Yes, our Jodelle book is running late, and we're sorry. All we can say is, the project has expanded to something way beyond our original planning and you'll be blown away by the scope of what we've come up with. We're also in the final stages of refining and fixing the coloring of the book itself, which turned out to be a lot more labor- and thought-intensive than we initially thought. In the meantime, here is a 1968 video clip of the Bee Gees (RIP Robin!) performing "IDEA" against sets designed by the one and only G.P. What a decade!
Introducing a New FBI•MINI: SOH! by Joe Daly
SPECIAL BONUS! Order the new Dungeon Quest Book 3 from Fantagraphics and receive, absolutely free, the full-color, 20-page FBI•MINI "SOH!" featuring page after page of Joe Daly's Dungeon Quest character sketches, rough pencils, and other goodies, plus a hilarious, fully-finished, never-before-seen two-page story in the Dungeon Quest vein by Daly. Click here for more FBI•MINIs!
Tardi on the big screen!
Wouldn't you like to see a full-length steampunk animated feature designed by Jacques Tardi? Yeah, so would we. Here's a teaser trailer for just such a thing currently in development, from the studio that brought you PERSEPOLIS, called LE MONDE TRUQUÉ (co-written by Tardi's COCKROACH KILLER writer Benjamin Legrand, for good measure). In English, yet. Enjoy!
Is It Wrong of Me to Gloat?
Three things I've read recently that you haven't: (1) The first 42 pages of Jacques Tardi's next graphic novel, which looks like it's going to be one of his absolute masterpieces. (2) All of Carol Tyler's astonishing, heartbreaking final installment of You'll Never Know. (3) All of Jaime Hernandez's contribution to Love and Rockets: New Stories #5 (a.k.a. "What on Earth He Does for an Encore"). Sometimes it is good to be the publisher of the world's greatest cartoonists. Everyone have a great weekend envying me!
Calling all Pogo collectors!
Walt Kelly was old school: When he drew his comics, he first sketched them out in light blue pencil, and then proceeded to delineate them in his legendarily lush ink line. One huge advantage of this system was that he didn't have to erase any pencil lines (all that erasin' time adds up). Here is a sample. Another advantage is that it made them really cool looking! Carolyn Kelly, the editor of the POGO series, thinks so too, and since she had a selection of original POGO art from the strip's first years, she scanned several images that featured those…
Changing of the Guard on Prince Valiant!
Beginning Sunday April 1st, the Prince Valiant strip boasts its third ongoing artist (after John Cullen Murphy, 1971-2004, and the just-retired Gary Gianni): Thomas Yeates — perhaps best known to long-time comics fans for his stint on Saga of the Swamp Thing and other DC Comics, but a busy, sought-after illustrator in both comic books and comic strips (including Zorro and Conan). He'd previously followed in Hal Foster's footsteps, drawing Tarzan comics on and off during the last two decades for Dark Horse Comics (including in the issues of Dark Horse Presents that are currently on the stands). Mark Schultz…
April Is Double-MINI Month at Fantagraphics!
(a partial assortment) Last November, we introduced one of our most successful and acclaimed promotions ever: The FBI•MINI project, a series of mini-books exclusively available as premiums via Fantagraphics mail-order. Customers could secure these coveted collectibles either by ordering (or pre-ordering) specific books that went along with the FBI•MINIs, or just placing a general order (for $50 or more). We got in so many orders for FBI•MINIs (close to a thousand!) that we had trouble keeping up with demand! The FBI•MINIs include first-time-in-English comics by Joost Swarte, David B., Raymond Macherot, and Jacques Tardi (the legendary, 21-page, never-completed Manchette collaboration…
Goodbye to Our Friend Dale Yarger
It is with a heavy heart that we must report that Dale Yarger, a beloved and influential figure on the Seattle alternative-press and design scene with whom we had the pleasure of working for a number of years in the 1990s (he was Fantagraphics' senior designer for the first half of the decade, as well as on a later occasion), has passed away after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Dale was a man of uncommon skill, grace, and sweetness and his premature departure leaves a hole in the world and in our hearts. Our sympathy goes out to all…
Lucky, Lucky Parisians!
This coming Thursday, March 8th, they get to go to the opening of a Joost Swarte art show, with Swarte himself in attendance signing copies of his new book Total Swarte (i.e. the French edition of what we just released as Is That All There Is?). Then, they will all head off to various cafés, with baguettes under their arms and berets on their heads, to drink wine, eat cheese, smoke, and argue until the wee hours of the morning. For they are French, and that is what the French do. The Joost Swarte art show runs through May 5,…
Castle Waiting Redux!
(final cover art may vary) It is my enormous pleasure to announce the return of Linda Medley to active Castle Waiting duty, beginning in April, after a three-year hiatus. Castle Waiting Volume Two was originally supposed to run for another few issues, comprising a series of additional and concluding scenes, but Linda was unable to complete that material at the time. Since the main story was finished, since it looked as if Castle Waiting was definitely over, and since there was huge demand for a follow-up to the original Castle Waiting graphic novel, we released the chapters that had been…
