Gaga Over Guzu

OPEN IMAGE GALLERY

Let the drooling commence! (by Robert Faires)

Tokidoki! Crappy Cats! Plushy internal organs! Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations! Coffee table art books by Shepard Fairey and Gary Baseman! Issues of Juxtapoz! Skateboard art! Art art!! Art art by Austin artists!! As if you needed more ways for Austin Books & Comics to part you and your hard-earned cash … now comes Guzu!!!

Guzu Gallery is a new annex to the perennial winner of "Best Comic-Book Store" in the Best of Austin Readers Poll, situated right next door to the original purveyor of graphics goodness. When the Iris hair salon vacated the space, Austin Books owner Brad Bankston saw an opportunity to expand his empire … well, more like take something the store was already doing and do it in a slightly better way.

A number of products that Guzu will carry were already available at Austin Books, but the wealth of material on the shelves made them difficult to showcase. Guzu gives a lot of the vinyl and plushy toys and non-caped crusader statues room to breathe and catch your eye. And the art books and graphic novels that sometimes get lost in the sea of spines throughout Austin Books can receive the cover-out treatment at Guzu. Plus, the new space will even have room for you to sit and page through these beauties, the better to entice you into making them part of your own collection at home.

And "gallery" isn't in this business' name by chance. You'll see art displayed on the walls every time you enter, with work curated by the ever-popular artist who rendered The Intergalactic Nemesis in comics form, Tim Doyle. Indeed, if you're reading this on Friday, Feb. 10, and you're one of the first 100 people to visit Guzu Gallery when it throws open its doors at 8pm, you'll receive a free print by Doyle. 5000 N. Lamar, here I come!