Jules Feiffer Signs 'Cousin Joseph' at Art Southampton

Award-winning local cartoonist, playwright and author Jules Feiffer will be signing his new graphic novel, Cousin Joseph, in a special pre-release event at the booth of Chicago’s Jean Albano Gallery at this summer’s Art Southampton art fair.

Cousin Joseph is the prequel to Feiffer’s 2014 graphic novel and New York Times bestseller Kill My Mother, and the second installment in a proposed trilogy. The graphic novel follows Big Sam Hannigan—a classic gumshoe in the vein of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, and the patriarch to Kill My Mother‘s Hannigan family.

Set in Bay City, California in the early years of the Great Depression, Sam Hannigan is on a case that involves monthly trips to Hollywood, commissioned by the mysterious and titular Cousin Joseph, where he bribes film producers to make movies with only happy endings and pro-American themes. In classic noir fashion, the case unravels to reveal the dark, seedy truth behind it all.

Taking inspiration from writers Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and film noir directors like Howard Hawks, John Huston and Billy Wilder, Cousin Joseph uses sequential art to offer an interesting spin on the detective genre.

Along with the book signing on Saturday, July 9 from 3–5 p.m., the Jean Albano Gallery booth will also feature Feiffer’s artwork for sale, along with the gem sculptures of John Torreano, whimsical sculptures by Donna Rosenthal, abstract paintings by Bonnie Star and the acclaimed artwork of Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin. Visit jeanalbanogallery.com for more info.

Art Southampton will be held July 7–11 at Nova’s Ark Project (60 Millstone Road) in Bridgehampton. Tickets can be purchased at art-southampton.com. Cousin Joseph will be available for purchase everywhere on its official publication date, July 26.  For more info about the fair, including a list of exhibitors, visit art-southampton.com.