Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

They're long past due in terms of the books' release dates, but please enjoy these Flickr video & photo slideshows of The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 (link to Flickr) and the 1971-1974 Box Set (link to Flickr) nonetheless. And there are more recent photo/video uploads of summer books — I'll just link to them so as not to clog the page with embedded players: Abstract Comics: The Anthology (slideshow – order/more info)From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium (slideshow – order/more info)Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra (slideshow – order/more info) There's about 8 more to come,…

Over at the Toy-a-Day blog you can download a PDF to print out and assemble this adorable papercraft toy of R. Crumb's Mr. Natural. Well-timed with our announcement today of the first-ever hardcover edition of The Book of Mr. Natural! Thanks to Joseph Chiang for the tip on Facebook.

Just as we received our office copies of the new issue of Previews, we've already submitted our March 2010 releases for the next issue, and as always we just can't wait to give our website readers an exclusive first look at our offerings! It's another big month — heck, I guess they all are — with 9 books & comics headed your way. We've got us another Jacques Tardi masterpiece (pictured above), the next volume of The Complete Peanuts, a brand new Hate Annual from Peter Bagge, another great collection of Walt Kelly's Our Gang, our new collection of the…

Well technically it's not comics, but arriving in comic shops across the land this week (hot on the heels of its arrival at our warehouse) is Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box. Newsarama says "it looks totally awesome," and who are we to argue? Of course, the BEST comic shop at which to pick up this book (up at which?) is Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this weekend at our Portable Grindhouse launch/3rd Anniversary Party & Portable Grindhouse panel discussion! Barring that, though, I'm sure your local shop would love to see you. (Also out this week and…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: The American Book Center in Amsterdam names Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra one of its Books of 2009 • Review: "…[T]here’s one reason why Pim & Francie pulls off the unlikely feat of being more than the sum of its fragmented, disconnected, half-inked parts: it’s terrifying. … The book… hangs in your head long after you close your eyes." – Martyn Pedler, Bookslut • Plug/Name Drop: Whitney Matheson of USA TODAY's Pop Candy blog calls Dash Shaw's IFC.com web series The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. "colorful and captivating" (and…

The Comic-Con organization has announced the Special Guests for Comic-Con International 2010 in San Diego, and we're pleased to report that among them is C. Tyler. We're going to do our darnedest to debut You'll Never Know, Book 2 at the con. Stay tuned for future announcements.

At his blog, Tim Lane reveals the back covers for the paperback edition of Abandoned Cars coming next year (note that the bar code and ISBN have yet to be added). Head over there for larger images and Tim's inspiration for the design. Let me just say that he totally nailed that flea market/used bookstore price handwriting, which seems to be the same wherever you go. Previously: the front covers.

Do a good deed, and then gamble with the results: Donate $20 to The Stranger's annual "Strangercrombie" charity fundraising effort and get a set of Stranger playing cards featuring artwork by Stranger illustrators such as Steven Weissman (King of Spades above). Hopefully Jeremy Eaton is in there too. Find the donation link on the right side of this page. UPDATE: You can also bid on an auction including a $50 gift certificate to Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, and The Stranger's sister publication the Portland Mercury has their own charity auctions, one of which includes a selection of our best-selling essentials….

Popeye creator and cartooning all-time great E.C. Segar would have been 115 today. Even Google is getting in on the celebration on their homepage today! I'm going to celebrate by reading Popeye Vol. 4: "Plunder Island". (The "Google doodle" is uncredited, but I wonder if it's by Stephen DeStefano, who's done Popeye work in the past…)

Dash Shaw's animated web series for IFC.com, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. (to which the book of the same name is the companion), is now online for your viewing pleasure! (Don't be thrown off by the preceding "sponsor messages.") There are 4 episodes plus a "making-of" segment with interviews with Dash, animator Jane Samborski, and soundtrack artist James Lucido. And as a bonus, IFC has put Dash's story "Look Forward, First Son of Terra Two," along with some exclusive wallpapers and “buddy icons,” under "Extras."