Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Consensus is that 2013 is the Year of Gilbert Hernandez, and his roll continues with a brand-new original graphic novel, Maria M. Book 1, the latest in his "Fritz B-Movie" series. These books are stand-alone stories that spin off from his long-running continuity, so they can be enjoyed by new readers and longtime fans alike. This newest volume is of especial interest to old-school Love and Rockets aficionados, seeing as how it's a retelling of the classic "Poison River" story (which can be found in Beyond Palomar) as adapted into a b-movie (told in comic form). And the star of the picture just happens…

Here's your first advance peek at the fifth release in our Carl Barks Library series! Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain is another 240 pages of some of the best comics ever made, along with the usual supplemental story notes from the experts. This volume includes a special highlight among all the globe-trotting adventures and hilarious slapstick: the first appearance of Uncle Scrooge! And wait until you see the giant octopus. We've also teamed up this volume with another Christmas-titled volume, A Christmas for Shacktown, for a special slipcased holiday gift set! Walt Disney's Donald Duck Christmas Treasury is the perfect present…

Praise for the antecedent collection, Newave!: "…[A] fascinating treasure trove of an anthology… the book serves as the history of a movement." – Publishers Weekly "This is altogether riveting stuff, a host of guerilla comics from so many different hands offering an astonishing variety of visual experiences." – Rich Kreiner, The Comics Journal "Newave! is an astonishing collection… In an era when some cartoonists are learning how to create minicomics as part of a formal art education, Newave! should be a crucial text." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal "…[A] gorgeous, utterly essential document … Newave! is not only an ideal…

Treasury of Mini Comics Vol. 1 by various artists; edited by Michael Dowers 848-page black & white/color 5" x 6.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-657-7 Ships in: September 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now BARGAIN COMBO: Newave! + Treasury of Mini Comics Gift Set Price: $54.98 $43.98 Fantagraphics’ 2010 Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s was such an unexpected hit that it inspired this first of a two-volume set chronicling the art of the mini-comic from the late 1960s to present — The Treasury of Mini Comics. The Treasury of Mini Comics charts the evolution of the art of mini…

Ready for a detailed account of an often misrepresented slice of American publishing history and a revelatory examination of comics-industry lore that faces controversial topics head-on? Our downloadable sneak peek of Blake Bell and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo's new book The Secret History of Marvel Comics lets you read the Table of Contents, the authors' Introduction (in which they gut the 3 most common myths about Marvel), and the full first chapter ("The Way It Began," tracing the early life and career of Martin Goodman), illustrated with plentiful pulp covers by J.W. Scott and others.  This insightful tome arrives in or around late…

We continue our comprehensive collections of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko's 1950s work in this new 4th volume of The Steve Ditko Archives from editor Blake Bell. Impossible Tales finds Ditko ensconced at Charlton Comics and doing some of his best work for their horror and suspense titles. See for yourself in our downloadable excerpt, which contains the book's Table of Contents and three complete stories! Pre-order the book here for expected delivery in late October.

Are you of delicate, easily offended, politically correct sensibilities? Look away, my friend, look away. Coming in October, Ray and Joe: The Story of a Man and His Dead Friend and Other Classic Comics collects classic National Lampoon strips by Charles Rodrigues in a classy-looking hardcover that belies the degeneracy within. A man cavorts with a corpse; a private eye conducts business from within an iron lung; a child ruins minds and causes havoc with her ugliness; conjoined twins put a new twist on self-loathing; and other weirdos get weird.  Meet the titular characters (if you can call a cadaver a…

There's a pretty good chance you've already checked out Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree in serialized form at Boing Boing, but here's the first bunch of pages as they appear in the first print collection, which is debuting at SPX this coming weekend and should be in stores in October! Step back to the mid-1970s in the Bronx as DJ Kool Herc gives birth to an art form, meet the early players on the scene, witness the first rivalries, feel the block-rocking beats… and pre-order first-printing copies for yourself and all your homies!

“Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me is as combative, iconoclastic, and embittered as its title suggests it would be. It is also smart, thought-provoking, and funny as hell. Disconcertingly, you’ll agree with at least half of what Bagge says. Then, gratifyingly, you’ll realize that everybody is stupid except for you, too.” — Esquire “Like all good political cartoonists, Bagge can be cruel. But he’s also willing to skewer himself when he deserves it… as libertarian polemicists go, he’s a lot more fun than, say, Ayn Rand.” — The Washington Post “Bagge has been doing really interesting work, mixing field journalism…

Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me and Other Astute Observations (Expanded Hardcover Ed.) by Peter Bagge 152-page full-color 8" x 10.25" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-656-0 Ships in: September 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Fans of Peter Bagge’s generation-defining, satirical fiction may not realize this, but the cartoonist doubles as an opinionated cuss, and has been contributing provocative (but still hilarious) comic-strip opinion pieces to Reason magazine for the last several years… collected in this volume. Although a libertarian by inclination (hence the Reason gig), Bagge (who lives in the fuzzy-headed, liberal capital of the Northwest, Seattle) is hardly dogmatic, and…