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Surely we're having fun by now! It's our 11th (!) collection of Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead, The Dingburg Diaries, wrapping up production and going to the printer for release in May or so. With two and a half years' worth of daily and color Sunday strips under chapter headings like "Beatniks, Bowling, Laundry & Food," "Mr. The Toad," "Little Zippy," "Art, Music & Comics," "Zerbina & Other Relationships," and "God," you know it's got the good stuff you want. Plus the back cover is maybe one of the greatest Zippy drawings ever. Pour yourself a tall glass of taco sauce and…

Friday, February 15th •  Seattle, WA:  Comics collective Intruder will be launching the fifth volume of their quarterly newspaper at Cairo, featuring a cover by our very own Tony Ong, with comics inside by staffer Jason T. Miles, freelancer David Lasky, and former staffer Alexa Koenings! (more info) Saturday, February 16th •  Los Angeles, CA:  Catch a comics reading with Esther Pearl Watson at the L.A. Zine Fest Reading and Rock Spectacular at Footsies! (more info) •  Nelsonville, OH:  It's your last chance to view prints from The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 at the Nelsonville Public Library! Pay your…

Set your clocks to Sexytime at this Saturday evening at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Enjoy an awesome exhibition of silly and sexy classic porn posters, loopy post apocalyptic pop music by Poppet, free kisses from Georgetown’s Little Black Devil burlesque beauties, and so much more. Sexytime editor and pop culture archeologist Jacques Boyreau will be available to sign copies of his latest masterpiece. This event coincides with the Valentine’s edition of the lively Georgetown Art Attack, featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic neighborhood. Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street at the corner of Airport…

So for the next month or so people will tell you all the reasons why you should read The Comics Journal #302. It has the last interview with Maurice Sendak, an amazing How to Draw section with Roy Crane and his ghost artist (it's worth at least one semester of comic book school credit), a tribute to Dylan Williams, an extensive interview with Jacques Tardi, a new Joe Sacco comic, a Percy Crosby examination and so much more. But I'm here to tell you how you could use TCJ 302 to sweat. At 672 pages, this tome is not just…

 The thinly-veiled excuse to come over of Online Commentaries & Diversions:   • Review: The Comics Reporter reviewed Prince Valiant Vol. 6: 1947-1948 by Hal Foster. Tom Spurgeon writes, "The comic in this attractively-packaged and produced edition gives off the handsome sheen of mass entertainment that knows its commercial value. Prince Valiant may be 75, but this material at least still has all its hair and a hell of a tan." Damn, did Tom Spurgeon pick an excellent image or what? • Review: Rain Taxi looks at The Last Vispo edited by Crag Hill and Nico Vassilakis. Chris Funkhouser writes,…

Fantagraphics and comiXology presents the late great Spain Rodriguez and his graphic novel, Cruisin' with the Hound: The Life and Times of Fred Toote. "They were all there, the pimps, the fags, the whores, the curious, the alcoholic, the weird of the late '50s… blues lovers, Canadian bikers, thrill seekers, junkies, insomniacs, hepcats…" So begins "Down at the Kitty Kat," one of the 20-plus never-before-collected memoirs and yarns by Spain, one of the original gang of Zap Comix provocateurs. Although he's best known for his two-fisted tales of the chopper-riding Trashman, Spain's blunt graphic style and uncompromising gift for caricature,…

Congratulations to Ed Piskor for being awarded the second annual Columbus Museum of Art and Thurber House residency! Piskor follows last year's winner and Fantagraphics creator, Paul Hornschemeier, to Ohio and has a panoply of events planned during his three-week residency. Ed will be staying at the historic home of author and New Yorker cartoonist, James Thurber, and hopefully taking more righteous photographs. Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree book is currently serialized on BoingBoing before its print debut this fall. Wednesday, March 20, 6:00-8:00 PM Young Writers' Studio at the Thurber House led by Ed Piskor. Visit thurberhouse.org for more…

Seattle simply can't get enough of Ellen Forney, and we want more, more, MORE!  On Wednesday, February 27th, we will get what we want: an evening of music inspired by her 2007 collection Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The Stranger, presented by our friends at the Bushwick Book Club and the Richard Hugo House! The evening features a talk from Ellen herself, and then local musicians will perform original material inspired by the book!  Come hear new songs from Levi Fuller, Robert Heyer, Karen Lindenberg, Darren Loucas, Kimo Muraki, Aaron Starkey, Mike Votava, Tekla Waterfield, Wes Weddell, and…

The most intricate house sigil of Online Commentaries & Diversions:   • Review: The LA Times enjoys their reading of 7 Miles a Second by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook. "Part of the power of Wojnarowicz’s work is that he dealt with such concepts accessibly; he didn’t have time to waste. It was the source of his restless imagination, his willingness to experiment with unexpected forms," writes David L. Ulin. • Plug: NY1 (New York 1) and Don Kois talk about 7 Miles a Second David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook. "…this graphic novel is…

We've just finished adding all of the books from our Spring-Summer 2013 catalog to the Upcoming Arrivals section of our website! The catalog itself is still posted here and available as a PDF download, but we already have some updates and corrections to book details, cover art, release dates, etc. so be sure to refer to our website listings for the most up-to-date information. We've already announced a few books from our Fall 2013 – Winter 2014 season and we'll be plunging into adding the rest of the titles from that catalog over the coming weeks, so the impatient and/or hyper-vigilant among you will want…