Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Above is a preview of what will be in your COMPLETE UNLOVABLE box-set (minus the ghost-hand). Coming SOON!

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS AND THE STRAND PRESENT: An evening with GAHAN WILSON Signing and discussing his new book: GAHAN WILSON: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons Tuesday, January 19, 7PM THE STRAND BOOKSTORE12th & BroadwayNew York, NY   Gahan will discuss his distinguished career and answer questions in a talk moderated by Emily Gordon, former PRINT magazine Editor-In-Chief and proprietor of the Emdashes blog (about all things New Yorker). 

What says romance more than comics? If there is anything, we don't want to know about it. Once again we're offering a special selection of romantic and/or erotic gift books with which to woo your sweetie this Valentine's Day. From classic romance comics to cutting-edge erotica, from sweet to twisted, from timeless to unexpected (zombies?), these comics are fluent in the many dialects of love. From now through the day in question (February 14, 2010), SAVE at least 15% on all of our Valentines Day gift selections!

In celebration of the Martin Luther King Day national holiday, we are pleased to offer a special sale on King – A Comics Biography: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson. All this week, pre-order this book (due at the beginning of February) for 25% off the cover price. This offer runs through the end of the day Friday, Jan. 22.

I admire the smart punk aesthetic of Raymond Biesinger a great deal and I keep his small book "100 Black on White Illustrations" next to my desk to keep me motivated in dark times, to remind me why minimal color is best, and to reinforce my conviction that the computer is great but is bettered by analog techniques. He was in Beasts2 and now he's updated his site and has a blog.

Tell us how you really feel, Johnny.

Here's a late addendum to our preview/pre-order announcement for Unlovable Vol. 2 by Esther Pearl Watson: some Tammy Pierce for your computer or mobile phone screen! (Or if you prefer Tammy Vol. 1 style in hot pink, we've got that too.) Just click on the size that matches your monitor resolution and the image will open in a new window; if you're on a PC, right-click the image and select "Set As Background"; if you're on a Mac, control+click and select "Set As Desktop Background." (We don't know what the procedure is for iPhones, but if you have one, you…

Friday webcomics — ain't we lucky we got 'em? A real classic New Yorker-style joke in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson… …Blecky's reaction is, surprisingly, completely appropriate in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan…. …and, well, this week's Barack Hussein Obama bt Steven Weissman pretty much leaves me speechless.

Some excellent Online Commentary & Diversions to round out the week thanks to Omnivoracious and The A.V. Club: • List: Amazon's Omnivoracious blog names Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw a top-10 Comic of the Decade, and also names The Complete Peanuts, Love and Rockets Library, and Mome as Comics Archives and Anthologies of the Decade • List: On Meltdown Comics' Meltcast podcast, Chris Rosa declares Low Moon by Jason his Absolute Best of 2009 "without a doubt," with additional commentary from his cohosts (begins around 2:26:21) • List: And on the Meltcast Best of the Decade episode, Hey, Wait… by…

Now available for preview and pre-order: Unlovable Vol. 2 by Esther Pearl Watson, the second and concluding installment in the hilarious saga of hapless high school underdog Tammy Pierce and her seemingly never-ending series of humiliations and heartbreaks. Watson nails the story's 1980s middle-America milieu with affection and devastating accuracy. Download an exclusive 20-page PDF excerpt right here (3 MB). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship in roughly 4-5 weeks and in stores roughly the same time (subject to change). View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here…