Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Suit up with your finest threads, comics fans. Saturday, December 6th at 8 pm, head over to the friendly Bergen Street Comics at 470 Bergen Street and check out the latest graphic novel from Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger.    The Late Child and Other Animals is the latest graphic novel from this two-person cartoonist machine (a nice follow up to Romberger and Van Cook's Eisner-nominated 7 Miles a Second along with David Wojnarowicz). A generational autobiography written by legendary punk diva and award-winning poet Van Cook, adapted by Romberger. The journeys and struggles over decades of this mother and daughter are linked in five…

  CAKE 2015 in Chicago is already rolling out the announcements of special guests and we are very excited to tell ya that Wilfred Santiago will be storming the court with his new graphic novel about the local legend, Michael Jordan: Bull on Parade. This is Santiago's latest graphic novel since his homerun hit (oh yes, we know you love those sports references), 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente.   CAKE's announcement gives a nice summary of Santiago's career as well: His first professional work was seen in the DC Comics/Milestone Media series Static, and since then he has gone on to create the…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Cochlea & Eustachiaby Hans Rickheit 80-page full color 8" x 10" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-801-4 See Previews / Order Now Cochlea & Eustachia appear to be twin human girls, but this has yet to be confirmed. Their actions seem to be motivated less by curiosity than boredom and an inclination towards purposeless destruction. Any connate objective remains to be determined. They never stray apart from each other, out of an unspoken proclivity. Perhaps they keep together because they resemble each other; a mixture of vanity and comfort is the foundation of…

Displacementby Lucy Knisley 168-page full color 5.5" x 7.5" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-810-6 Ships in: January 2015 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now New York Times best-selling cartoonist Lucy Knisley paints a warts-and-all portrait of contemporary, twentysomething womanhood, like writer Lena Dunham (Girls). In the next installment of her graphic memoir series, Displacement, Knisley volunteers to watch over her ailing grandparents on a cruise. (The book's watercolors evoke the ocean that surrounds them.) In a book that is part graphic memoir, part travelogue, and part family history, Knisley not only tries to connect with her grandparents, but to reconcile their…

Time to hustle out and then back in the train car! And you heard right from that bum who jumped the train with you from here to St. Louie, cartoonist and hobo historian Tim Lane IS coming to the West Coast starting with Portland, just in time for First Thursday. On Thursday, December 4th from 6-10pm you can come get a copy of The Lonesome Go signed and sketched in at Floating World Comics. Floating World will also feature an art show of Lane's noir-drenched comic pages.  In addition to an art show and cartoonist signing, Lane has been going around the country getting…

Next Wednesday, November 26th Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger will be holding a release party for their brand new graphic novel The Late Child and Other Animals at JHU Comic Books in NYC, 6-8pm. Wednesday is ALSO the first day it is available for sale at all comic book stores around the country. In this generational autobiography, the journeys and struggles over decades of this mother and daughter (Van Cook) are linked in five episodes that veer between lyricism, wry wit, and harrowing suspense.   So pop by JHU for this exploration in family and feminism. Get in on the fun and invite your…

This week, we're all about Miss Lasko-Gross! The sold-out edition of Escape from "Special" is available digitally now thanks to comiXology! It is the coming-of-age story of Melissa, who we first meet as a small child and depart from at the end of the book just before she enters high school. Drawn in black and white and washed in moody blues and full spectrum grays, Lasko-Gross's art, with its detailed backgrounds and expressive characters, exquisitely conveys the story's blend of humor (sometimes of the gross-out variety) and keenly observed insights. Miss Lasko-Gross, who has the sensibility of a love child of Linda Barry…

Michael Jordan: Bull on Paradeby Wilfred Santiago 200-page full color 5.75" x 7.5" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-711-6 Ships in: January 2015 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now A thrilling, kinetic bio-epic about Michael "Air" Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time and most influential athlete in history, from the creator of the acclaimed and best-selling 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. This tour de force explores Jordan's public successes and private struggles, with the depth of Santiago's passion for his subject shining through on every full-color page. Jordan became a national celebrity at the age of 19, scoring the…

Casual fans of Fantagraphics may not be aware of the close association we have with Seattle's illustrious music scene. I was reminded of this relationship on Friday while attending a sold out Mudhoney and Tom Price Desert Classic concert. Nearly half the musicians on stage that night were former or current Fantagraphics staffers. What a great place to work!    We'll celebrate the legacy of Seattle's early music and comix on Saturday, November 29 as Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery hosts the book launch party for Sub Pop USA: The Subterranean Music Anthology, 1980 -1988. The book documents the formative years of Bruce…

  Jacques Tardi fans: we know you've been waiting ever so patiently for us to import more Tardi books over from Europe. Freshly translated, beautifully designed, and packed with action, Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell is a gritty adaptation of French crime novelist Jean-Patrick Manchette's book, Ô Dingos! Ô Châteaux! And now here it is. These advance copies, with their eye-catching, bright orange spot gloss titles popping out against the dense black and white artwork of Jacques Tardi, are instant can't-put-it-down page turners. We'll have more previews soon to appease your hungry eyes (but, in the meantime, you can…