Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

In the past 3 weeks, 3 Fantagraphics staffers (yours truly included) have had their computers (work or personal) die on them — one of us twice! We strongly encourage you to get preventative maintenance done and back up your data — there's some kind of bad technological mojo out there, and an extra hard drive is way cheaper and less of a bummer than data recovery, as we have been learning the hard way.

For those of you heading to your local comics shop tomorrow, you'll find a whole boatload of new Fantagraphics releases on the shelves: Abandoned Cars by Tim LaneMome Vol. 12 by various artistsWhere Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes Delphine #3 by Richard SalaGrotesque #2 by Sergio PonchioneTales Designed to Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman Happy shopping (if you haven't already ordered them directly from us)! Speaking of ordering directly from us, we'll be having our own New Comics Day tomorrow with another boatload of brand-new titles in stock and ready to order… stay tuned!

Esther Pearl Watson, not the type to sit around twiddling her thumbs while we get her Unlovable book ready for the world, told us about her new multimedia art project when we saw her at Comic-Con, and now it's underway: she and fellow artist Martha Rich are road-tripping across the U.S.A. to interview people about their ideas of beauty, a process they're documenting on their new blog. (Hat tip to the USA Today for the links.) We're also dying to see Esther's Unlovable video starring Leslie Hall as Tammy Pierce. I mean, come on!

The Comics Journal #292 Edited by Michael Dean and Kristy Valenti; Gary Groth, executive editor Gary Groth interviews father and son cartoonists Gene and Kim Deitch. Academy-award-winning Gene Deitch, whose wide-ranging career has spanned 60+ years, talks about doing illustrations for The Record Changer, directing cartoons such as Munro and Krazy Kat, and creating his comic strip Terr’ble Thompson. Underground comics pioneer Kim Deitch, touches on his father’s influence, reminisces about the New York-based scene and outlines the evolution of Waldo the Cat. Plus: The innovative Grant Morrison fills us in on his X-Men run, All Star Superman, the ambitious…

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 14 (New Softcover Printing) By Robert Crumb Finally back in print after a prolonged absence, The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 14: The Early '80s and Weirdo Magazine continues the multi-volume series comprising the complete works of the legendary cartoonist R. Crumb, one of America's most original, trenchant, and uncompromising artists. This volume features the beginning of a seminal period of both Crumb's life and comics history with the first eight issues of Weirdo magazine, edited and anchored by Crumb, including the legendary strips, “Uncle Bob’s Mid-Life Crisis” and “I Remember the Sixties.” Also included are…

The conclusion of Brian Heater's two-part talk with Jaime Hernandez about Love and Rockets: New Stories touches on fantasy, reality, and putting Maggie through the wringer. Lotta interviews out there today, huh?

Chris Mautner talks to Jason about Pocket Full of Rain, Low Moon, and much more… Jason dropping a tease about a future monster-based story is worth the price of admission alone.

The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon talks to Tim Lane about Abandoned Cars , influences, future plans and much more.

"La Semaine de la Bande Dessinée – A Week Celebrating the French Graphic Novel" is now over and was a rousing success by any measure. We have many photographs from the events to browse, from Wednesday's opening lecture by Kim Thompson (previously posted); Friday's opening of the David B. "My Story, My Stories" exhibit and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery: …Saturday's David B. discussion at Seattle Central Library: …and Sunday's "Romans Graphiques Meet the Graphic Novel" panel discussion at the Henry Art Gallery with panelists (L to R) Peter Bagge, David B., moderator Kim Thompson, and Jim Woodring: David B. super-fan Karl Dotter,…

Click on through to see it on the Invisibleman blog to which Sara contributes.