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It was a mad, Mad afternoon when Robin McConnell, MK Reed and I dropped into the Mad Office. Assistant Art Director and comics consumer Ryan Flanders reluctantly fell for my charms and agreed to a tour even though their deadline loomed large a few days later (hey, we don't want to impede a dying medium, right?). Even the guards had a cute shtick that took 5 minutes of my life and a humorless person would have left. Luckily, that's not me. Ryan started off the tour by showing us his first office at MAD, it's near the door, pretty cold…

The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998 – 2008 featured at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on November 24. Much like the language of comix, visual poetry employs imagery to supplement the written word. This ocular form of discourse is the subject of a new book, The Last Vispo Anthology, edited by Northwest literary artists Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill.  Their work will be feted with an exhibition, readings, and music performance at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, November 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The reception will feature short readings by contributors James Yeary, Donato Mancini, Robert Mittenthal, Joseph…

Stop the presses! Making good on a pre-election promise, Steven Weissman has brought Barack Hussein Obama back for a second term — though not "in person" yet, as it were — with all new strips at What Things Do. Thanks to everybody who voted to re-elect the President for helping to make this possible.

Serialized since December 2002 in Comic Beam Magazine, Shimura Takako's beautiful take on adolescence and growing up Wandering Son is celebrating its 10th year in Japan. With complex characters who discover they enjoy identifying as a different gender than their own, the story slowly evolves as Nitori and Takatsuki gain confidence. A quiet story that resonates deep with anyone who has felt different or been teased for seeming not manly or girly enough. Matt Thorn and Fantagraphics first made Wandering Son accessible in English in 2011 but we're speeding up the process! Volume 4 comes out at the beginning of…

  Last Saturday, Fantagraphics had the privilege to table at Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival . Our crackin’ new titles included Beta Testing the Apocalypse by Tom Kaczyinski and Spacehawk by Basil Wolverton. Both of which sold out along with Heads or Tails by Lilli Carré and a few older titles. Here is the sexy part of our table. This is what our table looked like for most of the day. It was very busy, just like SPX so we barely left the table for pictures, let alone peeing or eating (one of those could solve the other, you decide…

I've been totally remiss on telling y'all about this show! VHS Art New Wave launched last month in honor of Independent Video Store Day at Seattle's own Scarecrow Video. Scarecrow Video is one of those local landmarks that makes me proud to live here: it's the largest independent video store in the country, and is known for their amazing collection of rare, out-of-print oddness.  Their vast catalog was scoured by the editors of our (now out-of-print itself) collection Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film, with help from employees of the store. Local cartoonist (and Scarecrow employee)…

On Thursday, November 22nd, Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia celebrates the release of The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, and the work of contributor and visual poet Jesse Patrick Ferguson! Both The Last Vispo and Jesse's solo book dirty semiotics (Broken Jaw Press, 2011) will be featured in an exhibit at the Cape Breton University Art Gallery. At the opening reception, Jesse Patrick Ferguson will present a short talk on the history of visual/concrete poetry and his own practice in particular.  This event runs from 4:00-5:00 PM, and is free to attend (donations to the gallery welcome). Light…

Beta Testing the Apocalypse by Tom Kaczynski 136-page two-color 6.5" x 9.25" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-541-9 Debuting at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival on Sat. 11/10; shipping in December 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now! It would be easy to call Tom Kaczynski the J.G. Ballard of comics. Like Ballard, Kaczynski’s comics riff on dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments. Yet while Kaczynski shares many of Ballard’s obsessions, he processes them in unique ways. His visual storytelling adds an architectural dimension that the written word alone lacks. Kaczynski takes…

One of Seattle’s most celebrated artists, Ellen Forney, will discuss her courageous new graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me at the Seattle Public Library central branch on Saturday at 7:00 PM. Her slide presentation in the Microsoft Auditorium will be followed by a book signing. Copies will available at the event. Admission is free. Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, from Penguin Books’ Gotham imprint, chronicles Forney’s experience with bipolar disorder in the context of her career in comix. She documents her symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment with both sensitivity and humor. Forney has 3 previous comix collections from…

In November, we are thankful for many things like a re-elected President, food and family coming together, power and heat slowly returning to New York. Fantagraphics and comiXology present a timely story to make you feel thankful for what you do have with the incredible graphic novel by visionary Chris Wright (Inkweed, 2008 from Sparkplug) called Blacklung. One of the most impressive graphic novel debuts in recent years, a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah, all in 130 pages. In a night of piratical treachery when an arrogant…