Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Now available for preview and pre-order: Low Moon by Jason. This hardcover volume collects the titular serial strip from the New York Times Magazine, plus 4 more all-new short stories featuring murder, cavemen, sex, and alien abduction, all with Jason's trademark wry, deadpan sensibility. This book is scheduled to debut at the MoCCA Art Festival in NYC in June; it should be in stock and ready to ship in late June and in stores approximately 4 weeks after that. View a photo & video slideshow preview embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger…

Your Online Commentary & Diversions for the day: • Review: "…Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1939-41 pulls together some of the goofiest, most innocent, most violent superhero comics ever penned… The forematter (a lovely, insightful, nostalgic essay by Jonathan Lethem) and the afterword (a collection of bibliographic and historical notes on each strip) make perfect bookends for the hot stuff in the middle. This is pure and unadulterated Id, the kind of thing that inspired a moral panic about the corruption of the young. It's every bit as potent today." – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing • Review:…

In more "Mome-artist-with-a-new-t-shirt" news, Jon Vermilyea debuts this "goopy," Basil Wolverton-inspired new print and shirt design (in combo or separately, with a "3-D" print option) produced by Nakatomi, available in limited supply for this month only. There's more info here, and an interview with Jon here. Nakatomi looks like a company to keep an eye on; their last limited offering was from Mark Todd.

On her new blog, Lilli Carré previews a page from a new short story for a forthcoming issue of Mome. Click through for the larger, legible version. In a related development: Lilli Carré has a new blog featuring her lovely comics, illustration, artwork and inspirations. Must bookmark.

Scheduled to show up at finer comics shops this week (finer because they order our stuff): Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes by Anders Nilsen. Ask for it by name! Explore all the details, previews and reviews at the link above, and check with your local shop to confirm availability.

For your viewing pleasure, here is a video and photo slideshow preview of the brand-new edition of Usagi Yojimbo Book 7: Gen's Story, which we just got in stock last week. This is a newly redesigned edition of this all-ages classic, and the final Fantagraphics Usagi volume to be given the new design treatment, so now you can complete your collection! This book is in stock now, and is scheduled to be in stores approximately 4 weeks from now. Click here if the slideshow embedded above is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man By C. Tyler You’ll Never Know is the first graphic novel from C. Tyler (Late Bloomer) and sure to be one of the most acclaimed books of the year. It tells the story of the 50-something author’s relationship with her World War II veteran father, and how his war experience shaped her childhood and affected her relationships in adulthood. “You’ll Never Know” refers not only to the title of her parents’ courtship song from that era, but also to the many challenges the author encountered in uncovering the difficult and…

The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons 1913-1940 By Nell Brinkley; edited by Trina Robbins For over thirty years Nell Brinkley’s beautiful girls pirouetted, waltzed, Charlestoned, vamped and shimmied their way through the pages of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, captivating the American public with their innocent sexuality. This sumptuously designed oversized hardcover collects Brinkley’s breathtakingly spectacular, exquisitely colored full page art from 1913 to 1940. Here are her earliest silent movie serial-inspired adventure series, “Golden Eyes and Her Hero, Bill;” her almost too romantic series, “Betty and Billy and Their Love Through the Ages;” her snappy flapper comics…