Blab World is the new incarnation of the celebrated art & comics annual Blab! "It's like the New Yorker for Mutants," proclaimed the Los Angeles Reader. Blab World defies description: neither book or magazine, it is obviously a work of art. Over the last decade, Blab! has accrued countless design awards and honors. Founded in 1986 by acclaimed Chicago-based graphic designer and art director Monte Beauchamp, Blab World has evolved from a digest-sized comics mag into a beautifully designed and printed keepsake. Over the years Blab! has featured such (now celebrated) illustrators and painters as Chris Ware, Gary Baseman, The Clayton Brothers, Shag, Camille Rose Garcia, Mark Ryden, and many, many more. Blab World also features selections of "found" graphic ephemera such as Depression-era matchbook covers, Valmor cosmetic labels, vintage decals, and European devil postcards. Blab World is an annual publication.
Blab World Number 1 contains the following: The main feature is "Artpocalypse! (Artists Interpret End Times)" Featuring: Mark Ryden, Joe Sorren, Kris Kuksi, Femke Hiemstra, Ron English, Natalia Fabia, Alex Gross, Sue Coe, Gary Taxali, Gary Baseman, Ryan Heshka, Owen Smith, Martin Wittfooth, Yoko D'Holbachie, Andy Kehoe, Travis Lampe, Jean-Pierre Roy, John Pound, Andrea Dezso, Edel Rodriguez, Fred Stonehouse, Spain (Zap!) Rodriguez, and MANY MORE!!! Other articles include: "SKULL! A history of the skull motif on the covers of Pre-Code Comics, Pulps, and Paperback Books," lavishly illustrated throughout by Bill North, Senior Curator, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art; "Covering Weirdo: A loving analysis of R. Crumb's Weirdo Covers" by Steven Heller, columnist for The New York Times Book Review and the author of more than 100 books on design and popular culture. "Axe the Axis! Propaganda Caricature Art of World War II" by WW II Historian Jim Lowes.
Artist profiles include: "Ballpoint Bravura: Drawings by C.J. Pyle" by Bill North, Senior Curator, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art; "Collodion / noidolloC: The Wetplate Collodion Photography of Kari Laine McCluskey" by Monte Beauchamp; "Sequential Art: The Dreaded Mothman of West Virginia," Mark Todd; "The Neurotic Art Collector," Greg Clarke; "Quicksand: The Tumultuous Life of Isabelle Eberhardt", Nora Krug; "Four Horsemen," Peter Kuper; "Slime Molds," Geoffrey Grahn; "The Life of an Artist," Sergio Ruzzier; "Fetal Elvis' Art Empire," Mark Landman.
