Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

The first physical copies of Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit Book 4 have crawled up on our shores, and more copies will be infecting Small Press Expo this weekend (where you can get an exclusive bonus signed bookplate) in advance of oozing into stores in November. This volume features the most hideous transmogrifications, the craziest foes, and the most brutal trials yet for our antihero Cannibal Fuckface as he seeks to free himself from the mysterious Caligulon. Plus a chainsaw on a stick. Get a taste with a 14-page excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.

We're pleased to announce that we have a few exclusive bonus items to give away to our customers at Small Press Expo this weekend! Since a few artists with debut books can't make it to the show, we have SPX signature plates, all exclusive to the show and all with brand new artwork! Folks who purchase Ron Rege Jr.'s The Cartoon Utopia will receive one of these hand-drawn, hand-colored plates along with the book. Ron sent us a scan of his lettering, we printed them, and then Ron drew his special signature-drawing on each one, with lots of unique variations….

Just arrived and shipping now for our mail-order customers: Is That All There Is? (2nd Hardcover Ed.) by Joost Swarte 144-page full-color 7.75" x 10.5" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-510-5 See Previews / Order Now Due to popular demand, in addition to the new softcover edition, we are offering this new hardcover edition at the same increased trim size (and with a new matte cover treatment — see photo below for comparison with the First Edition, which is also still available), limited to 500 copies worldwide! Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown at left as a FREE bonus!…

Seraph from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo. Seriously go grab something to mop up the tears and exploded-brain matter before clicking "play" on this astonishing short animated film directed by Dash Shaw and co-written by Dash and filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell (with backgrounds by Frank Santoro) encompassing two songs by the amazing Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their new album Valtari. Like seriously.

Sorry to make you think about Christmas in September, but we just have to share this peek at this adorable little gift book we're putting out in November, just in time for stuffing stockings: Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking by Charles M. Schulz! This book (in a size and format similar to Peanuts classics like Happiness Is a Warm Puppy) collects two never-before-reprinted holiday-themed 1960s magazine features written and drawn by Schulz starring the Peanuts gang. It's our first Peanuts book that's not part of The Complete Peanuts series and we couldn't be more excited! Get some early gift shopping out…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. The Cavalier Mr. Thompson: A Sam Hill Novel by Rich Tommaso 144-page two-color 6" x 9" softcover • $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-610-2 Published by Recoil Graphic Novels "For my splurge, I’d pick up Rich Tommasso’s Cavalier Mr. Thompson, a historical mystery set in Texas in the 1920s. I love history, mysteries,…

Esther Pearl Watson's flying saucer paintings are some of my favorite things in the world. Add in a dinosaur and watch me hurt myself racing for my wallet: "The Future Passed Over a Fake Dinosaur," the above-pictured print, is now available from Tiny Showcase. But wait! You can also own tiny originals — Esther has these mini-paintings for sale, each of which comes in its own hand-decorated box. I bought one of these from Esther at Comic-Con (and one of Mark Todd's too) and I luuuuuve it.

The Cartoon Utopia by Ron Regé, Jr. 144-page black & white 10.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-596-9 Ships in: October 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Ron Regé, Jr. is a very unusual yet accomplished storyteller whose work exudes a passionate moral, idealistic core that sets him apart from his peers. The Cartoon Utopia is his Magnum Opus, a unique work of comic art that, in the words of its author, "focuses on ideas that I've become intrigued by that stem from magical, alchemical, ancient ideas & mystery schools." It's part sci-fi, part philosophy, part visual poetry, and…

Making its debut at SPX this weekend and coming to stores in November, it's Blacklung, Chris Wright's long-buzzed-about debut graphic novel (following his acclaimed short story collection Inkweed). We call it "a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah." And it's got pirates! You can pre-order and read a 12-page excerpt right here. (A small warning: now that we have the printed books in hand, we noticed that due to a strange and unique confluence of events, page 36 is accidentally repeated on page 27. Fortunately, there are no…