Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Beta Testing the Apocalypse by Tom Kaczynski 136-page two-color 6.5" x 9.25" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-541-9 See Previews / Order Now It would be easy to call Tom Kaczynski the J.G. Ballard of comics. Like Ballard, Kaczynski’s comics riff on dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments. Yet while Kaczynski shares many of Ballard’s obsessions, he processes them in unique ways. His visual storytelling adds an architectural dimension that the written word alone lacks. Kaczynski takes abstract ideas — capitalism, communism, or utopianism…

This month's Diamond Previews catalog is out now and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread (download the PDF) with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in March 2013 (give or take — release dates are likely to have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions. We have two Spotlight items this month: The Secret History of Marvel Comics by Blake Bell & Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, revealing…

Time for your first new-release recap of 2013, and we've got a fine variety for you (as usual). In the past month we've received the new paperback edition of Vol. I of Linda Medley's Castle Waiting, the hardcover collection of Richard Sala's Delphine, the eagerly-anticipated The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio, Jim Woodring's sketchbook art book Problematic, and classic vintage Joe Kubert in Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures. Creepy! Fantastical! Romantic! Sometimes all three! What's more, you can get these books — and everything else we offer — for 20% off right now during our New Year's Deja Vu Sale! Just use coupon code DEJAVU when checking out. Don't delay…

Hey Luuuucy! She's got her dander up about something on Seth's cover design for The Complete Peanuts 1987-1988 by Charles M. Schulz. It's the 19th volume in the series and we've reached the milestone point where Schulz switched from 4 uniform panels to a variable layout. And this volume's Foreword is by another comic strip legend, Garry Trudeau. You won't want to miss it when it comes out in March! We're giving you a sneak peek excerpt with all the strips from January 1987 which you can read right here.

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012 by Jim Woodring 364-page black & white 5.25" x 8" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-594-5 See Previews / Order Now Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown here as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last. If you are one of the fortunate thousands who enjoy untangling the enigmatic images that fill Jim Woodring's comics and drawings, Problematic is just the book for you to put under your pillow and dream on. Woodring is a devotee of the pocket-sized Moleskine…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: The Heart of Thomas (トーマの心臓 / Thomas no Shinzō) by Moto Hagio 528-page black & white (with some color) 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-551-8 See Previews / Order Now The setting: A boys' boarding school in Germany, sometime in the mid-20th Century. One winter day, fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death, immediately after sending a single, brief letter to another boy at the school: To Juli, one last time. This is my love. This is the sound of my heart. Surely you…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Castle Waiting Vol. 1 (Softcover Ed.) by Linda Medley 472-page black & white 5.5" x 8" softcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-602-7 See Previews / Order Now Castle Waiting is the story of an isolated, abandoned castle, and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life. A fable for modern times, it is a fairy tale that’s not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil — but about being a hero in your own home. The opening chapter tells the origin of the…

What are new years for if not second chances? In this spirit, we're giving you a second chance to save 20% on everything we offer, hot on the heels of our previous post-Xmas sale. Missed it the first time? Get another paycheck between then and now? Just not satisfied? Let's do it again! Just use coupon code DEJAVU when checking out for 20% off your entire order now through Saturday, January 5, 2013!  (If you prefer to shop by phone, just mention this offer when you call — 1-800-657-1100 or 206-524-1967 outside the U.S., 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific time…

The next two volumes in our EC Comics Library series are off to the printer: 50 Girls 50 and Other Stories illustrated by Al Williamson and 'Tain't the Meat… It's the Humanity! and Other Stories illustrated by Jack Davis! If you like stories with spaceships, vampires, dinosaurs, werewolves, aliens, death and/or dismemberment, all illustrated with verve and panache, boy howdy, are these the books for you! Both these bad boys should be available in March. We've posted excerpts from both books boasting 3 complete stories each on their respective pages, where you can also pre-order your copies — and save some bucks by ordering both books together in…

Coming in late February/early March, Messages in a Bottle collects the best work by Bernard Krigstein, a singular draftsman and one of the most graphically sophisticated comics illustrators of all time, whose too-brief career in the 1940s and '50s included work for EC and Atlas Comics. For those who have been awaiting a new edition of our long-out-of-print B. Krigstein: Comics, this book contains every story from that volume plus several more. It is our great privilege to have had a number of these stories specially recolored by the great Marie Severin; the remainder have been painstakingly restored from the original comic books by…