Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull 84-page black & white 10.25" x 8.5" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-678-2 See More Previews / Order Now Who doesn't love a good ghost story? This gorgeous, coffee-table art book is a compendium of old, forgotten haunted houses imagined by artist Ben Catmull, along with the stories and rumors of who haunts them, and why. Each spread features a different haunted house, lovingly and exquisitely rendered in scratchboard on masonite, with a short, nightmare-inducing description of each scene. In "Drowned Shelley," for example: A chorus of frogs surrounds the house where young Shelley was drowned headfirst…

Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics by Gahan Wilson 176-page full-color 12" x 6.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-612-6 Ships in: August 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Gahan Wilson is probably best known for his macabre Playboy cartoons, filled with charming monsters, goofy mad scientists, and melting victims, and his cutting-edge work in the National Lampoon, but he's also one of the most versatile cartoonists alive whose work has appeared in a wide range of media venues. Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics is Wilson's assault from within: His little-known syndicated strip that appeared in America’s newspapers between 1974 and 1976. Readers must have been…

Floraphiles, music lovers, and midcentury design aficionados, rejoice! The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora is nearly here, compiling every known Flora album cover for the first time, plus loads of other music-related illustrations and other, previously unseen artwork. Once again, editors Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon and designer Laura Lindgren have put together an exemplary package showcasing Flora's distinctive and influential visuals in a snazzy coffee-table book. Check out this 21-page sampling here or download the PDF, and look for the book in about 4-6 weeks.

"The most beautiful piece of Americana made in years. Every page Forsman draws is a minimalist masterpiece. Huge and heartbreaking. A modern triumph disguised as an episode of Peanuts." – Matt Seneca "The awkwardness, the urgency, the sense of discovery, the sense of revulsion — it’s all true, even if you’ve never stuck your own hand in a garbage disposal." – Sean T. Collins "Great stuff." – Frank Santoro "[TEOTFW] exemplifies what exactly it is I love about comics. It’s lo-fi yet stylistic, subtle yet visceral – a version of Bonnie and Clyde bled through the lens of Gus Van…

Folks who picked up our special Prince Valiant comic on Free Comic Book Day this year already got a preview of one of the storylines in the upcoming Prince Valiant Vol. 7 by Hal Foster, reconfigured and edited to fit the format. Now here's an unexpurgated excerpt with a dozen full-page strips from the book, which hits shelves next month! View the preview in the embedded reader here (full-screen viewing recommended) or get the PDF directly, and pre-order the book here.

The End of the Fucking World (TEOTFW) by Charles Forsman 176-page black & white 5" x 6.5" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-667-6 Shipping in 2-3 weeks (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The first 50 orders we receive for this book will come with a signed Risograph print exclusively for Fantagraphics customers! Please select your preference above before adding the item to your shopping cart. TEotFW follows James and Alyssa, two teenagers living a seemingly typical teen experience as they face the fear of coming adulthood. Forsman tells their story through each character's perspective, jumping between points of view with each chapter. But…

We're kinda busy. All of these books are slated to come out in a 4- to 6-week period from August to mid-September! (Plus a few others we've already shown you.) We're going to take the less-is-more, show-don't-tell approach with this update; each photo links to the product details page where you can learn more and pre-order each title. And of course we'll have more pretty preview pics coming soon. Get your wallets ready!

Catching up on the remainder of our publishing announcements that went out via The Comics Reporter during Comic-Con. Get more details at the respective CR links:  Reported here, something completely different from Joe Sacco: Coming next year, BUMF will be a collection of all-new short humorous fiction in the vein of his satirical story in The Comics Journal #302 (or, for you old-schoolers, his comic series Yahoo). Last but not least, we're pleased to be bringing Jim Woodring's seminal classic The Book of Jim back into print next year in a new, expanded edition collecting more of Woodring's early work than the original trade…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull 84-page black & white 10.25" x 8.5" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-678-2 See Previews / Order Now   Who doesn't love a good ghost story? This gorgeous, coffee-table art book is a compendium of old, forgotten haunted houses imagined by artist Ben Catmull, along with the stories and rumors of who haunts them, and why. Each spread features a different haunted house, lovingly and exquisitely rendered in scratchboard on masonite, with a short, nightmare-inducing description of each scene. In "Drowned Shelley," for example: A chorus of frogs…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972 by Willard Mullin; edited by Hal Bock and Michael Powers 240-page black & white/color 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-639-3 See Previews / Order Now From "Babe" Ruth to the "Baby" Mets, Willard Mullin, "Sports Cartoonist of the 20th Century," was there, daily producing beautiful, tearful, insightful, morally charged, and outrageously hilarious cartoons. Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Williams, Musial, Maglie, Berra, Robinson, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Maris, and hundreds more make history anew in this astounding collection, rescued and restored from the pulped pages…