Art Spiegelman has drawn some of the New Yorker's strongest covers—including the famous black-on-black 9/11 cover—not to mention the masterpiece that is Maus. His newest book is called Breakdowns: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!, and it chronicles Spiegelman's eager childhood corruption at the altar of pulpy sex-and-violence comics (as well as a disappointing attempt to mail-order a log cabin). From that lurid launch pad, Breakdowns reprints some of Spiegelman's earliest—and most innovative—work. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 634-3400. 7:30 pm, $5.)