ROOT HOG OR DIE
Dir. Dan Stafford, 2014
USA, 45 min. (Roadshow Edit)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 – 8PM
ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Desert Island and Spectacle are proud to welcome artist John Porcellino (KING-CAT) for a stop on his tour across these united states in support of the crowdfunded documentary film ROOT HOG OR DIE as well as his new book The Hospital Suite. John will be presenting a “roadshow” edit of the documentary as well as a slideshow, readings, Q&A, and more.

ROOT HOG OR DIE follows the life of John Porcellino, who has self-published King-Cat Comics and Stories for twenty-five years. His comics, with equal parts Thoreau and Hüsker Dü, showcase the moments-between-moments which make up the majority of our lives, but which many fail to notice.

“…perhaps no comics artist since Charles Schulz has rendered so much psychological detail with so few lines.” -Rain Taxi Review of Books

“I wanted to face existence. That’s like Punk and Buddhism and everything.” -John P.

“The Hospital Suite is a landmark work by the celebrated cartoonist and small-press legend John Porcellino—an autobiographical collection detailing his struggles with illness in the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1997, John began to have severe stomach pain. He soon found out he needed emergency surgery to remove a benign tumor from his small intestine. In the wake of the surgery, he had numerous health complications that led to a flare-up of his preexisting tendencies toward anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Hospital Suite is Porcellino’s response to these experiences—simply told stories drawn in the honest, heart-wrenching style of his much-loved King-Cat mini-comics. His gift for spare yet eloquent candor makes The Hospital Suite an intimate portrayal of one person’s experiences that is also intensely relatable.

Porcellino’s work is lauded for its universality and quiet, clear-eyed contemplation of everyday life. The Hospital Suite is a testimony to this subtle strength, making his struggles with the medical system and its consequences for his mental health accessible and engaging.” -Drawn & Quarterly