Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or are worth another look. As much of the world’s attention turns to developments in the Middle East over two thousand years ago, I engage in my annual ritual of re-reading Joe Sacco’s Palestine. Shortly after arriving at Fantagraphics Books in 1992 as marketing and promotions director, Kim Thompson handed me blue line proofs of a new project by Joe Sacco. I remember thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?” There was precious little precedent for this type of treatment of…
What’s in Store: Top Ten of 2016
It’s come time for Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid to select my favorite comix of 2016. A tough task this year with so many wonderful new books – a little like choosing which of my children I love the most. The choices are so close this list could easily be reversed. 10. Hey Lady. With a button affixed to the cover of each issue, I was immediately attracted to Regina Schilling’s zines. When I was able to fully absorb the contents, it became clear there was more to these creations than a clever premise and seductive artwork. Schilling selects a…
Digital WE TOLD YOU SO and more!
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! We Told You So, the book celebrating our 40th anniversary is here and ready to read and enjoy on your tablets. In 1976, a fledgling magazine held forth the idea that comics could be art. In 2016, comics can now be enjoyed by an adult readership and are reviewed favorably in the New York Times. We Told You So: Comics as Art is an oral history about Fantagraphics Books’ key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored, and fading expression of Americana. It includes appearances by Chris…
Re/Read: Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or merit another look. This time we’ll focus on Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge. A generation of comix enthusiasts came of age following the foibles of Buddy Bradley and his crew of lovable losers in Peter Bagge’s Hate. This work came to define the youth movement associated with Seattle’s “grunge” counterculture. Bagge became a central figure in illustrating the attitudes and aesthetics of this global phenomenon. A truly remarkable achievement. Buddy Buys a Dump collects the 9 issues…
Digital Releases by Hanks, Luce, and Wood
Fletcher Hanks, Ed Luce, and Wally Wood make up our digital dream team this week. They are also accompanied by some rather risqué backlist titles. Here we go . . . Fletcher Hanks was the first great comic book auteur: he wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered all his stories between 1939 and 1941. Whether it’s the superhero Stardust dolling out poetic justice or the jungle protectress Fantomah tearing evildoers limb from limb, pop surrealism and violent mayhem are abundant in all of Hanks’s work. Originally featured in two paperbacks, this deluxe volume collects all of Hanks’s previously published material, plus…
We’re Thankful for New Digital Comics
A cornucopia of classic comics and more backlist favorites are on the menu for this week’s digital comics releases. All good things (and when we say good, we mean GREAT) must come to an end and today marks the release of the very last collection in the Complete Peanuts. Volume 26 collects all of Charles Schulz’s rare non-strop Peanuts art from gags to storybooks to recipes — all things no true Peanuts library would be complete without. As a fitting end to the series, Jean Schulz provides an emotional introduction. The Complete Peanuts Vol. 26 can now be found on…
Digital Cosplayers and More
The cosplayers are back to brighten your holiday spirits and more backlist titles come out to play in this week’s round of digital releases. What do you get the cosplayer who has everything? What do you get your best friend to show her how much she means to you? Cosplayers Annie and Verti return to do some holiday shopping in this all-new one shot from the acclaimed artist Dash Shaw. Find A Cosplayers Christmas on comiXology today. Our log of backlist titles available through comiXology is expanding each week and today we welcome these fantastic books into the fold: Problematic:…
Re/Read: Jim Blanchard’s Beasts and Priests
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid examining backlist titles you may have missed or are worth another look. This time we’ll focus on Beasts and Priests by former Fantagraphics art director Jim Blanchard. As the title suggests, Beasts and Priests documents both divine and demonic personalities of American pop culture: from Rat Pack louts and rogue politicians to revered rock ‘n’ rollers and stars of the silver screen. Blanchard employs ingenious treatments to capture the cult of personality that surrounds these figures. Mod fashion model Twiggy, Manson murder victim Sharon Tate, and sixties sex symbols…
New Comic Book Day – Nov. 10th 2016
Technically yesterday was New Comic Book Day, but technically I was crushed under the weight of our post-election world and spending all day an twitter was just a little too much too soon. But time marches on, and losing yourself in the world of a book helps, even if it’s just for a few hours. So here are your new comics this week, enjoyable now and always: Looking for America’s Dog by Steven Weissman (This book should go down as one of the most touching looks at politicians ever) Vice President Joe Biden left the gate open at the White…
Today’s New Digital Releases
Maybe comics will help. Here’s today’s new digital debuts. The EC Comics Library continues with Voodoo Vengeance by Johnny Craig, whose style is eerily crisp and contemporary. This collection features pulp shockers of all kinds, along with seven Craig crime classics. It can be found on comiXology and Google Play. If you can’t get enough of EC, today also marks the debut of The Comics Journal Library Vol. 10: The EC Artists Part 2. This volume of conversations includes definitive interviews with the creators behind the EC line, including talks with Harvey Kurtzman, Ray Bradbury,…
