The newest hazelnuttiest spread of Online Commentaries & Diversions: • Interview: Publishers Weekly and James Romberger stop Gary Panter during his busy drawing and teaching schedule to ask him questions about Dal Tokyo. Panter is quoted, "Being that this intends to be an experimental approach to comic making and drawing, like the Jimbo in Purgatory book, I don't expect the reader to get a normal story experience or the satisfaction that comes from skillful story traditional development. I hope the reader will get something else that they never got from a comic before: evidence of an investigation into the ways…
The Cartoon Utopia by Ron Regé Jr. – Previews, Pre-Order
The Cartoon Utopia by Ron Regé, Jr. 144-page black & white 10.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-596-9 Ships in: October 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Ron Regé, Jr. is a very unusual yet accomplished storyteller whose work exudes a passionate moral, idealistic core that sets him apart from his peers. The Cartoon Utopia is his Magnum Opus, a unique work of comic art that, in the words of its author, "focuses on ideas that I've become intrigued by that stem from magical, alchemical, ancient ideas & mystery schools." It's part sci-fi, part philosophy, part visual poetry, and…
Fantagraphics at the 2012 Small Press Expo!
Join Fantagraphics this weekend for the 2012 Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland! On September 15th & 16th, we'll be filling the Marriott Betheseda Conference Center with some dazzling debuts, panels, and signings! Come meet your favorite artists and get your books signed: Saturday, September 15th11:30-1:00 PM Lilli Carré // Noah Van Sciver1:00 – 2:00 PM Daniel Clowes // Phillip Nel 2:00 – 3:00 PM Mark Newgarden 2:00 – 3:30 PM Steven Weissman // Chris Wright 3:30 – 4:30 PM Kevin Huizenga // Rich Tommaso 4:30 – 6:30 PM Gilbert Hernandez // Jaime Hernandez Sunday, September 16th12:00-1:00 PM Lilli Carré…
First Look: Blacklung by Chris Wright
Making its debut at SPX this weekend and coming to stores in November, it's Blacklung, Chris Wright's long-buzzed-about debut graphic novel (following his acclaimed short story collection Inkweed). We call it "a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah." And it's got pirates! You can pre-order and read a 12-page excerpt right here. (A small warning: now that we have the printed books in hand, we noticed that due to a strange and unique confluence of events, page 36 is accidentally repeated on page 27. Fortunately, there are no…
Daily OCD 9/10/12
The humming un-tested electric fence of Online Commentaries & Diversions: • Review: The Comics Journal reviews Dal Tokyo by Gary Panter. Joshua Glenn writes, "Panter’s draughtsmanship is fluid and permeable, it changes from week to week. . . Some installments are so crammed with detail and extraneous scribbles that the eye can’t possibly take it all in; others are stripped down, emptied out, haiku-like. In short, Dal Tokyo is absurd, unimaginable, and perfect." • Interview: Jason Sacks from the Comics Bulletin caught up with Gary Panter at his Fantagraphics Bookstore signing this weekend and asked him some questions about Dal…
The Comics Crowd at the Brooklyn Book Festival!
The Brooklyn Book Festival is coming up, and our own Michael Kupperman has organized a "bookend" event to kick things off with hilarity! Join The Comics Crowd on Saturday, September 22nd for an evening of comics readings and panel projections! Mr. Kupperman will be joined by an all-star cast, including Gabrielle Bell, Julia Wertz (Drinking at the Movies), Bob Sikoryak (Masterpiece Comics), Lauren Weinstein (Girl Stories), Lisa Hanawalt (I Want You), and Aaron Diaz (The Tomorrow Girl). The crowd will gather at 8:00 PM at Bergen Street Comics [ 470 Bergen Street, between Flatbush & 5th Avenues ]. Festivities are…
This Week in Fantagraphics Events: 9/10-9/17
Friday, September 14th • Toronto, ON: It's your last chance to see Gabriella Giandelli: A Toronto Retrospective at the Italian Cultural Institute! This retrospective exhibition features over 80 original drawings from this prolific Italian illustrator and graphic novelist, including work from the celebrated series Interiorae. I'll be writing more about it on the FLOG later this week! (more info) • Buffalo, NY: Buffalo, NY pays tribute to their proud native son Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez with Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels, & Revolution, an in-depth career retrospective! (more info) • Washington DC: Before their appearance at the 2012 Small Press Expo, you…
Daily OCD 9/7/12
The cleanest sock you've never lost of Online Commentaries & Diversions: • Review: The Comics Journal and Tucker Stone hit up two of our books this week. Stone lauds Jacques Tardi's New York Mon Amour, "The later three stories are all excellent installments in the various ways the city can grind you into oblivion. . . " And on the subject of The Furry Trap by Josh Simmons, "There’s been a solid amount of recommendations already for this volume, and there’s not going to be any contrarian tut-tutting to be found here: this is worth reading, owning, and possibly gifting…
Jack Davis’s Tales from the Crypt for Halloween!
Speaking of EC Comics… Heh, heh! Got a real chiller-diller this time fiends! Join me, The Crypt-Keeper, your host of howls, along with Jack Davis and Al Feldstein as we creep our way through four spine-tingling, hair-standing, blood-curdling tales of terror! We'll scare you silly! Trick or treat? Treat!! Jack Davis's Tales from the Crypt is one of TWO special mini-comics we produced as a special Halloween 2012 give-away for participating comic shops (stay tuned for our announcement of the second one… here's a hint: rhymes with "Grasil Molverton"). Contact your local shop for availability. Not near a comic shop?…
SEXYTIME UK Party Pics
Need a reason to diddle around with our sexiest release this year SEXYTIME? Check out these photos from the official release party at The Horse Hospital in London at the end of August. These ladies love these over-the-top porn movie posters of the era! They are gathered around "Teenage Sex-Kitten" and "The Whisle Blower," which features one of the best uses of accidental-on-purpose testicles. If brazen sexuality paired with old-school hand design is your thing then you must get your recently-washed hands on this book of pristinely re-mastered movie posters from the golden age of American porn. Launch party…
