Fantagraphics Blog Eric Reynolds

Courtesy our excellent intern, Alexa. 

Listen to your mothers: patience is a virtue. If you submit something to Fantagraphics at a convention over a weekend, do not start calling us on Monday morning to find out how much we liked it and to ask when your contract will go in the mail because we've likely been busy enough working a con and keeping up with our lives to have read your comic yet (we may have even brought home other comics that we also want to read, and we might not be able to read all of those by  Monday morning, either, go figure!). Do…

 … BIZARRO GARY! 

This story by Luc Sante, "The Book Collection that Devoured My Life," was something all too familiar to me and probably others reading this blog. If, like me, you've actually worried that your book collection could pose a physical threat to your children, you should read this.

Ye Olde Fanboygraphix & THE BEGUILING present two very exciting events in Toronto this month… First, fresh from the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Funny Pages and his trip to MoCCA this weekend, cartoonist JASON launches his new graphic novel POCKET FULL OF RAIN in Canada on Tuesday, June 10th at THE CENTRAL at 8PM (603 Markham Street, Toronto). And it's FREE!   Then, a week later, enjoy THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO, a Canuckian book launch for Toronto author BLAKE BELL on Wednesday, June 18th from 7PM-9PM at the Lillian H. Smith Library (239 College St., Toronto). And yes, also FREE. Here's the full skinny from our pals at the Beguiling (almost certainly Canada's finest source for comics and graphic novels): The…

 Pitchfork spills the early beans on our very own Zak Sally's forthcoming debut solo LP and previews a track with a free streaming and downloadable MP3. And a picture of Zak in a gorilla suit. We are excited. This track rocks. Zak's band features members of Steelpole Bathtub and Cows, who also comprised his Wipers cover band, which you may recall from the videos we posted last fall when they played Zak's book release party for Sammy the Mouse #1. And did we mention Sammy #2 will debut at Comic-Con this summer?       

He was last seen headed down for the Book Expo in Los Angeles from Seattle. He never showed up at the con. Instead, the guy pictured above was working our booth all weekend. We don't know who he is. If you know Jason and have any information on his whereabouts, please contact Fantagraphics.  Here is a recent photo of him from our Christmas party last Dec. (with Jacob Covey on the right):     

  This Saturday and Sunday, June 7 & 8, Fantagraphics will be in NYC for the 2008 MoCCA Arts Festival, one of our favorite shows of the year, and we'll be bringing along a slew of new stuff and hosting round-the-clock signings. We're also sponsoring two events over the weekend, on Friday and Saturday nights. Here's your handy-dandy guide to all things Fantagraphics at MoCCA. You can be sure I'll post this again as we get closer, too. First up, you'll want to head out to Cobble Hill in Brooklyn on Friday for our very special Rocketship party, featuring an exhibition of original art and…

Courtesy Bill Griffith:

Animator and cartoonist Gary Leib delivers a short history of Manhattan's Meatpacking District for the NY Times.  UPDATE: Gary was kind enough to send me a few stills from the piece, and also tells me that this animation is the first of four created for the Times. Each piece is about a minute long, and is a very personal take on different parts of NY. The original score is by NY based jazz genius Michael Hashim. So stay tuned to the NYTimes.com for more!