History Retold

Cartoonist Noah Van Sciver always has another project down his inkwell, and one of the latest — a collaboration with vegetarian restaurateur and author Dan Landes — will make its debut tonight with a two-part celebration at City, O’ City and upstairs performance venue Deer Pile. Van Sciver, a Westword contributor, says the concept appealed to him as an illustrator both for its nineteenth-century setting and its connection to Denver history. Landes’s story, A City of Whiskey and Fire, is based on the great fire of 1863, which decimated downtown Denver and led to a city ordinance requiring all new structures to be built using brick. “Nobody knows for sure what actually happened, so Dan basically wrote a story about how the fire started,” Van Sciver explains.

Festivities begin in the restaurant, 206 East 13th Avenue, with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. for an exhibit of Van Sciver’s original Whiskey and Fire drawings; after 9, Landes will host a reading upstairs at Deer Pile, with live music from the Denver Broncos UK. The story, bound in comic-book form to fit in a package with a seven-inch recording of Landes reading the tale, will be available for $15, or look for it later at Kilgore Books and other local bookstores. Admission to both events is free; visit A City of Whiskey and Fire’s Face-book page for information.

Tue., April 8, 7-9 p.m., 2014