Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Fresh off his wildly successful show in Manhattan, Robert Williams is celebrated as the Lord High Priest of Low Brow in the documentary film New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art. Shot by Justin Giarla of San Francisco’s Shooting Gallery, the film focuses on badass West Coast art and features all the superstars of modern pop (Ed. note: including an interview with Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery’s curator Larry Reid filmed at the store — the second voice you hear in the trailer — plus interviews with Blab!-published artists like Camille Rose Garcia, Shag and many more — you'll catch a glimpse of…

Now available for preview and pre-order, one of our most avidly anticipated books of the year: Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box by Jacques Boyreau. This lovingly assembled tribute to a bygone era compiles some of the supertrashiest, most eye-searing home video art and packaging of the VHS era, with an essay by Boyreau describing how the format altered pop culture forever, all slyly packaged in a facsimile VHS-style slipcase. Download an exclusive PDF excerpt of seven of the most glorious spreads right here. This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime…

Looks like the Strand Bookstore has been busily updating their YouTube page over the past week or so; among the recent uploads are a reading by smilin' Michael Kupperman from August 18, 2009 (playlist link) and Paul Karasik presenting The Fletcher Hanks Experience on September 16, 2009 (playlist link). Looks like they have embedding disabled so hit those links for all the fun.  

Us and Mome contributor Joe Kimball just found each other on Flickr, where there's a small but gratifying assortment of Joe's art to see.

I knew I was getting off too easy! Nick Gazin is trying to kill me. There are also some negative reviews of our books at the links below, but I won't say any more about those: • Review: "Fantagraphics has come to my foreign comic book rescue and published hardcovered English translations of West Coast Blues, which was good, and [You Are There], which is great. … Tardi has nice skinny lines and large fields of black. His architecture and cars and landscapes are amazing. Just the idea of Arthur There running up and down the walls and living in…

A light load of Online Commentary & Diversions today: • Plug: "Okay, I see a lot of books and comics passing my desk every week but ye gods this stood out – pre comic code Steve Ditko. Let me just say that again: STEVE DITKO!! …Fantagraphics’ Strange Suspense: the Steve Ditko Archives [Vol. 1] goes on sale today, collecting material from the first couple of years of the now legendary comics god’s career; fabulous sci-fi, fatal femmes, lurid horror… And its a lovely looking hardback edition, the sort you give pride of place on your shelves (which is what we…

… available at MAAKIES.COM.   

Another hot tip via Zack Soto: T. Edward Bak has a new art blog enigmatically titled °Ø° (or antizerogravity) full of his sketches, illustrations and preview pages from his Mome serial "Wild Man."

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Monte Schulz has proven that his father isn’t the only Schulz with considerable storytelling talent. This Side of Jordan is a strong vision of the American Heartland at a time when America was a little less jaded, yet many in the country had already developed a malaise of directionlessness. Schulz manages to capture a moment in history, a piece of humanity in transition. It’s bleak, but funny, and smartly written.  It may not have any pictures, but readers of good fiction should appreciate what Schulz has accomplished." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama •…

I love this.