Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Head on over to The Beat to check out the first 10 pages (including a title page) from Jim Woodring's new graphic novel Congress of the Animals.

That's right, Drew Friedman started up a new blog! What better place to keep up with all his latest illos, artwork and updates? None, I tell you!

In a brave new world where practically every cartoonist by now scans his or her original art and sends us discs or drops files on our server, Gilbert Hernandez remains staunchly stuck in the 20th century, whence he FedExes us fat packages of art every time we have a new book of his to release. And thus today we were blessed with a FedEx carton containing his 50 count 'em 50 pages for the next issue of Love and Rockets: New Stories, premiering in San Diego in July. Here's one of 'em. (Click for a bigger version.) You'll get to…

  I'm excited to head off tomorrow for my first trip to Scandinavia. I live in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, a Scandinavian hotbed where seemingly everyone on my block is named either Thor or Bjorn, and Norwegian and Swedish flags hang on every few houses. So I'm excited to be able to tell my neighbors I made a pilgrimage to the homeland. But I'm even more excited to attend my first-ever Swedish SPX, courtesy Johannes Klenell and the fine folks at GALAGO, and pal around for a few days in Stockholm with the great Dash Shaw. If you're gonna be there (and if you are, here's the…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Eye of the Majestic Creature by Leslie Stein 128-page black & white 7.5" x 11" softcover • $18.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-413-9 Previews & Ordering Info Eye of the Majestic Creature is a collection of semi-autobiographical and fantasy-based comics that combine dry humor, psychedelia, and emotion to show the viewpoint of one person’s world internally and externally. The story follows a young girl, Larrybear, and her talking acoustic guitar Marshmallow on their adventures through the countryside, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. While Larrybear struggles to connect with strangers, her friends, and her family…

Video and photo looks at our most recently reprinted volumes of The Complete Crumb Comics, slightly belated, but as promised — if they're not displaying for you below, click the titles to view them on their respective product pages (where you’ll find more info about each book, natch): The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 13: The Season of the Snoid (New Softcover Printing)by Robert Crumb 128-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99 ISBN: 978-1-56097-413-0 Order Now! The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 15: Mode O'Day and Her Pals (New Softcover Printing)by Robert Crumb 128-page black & white/color 8.5" x…

Drop by our bookstore on Wednesday for an extraordinary event. Wilfred Santiago will discuss his recent graphic novel biography of Roberto Clemente with sports journalist, bestselling author, and comics aficionado Rob Neyer. 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente documents the unlikely career of the Pittsburgh Pirates legend and his inspirational rise from the barrios of Puerto Rico to the highest levels of our national pastime. Over the course of his storied career, Clemente overcame the racial discrimination of the era to win awards in nearly every category, including the World Series MVP in 1971. For all his staggering athletic accomplishments,…

Artwork from Gary Panter's solo show at Galerie Martel in Paris — well over 100 drawings and paintings spanning 4 decades — is now visible on their website, along with photos of the exhibit installation. Wow wow wow.

At The Beat, Brady Russell reports and shares photos from a recent exhibit of never-before-seen sketches and correspondence by Charles M. Schulz at SPACE 1026 in Philadelphia. I have mixed feelings about sharing this link: it's fascinating, but also a bit voyeuristic, as the material is highly personal in nature and was obviously never intended for public consumption, and I can't imagine Sparky would consent to having it displayed if he were alive.

• Old strips, illustrations, sketches and movie reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog • A nice set of sketches from John Hankiewicz • Lilli Carré shares a recent illustration for the New York Times and some alternate sketches • Sergio Ponchione illustrates John Cooper Clarke's "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" for Retrophobic • From Kevin Huizenga , something Ganges-esque and a labor of Hercules • Pages, sketches and updates from Derek Van Gieson at his These Days I Remain blog And more Things to See from the past week: • Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous"…