Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Expectations are foiled at every turn [in Congress of the Animals] precisely because Woodring is digging deep into the rich soil of his own imagination; he's pulling these stories up from the same place that myths and legends come from, and in that way, his books have the weird weight and unmistakable freshness of myth. These are stories that haven't been told before, but they come from the place where stories are born, so they're instantly recognizable to everyone. And because they live in the prelinguistic language of cartoons, almost anyone on the…

Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising 1870s-1940s edited by Rick Marschall & Warren Bernard 128-page full-color 9.5" x 13" softcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-399-6 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The history of the genre known as Cartoon Advertising is addressed for the first time in the oversized, full-color, 128-page, fully illustrated book Drawing Power. “There are many obscure masterpieces to be found lingering at the intersection of American Commerce and Comic Art,” says co-editor Rick Marschall. Drawing Power covers the years from the Gilded Age and the pioneer illustrated magazines of the 1870s to the…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[Wandering Son] is absolutely fantastic and deserves every one of the awards it will doubtless win. …[I]t’s an honest look at what Shu and Yoshino are going through. There’s no magic pool, no funny crossdressing, no easy solution to the dilemma that these two face. What I also like about the series is that its secondary characters are often just as interesting as the main pair: they’re all in fifth grade, after all, when everyone is struggling with their identities and the consequences thereof. Shu and Yoshino just get the worst of it."…

TCJ.com keeps rolling out the exlusive previews from The Comics Journal #301: today's feature is an excerpt from Gary Groth's interview with Robert Crumb about Genesis. This one hypes itself.

The new Diamond Previews catalog is out today and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in September 2011 (give or take — some release dates 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. You'll find hotly-anticipated titles like the next volume of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson (a Diamond "Staff Pick"!), Pogo Vol. 1 (yes, Pogo!); The Art…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Of all the comics libraries I've seen, this one has by far the most complete and diverse collection of ancillary material. The intrigue of reading the earliest (1930-1931) Mickey Mouse strips (including a number written by Walt Disney himself) in restored and remastered form would have been reason enough to pick this book up, but the essays, commentaries, character sketches, and archival features all add immeasurably to one's appreciation of Gottfredson, the creator who invented the funny-animal adventure genre." – Chris Barat • Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch's Brian Heater talks to our…

The Pin-Up Art of Humorama by various artists; edited by Alex Chun; designed by Jacob Covey 216-page duotone 5.75" x 7.75" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-56097-959-3 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now During the 1950s, Abe Goodman — brother of Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman — was the largest buyer of cartoons in the world. Publishing out of New York City under the Humorama banner, Goodman churned out scores of cheap digest-sized magazines boasting inventive titles like Romp, Stare and Joker that featured hackneyed jokes, cheesecake photos and the publications’ bread and butter, single panel pin-up cartoons….

• A gallery of Lorenzo Mattotti's recent cover illustrations for Internazionale's annual fiction (I think) issue • Renee French's cute guy with awful infestation and cute guy with jaunty hat • Recent sketches by Eleanor Davis • Sergio Ponchione sure does great dedication sketches — here's a recent batch • Drew Friedman presents the history of the Barfo Family, complete with concept art by himself, Art Spiegelman and Mark Newgarden • Illos by Tim Lane for The New York Times and The Progressive • Steve Brodner's illustration for a New Yorker article on racial tensions in the UK • Richard…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Gender-bending is nothing new in manga, but it's rare to see the transgender sexual identity issues depicted in a realistic way, rather just as a plot gimmick. With her spare, elegant art and slice-of-life storytelling, Shimura resists the urge to use sensationalism, to tell her sweet and sensitive, albeit unusual, coming-of-age tale…. Just as Shimura treats her two tween characters with respect, so does Fantagraphics' hardcover edition of this story. By presenting Shimura's simple, yet elegant artwork in a larger page format and reproducing her lovely color pages on thick, creamy paper, Fantagraphics…

It's time for another one of our periodic warehouse-buster sales, with a great big selection of good old fashioned floppy-style comics, our Ignatz Series comics, a bunch of our great anthologies (including Mome), some magazines and other stuff, all marked down at least 30% now through Thursday, June 30, 2011 — that's only 4 days to get in on the savings! Browse the full selection here.