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(Photo via Theo Ellsworth) Larry's brief tribute has emboldened me to talk a little bit about Dylan Williams. I'd been reluctant to say anything here about Dylan's passing since my personal contact with him has been almost entirely as a customer of Sparkplug. I mostly know Dylan through people I work with who were close to him, and through his work as a publisher, which stands on its own as a tribute to his integrity, ethics, and love of the art form. Even knowing him second-hand I can't think of anyone I admire and respect more in this crazy business….

If you could color me excited I'd look a lot like the image above: the great Ron Regé Jr. is finishing up his new book The Cartoon Utopia, which (fanfare) we are publishing (tentatively planned for a late-2012 release, schedule TBD), and is looking for a little financial help to enable him to really buckle down on it. Slide him some cash and he will reward you with a drawing or somethin'.

This giant inflatable sculpture was created from a design by Jim Woodring by Pete Hamilton and company at Designs in Air, whose other work also has a decidedly Woodringesque flair. Via The Woodring Monitor.

(click for larger version) Word has slipped out and is spreading around the Twittersphere like wildfire, so we thought we'd make it official: following our wildly successful edition of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio, we will be publishing Hagio-sensei's The Heart of Thomas (Thomas no Shinzō /トーマの心臓 ), edited and translated by Matt Thorn, next year. The book is planned to be a $35.00, 8" x 10" 480-page hardcover, black and white with 16 pages of duotone (as seen above), and is currently scheduled for August 2012, subject to change. We'll be posting more information about…

  Cartoonist and comic book publisher Dylan Williams lost his battle with cancer on Saturday. The alternative comix community lost an effective and passionate advocate. Many Fantagraphics staff members feel the painful loss of a close friend. All of us at Fantagraphics offer Dylan's family and many friends our sincere condolences. We encourage you to visit the Sparkplug Comic Books website and order their wonderful comix in tribute.

(Click here for a larger image; click here for an alternate version!) Fantagraphics Books Presents: MICHAEL KUPPERMANTHE TWAIN IN THE MEMBRANE TOUR Celebrating the release of MARK TWAIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 "Here Mister Kupperman," he said, thrusting a manuscript into my hands. "Publish this, and let the world read of my adventures."  My name is Mark Twain, and I write these words to you in the good old days of August 2010. "What's that," you say? "Didn't you die a hundred years ago, you old coot?… The truth is I never died, but the same old rumors got exaggerated and then…

Today is the day that Major League Baseball honors the late great Roberto Clemente by naming the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, given each year to the MLB player who best exemplifies Clemente's legacy of athletic and humanitarian achievements, which you can read all about in Wilfred Santiago's beautiful and universally acclaimed graphic biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. We still have the book available with a limited-edition signed bookplate for no extra charge, so get your copy now!  

Heads up! Jim Woodring has added "ten crisp, punchy and potent new Frank drawings in various sizes, strengths and wavelengths" (his words, not mine!) to the Comic Art Collective! They're all magnificent and ridiculously-reasonably priced, so go get 'em! (The piece above, titled "Libra," sure would make a good birthday gift for this Libra right here, cough cough, hint hint…)

School is back in session! And this Thursday, September 15th, EMP curator/editor Jacob McMurray will "school" you all on the Seattle music scene, as documented in Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind! Join Jacob at the University Book Store in Seattle at 7:00 PM, as he discusses the "grunge" phenomenon… on the very street where a lot of those unwashed musicians first bumped into each other, perhaps reaching for a Mudhoney 7" at Cellophane Square at the exact same time? Sub Pop poster, from the pages of Taking Punk to the Masses, featuring artwork by Peter Bagge…

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Vol. 2: The Mad Scientist and Mummies on Parade by Jacques Tardi 96 page full-color 9" x 11.75" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-493-1 Ships in: October 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now After establishing the world of the prickly heroine with the first two episodes of this classic series (combined in Fantagraphics’ The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Volume 1), Jacques Tardi plunges us back into Belle-Époque Paris for another double dosage of heroic derring-do, evil and crazy malefactors, mad actresses (yes, "Clara Benhardt" makes a return appearance) and monsters! In “The Mad Scientist”…