Kirwan’s Game Store in Catskill hosts book-signing for Burton C. Bell’s graphic novel
The Industrialist
Graphic novel geeks and heavy metal music fans will converge in Catskill this Saturday, as Greene County Council on the Arts (GCCA) and Kirwan’s Game Store jointly host a book-signing event marking the release of Burton C. Bell’s The Industrialist. The author is also the vocalist and frontman of the long-running metal band Fear Factory. British illustrator Noel Guard and renowned comic-book colorist Vachel Shannon will be on hand for the event at Kirwan’s as well.
Fear Factory has had a reputation since the ’90s for releasing concept albums with science fiction themes, and 2012’s The Industrialist is one of the more recent examples. Not surprisingly, it’s dystopian in theme and involves lots of robotic characters. Though the LP predated the book, Bell has been quoted as calling it the “soundtrack” to accompany the graphic novel. The story is described as “a powerful post-apocalyptic tale of a free-thinking automaton struggling to find his place in a futuristic society where laws protect the elite and powerful oligarchies dominate the masses.”
The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 14 at Kirwan’s Game Store, located at 369 Main Street in Catskill. Admission is free. The original artwork for The Industrialist, which has never been displayed before, is currently on view at GCCA’s upstairs gallery at 398 Main Street, as part of the group exhibition “Words and Images: The Art of Storytelling.” The gallery is open from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, so you can easily catch both in one afternoon.
For more info, contact GCCA at (518) 943-3400 or www.greenearts.org, or Kirwan’s at (518) 719-0091 or www.kirwansgamestore.com.
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