Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

The Publishers Weekly website boasts an exclusive 9-page excerpt from John Pham's Sublife Vol. 2 — gaze into "Deep Space"!

Now available for preview and pre-order after a lengthy absence: two freshly reprinted volumes of The Complete Crumb Comics. Vol. 7: "Hot 'n' Heavy!" features several Mr. Natural tales and some of Crumb's wildest sex comix and much more; and Vol. 12: "We're Livin' in the Lap o' Luxury!" spotlights Crumb's American Splendor collaborations with Harvey Pekar (as seen in the movie) and other diverse works. These books are scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship early next month and in stores right around the same time (subject to change). Our photo & video slideshow previews are lined…

Now arriving in mailboxes across the country, including possibly yours: our brand-new catalog, with 100 pages of the world's best comics and graphic novels, including sneak peeks at several of our early-2010 releases. If you'd like to receive one, just give us a call at 1-800-657-1100 (206-524-1967 outside the U.S.) and we'll send you one totally free of charge! For the impatient and/or environmentally-minded, we've also got a low-res PDF of the catalog that you can download right here (7.3 MB). By the way, online shoppers, if you're looking for gift ideas, we've got 'em: • Quick Gift Ideas –…

Now available from Desert Island, this signed screenprint featuring Pim & Francie artwork by Al Columbia is limited to an edition of 60. Each print is individually hand-dyed in tea and oven-baked (seriously) for that aged look and unique textural variations on each print. Only 30 bucks!

Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Who says we don't publish superheroes? Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter counts several of our publications among his 83 Best Superhero Projects of the past decade: Supermen!, the two Fletcher Hanks books, Eightball #23, and"Ti-Girls Adventures" by Jaime Hernandez from Love and Rockets: New Stories (also mentioned: Josh Simmons's unauthorized self-published mini-comic… you know the one) • Review: "[Pim & Francie]'s spine calls its contents 'artifacts and bone fragments,' as if they're what's left for a forensic scientist to identify after a brutal murderer has had his way with them; Columbia obsessively returns…

When you buy the new softcover edition of Tim Lane's acclaimed short story collection Abandoned Cars when it comes out this coming Spring, you'll have your choice of covers, seen above: freight-jumping and fist-fighting will come in an even 50/50 split. They both look so great — how to choose? (Buy both, of course!) More info and closer looks at Tim's blog.

At his blog, cartoonist/animator Stephen DeStefano has a sneak peek at his artwork for the upcoming graphic novel written by George Chieffet, Lucky in Love, to be published by Fantagraphics in summer 2010. Stephen's worked on everything from 'Mazing Man to The Venture Bros., which makes him a-ok in my book.

Unused Daniel Clowes artwork for Victor Banana's Split album, circa 1989 — see this and much more (cassette J-card!) at Blog Flume courtesy of Tim Hensley.

Now available for preview and pre-order: The Great Anti-War Cartoons, edited by Craig Yoe. This book collects over 4 centuries of the best protest art, spanning the globe and the political spectrum. Images of outrage, irony, despair and hope prove that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. Download an exclusive 10-page PDF excerpt containing the entire first chapter, "Planet War," right here. This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime in the next week or two and in stores shortly after that (subject to change). View a photo & video slideshow preview of…

Strips for you, strips for you, we've got weekly strips for you… Art appreciation in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson… …"the mammajamma is IN" in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan…. …and more diplomacy with Barack H. Obama in this week's strip from Steven Weissman!