Kate Beaton: Calendar Grrl

Time, as the Steve Miller Band so catchily pointed out, keeps on slippin' (slippin', slippin') into the future.

(Later, they also asserted that, abracadabra, they wanted to reach out & grab ya – but let's not 1) dwell on their pile of stupid or 2) get generally distracted here.)

The point is: Time. Here it comes, there it goes. And now, even though we can happily rely on the convenience of various digital devices to keep track of that slow poison, there's nothing quite like the sheer physicality of a paper-based calendar on a wall to nail us to the present while simultaneously providing a view of the somewhat bigger picture.

And, unless you're a strict minimalist or constrained by some suffocating business environment, it's even better when those calendars include pictures. Like a different image for each month, often based around a particular theme, and – hell, you're already aware of the ridiculous array of decorative wall calendars available each year.

We just wanna make sure that there's one more you're aware of.

We wanna make sure, because both the new year (with its need for a new calendar) and Christmas (with its traditional gift-givings) are rapidly approaching. And because we can scarcely imagine a calendar more enjoyable than one that displays the cartoons of Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant fame. And, fortunately for anyone who appreciates smart & goofy humor about history and literature and, oh, just anything the woman sets her pen to, Drawn & Quarterly has two Beaton calendars available for 2013. One's a regular Hark! A Vagrant calendar, featuring cartoons from the bestselling book; the other one focuses on the more literary gags and critiques from the artist's career thus far; and all are drawn in Beaton's endearing Kanadian Kawaii style that captures human expression as well as her wit lambasts its foibles and facades.

Uh … "Kanadian Kawaii"?

Yeah, well, we're no Steve Miller Band.