Comic Book Collecting San Francisco

Plant Swap - Luludi Living Art - FREE Community Event

**Join us for Luludi Living Art’s Spring Plant Swap, a free community event for plant lovers of all kinds.** Bring 1–3 healthy plants, rooted cuttings, plant babies, or small pots to exchange and take home the same number. It’s a fun and easy way to refresh your collection, share with others, and connect with fellow plant enthusiasts in the community. Whether you’re a seasoned plant parent or just starting your collection, all are welcome. Please bring only healthy plants and label them if possible so everyone can swap with confidence. Come spend a cozy spring afternoon surrounded by plants, creativity, and community at the Luludi Living Art Studio. **Event Details** Sunday, June 7th 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Luludi Living Art Studio 346 N Ellsworth Ave San Mateo, CA **What to Bring** * Houseplants * Rooted cuttings * Plant babies * Small pots **Admission** Free event – all are welcome

East Bay Women's Book Club May Meetup: Best Offer Wins

Hello, fellow female readers -- The book for the May Meetup is 'Best Offer Wins,' by Marisa Kashino, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick and An ELLE Best Mystery/Thriller. For those of you who are new, I will send out the address to my house by Monday, May 18. Looking forward to gathering together and discussing the book. Bonnie

Dungeon Crawler Carl @ Southern Pacific Brewing

Come enjoy a drink at Southern Pacific Brewing and discuss our May read! Our book for May is Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Hope to see you there!

June Book Club: Go As a River by Shelley Read

ABOUT THE BOOK Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses. Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known, fleeing into the surrounding mountains, where she struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland—its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations. Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.

I Love Boosters (2026)

**Join us for I Love Boosters, a "raucous capitalist critique" from Oakland-based writer-director Boots Riley on Saturday, May 23 at AMC Kabuki. Show starts at 7:15pm.** Please buy your ticket in advance. We will meet outside (or inside depending on the weather) at 7:00pm for quick intros and again after the show to gather before walking to a nearby bar/restaurant for discussion. Location for the after movie discussion is TBD but we will be near the Japan Center so we have plenty of options for food & drink. See you there or to quote a popular song, Shoplifters of the World Unite!

Book 88: Brother Bronte by Fernando Flores

I saw this on a New York Times list of recommended books and thought it looked interesting. According to their review, “Fernando A. Flores’s new novel imagines a bleak world where books are illegal and deprivation is the norm. It’s a blast.” Excited to dive into this one with you all! -Jessica \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **How it works:** We’ll meet at a local brewery for some drinks and conversation. Finishing the book is not a requirement to attend—as long as you don't mind spoilers! We’ll have an unstructured, informal discussion of the book and the themes that the book brings up. We hope to see you there! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- Two women fight to save their dystopian border town―and literature―in this gonzo near-future adventure. The year is 2038, and the formerly bustling town of Three Rivers, Texas, is a surreal wasteland. Under the authoritarian thumb of its tech industrialist mayor, Pablo Henry Crick, the town has outlawed reading and forced most of its mothers to work as indentured laborers at the Big Tex Fish Cannery, which poisons the atmosphere and lines Crick’s pockets. Scraping by in this godforsaken landscape are best friends Proserpina and Neftalí. One of Three Rivers’ last literate citizens, Neftalí hides and reads the books of the mysterious renegade author Jazzmin Monelle Rivas, whose last novel, Brother Brontë, is finally in Neftalí’s possession. But after a series of increasingly violent atrocities committed by Crick’s forces, Neftalí and Proserpina, with the help of a wounded Bengal tigress, three scheming triplets, and an underground network of rebel tías, rise up to reclaim their city―and in the process, unlock Rivas’s connection to Three Rivers itself. An adventure that only the acclaimed Fernando A. Flores could dream up, Brother Brontë is a mordant, gonzo romp through a ruined world that, in its dysfunction, tyranny, and disparity, feels uncannily like our own. With his most ambitious book yet, Flores once again bends what fiction can do, in the process crafting a moving and unforgettable story of perseverance.

Trinket Making Decompression

**Trinket Making Decompression in Oakland ✨ Saturday May 23, 3:30–5:30 pm at Temescal Library.** We’ll have materials for making items into trinkets: key chains, beads, charms, ribbons, glue and other bits to play with. Bring your own scrap treasures or pile of recycled items: broken jewelry, single earrings, weird tiny objects, all the little monsters hiding in your drawers. These little trinkets are a way to share joy with others and serve as reminders for our own inner child. Make gifts to share with the community, add to your bag and share at trinket libraries. There’ll be a sharing table if you want to swap materials, and you’re welcome to bring any art or craft project you’ve been wanting to make!

