Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

Come one, come all and bring your ale mugs! Thursday, May 16 is the OFFICIAL ODDLAND RELEASE – BEER AND ART TOUR Join Fantagraphics and Elysian Brewing in celebrating Oddland Peppercorn Saison – the first beer release in our Oddland Series – a creative venture from the warped minds of Elysian Brewing and Seattle artist, Jim Woodring. Start with an Elysian brewery tour and continue to CoCA Georgetown Gallery for beer, bites and art, including handpicked works from Jim Woodring, who will also be in attendance.  4-5PM – Brewery tours at Elysian Airport Way: 5510 Airport Way S., 981085:30-9PM –…

Yeah, dudes, we love fan art. We all know that's why Tumblr exists. But we wanted to highlight a great drawing by Zach Worton (Klondike, D&Q) of Richard Sala's The Chuckling Whatsit: scary and somber, the quiet before the storm. This art is part of a 'super-villains' fundraising auction, with proceeds going to the towards the Doug Wright Awards. SPEAKING of up for sale, Johnny Ryan has some super cheap work up including an homage to the Simpsons.    So buy some fan art today and fill that empty space on your wall with some nice original artwork!  

Get your free tickets, YES, the event has limited seating so make sure to signup for the Friday night before TCAF. "Come kick-off the 10th Anniversary of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival with us on the evening of Friday, May 10th! TCAF will welcome to the stage alt-comix legends Gilbert Hernandez and Jamie Hernandez, as they engage in a lively career-spanning conversation with The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon! Both artists will also sign autographs and meet with fans at the event. Selections from their complete comics library will be available for sale at the event.   Plus! A look back…

This month's issue of Booklist reviewed three recent releases by Fantagraphics creators, excerpted below: Barnaby Vol. 1 by Crockett Johnson, edited by Eric Reynolds & Philip Nel (Starred Review) "…his paramount creation was the celebrated if obscure newspaper strip Barnaby, which, from its distinct visual look (minimalist, Thurberesque drawings; typeset word balloons) to its wry, understated humor, was unlike anything else ever to hit the comics page…There have been sporadic reprintings, but this effort, the initial installment in a five-volume series, is the first to collect it in its entirety. Even Mr. O'Malley couldn't conjure up a more welcome endeavor." –…

Come one, come all! It's time to spend those tax refunds on something good like some original art from Charles Forsman. You may have first seen his art in the Mome anthology from Fantagraphics but Forsman is a prolific cartoonist with many, many mini-comics under his belt. Above is a page from Snake Oil #6, below from a story in Mome, clocking in just at $100. Get a page or two now before Forsman's two books, The End of the Fucking World and Celebrated Summer come out later this year (and the prices on this type of artwork skyrocket!).

The tantric release of Online Commentaries & Release: • Review: The LA Times and Noel Murray interviews Gilbert Hernandez about Julio's Day, Marble Season (from D&Q), plus the future books Love and Rockets: New Stories #6 and Maria M. LA Times: Gilbert says " ‘Julio’s Day’ is very simple. I mean, there’s a lot of heavy stuff going on, but I wanted it to read like a very simple, direct story." • Interview: comiXology interviews Gilbert Hernandez about his most recent comic Julio's Day on their podcast. • Review: Tom Spurgeon looks at Gilbert Hernandez's latest work, Julio's Day, on…

Dash Shaw's newest comic, 3 New Stories, is available today for the first time both in print and digitally via comiXology! In this 32 page comic, Shaw creates three full-color short stories exploring varied dystopian societies, from a Sherlock Holmes-style investigator who must complete his high school degree to filmed "voluntary" nudity to prison camps full of jaded children. Enjoy this full meal of comic on its own or consider it an appetizer for New School out next month. It's only $2.99 for a fun read. "Dash Shaw is a modern comics master. He experiments with everything from structure to…

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.   3 New Stories by Dash Shaw 32 page full color 6.5" x 10.25" comic • $3.99 "3 New Stories is a fascinating work, a book knocked me back on my heels with its tremendous inventiveness, playfulness and intriguing approach to the comics page." –Jason Sacks, Comics Bulletin Peter Bagge's Other Stuff by Peter…

comiXology and Fantagraphics bring another classic cartoonist to the digital screen in Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures: The Joe Kurbert Archives Vol. 1. Joe Kubert sealed his reputation as one of the greatest American comicbook cartoonists of all time with the four-color adventures of Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Enemy Ace, and Tarzan, all done for DC Comics during the 1960s and 1970s (themselves already the subject of archival editions)… but he had been working in comics since the 1940s. In fact, young Kubert produced an exciting, significant body of work as a freelance artist for a variety of comic…

Most Seattlelites recognize the cartoons of Steven Weissman since he's been drawing I, Anonymous for the Seattle Stranger for quite awhile. In this weekly letter column, he pens the diatribes of the angry, bitter, self-loathing and oblivious. Last month's was a favorite of mine, a huge fan of the C-word, handled with the utmost care (see above). Weissman's love of duotone, gray shading and dot-matrix-heavy shading makes his drawings perfect for print and they look hella fine on the web too. Weissman was sweet enough to answer some questions about how he approaches the weekly illustrations. Q: Do the letters…