Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

From October 20th and until November 19th, Comica Festival 2014, the 11th London International Comics Festival, presents conversations, exhibitions, workshops, launches and the unmissable, free-entry Comica Scarycat Comiket, the Independent Comics Market, and Transitions Conference, plus numerous satellite events across the capital. One of those events will feature the amazing Carol Swain. ‘What Makes A Cult Comic?' talk with Rob Davis, Ilya, Paul Rainey & Carol Swain is next Friday November 7th, 2014 7-8:30pm at Foyles Bookshop, watch these creative minds dig into some deep comic topics. "Not all comics are corporate global franchises spun off into endless merchandise and movies. Some of the…

From now until Friday at 11pm EST, comiXology has all our delicious, delightful, terrifying and tittillating EC Comics on sale. All ten titles currently in our store are only $10.99, that's over 50% off from the usual $22.99. From Wallace Wood to Al Williamson, Graham Ingels to Johnny Craig, Joe Orlando to Jack Davis, they are here with tales befitting the festivities and your worst nightmares.    BUT WAIT – behind you there's – gotcha, not a killer but more! There are also some other classics to spook, thrill and scare you. Four Color Fear, Steve Ditko and the Joe Kubert Archives are filled to the brim with ink-and-blood-soaked tales and on sale to boot. But just like…

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. WARNING: Do not atttempt to carry all of these titles at once. You are only human.    Sock Monkey: Into the Deep Woods by Matt Danner and Tony Millionaire 80-page black & white 6" x 9" hardcover • $16.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-746-8  "Compelling, beguiling and visually intoxicating, this latest Sock Monkey yarn judiciously leavens discovery with…

Unless you happen to be in the inner circle of Fantagraphics you might not know that our publisher's son, Conrad Groth, spent the summer interning at MAD Magazine in NYC. In the latest issue of MAD, they wrote a little thank you to Conrad (on the left) and the other summer intern. He's working his way up, up, up! We're happy to have Conrad back on the West Coast though, with the knowledge he gained over the summer. There was also a nice shout out to Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2 by Ed Piskor so basically it's just a stellar issue all…

  On Sunday, November 2nd, join the punk illiterati and connoisseurs of low art for a book signing with Jacques Boyreau at Elliott Bay Book Company. Boyreau's new book, SuperTrash celebrates the vague, fuzzy line between high art and lowly trash. Would a Picasso by any other name look as sweet? Boyreau will give you a lesson in taxonomy and a tour through his curation of SuperTrash: Hermaphro Chic, Movie Fetish, 21st Century Anxiety. Part psychedelic psychotronic, part poster book, part album cover book, part paperback pulp book: interdisciplinary, quantal, and polyglottal, SuperTrash is surrealism for the 21st century.   So head on over to Elliott…

Tim Lane, master of the intense and dense comics page is back at his hometown store for a book signing this Saturday, November 1st at 7pm. Lane continues his exploration of the Great American Mythological Drama that began with his first book, the critically acclaimed Abandoned Cars. This collection of stories is broadly linked together by the experience of wandering – both literally and figuratively. With compelling verisimilitude, the lives of his characters are depicted by way of rich mixtures of obscure myths and documented facts, dreams and reality, belief and disbelief, throughout a haunted landscape populated by the ghosts…

We told you about some shows opening in the last few weeks and NOW we have some sweet photographic proof, c'mon, you believed us, right?! Above, M.K. Brown stands outside of the Cartoon Art Museum at Saa Francisco, CA. Her show runs from August 30th until February 15th, 2015. It collects comics and single panel gag cartoons featured in her collection Stranger Than Life (published by Fantagraphics!).  Bill Griffiths of Zippy the Pinhead lists the things he looks for in an amazing cartoonist on the CAM site."- Chronicles the times we live in, but does so in a way that doesn't 'date.'–…

This month's issue of Booklist will include review of a recent release by a Fantagraphics creator, excerpted below:Doctors  by Dash Shaw Starred review: "With his signature spare, thick line work on display, Shaw pursues his twin main interests-stressed families and sotto voce science fiction-in his most audacious color exercise since The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century (2010) and his most eventful book ever." –Ray Olson, Booklist

   Congratulations are in order (again)! Carl Barks is on the NY Times Best Sellers list at #2 for his new collection Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge "The Seven Cities of Gold". The NY Times poses the question, "Will Uncle Scrooge and his nephews survive a trip to the lost city of gold?" We certainly hope so! But you'll have to read it to find out.    Meanwhile, Simon Hanselmann's Megahex is still on the list, two weeks in a row, making it one 'hot fortnight' for the people at the funny papers. So the lesson? 2014 loves anthropomorphic characters, be they child-appropriate or not. Pick up a…

Did you know you still have 13 hours left to pick out some spooky titles from our Halloween sale?! Details on all the titles for sale until MIDNIGHT PST tonight! With all that extra money you'll be able to make a wicked costume for your kiddos or self. Oh no…did you forget to make a costume for Scooter? Just a little black paint and sharpie and you can whip up a great Charlie Brown in no time (costume and kid by freelance editor Shawna Gore).   Swee'Pea from Popeye is also another easy one (costume and kid by Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds)