Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Stephen DeStefano gives a blog update on progress of his graphic novel Lucky in Love, written by George Chieffet, with some teaser panels such as the above and a selection of his reference materials for the WWII part of the book. The book is due in Summer 2010.

If you're like me you like seeing stuff like this: over at his blog Richard Sala posted this snapshot of the original paintings for the front and back covers of Delphine #4. Head over there for a better view.

Arriving in comics shops across the USA this week: Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons. 3 volumes. Deluxe presentation. 11 pounds. The ultimate holiday gift for any lover of good cartooning. Chris Mautner of Robot 6 makes it his Pick of the Week and says "I've been perusing the thing over the past week and it's really a sumptuous package, exquisitely designed and full of great, great work from one of the finest (and sadly, often ignored) cartoonists of the modern era." Jog sums it up more succinctly: "I mean, c'mon." Couldn't have said it better myself. The Definitive…

Attention critics, bloggers, and pundits! If you are putting together your own Best of 2009 list and need to be reminded which of your favorite Fantagraphics releases were released this year, by all means use our complete and up-to-date 2009 Releases section as your guide. And then when your list is posted we will include it in a future installment of Online Commentary & Diversions such as below: • List: Book By Its Cover declares Unlovable Vol. 1 by Esther Pearl Watson a Top Ten Pick for Best Books of 2009 (in the #8 position) • List: At Chicago Now,…

Merry Christmas!

Bruce Paley & Carol Swain, writer and artist respectively of the graphic memoir Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock 'n' Roll Life, appear together on the Inkstuds radio/podcast interview program, and as a bonus, Paley put together a musical "mixtape" to accompany the book and interview. Download and listen while you read!

Publishers Weekly offers a 12-page preview of Dash Shaw's new book The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D., with 3 pages each from 4 different stories. Man that's some good-looking art.

We've received a few questions about our announcement last week that Alec Baldwin will contribute an Introduction to an upcoming volume of The Complete Peanuts. The idea was inspired by this Vanity Fair "Proust Questionnaire" with Baldwin from earlier this year, wherein Baldwin names Charlie Brown his "hero of fiction." So there you go. Confidential to Gary Groth: here's a suggestion for another 30 Rock star to write a Peanuts intro sometime in the future (found while researching this post):

In addition to our previously posted official news-type announcement of the "hard launch" of the new Comics Journal website at TCJ.com, TCJ Executive Editor Gary Groth has composed an introductory hail-fellow-well-met-cum-statement of purpose titled "Welcome to TCJ.com and Oh, By the Way, A Brief History of Comics Criticism While I'm At It" which is well worth your attention. It's downright inspirational, I tells you.

Ectopia, Hans Rickheit's in-progress graphic novel following The Squirrel Machine, is well underway, and he is presenting it as a serialized webcomic, posting a new page each week at its own dedicated website. Learn more about the book-to-be here, and start reading page 1 here.