Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

The Tony Millionaire will be hitching a bus, elephant or small jet to Portland this weekend after the signing at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery to make an appearance at Floating World Comics in Portland, Oregon! From 6 to 8pm this Sunday, March 9th you can have the newest Sock Monkey Treasury book signed to you and your own Sock Monkey-lovin' kiddos. Maakies fiends, be sure to bring a copy of your own or grab one from Floating World (Green Eggs and Maakies being the latest). Come one, come all! March 9th, 6-8pm  Floating World Comics 400 NW Couch Street Portland, Oregon 503.241.0227 

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. Henry Speaks for Himself by John Liney (Henry created by Carl Anderson)Edited by David Tosh 160-page full-color 7.6" x 10.45" softcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-733-8 Written and drawn by John Liney between 1946 and 1961, these stories prove Henry to be a combination of Dennis the Menace and Little Lulu, getting…

Finally, you can stop hitting yourself in the face in bed reading these large tomes! Fantagraphics and comiXology have released The Sincerest Form of Parody available for you to read digitally! Edited by John Benson, this collection includes the best and funniest material from the bandwagon-jumping MAD imitators, with work by Jack Davis, Will Elder, Dick Ayers, Bill Everett, Jack Kirby and many more, plus expert commentary. Casual comics readers are probably familiar with the later satirical magazines that continued to be published in the '60s and '70s, such as Cracked and Sick, but the comics collected in this volume were imitations…

  At the invitation of Stephen Weiner, director of the Maynard Public Library in Maynard, MA, the Million Year Picnic comic shop will participate in Will Eisner Week as the Boston metro-area representative of the event. To honor Eisner's birthday, there will be a Q&A session between Paul Hornschemeier (creator of Artists, Authors, Thinkers, Directors; Mother, Come Home; The Three Paradoxes; the New York Times Best Seller Life with Mr. Dangerous, as well as the short story collections Let Us Be Perfectly Clear and All and Sundry) and Denis Kitchen (a cartoonist in the "underground comix" movement, he founded Kitchen Sink…

 Non Sequitur: Abstraction in Contemporary Sequential Art February 28 – March 26, 2014 Opening Reception: Friday, Feb. 28, 7-10pm Special Event: Sequential S'mores – Progressive Art Opening  – with Sequential Artist's Workshop and F.L.A. Gallery, Friday, Feb. 28, 6pm – 12am (click link for more info)  Gallery Protocol is pleased to announce Non Sequitur: Abstraction in Contemporary Sequential Art, an exhibition of comic and sequential art from artists Pat Aulisio, Derek Ballard, Josh Bayer, Erin Curry, CF, Hellen Jo, Aidan Koch, Emma Louthan, Molly Colleen O'Connell, Gary Panter, Raymond Pettibon, Ron Rege Jr, Frank Santoro, Dash Shaw, and Angie Wang. Collectively, these artists represent…

  Fantagraphics is proud to brag that we have not one but TWO of five 2013 finalists in the Graphic Novel/Comics Category for the LA Times Book Prize. • Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust   • The End by Anders Nilsen On Friday evening, April 11, 2014, at 7:30 pm, the winners of the 2013 Book Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony in Bovard Auditorium on the campus of USC. The ceremony will be followed by a buffet reception. We sincerely hope your finalist (s) will be able to attend event. This occasion will mark the 34th…

The most delicious 50% candy so let's eat our feelings of Online Commentaries and Diversions:      • Plug: The Advocate lists Julio's Day as great gift. "[Julio's Day] is a remarkable literary work that compresses 100 years into 100 pages and demonstrates how dramatically life changed for gay men between 1900 and 2000." –Jacob M, The Advocate     • Plug: The AV Club lists Julio's Day at #8 of the top 10 Graphic Novels and Art Comics of 2013. "Comic books have a unique way of evoking the passage of time within static images, and Gilbert Hernandez is a cartoonist that is keenly aware of how he can use…

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. Perfect Nonsense: The Chaotic Comics and Goofy Games of George Carlson by George Carlson; edited by Daniel Yezbick 320-page color/black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $49.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-508-2 "Perfect Nonsense is a perfect gift for a fan of illustration and golden age comics and humor and, hm, absurdism." -Heidi MacDonald, The Beat   "[a]…

This Saturday, February 22nd, at 8pm treat yourself to a fantastic night of animation at the local cinema, TIME FARMERS! Time Farmers is a program of short animated films made by independent contemporary animators from across North America. This collection of films has been assembled by Lori Damiano in 2013 to accompany her newly completed 2D hand-drawn film. This is THE Seattle premiere of Lori D's incredible epic animation 'Lord I, the Records Keeper', over 10 years in production. Lori's friend, our own Lilli Carré will have 2012 experimental animation "Like a Lantern" playing as well. Also, showing are cartoons by Stefan Gruber,…

 There's no greater love in the world (to us) than a good book. You can enjoy it on the bus, in the bath tub, while eating Cheez Whiz straight from the can and drinking a nice glass of Bordeaux (not OR there — and).  Here are a few of you enjoying and loving our books from the last year (and then some). Above, cartoonist Ben Cohen's daughter reads from The Frank Book by Jim Woodring.   Above, Little Bea read's Good Dog by Graham Chaffee. Gotta say, a lot of dogs seem to love Graham Chaffee's latest graphic novel so you may want to buy a…