Tom Neely's THE BLOT Fri July 20th 8pm

Secret Headquarters is proud to announce an evening with Tom Neely and his new book: The Blot, July 20th.

The Blot by Tom Neely Painter and cartoonist Tom Neely's first graphic novel, "The Blot," is like a sad song that breaks your heart while reminding you of life's beauty. "The Blot" follows a nameless everyman who, while dealing with the fallout from a doomed relationship, is stalked by a mysterious black splotch. As the story unfolds, this shape-shifting blot appears as a harmless cloud of ink, a faceless demon, a source of strength and an inescapable darkness, testing our character in a new way with each metamorphosis.

With a drawing style resembling the 1930s newspaper comic strips of E.C. Segar and Floyd Gottfredson, and a surrealistic sensibility inspired by painter René Magritte, Neely eschews traditional, representational comic storytelling and finds innovative new ways to tell an ultimately human story about love and loss.

"The Blot" and its characters are an outgrowth of the work Neely has done in his paintings, illustrations and animation over the past several years. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a freelance animator and illustrator. He earned an M.F.A. in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000 and has exhibited his paintings in multiple galleries throughout San Francisco, and L.A. Neely's illustrations have been featured in dozens of magazines and literary journals and have been featured in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 American Illustration annuals. His comics have appeared in the Graphic Classics anthologies, Expo 2003, Grind, Scram, Kitchen Sink and Nickelodeon Magazines.

Tom will be signing copies of The Blot at SHQ from 8pm - 10pm.

My guess is he'll be drinking beer at SHQ from 10pm - 11pm.

He'll share some with you I'm pretty sure.