Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

The fantastically newest Online Commentaries & Diversions:   • Review: Over at Read About Comics, Greg McElhatton cracks open a copy of Lewis Trondheim's newest English translation. "Ralph Azham Vol. One is a nice little surprise; what initially looks cute and fun is dark and enjoyable, and Trondheim’s gradual reveals of the story’s contents are strong enough that it makes reading the next volume a must. . . I’m definitely back for Book Two; this was a great deal of fun." • Interview (audio): Robin McConnell of the Inkstuds podcast interviews Noah Van Sciver on The Hypo and his newest…

For one of the first times, Flannery O'Connor gets to hang out with some contemporaries but not of the prose world, the art world. Spotted for sale in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Flannery O'Connor shares shelf space with painters like Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio Morandi, and Georgia O'Keeffe (yes, yes, alphabetically). You'll enjoy her ideas and experimentation, they laid the groundwork for her future fiction and she joins the ranks of other writers who played around in the visual arts like E. E. Cummings and William Blake. Pick up a copy of her book of linocuts and cartoons,…

As mentioned in a TCJ thread, we seem to love those, Fantagraphics will be reprinting Peppy and Virginny in Lapinoland by Hergé from 1934. In the first American publication and the first English production since Methuen (Tintin's publisher) released it in the UK in the 1960s, these two troublemakers are sure to win your heart. Peppy and Virginny, our protagonists and haberdashers, seek out new clientele in the Wild West with the aid of their horse, Bluebell. The pair have multiple run-ins with evil bandits, Indian tribes and much more as engaging funny-animal characters (rabbits and bulldogs and bears, oh…

The blackest ink in the pot of Online Commentaries & Diversions:   • Review: AV Club shows presidential love for Barack Hussein Obama and The Hypo. Noel Murray on Steven Weissman's book: "For the most part Barack Hussein Obama is just wild fun, built around the notion that a president can be easily reduced to his public image—and that we, the people, have the right to manipulate that image for our own delight." And Murray on The Hypo: "[Noah Van Sciver renders] an American icon as a lumpen everyman, fighting through the same fog that many people find themselves in—even…

This weekend in sunny ol' San Diego cartoonist Joyce Farmer is a guest and panelist at the San Diego Comic Fest, Friday – Sunday, October 19th-21st. On Friday, October 19th from 4:00-5:00 pm head over for the panel called "An hour with Joyce Farmer." As one of the first woman underground artists, Joyce will sit down with her friend and underground cartoonist, Mary Fleener, to discuss her career, her upcoming plans and, most all, Special Exits, her “graphic memoir” based upon her own experience caring for her father and stepmother in their final years. Sunday, October 21st starts off with…

  Election season getting you down? Think no more of it as you download the latest in Fantagraphics and comiXology's digital storm, The Hypo by Noah Van Sciver. We can all agree that President Abraham Lincoln was a great man and leader of the country but what were the seeds that sprouted this enormous forest of a man?  The debut graphic novel from Noah Van Sciver follows the twentysomething Abraham Lincoln as he loses everything, long before becoming our most beloved president. Lincoln is a rising Whig in the state's legislature as he arrives in Springfield, IL to practice law….

  Entrecomics, a Madrid-based comic book company, recently put out a call for Cannibal Fuckface Fan Art, the main fucktagonist of Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit series. Entrecomics and Fulgencio Pimentel co-edited the Spanish edition, Pudridero, that combines Books 1 and 2.  So far the response to the contest has been overwhelming, both in volume and ability. The contest winners will recieve copies of Prison Pit, other comics and it sounds like there is an exhibition or two in the works. Maybe even a print booklet? To size up the competition and enjoy the entries, check out the work posted on…

In the face of the election season, voters on both sides of the issues and firmly encamped in their parties were shocked at the turn of events from the first Presidential Debate and the only Vice-Presidential debate. But it was a shock to no-one at Fantagraphics for we have all read Steven Weissman's graphic novel Barack Hussein Obama. He managed to capture the essence of America so well that he even predicted the future. This is how Obama was reacting on the sidelines during the VP debate as Biden laid down the law:     This is what Biden was…

The Cleanest Mug in the Kitchen of Online Commentaries & Diversions: • Review: Booklist reviews the Mysterious Traveler: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 3, by Steve Ditko and edited by Blake Bell. Gordon Flagg notes these horror stories feature "Ditko’s distinctly off-kilter drawings and boldly potent composition" and the "meticulous restoration means that the stories look far better here than they did upon their original appearances." • Review: Booklist enjoys Mort Meskin's Out of the Shadows, edited by Steven Brower. "Meskin’s powerful compositions add a fitting dynamism to superhero tales featuring the Black Terror and Fighting Yank. His bold use…

Just in time for the presidential debates and November election season, Fantagraphics and comiXology are proud to release the brand new Barack Hussein Obama for digial download. Steven Weissman's surreal view on the time and the powerful man in the world is too funny to be true. This book represents a whole, fully-realized parallel America, a dada-esque, satirical vision that is no more cockeyed than the real thing, its weirdness no more weird, its vision of the world no more terrifying, where the zombie-esque simulacra of Joe Biden and Hillary and Newt and Obama wander, if not exactly through the…