Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

This month's Diamond Previews catalog is out and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread (download the PDF) with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in April 2012 (give or take — some release dates may have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions. This month's Spotlight item is the eagerly anticipated The Adventures of Jodelle, the psychedelic 1960s classic from artist Guy Peellaert & writer Pierre Bartier….

"Charles, Mother Has Come to Stay" is a late-1960s painting by Jim Flora (previously seen in our out-of-print second Flora art book The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora), now available as a limited-edition archival quality reproduction from the fine folks at Jim Flora Fine Art Prints.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "There really is no cartoonist in the world quite like the great Joost Swarte. His stories are surreal, silly, sexy and sometimes spectacular. They're gorgeously drawn in a classic European style that lights up every page of this wonderful and gorgeous book [Is That All There Is?]. Don't worry about these stories being too obscure or strange — this book fun and silly and awesome. ★★★★★" – Jason Sacks, Comics Bulletin • Review: "Wilfred Santiago’s graphic novel captures the talent of Clemente the baseball player while also showcasing and illuminating the many simple…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[C]urrent fans of the [Zippy] strip are in for a surprise, a shock, and, ultimately, a major treat, when they pick up Griffith's new career retrospective, Lost and Found: Comics 1969-2003… The journey from these energy-packed, overstuffed, unpolished early comics to the elegant masterwork of the present is a journey greater than that of Gary Trudeau with Doonesbury or Charles Schultz with Peanuts…. His early reign as an oversexed adolescent-minded wiseacre gives way to a long golden afternoon of wry and wistful philosophizing, with frequent salient eruptions of deserved ire and malice toward…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. Athos in America by Jason 196-page full-color 6.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-478-8 "A new and even-odder-than-usual book of short pieces by the marvelous Norwegian cartoonist Jason; as usual, I find that his stuff seems very lightweight at first and then sneaks up on me. My favorite of the…

We managed to get our hands on a small quantity of the recent hardcover reprinting of Jim Woodring's The Frank Book, which was an almost-immediate sellout upon its release just 4 months ago. Find out all about the book and see copious previews here, but don't spend too much time making up your mind because they're sure to go fast!

Buddy Does Seattle: The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from "Hate" Comics Vol. 1 (1990-'94) by Peter Bagge 340-page black & white 6" x 9" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-56097-623-3 Back in stock in a new 4th printing — Order Now! Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown at left as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last. These legendary stories, from the classic first fifteen issues of Bagge's Hate comic, are a defining icon of Seattle's early 1990s culture (the Seattle Weekly has written, "20 years from now, when people wonder what…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship to our mail-order customers: Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 by Pat Thomas 204-page full-color 10" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-507-5 See Previews / Order Now Noted music producer and scholar Pat Thomas spent five years in Oakland, CA researching Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. While befriending members of the Black Panther Party, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Elaine Brown, The Lumpen and many others that form the…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship to our mail-order customers: Glitz-2-Go by Diane Noomin 180-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-481-8 See Previews / Order Now Glitz-2-Go finally collects nearly 40 years of comics stories by Diane Noomin, best-known for her work as cartoonist and editor of the women comics anthology Twisted Sisters. Noomin’s career in underground comix began in 1972 and included appearances in Wimmen’s Comix, Young Lust, Short Order, Arcade, Real Girl, Lemme Outta Here, El Perfecto, True Glitz, Aftershock, Mind Riot, Titters, and Weirdo. Glitz-2-Go stars Noomin’s signature character, DiDi…