Official Press Release

Cartoonist, Paul Karasik, and a band of cartooning students descend on Manhattan to show you the ropes. Karasik, whose book, "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks", was a smash sleeper hit of 2007, brings students from the Center for Cartoon Studies, the coolest comics school on the planet, down from White River Junction, Vermont to strut their stuff. It may be chilly up there in Vermont but the ink flows red-hot on the pages of their mini-comics. See for yourself when they present their work at Jim Hanley's Universe on Friday afternoon from 5-7. Karasik will sign books and look at portfolios of any aspiring cartoonists who attend.

On Saturday the gang will be at SPLAT: the Graphic Novel Symposium sponsored by the New York Center of Independent Publishing (http://www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium/about.php). There Karasik will offer a workshop examining the basic language of comics by the deconstruction of a few classics and do-it-yourself cartooning instruction. Again he will look at portfolios and distribute applications to the Center for Cartoon Studies which offers both MFA and two-year certification programs

About Jim Hanley's Universe:

Jim Hanley's Universe has been New York's premier comic book retailer for over 20 years. With locations in Manhattan and Staten Island, we have catered to the needs of comic fans in the Tri-State Area and the world over. We pride our self on being the place, "Where Art and Literature Meet," carrying a varied assortment of old comics, new comics, independently published comics and graphic novels, art books, and books covering all aspects of popular culture as well as other comic book related merchandise. For more information, call 212-268-7088 or 718-351-6299 or on the internet, visit www.jhuniverse.com.