Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Plug: USA Today Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson, posting that Wilco music video with Popeye & co. that's everywhere today, adds "If you're looking for more Popeye, I highly recommend the beautiful collections from Fantagraphics." • Plugs: Lee and Gwen of Comics and… Other Imaginary Tales comment on a few of our upcoming releases, including Angelman by Nicolas Mahler, Significant Objects, and Interiorae by Gabriella Giandelli

More honors coming in from the American Library Association following yesterday's Great Graphic Novels for Teens announcement: the ALA's Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Queer Round Table has selected Esperanza by Jaime Hernandez for their 2012 Over the Rainbow List of recommended books for adults and Wandering Son Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako (Matt Thorn, editor & translator) for the 2012 Rainbow List of recommended books for younger readers (jointly selected by the ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table)! We're greatly honored that these books have been selected for young and/or GLBT readers. Support your local library!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "And indeed, [Carl Barks's] work of c. 1948–54 ranks amongst the most consistently inspired, inventive, touching, and plain fun in the history of comics. Fantagraphics’ inaugural volume in their complete edition of Barks’s Disney comics [Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes] drops the reader in right at the onset of this creative surge, covering the years 1948–49. …[T]his is a series that finally promises Barks done right, promising a major revival of one of our greatest cartoonists." – Matthias Wivel, The Comics Journal • Interview: The Believer blog presents part 1…

The American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association has announced their final Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2012 list and Wandering Son Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako (translated and edited by Matt Thorn) is in the Top Ten! Additionally, Wilfred Santiago's 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente has been named to the overall list. Congratulations all!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! According to Chinese astrology, it is the Year of the Dragon, and our friends at Giant Robot are celebrating with a fiery dragon-themed show, featuring mythical creatures from our own Andrice Arp, Renee French, and Steven Weissman, among many others! Astrologists say the Year of the Dragon is a year of change and mobility, so it's only appropriate that this event also serves as a farewell to Giant Robot's Michelle Borok, who is moving to Mongolia. I will miss seeing her and her awesome eyeglasses at conventions! Year of the Dragon opens on Saturday, January 28th…

The great Frank Santoro (center, with Dash Shaw and Jon Vermilyea, back at APE 2009) is heading to the west coast for a Comic Book Layout Workshop that will have you flexing your mental muscles! The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is thrilled to welcome this talented artist and TCJ Contributor for this FREE workshop on Saturday, February 11th! Everyone is welcome, whether you're an artist yourself, or just interested to discover how some of your favorite cartoonists map out their panels. The workshop runs from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, right before the opening reception of our exhibit Funny Valentines: A…

It's that time again — time to head on over tonight to Luca Lounge [ 222 Avenue B, NYC ] for the monthly series The Crime Stoppers Club, a celebration of comedy, comics and film, with your hosts Michael Kupperman and Kate Beaton! Here's a video sneak peek from Kupperman himself, which will hopefully still be online if it hasn't been yanked for copyright violations: This month, they'll be joined by Matt Koff, Lisa Hanawalt, Dyna Moe, Geoff Lapid, Anthony Wilson, and Sam Henderson!  Here's a sneak peek from Sam of one of the ten or so short strips he'll…

Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 by Pat Thomas 204-page full-color 10" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-507-5 Ships in: February 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Noted music producer and scholar Pat Thomas spent five years in Oakland, CA researching Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. While befriending members of the Black Panther Party, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Elaine Brown, The Lumpen and many others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective. Listen, Whitey! also…

A wonderful endorsement for Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7 from the lovely and very funny Robert Popper, creator of the BBC series Look Around You (along with Peter Serafinowicz, for whose self-titled comedy sketch show Kupperman wrote) which aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Friday Night Dinner which aired on BBC America and of whom I'm a fan so shut up it's exciting (and we didn't even have to accost him at Comic-Con this time)!

Hey look, photos I took at Tony Millionaire's "Portraits" art show & book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery a couple weeks ago! It's always a blast when Tony's in town and we had a fantastic crowd for the event — thanks to everybody who came out! The show continues for a couple more weeks so get on down to see it. Everybody who got their copy of 500 Portraits signed got a quickie portrait of themselves in it as well, with Tony barking instructions at the subjects ("DON'T SMILE!") — there's Tony working on one above. Below, Tony adds…