Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

  This weekend is the Emerald City Con, our hometown comics event of the year. We'll be exhibiting all weekend and showcasing a host of new spring books including Gilbert Hernandez's LUBA, Bob Fingerman's CONNECTIVE TISSUE, Miss Lasko-Gross's A MESS OF EVERYTHING, the great HUMBUG boxed set, Archie Goodwin's BLAZING COMBAT, Boody Rogers' BOODY, Paul Hornschemeier's MOTHER, COME HOME, and much, much more. We'll also be hosting signings, including: JAIME HERNANDEZ: all weekend! PAUL HORNSCHEMEIER: all day Saturday! DAME DARCY: Saturday from 1 to 3PM BILL SCHELLY (author of MAN OF ROCK, the excellent JOE KUBERT bio): Saturday from 11 to 2PM…

KGB ANNUAL EASTER GRAPHIC NOVEL READINGSunday April 12, 20097pm -9pmKGB Bar 85 E. 4th St between 2nd and 3rd Ave21+ This year, featuring the past and future graduates of New York'sSchool of Visual Arts. Reading: Dash Shaw ('05), acclaimed creator of Bottomless BellyButton, BodyWorld and contributor to MOME.http://www.dashshaw.com/ Leslie Stein ('03): creator of Baghead, Eye of the Majestic Creatureand Yeah, It Is.http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/handmade-portraits-leslie-stein-2906/ Ulises Farinas: ('06ish) Reading from his Act-I-Vate serial, MOTRO.http://www.activatecomix.com/45-1-1.comic Alabaster Pizzo ('10) reading a story about mice at an open mic event. and emceed by comedian Joe Boginski ('07). Hosted as always by Tom Hart who might or…

This is a quick screenshot of part of a press release BOOM! comics sent out yesterday, which was forwarded to me by several people overnight: I'm not sure if this is crazy or genius or what, but I laughed. 

A Mess of Everything By Miss Lasko-Gross A Mess of Everything is the second volume in Miss Lasko-Gross's semi-autobiographical trilogy, picking up where the first volume, Escape from "Special," left off: self-effacing non-conformist Melissa is now in high school, where the stakes are higher as she copes with an anxiety-induced drug habit and an anorexic best friend. Melissa finds herself negotiating the kinds of everyday problems facing young adults today — such as alienating her friends with her uncomfortable honesty and accidentally breaking her best guy friend's heart. Eventually, her woes cause her to nearly flunk out of school, and…

As you might have guessed from today's Daily Links post, we have several new books scheduled to arrive in comics shops tomorrow: • Boody. The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers • Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti • Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 Despite being mentioned by other sources, Paul Hornschemeier's Mother, Come Home is not on the official list, but you never know! Contact your local shop to confirm availability of these titles, and hit those links to see previews and gather more info. Happy shopping!

It's a honker today! Lots of good stuff out there: • Review: Blogger Fionnchú considers the place of Alexander Theroux's Laura Warholic in the pantheon of "big, long, thick" maximalist novels (e.g. Wallace, Joyce, DeLillo, Pynchon) • Review: The Tearoom of Despair pens a loving ode to The Comics Journal: "…[I]t remains the best magazine about comics I’ve ever had the pleasure to read, offering in-depth analysis that has changed my entire opinion of certain comics… And it has some of the best interviews with comic writers, artists and editors that have ever peen published in any medium… Overall, it…

Available today: Volume 1 of The Cloudy Collection, a folio of 7 letterpress prints by Steven Weissman (above), Tom Kaczynski (below) and 5 other sooperstar illustrators. Fantastic looking, love that colorway, and only $35! Buy it unless you're poor or hate excellent things.

If you happen to be in Los Angeles this Friday, April 3rd I highly recommend you run on over to Katie Vonderheide and Christopher Gere's SYNCHRONICITY SPACE  for a spiritual experience!  

Now available for preview and pre-order: Luba, the long-awaited hardcover sequel to Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez. This 600-page tome collects over 100 stories chronicling the experiences of the imposing matriarch and her extended family in America. This book is scheduled to be in stock in early April and in stores approximately 4 weeks later. View a photo & video slideshow preview embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended). And at our product info page you can download a PDF of an exclusive 26-page excerpt!

• Review: For Robot 6's "What Are You Reading?" column, guest contributor Kevin Church says of Sam's Strip, "It was either going to be the biggest success in the world or end within two years. Since it’s all collected in one volume now, you can likely work out how it went down." • Review: Las Vegas Weekly gives Sam's Strip 4 stars: "How on earth did Sam's Strip… fail to set the funny pages on fire back in 1961…? The answer — provided through this complete collection of 500 strips — is that the time just wasn't right. Well, it's…