Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the debut of a 20th century masterpiece: George Herriman's enduring Krazy Kat strip (though she'd been around as a character for a couple of years prior). We're celebrating by offering all of our available softcover Krazy & Ignatz Sunday strip collections for 20% off for the next 100 hours! That means the sale ends at 6 PM PST on Friday, October 18.

Meet Mike and Wolf. Mike's the skinny one; Wolf narrates. Having just finished high school, they're each taking two tabs of acid and then they're hitting the trail to get away from their humdrum lives. So begins Celebrated Summer, Charles Forsman's graphic novella following up his acclaimed debut book TEOTFW, in this downloadable 6-page excerpt. The book is due to hit shelves in a couple of months; pre-order direct from us now and you'll also receive a bonus mini-comic, a prequel of sorts focused on Wolf, as a free bonus.

In stock and shipping now from our mail-order department: Naughty by Monte Schulz 440-page 6.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-682-9 See Previews / Order Now Joe Krueger has felt out of sorts his entire life. Sheltered by artistic parents and shipped off to harrowing New Guinea with the Army Air Corps during World War II, he's never seemed to find his place in the world. Then one rainy evening, after a long drive down the north coast of California, he stops at a boardinghouse and meets sweet and sexy Ida Macauley, who rents him a room. Later that very night,…

Hot on the heels of the smash success of Charles Forsman's debut graphic novel TEOTFW comes Celebrated Summer, completed earlier but coming out a few months later (due in December) in a slim but sturdy softcover. Here's your first peek at the finished product! Mike and Wolf, straight out of high school, drop acid and hit the road, hang out at the boardwalk, and have a few weird experiences as we get to know Wolf's inner life. This story has inspired praise from a couple of guys you might have heard of: "Isolated and longing to connect, Chuck Forsman's Wolf reminds me of…

Veteran cartoonist Jesse Reklaw's new graphic memoir Couch Tag forms a portrait of the artist's offbeat and sometimes troubled life through thematically grouped vignettes. In this 25-page downloadable excerpt, you'll meet a few of the "13 Cats of My Childhood," see some of the "Toys I Loved" at play, read the beginning of "The Fred Robinson Story" (where the titular "couch tag" comes in), witness games of War and Go Fish from "The Stacked Deck," and get "Lessoned" in life alphabetically. This 176-page hardcover is due in about 6-8 weeks and you can pre-order your very own copy right here.

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Fran by Jim Woodring 104-page black & white 7.25" x 9.75" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-661-4 See Previews / Order Now BARGAIN COMBO: Congress of the Animals + Fran Gift Set Price: $39.98 $31.98 Who is Fran? There is only one answer to that question, and you'll find them both in this volume! You can read Fran before you read Congress of the Animals, and it will blend gracefully into it and explain a lot of what you have previously read; or you can read Fran after you read Congress of the Animals as…

In stock and shipping now from our mail-order department (and international customers, please see below): The Complete Peanuts 1989-1990 (Vol. 20) by Charles M. Schulz 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-680-5 See Previews / Order Now   In this volume, Peanuts celebrates its 40th birthday! Snoopy and Spike decline to compete in an ugly dog competition, entering their brother Olaf instead. Charlie Brown and Marcie spend quality time together at sleepaway camp, while Peppermint Patty simmers in summer school. Linus ramps up his Great Pumpkin proselytizing with the "Great Pumpkin Movement" — complete with literature to…

"So you probably wanna know something about the artistic development of Crumb during this period… Well, the early ’70s was a bleak period in general… The grim end of the fabulous ’60s and for Robert the big bringdown ‘hangover’ of his first brush with fame, plus dealing with his chaotic messed-up personal life. He was confused, distracted, bitter, and generally in a foul mood. He killed ‘Fritz the Cat’ after the Ralph Bakshi cartoon debacle. He also did a lot of weird visual experimentation, like all those cubist eyeballs ‘n’ stuff, and he wrote some classic long stories like ‘Whiteman…

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 8: The Death of Fritz the Cat by Robert Crumb 144-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99978-1-56097-076-7 New Printing Now in Stock — Order Now! Volume 8 of the collected works of underground comix legend Robert Crumb brings the series up to 1972. This was an era when fame and fortune were weighing heavily on Crumb, and his reactions to his celebrity produced some of his best and most fascinating strips! This volume includes several classic works, including the solo titles Home Grown (which includes the infamous 22-page sex story "Whiteman Meets Bigfoot");…

The fourth and final volume of Roy Crane's Captain Easy Sunday strips is on the way for release in late November/early December, and we're pleased to present this downloadable teaser excerpt for your reading pleasure. In these 10 strips, our heroes Easy and his best chum Wash Tubbs are reunited with their old friend Lulu Belle, take off for Guatemala on a bum job lead, and fall in with some shady characters led by the baddest bandit in all of Central America… who happens to be a "saucy and cute" girl, of course! "You betcher pink panties there's gunner be trouble!"…