Fantagraphics Blog janice headley

Oh my glob, you guys! The great Tony Millionaire is one of the featured artists in the forthcoming release The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia: Inhabitants, Lore, Spells, and Ancient Crypt Warnings of the Land of Ooo Circa 19.56 B.G.E. – 501 A.G.E, out later this month from our friends at Abrams. (FYI: Renee French is another featured illustrator!)  And on Saturday, August 3rd, the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles will be hosting an awesomely algebraic book launch party with Tony! More details will be announced soon, but be sure to mark your calendar now.  The La Luz de…

West coast, get ready! The legendary Gary Panter is hitting the road with his avant-garde noise combo, Devin, Gary & Ross, opening for Sub Pop Records' dynamic duo No Age. 08-18 Arcata, CA – MexNwoW08-19 Eugene, OR – Cozmic Pizza08-20 Seattle,WA – Washington Hall08-21 Portland, OR – Backspace 08-22 Chico, CA – Cafe Coda08-23 Berkeley, CA – Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive 08-24 Bolinas, CA – TBA Sadly, tour dates are too tight for us to arrange any book signings, so you'll just have to bring your copies of Dal Tokyo to the concert venues to get 'em signed….

photo credit: our good pal Jonas Seaman It's sad, but true: our good friends at Americaware are calling it a day — so this is your very, very last chance to score some comfy tees and hoodies featuring artwork by comics legends Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard, Basil Wolverton and Jim Woodring. Quantities are super-limited (I'm already seeing "out-of-stock" notices on their website!), and these designs will not be reprinted! Don't miss out!

Johnny Ryan will be whippin' it out with a solo art show, Johnny Ryan's Chicks With Dicks, opening this Saturday, July 27th at Мишка in Los Angeles! Johnny Ryan's Chicks With Dicks will feature over sixty illustrations based on Jack Chick religious pamphlets from the 1960s onward. Our friends at Мишка explain: "For those who aren't historians on religious propaganda from fifty years ago, Jack Chick was an artist who published wild fire and brimstone comics about everyone going to hell for pretty much any minor offense. The comics read as a something an Evangelical Sunday school teacher might create,…

You may recall, our own Jim Woodring has teamed up with local beer experts Elysian Brewing Company for a new line of flavors dubbed the Oddland Series!  Here's how the collaboration works: Elysian comes up with a kooky flavor, runs it past Jim who sketches an idea; the recipe is tweaked, ingredients secured, and we're off to Oddland! For the second flavor in the series, the brewers at Elysian present the Oddland Spiced Pear Ale, brewed with pears, Northwest premium 2-row and German Cara-hell malts, bittered with German Northern Brewer and finished with Yakima Cascade and Czech Saaz hops. Cumin…

In conjunction with the exhibit Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is hosting the all-day event Saturday Strip on Saturday, July 27th, showcasing all that is amazing in the world of independent comics, cartoons, and animation in their town!  Paul Hornschemeier will discuss the Chicago comics scene, and Lilli Carré will give tips on how to make your own mini-comics and animated films, alongside many other awesomely talented artists during panels and workshops. You can also buy rare books and original artwork at a pop-up comic fair co-presented by the MCA Store and…

Larry and Janice will be bringing the grungey-ness of the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery to the loveliness of Anacortes, WA, for the Unknown Music Series! (What? The store is grunge-y! Have you looked at the floor? Don't!)  Now in its third year, this summer music & arts festival is co-organized by Northwest comic artist Geneviève Castrée. On Saturday, July 20th and Sunday, July 21st, we'll be on-site during the festival's Small Press Book Fair, carrying a handful of our titles alongside some of the self-published mini-comix and zines that we carry at the store. Not only will the festival host…

Named one of the “The Best Damn Comics of the Year” by Tom Kaczynski in Boing Boing‘s survey and one of “The Best Reads of 2012″ by musician Dan Willson in The Scotsman‘s survey, Ron Regé, Jr's The Cartoon Utopia was one of the most enchanting books of last year! And he'll be signing and discussing his magnum opus on Wednesday, July 17th at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, starting at 7:00 PM!  Learn more about the magic from the man himself, and get yourself a copy of this psychedelic, philosophical tale. The Last Bookstore (which is such a great name, by…

* Other People's Publications** Yeah, You Know Me. It's summertime, and the perfect way to spend it is with the "semi-autobiographical" novel Marble Season by the great Gilbert Hernandez, published by our dear friends at Drawn & Quarterly! Sure, I s'pose it takes place during the school year, but there's just something about Beto's stories of kids staging backyard plays, shooting marbles, and holding initiations for secret clubs that made me think of my own childhood and running around with no parents around during summer vacations! Even though it was inspired by Gilbert's own childhood growing up in suburban 1960s…

photo credit: Larry Reid Wednesday, July 10th • Seattle, WA:  It's your last chance to see our exhibit Guy Peellaert: The Adventures of Jodelle and Fragments of the Pop Years at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.  The closing of this exhibit is especially bittersweet, as it was the last gallery show Larry worked on with Kim, seen here on opening day with Larry's wife, Tracey, and daughter, Bella, Kim's wife Lynn, and their friend, Ana.  Please do come by and see it. (more details) Thursday, July 11th • Chicago, IL:  "The Lexicon of Sexicana" + Esther Pearl Watson + A…