Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

On your way to the Robert Williams exhibit opening at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in NYC this weekend, why not stop and pick up one of 13 pairs of custom, hand-painted Robert Williams Vans sneakers? The above promotional video, passed along by our own Lord of the Lowbrow, Larry Reid, provides all the details (and a fascinating look inside a Chinese sneaker factory)! And if those are a bit out of your range, don't worry, there will be another, less-exclusive Williams Vans release for Fall/Winter, too. (Previously in sneakers/skatewear: Jim Woodring x Chuck Taylor, Gary Panter x The Simpsons x Vans,…

We are pleased to announce that we are now taking online pre-orders for Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons and Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons – Collectors Edition, and that we are offering the regular edition NOT ONLY with an exclusive, limited-edition signed 3-color silkscreen print (pictured below – while supplies last) BUT ALSO at a special discounted price! Attendees at this year's SPX had the opportunity to pre-order the regular edition at a discounted post-paid price of $100 (cover price: $125) and collect the signed silkscreen print; we are extending this offer to all pre-orders direct…

Here you go, today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Locas II, by Jaime Hernandez, combines lush artwork with vivid, heart-in-mouth storytelling. …[I]f you haven’t encountered its two heroines before, you might find yourself a little lost in the ongoing magic realist soap opera that is Hernandez’s stock-in-trade. It would be a bit like dropping in on Coronation Street for the first time — albeit a Corrie soundtracked by The Germs and Big Black. … [But] even if you find yourself lost somewhere in the middle of Locas II, the lostness makes a kind of sense. The lives Hernandez chronicles…

Now available for preview and pre-order following its hit debut at APE: The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez. A drug dealer, a rock 'n' roll loser, and über-stacked vixen, and a wily grifter: these greedy low-lifes are chasing the hard luck charm! This second book in Beto's series of "Fritz movie adaptations" (following Chance in Hell) is a lurid, hard-boiled, pulpy delight! Get a sizzling taste by downloading our exclusive PDF of the first 12 pages right here (one word: catfight!). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime in the next 2 weeks and in…

Today brings some big-deal Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: At Comics Comics, Frank Santoro declares The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez "Best in Show" at APE and gives it a wordless review that says it all • Review: "Translated into English for the first time since it was written, more than 25 years ago, Jacques Tardi & Jean-Claude Forest’s You Are There proves well worth the wait. Forest’s satirical, minimalist writing lampoons French society and human greed with equal skill, and Tardi has never done better art: It’s all deep, dark pools of blackness that perfectly match the pitch-dark humor…

Rebel Visions author Patrick Rosenkranz sent us some photos of the sights (including the Hernandez Bros.) at the Wonder Woman Day charity event at Excalibur Books & Comics in Portland, OR yesterday to share with you. Below: The Bros., their artwork for the charity auction, and Rosenkranz & friend. More of Patrick's photos are in our Flickr set, including the cutest little Supergirl you ever did see.

At his blog, Hans Rickheit presents a first look at his next couple of comics projects. Above: a teaser of a teaser.

Feast your peepers on this amazing window display for Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra at the American Book Center in Amsterdam featuring just some of Femke's collection of creepy/cute toys and figurines (more of which can be seen in the book). The book launch for Rock Candy takes place at the ABC on Saturday — Halloween day, appropriately.

Some Online Commentary & Diversions to wrap up your week: • Review: "Artist Carol Swain brings a sober British reserve to her husband Bruce Paley's tales of hippie and punk excess for a nostalgic feel with the winning Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock ‘n' Roll Life. …[F]rom the late ‘60s through the early ‘80s, his peripatetic adventures with drugs, women, and punker Johnny Thunders make for a series of fun, roguish vignettes. … Swain uses pencil to understated effect, and works up a lyrical, nostalgic vibe. Her simple scenes arrange a loose chronological narrative into a warm experience conveyed…

Short notice: Tomorrow night at Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis there's a book release party for Zak Sally's Like a Dog and John Porcellino's Map of My Heart (from D&Q). Festivities start at 5 PM – more info at the La Mano blog. Twin Cities comics fans, this is a Must Do!