Zak Sally has recorded some exceptional songs as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Low and Enemymine, but his main passion is with something very different: comic art. He launched his La Mano press as an outlet to release both music and his illustrated work, and now it will see a new book by its founder called Sammy The Mouse, Volume 1.

It was fully funded via a Kickstarter campaign that Sally launched last summer, and as described in its proposal, "collects the first three issues of the individual comics, previously released by Fantagraphics Books in the US, as part of the international "Ignatz" line of comics administered by Italian publisher Coconino." That's a lot of hands in the pot, so it's great to see that he will able to take the reigns on his own with this project.

Sammy The Mouse is the story of a mouse and his friends who have some seriously bad luck. There's more than likely some tinges of dark comedy involved based on teaser artwork that has floated around on the web the past few months. And Sally is doing this all his own, from illustration to writing, and assembly, reproduction and delivery.

He's celebrating the release with a tour of the Twin Cities and Chicago starting Thursday, March 16 through March 24. First up is Thursday night at independent bookstore Magers and Quinn. He'll be joined by Dale Flattum (who is promoting his book Tooth), and festivities start at 7:30 p.m.

Check out additional dates below and help support one of Minnesota's most fascinating artists.

Saturday, March 17
Big Table Studio — St. Paul
7 p.m.

Firday, March 23
Quimby's — Chicago
7 p.m.

Saturday, March 24
Rational Park — Chicago
7-11 p.m.
This is an art show called Physical Evidence and will highlight original artwork from Zak Sally, Dale Flattum and John Porcellino.

More information:
www.zaksally.com
www.lamano21.com