICHANGA and Rebecca Sugar’s PUG DAVIS. In 2016, Powell rededicated himself in earnest to his publishing company, launching his new fantasy series HILLBILLY and other works such as the all-ages horror anthology SPOOK HOUSE, Fabian Rangel Jr. and Logan Faerber's weird war tale ’NAMWOLF and Brendon Small's GALAKTKON.
Although he had been eking out a meager living in the comics field since 1995, Eric didn't find true success until he launched his critically acclaimed dark comedy series The Goon. The Goon was subsequently picked up by Dark Horse Comics and boasts a die-hard cult following.
The author lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Awards: International Horror Guild: 2004 Best Illustrated Narrative, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2004 Best Single Issue (The Goon #1), Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Humor Publication, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2005 Best Continuing Series, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Writer/Artist—Humor, Will Eisner Comic Industry Award: 2008 Best Painter or Multimedia Artist.
“The Goon is old-school cool—a great, gurgling gumbo of EC Comics horror, Monty Python wit, and 1930s pulp.”--Entertainment Weekly
“A true American original—a delirious medley of strange characters, stranger creatures, wild-ass (and often truly creepy) storytelling, art so excellent and perfectly matched to the tone of his stories as to be flabbergasting, and writing so hilarious that it sometimes comes close to making me pee my pants.”—Frank Darabont, director
“The product of a contentedly demented mind.”--Comic Book Resources
“The Goon has earned [Powell] a seat at the table with Kirby, Eisner, Chester Gould, Hal Foster and Al Feldstein.”—Joe Hill (Locke & Key)
“Eric Powell’s great series The Goon deftly combines lowbrow humor with unexpected emotional depth in its ongoing story of a big, not-so-dumb guy who does battle with zombies in a town seemingly dreamt up by Tom Waits.”—The A.V. Club
“Eric Powell has created a sharp, witty little monster comic with a very interesting mystery at its heart. And Eric can draw as well as anyone in the business. When zombies are overrunning the city, there’s only one man tough enough to keep the undead in line: Eric Powell’s THE GOON.”—Jeff Smith (creator of Bone)
“Every panel [is] gorgeously detailed, like a Max Fleischer cartoon if Cthulhu spat some sort of hellish bile all over it.”—IGN
“There’s a certain joy knowing that a cartoonist of great skill is filling his or her own comic with the elements they love . . . The appeal is how Powell conveys that enthusiasm by drawing every creature and monster so darned well.”--Publishers Weekly
“If this is your first time [reading The Goon], you are in for a treat—if not, you already know how lucky you are.”—David Fincher, director
“Tremendously entertaining . . . a highly enjoyable blend of pulp horror and slapstick comedy.”--Fangoria
“Bursts with fisticuffs, gore, bad attitude and running character gags . . . Prime ghastly fun.”--Booklist
“A comic for readers who like a generous helping of comedy with their hordes of zombies.”--New York Daily News
“Comicdom’s new hero is a fighting machine with a curious affinity for kicking serious ghoul butt. We hear the Hulk’s green with envy.”--Entertainment Weekly