Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

From the editorial offices of The Comics Journal comes the latest TCJ Library edition, The Comics Journal Library Vol. 8: The EC Artists (Part 1)! This hefty oversized book, edited by TCJ co-editor Michael Dean, includes feature-length interviews with Will Elder, Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert, Harvey Kurtzman, George Evans, Al Jaffee, and John Severin — some from the pages of TCJ, some from other sources, some expanded from previous appearances, and some published here for the first time! Together they form the first part (yes, there will be a Part 2) of a wide-ranging oral history of the greatest mainstream comic book publisher,…

"In the 30 years they’ve been writing and drawing Love and Rockets, Los Bros Hernandez have created wonderfully complex story lines and characters… This web of superior magical-realistic storytelling involves readers in the perplexed yearnings of a huge cast of unforgettable characters unaware of their own capacity for general self-delusion and occasional self-discovery." – Publishers Weekly "Los Bros. are plain-spoken and sympathetic, finding pathos in even the grimiest character." – Newsday “There are acclaimed filmmakers and novelists who can't do what Jaime Hernandez does — or Gilbert, for that matter. When the two of them are at their most inspired, as…

Fantagraphics and comiXology bring you more of the comics of yesterday with the technology of today. The 1939 creation of the Sub-Mariner for the first issue of Marvel Comics assures Bill Everett a place in history. Co-creating Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, for Marvel Comics in 1964 gave Everett a link to one of the most popular superheroes of the past 50 years. Edited and compiled by best-selling author and comic-book historian Blake Bell (Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko), The Bill Everett Archives is a stunning series and a historical treasure. The series follows the format of…

Join our hometown hero Peter Bagge for a special evening this Thursday, September 26th, as he discusses his latest graphic novel Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, released by our Canadian compadres Drawn & Quarterly! How did Pete go from the slacker tales of Buddy Bradley in Hate to a story of a noted nineteenth century birth control activist, educator, a nurse, a mother, and founder of Planned Parenthood?  We'll find out as journalist Cienna Madrid sits down with Pete at Town Hall [ 1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle ] at 7:30 PM! So, while you wait for your pre-order of…

Love and Rockets: New Stories #6 by Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez 100-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" softcover • $14.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-679-9 Ships in: October 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Love and Rockets enters its fourth decade with this installment of its acclaimed graphic novel-format iteration, featuring both old friends and new faces, and some genuine surprises… The cover shows Gilbert's new star Killer in a pose and milieu that will bring back memories for long-time fans — imitating the hammer-wielding Luba in her adopted Palomar. That’s because Killer has discovered that her great-grandmother Maria (Luba's mother) starred in a late…

Julia Gfrörer's haunting debut graphic novel Black Is the Color started life as an acclaimed webcomic and is coming to print sometime around Thanksgiving. In this downloadable excerpt from the beginning of the book, young sailors Warren and Xavier are literally cast off to their fate in order to ensure the survival of their ship's crew. Later, there are mermaids. And black humor. And doomed romance. And romantic doom. After you've had this salty taste of the story, secure your copy of the book by pre-ordering now.

When Seattle software giant Microsoft purchased Skype in 2011, the company committed to create a contemporary working environment to house the service. Consulting with Fantagraphics curator Larry Reid and others, Jason Thomas Faulkner from the Skype UX Design Team recently completed finishing touches to the Skype complex, located in two buildings on Microsoft's sprawling suburban campus. Last week Faulkner gave Reid and Fantagraphics associate publisher Eric Reynolds a guided tour of the stunning new facility. One building features lyrical graphics related to Seattle's celebrated music history, with rows of oversized Charles Burns portraits from Black Hole defining conference rooms intended…

"With Naughty, Monte Schulz infuses old school noir with the depth and complexity of the best historical fiction — it’s what James M. Cain would’ve done with The Postman Always Rings Twice had he taken himself more seriously. Following his ill-fated lovers Joe and Ida down a rabbit hole teeming with greed, lust and ultimately, murder, readers will find themselves transported in time to late '50s California — where an ambitious looker like Ida could either get rich, or kill a few suckers like Joe trying." – Gar Haywood, author, Hollywood Cemetery Road "Naughty is a book in the fine…

  Embarking on a barnstorming tour of the former Yugoslavia, cartoonists Max Andersson and Lars Sjunneson (Bosnian Flat Dog) cart along a macabre papier-mâché "mummy" of Marshal Josip Broz Tito encased in a refrigerator. At border crossings, intimidating guards are reduced to giddy fans, clambering for photos with the late dictator's effigy. Subsequent stops prove stranger still: artisans incorporate the shells that destroyed their cities into their handicrafts… a makeshift gallery of illustrations is found on the walls of a decimated apartment block… a collector has amassed a menagerie of "mutant" Mickey Mouse figurines originating from former communist countries… Only heightening…

Naughty by Monte Schulz 440-page 6.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-682-9 Ships in: September 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Veteran Joe Krueger is drifting in 1950s California, looking for work wherever he can find it. Tired after a long drive, he stops at a boardinghouse and meets sweet — and sexy — Ida, who rents him a room. That very night, Ida tells him "Mother" and "Father" have run their auto over a cliff, then seduces him in the teary aftermath. Smitten now, Joe starts helping out around the boardinghouse, and the two marry. The honeymoon is over when…