Fantagraphics Blog Blog

Originally run as an experiment on Stephen’s blog starting in 2008, Monday’s Strip is re-presented here. This strip is seen here in color for the first time. Stephen’s graphic novel Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man’s History (written by George Chieffet) was released by Fantagraphics in September, 2010.

Slip into something more comfortable as we present a new column at Fantagraphics: Under the Covers, a sexy* look at album covers drawn by our artists, and the musicians who hook up with them. [ *Ed. note: Sorry, not really sexy. ] We're kicking off this column with a two-fer: musician Kristin Hersh and Gilbert Hernandez of Love & Rockets.  Gilbert drew the cover to the 1996 Throwing Muses album Limbo, and most recently, the cover to Kristin's memoir Rat Girl, out today from Penguin. Janice: So, all the way back to the very beginning, how did you first discover…

Summer 2010 interns Ian Burns, Melissa Gray, Jamie Hibdon, Kailyn Kent, Michael Litven and Christina Texeira put together a series of discussion questions about Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius for use in book clubs. As these questions are intended for those who have read the book, please be warned that contain spoilers. How the Story is Told Wally Gropius is broken up into a collection of small episodes that end with punch lines. How did this affect your reading experience, i.e. your engagement with the story and feelings for the characters? What affect does solid color instead of detailed backgrounds have…

I had some questions for Tales Designed to Thrizzle creator Michael Kupperman, which he graciously answered over email. All links below were added by me. MB: In the new issue of Thrizzle, apart from the move to full color, there also seem to be fewer short strips and gags and more multi-page stories — what led to this? Is this indicative of an evolutionary shift in the comic? MK: Well, yes — the comic has to keep evolving to keep going. For this issue I had been developing these three story ideas for a while, and it just worked out…

We're very pleased to present this interview with Cathy Malkasian conducted by contributing Mome cartoonist Robert Goodin. We typically have Fantagraphics staff members conduct these “Diaflogue” interviews, but when assigning an interviewer to talk to Cathy, I couldn't think of anyone better than Rob, who has known Cathy for years and published her first minicomics under his Robot Publishing banner. I was thrilled when Rob and Cathy agreed to have this conversation. Robert Goodin: I think you had a bit of an unusual path to comics.  Why don't you tell us about your background like education and your main profession. …

This interview originally appeared on Flog! The Fantagraphics Blog. It was conducted by Comics Journal editorial intern Christine Texeira and proofread by TCJ's Kristy Valenti and myself. Thanks to all! –Ed. Christine Texeira: This catalog is a reprinting of an original DeMoulin Bros. catalog from 1930, but there were other DeMoulin Bros. catalogs and earlier catalogs from competing companies (Pettibone, etc.) — why this catalog in particular? Charles Schneider: Catalog #439 cannot be topped. It has nearly all of the devices ever created by the company. All of the stops were pulled out and the kitchen sink was thrown in….

Introduction by Michael Kupperman: "I'm including the rough as well as the finish because the rough has more charm… This was originally a page I pitched to a business magazine — rhymes with diplingers — on their request. The art director seemed quite shaken by it. "This is just, I don't know, really disturbing," he informed me, his voice shaky with emotion. "We're all a little freaked out." They rejected both it and the more benign, fluffy substitute I proposed — too frightened. "At that time The New Yorker was regularly shaking me down for comics, and I passed this…

Digital edition available from comiXology Introduction by John Benson Those wonderful, terrible horror comics of the 1950s are still so embedded in our popular culture that it’s hard to realize that those who actually remember reading them when they came out are now in their late sixties or early seventies. That these old comics still seem contemporary is largely due to the Entertaining Comics (EC) titles Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear, which have been made into several feature films and a popular HBO series, and have been in print continuously for over forty years…

Cartoonist Carol Tyler Presents YOU’LL NEVER KNOW Graphic Memoir at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on September 11 Influential comix artist Carol Tyler will appear in at Fantagraphics Bookstore in Seattle on Saturday, September 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM to present her two-volume graphic memoir YOU'LL NEVER KNOW with an exhibition of original art and book signing. This will mark Tyler's fist visit to the Northwest. Carol Tyler's career in cartooning began as a graduate student in painting at Syracuse University in the early 1980s. She later moved to San Francisco and began a lasting relationship with underground comix legend…