Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

"[Tim Lane] makes illustrations in that Brylcreem-soaked, hard-boiled, noir style with heavy hatching circa R. Crumb." – Juxtapoz "Lane’s beautifully crafted pen-and-ink drawing combines a master artist’s eye for detail with a predilection for the grotesque to produce a superb blending of unforgettable images and poignant meditation on life’s tragic undercurrents." – Booklist "…[Tim Lane is] a major new voice on the American literary landscape, with or without the illustrations." – Print The Lonesome Goby Tim Lane 296-page black & white/color 8” x 10.75” softcover • $39.99 Due to arrive in about 2-4 weeks. Click the thumbnails for larger versions;…

Is your mind's eye open? Can it possibly hold all of the beauty in the world? If not, then Jim Woodring's new book JIM is the collection of comics to prepare you. Built on foundation of hallucinations and nightmares, Jim is Woodring's alter-ego and allows him the creative freedom live in alternate dimensions and answer the question "What If" in a language he didn't even know existed.    Joe Garvin of News from Mill Creek and the University Bookstore recently reviewed Jim, "Anthropomorphic creatures resembling frogs and elephants occupy strange but uncannily familiar landscapes; beings traverse realms and undergo spontaneous transformations. Nevertheless, all seems to…

This weekend, Eleanor Davis and Ed Piskor are going to rock Georgia's lit festival in Decatur. Free to the public on Saturday, August 30th and Sunday, August 31st, the Decatur Book Festival is all over downtown Decatur.  Eleanor is giving a presentation along with Liz Prince and moderator Kerry Leibling at the "How to Be Graphic" panel on Saturday, August 30th. A little less salty than it sounds, be at the Marriott Conference Center Ballroom A promptly at 1:45pm! (130 Clairemont Ave, Decatur, GA 30030) A book signing to follow.   Meanwhile, on Sunday Ed Piskor has the Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2 – Book Launch at…

The Boys of Summer are about to be in your town fun in the fall! Simon Hanselmann is coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia to titelate and delight Americans with his debut comic graphic novel, Megahex. Joining him are Koyama Press cartoonists, Michael DeForge with Lose #6 and Patrick Kyle with Distance Mover! A few other special guests will join them along the way so find your city and plunk your butt down in front of the store for a good time. There will also be a silkscreened version of the above collaboration available soon from the amazing Telegraph Gallery. The boys are…

Hometown hero, Ed Piskor, is coming back atcha with the release of Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 2 at 7pm on Saturday, September 23rd. At this release party at Copacetic Comics, you may need to bring the bucks but never the beats.  Book 2 covers the early years of 1981-1983, when Hip Hop has made a big transition from the parks and rec rooms to downtown clubs and vinyl records. As meticulously documented in Piskor's panels, the performers make moves to separate themselves from the paying customers by dressing more and more flamboyantly until a young group called RUN-DMC comes on the scene to take…

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.    Megahex by Simon Hanselmann 212-page full color 6" x 8.75" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-743-7  "Simon Hanselmann is the real deal, for sure. He captures that stoner stay-at-home life so accurately that I actually find his comics really depressing and thank God I don't ever have to hang out with anybody like that…

The Small Press Expo and Ignatz award nominating committee listed it's list of nominees for this year's awards. For those attending the show on Saturday and Sunday, September 13-14th please make sure to vote on Saturday! Whom should you vote for? Well, your favorite comics of course but here are some *cough cough* suggestions!   Best Artist: Kim Deitch Ed Piskor Jesse Reklaw    Outstanding Graphic Novel: Kim Deitch, The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley    Anthologies: Anders Nelson, The End Leslie Stein, Eye of the Majestic Creature Vol. 2 Tony Millionaire,  Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey Treasury   Outstanding Comic: Dash Shaw, Cosplayers (Issue #2 is…

Friends and family, gather 'round! Ed Piskor is coming to your neighborhood! Ed's coming and his gaggle of comics to Philadelphia and Brooklyn.  SATURDAY, August 16th Piskor will be signing copies of Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 1, Volume 2 and the box set at Locust Moon Comics at 7pm.  SUNDAY, August 17th at 7pm, you can find Piskor at Bergen Street Comics in conversation with rapper Reggie Ossé (also known to many of you as Combat Jack)! Can't imagine how cool that would be? Well check out this video from the Chicago Ideas conference as a little pre-game action.  At both signings, Ed's pal and stellar cartoonist…

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.   Jim by Jim Woodring 224-page black & white/color 7.75" x 11" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-752-9 "Jim Woodring is one of our greatest cartoonists, and these are some of his greatest comics. There are two or three potential top 25 all-time comics shorts in here." -Tom Spurgeon, Comics Reporter    "Fantagraphics hardcover collection…

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. Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko / 放浪息子) Vol. 7 by Shimura Takako 220-page black & white (with some color) 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-750-5  "…[L]ike the best coming-of-age stories – comics or otherwise – Wandering Son is meticulously accurate in its details, but universal in its emotions. Gay or not, readers shouldn't find…