Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

Pretty book alert! The first bound copy of Lilli Carré's story collection Heads or Tails showed up at the office late last week. It's a gorgeous package containing Lilli's short stories from Mome and elsewhere, along with new material. With a unique visual style and a literary, poetic storytelling sensibility, along with an experimental streak informed by her work in illustration and animation, Lilli is a singular young talent and we're thrilled to be collecting her comics work. The book is due in early November, give or take. Stay tuned for more previews & sneak peeks; learn more about the…

Chris Wright writes: "My second book, and first 'graphic novel' Blacklung, will, if all goes according to plan, be debuting at SPX in September. I didn’t feel like drawing new comics one day, so I drew these promotional poster type things instead." It'd be nice to have some printed copies to give away at our SPX table — I'll see if we can make that happen. In the meantime, you can read a 12-page excerpt and pre-order a copy of the book right here.

"A bunch of large, intricate drawings" by Ron Regé Jr. from his upcoming Fantagraphics release The Cartoon Utopia are on exhibit as part of the "Shangri-LA" art show curated by Mike Kelley opening at Synchronicity Space in L.A. tonight which explores notions of… Utopia! Turn your head upside-down and you'll see that Ron is also giving a lecture at the gallery next Friday, August 24 at 7PM. More info here.

The Raven (Softcover Ed.) by Lorenzo Mattotti & Lou Reed 166-page full-color 9" x 9" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-585-3 Ships in: September 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now In 2000, veteran rock 'n' roller Lou Reed, legendary director Robert Wilson, and a cast of singers and actors premiered Reed's musical POEtry in Hamburg's Thalia Theater. An ambitious combination of Edgar Allen Poe's poems and stories and Reeds reinterpretations of same (with a few classic Reed songs such as "Perfect Day" and "The Bed" integrated for good measure, POEtry bridged the centuries to provide a unique vision of beauty and…

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman 112-page full-color 7.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-623-2 Ships in: September 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now What does it mean to live in America today? If you know there’s no right answer to that question, you’ll want to read Barack Hussein Obama — a book about you; about your country, your family, your president. Barack Hussein Obama is not a graphic novel. It’s neither a biography nor an experiment, but a whole, fully-realized parallel America, a dada-esque, surrealistic satirical vision that is no more cockeyed than the real thing, its weirdness…

Word's been buzzing around for a while that Dave Cooper & Johnny Ryan were developing an animated show for kids together and once we picked the pieces of our heads up off the floor we've all been eager to see the results. Well here it is, and now we have pieces of head all over the place again. PigGoatBananaMantis! was written by Johnny, art-directed by Dave, and animated by Nick Cross. (See the full list of credits on the YouTube page.) What do they call this, a pitch reel? Demo? I dunno, but whatever cable network executive passed on this…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 (Vol. 18) by Charles M. Schulz 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-572-3 See Previews / Order Now Peanuts reaches the middle of the go-go 1980s in this book, which covers 1985 and 1986: a time of hanging out at the mall, “punkers” (you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Snoopy with a Mohawk), killer bees, airbags, and Halley’s Comet. And in a surprisingly sharp satirical sequence, Schulz pokes fun at runaway licensing with the introduction of the insufferably merchandisable “Tapioca Pudding.” Also in…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 3 (1938-1940) by Roy Crane 152-page full-color 10.5" x 14.75" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-529-7 See Previews / Order Now SPECIAL OFFER: Order this volume and get Vol. 1 and/or Vol. 2 for $29.99 each; that's 25% off! Make your selection when ordering. “Crane’s work is sheer energy. It’s somewhere between Crane and E.C. Segar that (Carl Barks’ beloved) Donald Duck got forged; the kind of ruddy-cheeked adventurousness that underlies the content is certainly the same work that moves Donald and…

I should've photographed them together to give the proper sense of scale, but here are your first glimpses of companion volumes The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here: Images from the Graphic Novel and Observed While Falling: Bill Burroughs, Ah Pook, and Me, both by Malcolm McNeill. In the former, see the stunning artwork McNeill created for his great "lost" unpublished collaboration with William S. Burroughs; and in the latter, read all about their collaboration in McNeill's own words — a story so great it had to be contained in its own book. Both books will debut at SPX…

The final book in Carol Tyler's Eisner and Ignatz-nominated, Los Angeles Times Book Prize-finalist You'll Never Know trilogy, Soldier's Heart, will be debuting at SPX next month and arriving in stores in October. We received our advance copies here at Fantagraphics HQ late last week and let me tell you, even just at first glance, Carol's artwork is even more breathtaking than the first two volumes, which, if you've seen them, is saying something. Stay tuned for more previews and pre-order your copy today.