Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

Jim Vadeboncoeur is one of our greatest comics historians and archivists, a mean publisher, whose ImageS magazine is a monument of good taste and curatorial excellence for the past 13 years, and a friend to Fantagraphics and consultant and contributor to many of our books, including Four Color Fear, Alex Toth's Setting the Standard, The Sincerest Form of Parody, Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture, and the gigantic George Carlson retrospective Perfect Nonsense. He is currently running a Kickstarter to print Issue #13, a full color one, and is less than $2,000 from his goal! So as Gary Groth would say, "He's…

This week's offerings from the digital realm of comics. Richard Sala's DIGITAL exclusive comic, Violenzia, is now on sale along with his other available titles in the Sala Bundle on comiXology. You get Delphine, The Hidden, Peculia, Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires, and The Grave Robber's Daughter for only $24.99 saving you a total of 56%. That sounds like some dark magic but it's worth your time if the grim and gory are your kind of story. The two Fantagraphics titles from Free Comic Book Day HAVE ARRIVED. More like Hip Hop Family FREE! This two-in-one comic by Ed Piskor was a hot…

Publisher Gary Groth was the happy recipient of a chocolate cake this week as alt-weekly paper, The Stranger, let him know he is on a very short list of nominees for the Genius Award in Seattle. Gary's up against some fierce local competition in the literature category but he's held a guiding light for Fantagraphics and comics long enough for us to know he's a genius (read: crazy, mad genius). Fantagraphics' cartoonists Jim Woodring and Ellen Forney have had the privilege of being on the short list as well (Woodring won!) so Gary will have some good company no matter what. To find out who the genius…

This weekend, masters of the comic art form, Peter Bagge and Ed Piskor are Special Guests at the Appleseed Comic Con in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Join the comics crowd at The Grand Wayne Center (120 West Jefferson Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN 46802) on Saturday, May 17th from 10am-6pm and again on Sunday, May 18th from 11am-5pm.   On Saturday from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM check out THE HIP HOP/COMICS CONNECTION panel! "Ed Piskor, author of the New York Times best-selling series Hip Hop Family Tree, examines the 40 year relationship between Comics and Hip Hop culture. The journey begins with Vaughn Bode characters painted on…

Paste Magazine released a list of the 100 Best Comic Book Characters and a few are from Fantagraphics books! Here are our highlights:  88. Buddy Bradley from Hate, Buddy Buys a Dump, etc."For some, though, Bagge's early ‘90s hipster caricature was the closest comics got to depicting the world Gen X'ers knew, or at least the world they thought would make them look cool if they acted like they knew it. Through Buddy, Bagge bitingly dredged up the paranoia at the core of every ‘90s alt doofus." – Garrett Martin   35. Enid Coleslaw from Ghost World "Teenage girls, in particular, get the short shrift…

New York Times Best Seller list for the week of May 18th, 2014 listed The Love Bunglers by Jaime Hernandez as #8! Congratulations to Jaime on a fantastic graphic novel and absolute gem in the Love and Rockets crown.   "To experience Maggie's story is to watch a modern comic-book master explore the potential of his craft, and The Love Bunglers represents a high point for both the character and her creator." -Oliver Sava, A.V. Club      

Serialized from the pages of Dungeon Quest Book Three by Joe Daly, we join Millenium Boy, Millenium Boy, Steve, Nerd Girl and Lash Penis mid-digital-adventure. Dungeon Quest Book Three Issue 1 is available starting today at comiXology! Having penetrated the core of Fireburg Forest, our heroes find themselves in the pale limestone glow of the temple of Bromedes at the foot of the master himself…BROMEDES! The gang will learn a lesson when they enter a planetarium. $1.99 for all this F.U.N. "Daly's parody of the trek adventure – the template for ripping yarns from King Solomon's Mines to King Kong to Indy Jones to scads…

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 Complete Peanuts 1991-1992 (Vol. 21) by Charles M. Schulz 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-726-0 "Charles Schulz was an American treasure – an artist, philosopher, and keen observer of human life." – Bill Clinton "The Complete Peanuts has framed Charles Schulz's enduring masterpiece about as well any…

Rolling Stone recently listed it's Top 50 Non-Superhero Graphic Novels and we made up 22% of that list (including a few books that we published and have been rereleased by others). If you haven't picked up one of these books, get steppin' to your local comic book store, buy one from the website, visit the library—you've go so many options! Picks by Joe Gross also of the Austin-American Statesman.   47 Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco "Joe Sacco is one of the medium's premier journalists; that he has focused on war-torn regions makes his work feel that much more vital and impressive…Gorazde – is a…

This Saturday and Sunday, Fantagraphics is proud to table at Toronto Comic Arts Festival. TCAF is held at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street) on Saturday May 10th – 9am-5pm, Sunday May 11th – 11am-5pm. Presented by the Toronto Public Library and The Beguiling comic store, this show is FREE to attend saving you those loonies and toonies to pay for great comics. We'll be at tables 119-120 down the main aisle of the library (or if you prefer, the first people to greet you as you prom-walk slowly down the steps from the atrium level). Signing ScheduleSaturday May, 10th10-12 Lane…