Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

  This single panel from Neal Adams' BATMAN ODYSSEY #4 sums up what strikes me as being the most unintentionally hilarious mainstream comic I've possibly ever read. It's bafflingly crazy.  I should note that the subsequent panel, not pictured, reveals that Alfred is not actually showing Bruce how to bounce the ol' pogo stick, but instead is playing the "World's Smallest Violin". You all know the "World's Smallest Violin" joke, right? Everyone does. So I ask you, is this how you would draw the act? Is that how you would draw the person on the receiving end?  Also, note the…

Enjoy "Good Grief: The Story of Peanuts", a half-hour BBC Radio 4 audio documentary on Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts, hosted by Pete Paphides, who talks to Jean Schulz and members of Schulz's family as well as fans like Chris Ware, Chip Kidd and Russell T. Davies, interspersed with vintage clips of Schulz himself and audio from the Peanuts TV specials. (Via Bleeding Cool.)

  As Eric already reported here on the FLOG, the world recently lost a great man, Sub Pop Records employee Andy Kotowicz. Our own Zak Sally used to be in a band on that label, Low, and to help raise money for the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation, he's auctioning off this beautiful original work of art on eBay.  I'll let him explain it: this is zak sally: what we have here is the original art for a flyer i did while i was in the band Low; copied this image on nice paper and sent it to all the promoters…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about our releases this week, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Vol. 1: Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon by Jacques Tardi 96-page full-color 8.5" x 11.5"  hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-382-8 "Being Fantagraphics’ fourth entry in its current effort at bringing the great Jacques Tardi to English, this time starting up a full-scale sub-series dedicated to the artist’s long-running, rather droll evocation of turn-of-the-century fictions, centered on an…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "I wasn't expecting to be blown away by Destroy All Movies!!! […] I was sure I would get tired of reading it after a few pages. The opposite happened — I got hooked and couldn't stop. Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly, the editors of this mind-bending reference of cinematic trash culture, are obsessives to be sure…, but not the kind who exhaust you with eye-glazing otaku trivia that doesn't matter to anyone but other obsessives. Instead, their reviews (written by Carlson, Connolly and their cohorts) are accessible, insightful, entertaining, and funny in a…

Another glimpse of Jim Woodring's Congress of the Animals, coming next Spring. Click through to The Woodring Monitor for an embiggenable version.

The Google translation of the description of this short animated film by Nicolas Mahler: "A series of cinematic miniatures of the essence of music and the process of their reception. Music is first excreted, and then received. Sausage or spherical. The subsequently resulting sound is not the actual sound of the instruments shown, but the perceived timbre of abstract music representation." It's funny, too! (Via Jacob Covey.)

Mark your social calendars in indelible ink! Saturday, December 11 marks the 4th anniversary of the fabulous Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. To celebrate this auspicious occasion we're once again hosting the season's most festive party featuring amazing music, comix, art, and more! The evening includes solo music sets by Zak Sally and Mark Pickerel. Zak was a founding member of alternative music legends Low and continues solo music endeavors while publishing great comics with Fantagraphics as well as producing exquisitely crafted small press projects on his own La Mano imprint. He will be joined by Fantagraphics friend Mark Pickerel who…

Fire up your favorite photo-editing software and put Tony Millionaire's Elvis Costello album cover art in the hands of your favorite celebrity, deity, etc. and post the link on Tony's Facebook page here. Winner (chosen by Tony) gets a drawing of Drinky Crow on a postcard! Contest ends next Monday. If you're not on Facebook, post the link to your entry in a comment on this blog post or tweet it at us and we'll pass it along to Tony. There's already some pretty stiff competition, so get cracking!

Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2 by Steve Ditko; edited by Blake Bell 240-page full-color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISNB: 978-1-60699-380-4 Ships in: December 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now This is where Steve Ditko became Steve Ditko. 1954 and 1955 were tough years for the fledgling cartoonist: A life-threatening bout with tuberculosis sidelined him for almost a year, and his main client, Charlton Comics, suffered a devastating flood that forced it to shut its doors temporarily. Yet Ditko's enforced time off and subsequent need to seek out new clients (most particularly Marvel Comics, for whom…