Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Daily clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • This week's "I, Anonymous" spot by Steven Weissman • This week's Maakies by Tony Millionaire • Johnny Ryan describes this fan art by James Henry Dufresne as a "supervillain team-up"

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Troublemakers is… a noirish tale of crosses double and triple, in which the same small cast keeps tripping over each other, making and breaking promises and plans and alliances. … The dialogue is often overwrought in that trying-to-be-tough way, but the plot is suitably twisty and energetic. " – Andrew Wheeler, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent. • Interview: Comic Book Resources' Chris Mautner talks to Gahan Wilson about fifty years of Playboy cartoons and Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons: "The bottom line in horror, or humor, really, is that life is tough…

We are exceedingly pleased to report that Fantagraphics publications and artists received a record 18 nominations for the 2010 Eisner Awards. To celebrate, we're offering these titles at 18% off for a limited time! Click here for the full sale selection. (Sale is valid for online and phone orders only.) Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday, July 23, 2010 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Congratulations to all the nominees! Fantagraphics' nominations are as follows: • Best Short Story: "Because I Love You So Much," by Nikoline Werdelin, in From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the…

Yowp! It's a 100% brand-new full-color slam-bang 8-page Jaime Hernandez story in the new "issue" of MySpace Dark Horse Presents! (Oops, direct linking doesn't seem to be working correctly at press time, but it's simple enough to find.)

Scion Magazine 15: Gilbert Hernandez from Scion ART on Vimeo. Gilbert Hernandez, comic book artist and co-creator of Love and Rockets, interviewed at his home studio in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Scion Magazine. I can't believe we almost missed this — thanks to L&R fan Michael Schmitz for sharing this on the Love and Rockets – The Hernandez Brothers Facebook page.

Daily clips & strips — hit the links for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • This limited-edition print by Sergio Ponchione is available at festivals (I think — the autotranslation is a little sketchy) from Coconino Press. Sergio also reveals that Grotesque #4 is in the can (and coming this summer from Fantagraphics); the complete Italian run of Grotesque will be available in a slipcased set with additional materials, and the slipcase will be available separately (hopefully U.S. fans will be able to order it from overseas); and the full-color Grotesque stories from Linus magazine will appear in future volumes…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Knowing full well that I had to be at work at 9:00 the next morning, I nonetheless stayed up past 2:00 with Castle Waiting. And when I got to that last page, bleary-eyed and struggling to stay awake, all I wanted was more. I wanted the story to keep going. … The stories are captivating and exciting and surprisingly deep. She is never heavy-handed about it, but Medley explores some weighty topics, including domestic violence, religious conversion, and sacrifice. … I laughed frequently as I read the book, and cried once — not because…

Arriving in comic shops today, the long-awaited new issue of Peter Bagge's comic book series! Hate Annual #8 by Peter Bagge 32-page color/b&w  6.75" x 10.25" comic book • $4.95ISBN: 978-1-60699-373-6 Newsarama's J. Caleb Mozzocco says it's "Thirty-two pages of Peter Bagge for $5" — fair enough. At Comics Comics Joe McCulloch counts Peter among the "cartoonists I like to see making comic books" and lauds the presentation of "a genuine 32-page Fantagraphics comic book." Obviously the blogoscentia think the comic fairly speaks for itself. We think you'll like the glossy cardstock cover, the 20 pages of Buddy & Lisa…

Daily clips & strips — hit the links for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • What-Took-Them-So-Long Dept: This Jaime Hernandez illustration accompanies a short story by Junot Diaz in the March 22 New Yorker (via The Comics Reporter) • Gabrielle Bell's "Manifestation" gets even nuttier in part 3 • Another layout rough from Mark Kalesniko's Mail Order Bride

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The… leaps in chronology and POV can be jarring for those not familiar with Hernandez's episodic style…, but [High Soft Lisp's] offbeat humor and manic sexual energy make the adjustment more than worthwhile. Fritz's hypersexuality, bizarre fetishes, rampant vanity, and burgeoning alcoholism provide many of the volume's finest comic moments, but the ample sex on view is rarely sexy. Rather, the characters' libidinous pursuits are tied into an affecting strain of loneliness and regret that pervades even the most outlandish panels. Add to that Hernandez's characteristically thick, expressive line and character design that owes…