Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

We're excited to show off this advance copy of our handsome hardcover presentation of Bread & Wine by Samuel R. Delany and Mia Wolff, coming in about 2 months. Here's what some people had to say about the original, long out of print 1999 edition: "Samuel R. Delany is one of the finest living American writers. In this revealing autobiographical love story, told in collaboration with fine artist Mia Wolff, Delany's brilliance shines." – Neil Gaiman "Wildly eccentric artwork, a storyline that'd make Capote blush… Bread & Wine is smoking-gun proof that comics can go anywhere – and do anything." – Frank Miller "Told simply…

Zippy: The Dingburg Diaries by Bill Griffith 232-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-641-6 Ships in: June 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Comprising a full two and a half years' worth of dailies and full-color Sundays, The Dingburg Diaries is the third Zippy book featuring tales of "Dingburg, the City Inhabited Entirely by Pinheads" — Zippy’s home town. There’s even a long series of "Historical Dingburg" strips, chronicling the pinhead population through the years, from 1840, when Dingburg’s "Town Fool" accidentally invented disco, to 1958 when Dingburg Beatniks flourished in the town’s Bohemian neighborhood. Like, Yowl,…

Here's the second thing you see in the intro/title sequence to Marc Maron's new show, Maron, (premiering tonight at 10 pm on IFC) as the camera pans across his garage: Here's the second thing you see when you open Tony Millionaire's new book Green Eggs and Maakies (coming soon): Here's Tony's interview on the July 5, 2012 episode of Marc's WTF podcast, a portion of which is transcribed on the page facing the portrait in the book. Here's Tony's book 500 Portraits featuring many more comedians, actors, authors, historical figures, composers, fetuses, etc. Here's another IFC show featuring artwork by a Fantagraphics artist in the opening credits (and…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Wandering Son (放浪息子 / Hourou Musuko) Vol. 4 by Shimura Takako; edited and translated by Matt Thorn 224-page black & white 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-605-8 See Previews / Order Now Wandering Son Vols. 4 – 6 Subscription Price: $65.97 $52.78 POSTPAID Wandering Son has garnered extensive praise (from the GLBT community, from manga fans, and from comics fans in general) for its uniquely funny, warm, and sensitive treatment of the travails of two Japanese tweens who find themselves coping with the knotty issue of gender identification as they slowly…

Hot on the heels of Gene Deitch's The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove comes another collection of jazzy midcentury music illustrations, The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora. Lovingly compiled and authored by Flora doyens Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, and designed by Laura Lindgren, this softcover coffee-table book will be swingin' and be-boppin' its way to you this Summer. Take it away, Irwin: "It features all of Flora's known album and EP covers (including back cover illustrations) from 1947 to 1961 for Columbia, RCA Victor, and their affiliated labels, along with music-themed fine art works, illustrations, and sketches. The book was…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 5: Happy Hippy Comix (New Softcover Ed.) by Robert Crumb 144-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-0-930193-92-8 See Previews / Order Now Available with a limited-edition bookplate signed by R. Crumb for an additional $30. The bookplate has been uniquely designed for this book, and each bookplate is printed on acid-free cardstock and hand-signed by the author. Please indicate your preference when adding the item to your shopping cart. Another year's worth of prize Crumb here, folks — including the second issue of…

One of the world's great cartoonists, Jacques Tardi, revisits the subject which drives some of his most passionate work in Goddamn This War!, a chronological, infantry-eye view of the first World War. Our edition of Goddamn's predecessor, It Was the War of the Trenches, was one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of 2010, earning two Eisner awards and a spot on numerous "best of the year" lists. Here's just a sampling of the praise, which could just as well apply to Goddamn:  "The potency of the soldiers' tragic stories is enhanced by the elegance of Tardi's lucid drawing and keen compositions… This…

Wandering Son fans will be happy to know that we're catching up on our release schedule and Volume 5 is off to the printer now for release in August (barring any calamities), just 3 months after Volume 4, which is due later this month after a slight delay. Which gender-specific uniform is a gender-questioning teen to wear to the junior-high entrance ceremony? Can new and old friendships survive romantic jealousy? These and other questions are addressed with uncommon insight in this volume of Shimura Takako's delightful, acclaimed dramedy. "…[L]ike the best coming-of-age stories — comics or otherwise — Wandering Son is meticulously accurate in…

3 New Stories by Dash Shaw 32-page full-color comic book • $3.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-721-5 Order Now! This one-shot comic book features three all-new, full-color short stories that explore varied dystopian societies. From a Sherlock Holmes-style investigator who must complete his high school degree to filmed "voluntary" nudity to prison camps full of jaded children, Shaw pens each story with his signature style and unique spin, all in 32 pages. "A former student of the genius artist-seer-cartoonist Gary Panter, Dash, it's fair to say, is something of a genius as well." — Chris Ware "Dash Shaw is an utterly brilliant young cartoonist who…

Some lucky dozens of you have already got your hands on advance copies of Dash Shaw's incredible new graphic novel New School on his ongoing book tour… If you haven't had a chance to fondle a copy, here's a couple of photos to ogle for the time being. A powerful combination of 1990s nostalgia, family drama, speculative fiction, and experimental visual techniques, flavored with wonder and deadpan humor, New School is unlike anything you've read before. Library Journal and Paste both named it one of their most-anticipated books of the year, with the latter saying "In a few short years, Dash Shaw has proven…