Fantagraphics Blog Kim Thompson

Another death in the family, alas. When I created Critters back in the 1980s, it was largely so that I'd have a publication in which I could publish the work of cartoonists within the funny-animal genre that I liked (Stan Sakai, Freddy Milton, J. Quagmire, and Steven Gallacci), as well as on occasion chiseling some work out of other cartoonists in the same ballpark (Jim Engel, Mike Kazaleh, Ty Templeton, and Mark Armstrong). A side benefit was that as the comic became better known, I started to receive submissions from other cartoonists, several of whom became regulars in the magazine….

[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi, now available to pre-order from us and coming soon to a comics shop near you. – Ed.] Hey, whoa, another Tardi book? Didn't the last one come out like three months ago? Yeah, sorry. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Volume 1 ran a little late because of designer bottleneck, and then this one was on time. Not that I'm complaining. So, what made you select this one out of the dozens of Tardi…

It is with great sadness that we have learned, and feel we should pass along, that one of the members of the Fantagraphics family died last year. CRAIG MAYNARD, who worked on staff here in Seattle in the early 1990s, passed away last September and we just learned about it from his family (through a reply to a rerouted Christmas card). Craig had been suffering from a number of debilitating illnesses for years and the news was not exactly a shock, but all of us from that era who worked with Craig (Gary G. and me, of course, and also…

[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about Stigmata by Lorenzo Mattotti, now available to order from us and at a comics shop near you. – Ed.] So… Mattotti, eh? Yeah. I've long wanted to do a book by Lorenzo. For my money he's one of the most brilliant cartoonists in terms of sheer virtuoso draftsmanship who ever lived. I think among the current breed of Europeans he's rivaled only by Moebius and Blutch and I'd still rank him first. I was just biding my time. It's been…

French and Belgian publishers have taken to promoting their new books with nifty semi-animated "trailers." Here is the trailer for Lewis Trondheim's new series, RALPH AZHAM, coming this March from Dupuis. I post this to distract you from the fact that I'm a bit behind schedule on finishing the translation for Lewis's APPROXIMATE CONTINUUM COMICS. It's embarrassing that Lewis draws new comics faster than we can translate his old ones.

[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about King of the Flies Vol. 2: The Origin of the World by Mezzo & Pirus, now available to order from us and coming soon to a comics shop near you. – Ed.] Congratulations on King of the Flies Volume 1 being named one of the 10 best graphic novel releases of the year by Amazon.com. Thanks, that was a nice surprise. Not because I didn't think King of the Flies deserved it, but because I thought it had kind of…

(Click to enlarge) Yeah, we're great, and our books are late. Why, what did you think the headline meant? Anyway, a new year is upon and it's time to 'fess up about all the late Fantagraphics titles you were expecting to have by now, and don't, because we suck. Specific apologia and weaseling have been added to some titles, others we just pass under mortified silence. 2011 will be better! The following are printed, on their way to us across the Pacific Ocean, and expected to be available in January or February 2011:• FREEWAY by Mark Kalesniko (usually original graphic…