May Podcast Club Discussion: Art Crimes

In May, we're talking about Art Crimes: From graffiti and forged paintings to looted antiquities, stolen comics, and NFT scams, this playlist looks at the many ways visual art can become entangled with money, status, and crime. Looking forward to discussing this topic with you all! **How It Works:** * We often follow the Podcast Brunch Club listening lists covering a different topic each month. Members can also make suggestions for future topics. **Be sure to check the monthly Meetup event to see what we're listening to!** * Listening lists are composed of episode selections related to the month's theme and are pulled from a variety of shows. And we love to include some recommendations too! * Finishing the recommended listening list is not a requirement to attend. Listen to as many or few of the suggested episodes as you would like. * We will have an unstructured, informal discussion of the selections and the month's theme. **This Month's Topic:** These episodes travel through street art, galleries, museums, private collections, and digital marketplaces, revealing how value gets assigned, who gets protected, and who gets exploited when images and objects become powerful commodities. **Here's a link to the Spotify playlist:** [https://bit.ly/spotify-artcrimes](https://bit.ly/spotify-artcrimes) **The Playlist - Suggested Episodes:** * ***The Economics of Everyday Things*: [“26. Grafitti”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5OgjDpW6swSKIDujcu9ZEp?si=6a3ac8f6a45c4e98%E2%80%9D)** *(November 2023, 14 min)* A brisk look at graffiti’s origins, evolution, and economics, asking how one person’s vandalism becomes another’s public art. * ***Reveal*: [“Fancy Galleries, Fake Art”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7t9DNln3Dq4BZDpbfK5u5l?si=5a7f69c7575348de%E2%80%9D)** *(December 2025, 58 min)* This episode investigates a massive art forgery scandal involving fake paintings sold through high-end New York galleries as works by major artists. It also follows the trail of a Nazi-looted painting, showing how questions of provenance, ownership, and accountability continue to haunt the art world. * ***Dynamite Doug*: [“Episode 1: Greatest Art Heist”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cFs8DSkUA7LXm1cdD4obu?si=6609bb86f25c44d1%E2%80%9D)** *(February 2023, 27 min)* This episode traces Douglas Latchford’s rise in the world of Cambodian antiquities as stolen cultural heritage made its way into elite Western collections. It shows how looting can be recast as prestige collecting when museums, dealers, and wealthy buyers help legitimize the trade. * ***Stealing Superman*: [“Episode 01 – Beads of Sweat”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ZXV61aoywyZPreZ33Ivyi?si=70954f069f8e4ca2%E2%80%9D)** *(November 2022, 48 min)* When a rare and enormously valuable comic disappears from Nicolas Cage’s collection, the theft kicks off a strange and compelling mystery. The episode expands the idea of art crime beyond galleries and museums, into the world of collectibles, fandom, and celebrity. * ***The Art of Crime*: [“The Adventure of the Libelous Painter (Crimes of New York)”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fAsQiBA6sWe9fjHYuEEOc?si=42d29e12f4ee40e1%E2%80%9D)** *(November 2024, 44 min)* This historical episode follows a feud between a painter and his patron that escalates when the artist creates and auctions off an insulting portrait. What follows is a fascinating case in which visual art becomes the basis for criminal libel. **Bonus Episodes:** * *[WSJ Tech News Briefing](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oyHqrhx3mOn9s3ze9jJ1l?si=88694fb761f44815)*[: “NFT Art Presents New Frontier for Fraudsters”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oyHqrhx3mOn9s3ze9jJ1l?si=88694fb761f44815) *(August 2021, 14 min)* A short look at how NFT art opened up new opportunities for scams and fraud, proving that even in digital spaces, the old art-world problems still apply. * *[Freakonomics Radio](https://open.spotify.com/episode/45BUuAcKaWnmLCzsmtGmM7?si=f081814a92be40a3)*[: “The Case of the $4 Million Dollar Gold Coffin”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/45BUuAcKaWnmLCzsmtGmM7?si=f081814a92be40a3) *(May 2023, 53 min)* A sharp, investigative look at how a looted Egyptian antiquity ended up at the Met, using repatriation, celebrity, and museum power to expose how stolen cultural heritage gets legitimized. * *[Empty Frames](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VQVDhahMH32A9boAbShYV?si=e1e1153a06764eae)*[: “New // Louvre Heist”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VQVDhahMH32A9boAbShYV?si=e1e1153a06764eae) *(November 2025, 32 min)* This episode breaks down a recent Louvre jewel heist with enough detail to feel grounded, while the hosts’ conversational style keeps the story moving. * *[Hashtag History](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Gr8c0HsHrLiASn53CcXEv?si=5723445bff904d8b)*[: “EP44: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Gr8c0HsHrLiASn53CcXEv?si=5723445bff904d8b) *(September 2020, 43 min)* Despite its tangents, this episode gives the most detailed and accessible overview on the list of the infamous Gardner Museum theft, still the largest unsolved art heist in history. * *[Art Crime Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lRKkjvHXH3KPQN07V0MYW?si=116ae82b98c24bc4)*[: “The Georgia O’Keeffe 10th Episode Spectacular!”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lRKkjvHXH3KPQN07V0MYW?si=116ae82b98c24bc4) *(March 2021, 47 min)* Less focused on the theft itself than the others, this episode is most interesting for the way it connects Georgia O’Keeffe’s stolen work to larger questions about gender, visibility, and which art crimes get remembered. * *[Wine & Crime Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6245eSfBZHkUWzai78Cgwr?si=84a8aeb17682493a)*[: “Ep80 Art Theft”](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6245eSfBZHkUWzai78Cgwr?si=84a8aeb17682493a) *(August 2018, 1 hr 39 min)* This loose, funny, and very long episode closes out the bonus list with a broader, boozier tour through cultural property theft and the strange stories that surround it.

Queer Biker Invasion of National Parks: Grand Teton & Yellowstone

SF Men's Naked Drawing Group Session Saturday 05/23/2026

Fancy cocktails and queer poetry

Drink and Draw: [Insert theme/prompt here]

Just some convivial folks hanging out at a neighborhood pub with their skechbooks. You don't have to be an "artist," or whatever that means, to be here. Bringing art supplies is a great idea though! Hydration is encouraged! The Flying Pig sells soft drinks and other n/a options as well as beer and cider. 
We come up with a theme or prompt for each week. You're free to use it or ignore it. It's about inspiring to stray from the norm. Speaking of which, this week's theme/prompt is [TBA]