Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

It's a big weekend for comics events in Seattle! In between Crumb at the Frye Museum, Comixtravaganza at the Seattle Public Library, and Persepolis at the movies, why not head on down to Georgetown to shop at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery and marvel at the demolition of the Rainier Brewery cold storage building right across the street?

On her blog, Ellen Forney points out a nice plug Alison Bechdel gave Ellen's new book Lust, saying "It's stunningly drawn, and most educational." What really makes it worth re-posting, though, is the accompanying photo:

What says romance more than comics? If there is anything, we don't want to know about it. Woo your sweetie this Valentine's Day with our hand-picked selection of romantic and/or erotic books. From classic romance comics to cutting-edge erotica, from sweet to twisted, these comics are fluent in the many dialects of love.

Several Fantagraphics employees have new projects out now or coming soon. Warehouse manager Nico Vassilakis has Text Loses Time, a new book of bracing poetry and text-based art from Many Penny Press (available at Georgetown Records, the conjoined twin of the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery) — stay tuned for an announcement of the book release party: New sales guy Jason Miles has Dead Ringer, a new book that is part comic, part print portfolio, and all amazing, coming soon from La Mano: And our Art Department production maestro Paul "Diamond Blow" Baresh has a new solo CD titled Luv Juice…

Avatars… icons… whatever you want to call 'em, we've got a whole mess of 'em that you can save and use to represent yourself in all of your social networking, instant messaging, blogging, and other online endeavors, all right here on this page. From Blecky to Stinky to Zippy… Frank to Fritz to Fantomah… and we're happy to take your suggestions for more, so leave a comment if your favorite character or book isn't represented!

Have you ever wanted Dan Pussey on your computer screen? Or Buddy Bradley? Or maybe naked Hector's more your speed? We've put together a selection of 17 downloadable desktop wallpapers in a variety of sizes for your monitor-enhancing enjoyment, and we'll be adding more as time goes on. Leave a comment here if you have any requests!

Finally, all of our Fantagraphics-related events, at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery and beyond, are listed in one place! Our Events page shows you everything coming up on our calendar, from exhibit openings to book signings to conventions to workshops and lectures and more. You can view them by type or location, and each listing contains all the relevant details you need — even Google Maps links! Our front page lists the two most imminent events, and the "more events" link takes you to the complete list. There's also an RSS feed to get events announcements and news via Flog,…

A new printing of Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde is coming this Spring and boasts a brand new cover design by our own Adam Grano: Let's zoom in: Man oh man. 

Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928Krazy & Ignatz 1929-1930By George Herriman Just in: brand new printings of these sought-after volumes! 120-page 9" x 12" black & white softcovers $14.95 each Click the links above for each volume. 

Krazy & Ignatz 1941-1942: "A Ragout of Raspberries"By George Herriman George Herriman integrated full, spectacular color into Krazy Kat in June, 1935. The gorgeous evolution continues in our fourth color volume, which includes the Sunday strips from all of 1941 and 1942. The color format opens the floodgates for a massive amount of spectacular, rare color art from series editor Bill Blackbeard and designer Chris Ware's files. Most of these strips in this volume have not seen print since originally running in Hearst newspapers over 60 years ago. For this volume, critic Jeet Heer contributes an essay about the history…