Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

   Saturday, September 13th Even though it'll be 80 degress, you'll want to don your trenchcoat and fedora (or trilby), and head to the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery for a bit of cinematic mystery. We will be unveiling our newest exhibition featuring posters from the gorgeous, oversized book, Film Noir 101: The 101 Best Film posters from the 1940s-1950s, and author, Mark Fertig will be joining our smoke filled den to present a slide show talk, and sign books.  No one will argue that noir films, and posters of cinema past were true works of art; capturing the subtle thrill of a riddle yet to…

We are quite pleased to unveil the cover art for the next Sock Monkey book out from the inimitable Tony Millionaire, this time in collaboration with Los Angeles-based animation director Matt Danner: Sock Monkey: Into the Deep Woods. This 80-page illustrated children's book combines images and prose to tell new tales of Uncle Gabby the Sock Monkey and his plush friend, Mr. Crow. We'll have additional previews soon, and the book is available for pre-order now!

"The comic that PLUGS you IN!!" It has been a long time coming, but we have at long last finalized the proofs for the monumental, deluxe five-volume collection that is The Complete Zap Comix. We hope this 60-page, 23.5 MB excerpt, sampling the first dozen or so pages from each book, will temporarily whet your appetites for what's to come. Now it's full steam ahead with the production of this exquisite, comprehensive book set, and we anticipate it to land in bookstores by late November. It's not too late to start saving up couch coins and spare change in your…

The time has come to play at Bergen Street Comics! As part of the Brooklyn Book Festival, this comics signings of the new gods is a 100% endorsed Brooklyn Book Fest Bookend Event.   On Saturday, September 20th at 8pm join Fantagraphics' cartoonists Simon Hanselmann (Megahex), Eleanor Davis (How to Be Happy), Jesse Reklaw (Couch Tag) for one big shin-dig. Special guests also signing are Koyama Press' Michael DeForge and Patrick Kyle, 2-D Cloud's Matthew Thurber and Mark Connery plus Alex Degen. Geez, we should send some corn and have everyone get to shuckin' at a ballyhoo!   470 Bergen Street Brooklyn, NY 11217 www.bergenstreetcomics.com  

With adventures, secret treasure, buried cities, and mysteries at every step, Carl Barks' The Seven Cities of Gold is a gripping tale starring our favorite curmudgeonly miser, Uncle Scrooge, and his duck family, Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Here is a 22-page, 6.6 MB excerpt of the titular story, taking us right up to the steps of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. Will the ducks find the riches they've been seeking? How much chaos will the Beagle Boys reap this time? With an early October release, you won't have to wait long to find out! More info and our pre-order sale are up on our…

This weekend is gonna be so busy for the cartoonists of Fantagraphics. Some are getting ready for Brooklyn Book Fest or SPX but at this moment Tony Millionaire is ready to have a helluva time over at Cincy ComiCon in Covington, Kentucky. Right across the state line! Cincy ComiCon is located at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center at One West RiverCenter Boulevard, Covington, KY. Friday from 3-7pm, Saturday from 10-7pm, and Sunday from 10am -5pm.   And over at Baltimore Comic-Con that starts today.    Friday through Sunday, September 5-7th, Don Rosa will be holding court with his always impressive display…

Paul Constant over at The Stranger has an excellent write-up on Jim Woodring's new "Notorious Autojournal", Jim: Jim is a brand-new collection of Woodring's earliest comics work, which was originally produced as zines in the early 1980s until Fantagraphics cofounder Gary Groth fell in love with his work and became his lifelong publisher. This isn't a stack of embarrassing juvenalia; the quality of work is very high, but if you stare at the pages for a while, you'll notice a bit of uncharacteristic uncertainty resonating through the ink. In an interview with Woodring, he admits that "it is hard to…

Here's a sneak peek of Jacques Boyreau's upcoming SuperTrash, due out later this month! This sequel to the artist-curator's last book, Trash: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters, uses a collage of movie imagery, advertisements, and comix—with an essay by the author interwoven throughout—to explore and challenge the concepts of art as trash as art. The book is already up for pre-sale, and we will be prepping previews galore soon! Stay tuned for a visual feast of freaky delights.

What's even better than the first two volumes of Ed Piskor's excellent, Eisner-nominated visual history of hip hop, Hip Hop Family Tree? Having those two volumes wrapped in this sweet slipcase cover, along with a special, limited-edition 24-page comic, created just for this set! We are super psyched to unbox this set for your eyes, and we will have more photo and video previews for your viewing pleasure soon! The Hip Hop Family Tree Vols. 1-2: 1975-1983 Box Set is due out in late October. Snag your pre-order today!

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. An Age of License by Lucy Knisley 196-page black & white with color 5.5" x 7.5" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-768-0 "Like the best travelogues, An Age of License shows you what it would be like to visit a place while reminding you that you can never have the same experience…This book is…