Fantagraphics Blog Eric Reynolds

J.R. Williams has been killin' it on his flickr "blog" with a new series of comic and horror-inspired paintings. Don't forget to also check his original art page at comicartcollective.com.

Yes, Gary Groth talks Manga! What's next, Jim Shooter talking Fort Thunder?! Deb Aoki conducts the interview for about.com, further fleshing out the story of our forthcoming initiative to bring Moto Hagio and Shimura Takako to American readers. Choice quote: "Due to my almost complete ignorance of the manga publishing industry and the editorial strictures that guide it, and my pitiful lack of guile in these matters, I was insufficiently aware of how timid and craven our editorial choices should've been."

Journalism FAIL.*  Sincerely,  Seattle's Fantagraphics Books  * See: 3rd graph in story.

I love this playlist of some of Joe Sacco's favorite songs that he put together for the New York Times. For one, Joe cites Wings' "Magneto & Titanium Man," describing it as a song about "made-up superheroes." Joe has to be the only comic book artist in America whom I could believe loves this song yet doesn't recognize Magento and Titanium Man as the iconic Marvel super-villains that they are. Joe, your FOOM card is revoked. I also love it because Joe cites Charlie Patton's "Down the Dirt Road Blues." Around the time Joe was working on Safe Area Gorazde,…

  Announcing the STRAND Tote Bag Design Contest! WIN BOOKS from Fantagraphics, Toon Books and Drawn & Quarterly! The Strand Book Store has partnered with the School of Visual Arts, TOON Books,Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics Books to host a tote bag design contest. Beginning today, March 1, 2010, artists from around the world are invited to submit original illustrations representing the Strand Book Store.In April 2006, a Japanese language financial newspaper named the Strand tote bag the #1 souvenir to bring home to Japan from New York City. In one month, tote bag sales tripled and have been at the same level ever since….

This is really great. Full story here. (Thanks, Emdashes!)

One of my favorite books I've received lately is this handsome, considered little tome from Spain's Blur Ediciones, Rotulando in Spanish • Lettering en Español, collecting something that on the face of it might sound a bit loopy: lettering by the cartoonist Nono Kadáver created for the Spanish editions of work by American greats R. Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Joe Sacco, Johnny Ryan, Peter Bagge and Gilbert Shelton. Nono worked throughout most of the 1990s at Barcelona's Ediciones La Cúpula, one of Spain's leading comics publishers, and was one of the last of an era when book production was done largely by hand, not…

Ivan Brunetti presents: Hellzapoppin'Tuesday, February 16 – 9:35 p.m.H.C. Potter, 1941, 84 minArchival 35mm print from the Library of Congress   On February 16, Doc invites comic artist Ivan Brunetti to curate and introduce an evening of anarchy, featuring a screening of the zany 1941 classic Hellzapoppin'. Originally produced by vaudeville duo Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson as a long-running Broadway revue, Hellzapoppin' is unlike any other film from the period, featuring an indescribably absurd barrage of gags, musical numbers, and special effects – which even includes a descent into Hell. Ostensibly about an aspiring scriptwriter played by a pre-Stooges…

Stranger Books Editor Paul Constant conducted a great interview with Gahan Wilson in anticipation of his Seattle appearance this weekend.