Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

As most Wednesday Warriors are aware, this is a bye week in the Diamond Comics shipping schedule, so no new comics from us or other publishers distributed by Diamond will be arriving in shops. Some enterprising folks have declared this Indy Comic Book Week, seizing the opportunity to promote independent, local, and small press publishers and creators. While we won't be participating directly, by gosh do we ever support this effort in spirit, so visit the website for the list of participating shops and more information, and go support the independent spirit with your wallet — Fantagraphics readers tend to…

Okay okay, "vinyl figurine." Designed by Archer Prewitt, coming soon from our pals at Presspop.

We published You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! with the sincere belief that it, combined with the previous volume I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!, comprised the complete comics work of Fletcher Hanks. Lo and behold, on Christmas day Seattle-based comics writer Frank M. Young posted scans of two heretofore undiscovered stories on his blog Trick Coin which have been positively identified by Hanks expert Paul Karasik: "The second story is taken directly from the final Big Red McLane tale with the captions rewritten and the faces re-rendered (possibly by another hand). "But the first story really…

Gird yourself for an epic installment of Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Critic Robert Boyd names his top 15 Best Comics of 2009, with You Are There by Tardi & Forest at #2, Popeye Vol. 4 at #7 ("top-notch, Segar at his greatest"), Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me by Peter Bagge at #12 ("very, very funny") and You'll Never Know, Book 1 by C. Tyler at #13 ("a glorious mess, but a moving and beautiful one") • List: Comic Book Resources columnist Greg Hatcher names his Best Reprint Collections of 2009, including The Complete Peanuts ("truly wonderful… not…

Derek Van Gieson is posting sneak peeks of upcoming projects including part 3 of his story "Devil Doll," which should appear in Vol. 19 of Mome this coming summer (part 1 debuts in the just-out Vol. 17).

(YouTube link) UPDATE: Johnny Ryan writes in to state: “Baby Johnson is my character from XXX Scumbag Party. Scott ‘Tony’ Richardson stole it. He’s a thief and a fraud.” Ooooooo!

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. By Dash Shaw One part MOME collection, one part authorized IFC Channel spinoff, the first quarter of this jacketed hardcover collects the work — storyboards, scripts, character designs, etc. — that Shaw has created for a series of original shorts for IFC.com. The latter 3/4ths collect his acclaimed short stories from MOME, as well as several little-seen stories from elsewhere, and a new 20 page story. The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. is Shaw’s first book since his breakthrough graphic novel…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Mome Vol. 17 – Winter 2010 By Various Artists; edited by Eric Reynolds The acclaimed anthology continues with the concluding chapter of Paul Hornschemeier's third graphic novel "Life with Mr. Dangerous" (following his acclaimed books The Three Paradoxes and Mother Come Home), which has been running in MOME since the first issue. Meanwhile, Bottomless Belly Button creator Dash Shaw and MOME regular Tom Kaczynski collaborate on a mind-bending science-fiction story, "Resolution," where "reality" exists as a virtual world and people live through their avatars. Olivier Schrauwen delivers a surrealistic gem titled…

Hey looky, the cover art for Nate Neal's graphic novel The Sanctuary, coming in August/September 2010. Mayhap you remember this amusing promotional video for the book from a few months ago.

Your first order of business is to head to whatthingsdo.com right now and gape at the jaw-dropping array of entirely free comics on view from Jordan Crane (including all 3 issues of Uptight in their entirety, The Last Lonely Saturday and much much more), Sammy Harkham, and Ted May. Oh heavens this is BIG, people.