Support Japan Disaster Relief

 

As you all know, Japan was recently hit by its worst earthquake since they started keeping formal records a century ago. The places in Japan where I have lived have escaped the worst of the devastation, and I’m happy to say that none of my friends & colleagues have been injured. But it breaks my heart that Japan, a country I consider to be a second home, is hurting so much right now.

As an artist of limited means, I don’t really have the money to make a big donation, so I’ve decided to try something else. For the rest of the month of March, 2011, I will donate all profits from sales of Tonoharu: Part One and Tonoharu: Part Two to the Red Cross. (This offer only applies to orders placed through my website, not books bought in bookstores or at Amazon.com; I don’t have any control over those sales).

Just so this is completely on the up-and-up, here’s a breakdown of where your money would go. (This example is for U.S. orders; international orders will pay more for postage, but the final donation amount will be the same.)

What you pay me: $22.33
Minus Postage, Paypal Transaction Fee, and Book Production Cost: ($2.38, $0.95 & $3.50, respectively)
Equals: $15.50 donated to the Red Cross per book sold.

To order, please visit my store:
https://larsmartinson.com/buy/

Or if my books don’t interest you, please consider donating what you can directly to the charity of your choice.

Book orders have slowed down to a trickle recently so I can’t say how much money I’ll raise, but I figured I’d give it a shot. If you’ve been thinking of buying a copy, now’s the time! Thanks!

Note: My inspiration to do this came from fellow cartoonist/friend Adam Pasion, who is also donating profits from his book sales to charity for the rest of the month. Check out his offer on his website: http://sundogscomix.blogspot.com/

“Tonoharu” in the Park Bugle!

Tonoharu received a nice little write-up in the Park Bugle, a community newspaper. You can read it online here: http://bit.ly/h6KPgx

My thanks to reporter Ruth Weleczki for the thoughtful coverage!

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Also a quick reminder: I’ll be doing a book signing here in Minneapolis this Monday, March 7th, 2011. Details here. Come out it you can!

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March 11, 2011 UPDATE: No blog entry this week. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Japan!!

Signing/Presentation at Magers & Quinn!

I’ll be giving a presentation and do a book signing on Monday, March 7, 2011, at Magers & Quinn here in Minneapolis.

The event is part of a joint venture with visiting author/artist Ron Tanner, who will be presenting about his new book Kiss Me, Stranger. Information about Ron and his work can be found on his website: http://www.ronaldtanner.com/

This’ll probably be the last presentation I’ll be giving in the Twin Cities for a while, so if you want to hear me babble on about my work, this is your chance!

Event Details
What: Presentation/ Book Signing with Ron Tanner and myself
When: Monday, March 7th, 2011, 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Where: Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55408 [Google Maps]

Facebook Event Page

Hope to see you there!

Self-Publishing Presentation

 

A few months ago, I gave a presentation about self-publishing graphic novels at the Loft Literary Center. Daily Cross Hatch correspondent Sarah Morean taped the whole thing, and recently assembled it into a series of web videos, which can be found here:
http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2011/02/04/self-publishing-with-lars-martinson-parts-1-8-of-8/ 

Thanks again to the Loft for having me, and to Sarah for making the presentation available online!

“Tonoharu” in Japanese Expat Publications!

My work was recently profiled in a couple of big English language publications in Japan:

Metropolis, an expat magazine serving the Tokyo area, just put up an article entitled “Hymn to the Lonely Man”, which can be found here:
http://metropolis.co.jp/features/feature/hymn-to-the-lonely-man/

And the Japan Times recently ran an article about profiling me and cartoonist Adam Pasion, which can be found here:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110205a1.html

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My sincere thanks to Metropolis editor James Hadfield, and Japan Times writer Gianni Simone for the coverage! Also, check out Adam Pasion’s comic about living and working in Japan: http://sundogscomix.blogspot.com/