Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

Fantagraphics and comiXology are happy to bring one of the pillars of alternative comics to the digital forefront. Peter Bagge's Other Stuff is perfect for a long-time reader of Hate or a new-comer.  Other Stuff includes a series of Bagge-written stories drawn by other cartoonists, including "Life in these United States" with Daniel Clowes, "Shamrock Squid" with Adrian Tomine, and the one-two parody punch of "Caffy" (with art by R. Crumb) and "Dildobert" (with art by Prison Pit’s Johnny Ryan)… plus a highlight of the book, the hilarious, literate and intricate exposé of "Kool-Aid Man" written by Alan Moore and…

The Toronto Comics Arts Festival was amazing, it was a whole corral of Fantagraphics cartoonists visiting Toronto with publicist Jacq Cohen and me to sell sell sell books to the sweetest Canadians. On Friday we stopped at the coolest comic book store, The Beguiling. Inkstuds' Robin McConnell in the Beguiling Dash Shaw's new floppy comic, 3 New Stories! Plus, Maidenheadlock a crazy screen printed comic. There was an awesome shop called Honest Ed's full of $1 jeggings and $3 babies. BABIES, guys. It was a hell of deal. Luckily they had cool signage everywhere. If Jacq ever uses the internet…

Enjoy your birthday and we hope you got everything you wished for! Linda Medley is the cartoonist of the Castle Waiting series with a new softcover edition of Volume 1 and the new Definitive Edition of Volume 2. 

Bringing you the absolute best in alternative comics, Fantagraphics and comiXology have released Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s for your digital reading delight. Edited by Michael Dowers, Newave! is a gigantic collection of the best small press cartoonists to emerge after the first generation of underground cartoonists (such as R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and Art Spiegelman) paved the way. These cartoonists, inspired by the freewheeling creative energy of the underground comix movement, began drawing and printing their own comix seen here. This gigantor collection has 856 pages of comics by your favorite artists of today and yesterday…

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 (放浪息子 / Hourou Musuko) Vol. 4 by Shimura Takako; edited and translated by Matt Thorn 224-page black & white 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-605-8 "Wandering Son is not the kind of manga in which a happy ending is guaranteed… You'll thus be grateful for the moments of realistic, untempered…

Linda Medley, cartoonist of Castle Waiting and much more, recently shared some old Comic-Con International or San Diego Comic Con badges with us. Above is her FIRST Comic-Con badge. Twelve years later, Medley designed the badge for the 1991 con (below). As you can see Toucan existed even then, pre-blog. This was an extra they gave Linda so no names on it and the official one had a slightly different design printed with METALLIC INK. This is so bad ass. The 2000 SDCC badge still sported artwork: DINOSAURS by Gahan Wilson (his new book coming out soon) Badges need only…

Did you miss one of the best days of the year this past weekend? Free Comic Book Day may only come once a year but rest assured, you can read this Prince Valiant treat anywhere on your digital reading device from the future thanks to comiXology. This full-color comic collects two Prince Valiant stories from Hal Foster's 1950 peak: "Home Again," in which Val, Aleta, and newborn baby Prince Arn enjoy an eventful ocean journey back to Thule; and “The Challenge,” in which another knight's unwelcome advances on Aleta result in a classic duel with Valiant! Grab it this free…

Holy comicsolly! Here's photos from the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR. Dash Shaw was in attendance with New School, which flew off the table. WHY THE WAIT on pictures? We forgot our own con rules. To remain human you must 5-2-1-I: At least 5 hours of sleep, 2 meals a day, 1 shower and Ibuprofen at night. Four hours of sleep one night wrecked this gal and boy, did she pay for it. Lots of our Fantastaff came to the show since it was so close! Me, Designer Emory Liu, PR Director Jacq Cohen, Dash and Office Manager Steph…

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.   Walt Disney's Donald Duck: The Old Castle's Secret (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 6)by Carl Barks 232-page full-color 7.5" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-653-9 "Barks, the artist, is a master cartoonist, drawing lively, expressive characters with a graceful sense of movement. His beautiful, detailed backgrounds plant the ducks in…

We love all of our books but are especially happy for the creators of the Eisner-nominated books. You can vote until June 12 online. If you haven't read all of them, check 'em out individually or via our list! Best Short Story: "Moon 1969: The True Story of the 1969 Moon Launch," by Michael Kupperman, in Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8 "Rainbow Moment," by Lilli Carré, in Heads or Tails Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8, by Michael Kupperman Best Humor Publication: Naked Cartoonists, edited by Gary Groth Best Anthology: No Straight Lines: Four Decades of…