Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

  If you like Animal Collective, and Jon Vermilyea, and you're rich, then this is unquestionably for you. If any Flog patrons want to buy this for me, I will not object.

This weekend I visited my parents in California, and this is the house directly across the street from them. According to my father, "That goddamn eyesore's been there for over a year." No further explanation was provided.

Comics scholar (and Fantagraphics co-founder) Michael Catron wrote a short but sweet introduction to our new forthcoming collection of Blazing Combat, and now you can read it here on our website in advance of the book's release.

Time for your weekly batch of new webcomics! First up, some miraculous sandwiches in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan! The tykes take action in this week's installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 50-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. Ah, sweet pillow talk. Plus Valentine's Day and the Ebola virus in our current 5-day chunk of Martin Kellerman's hilarious Swedish smash-hit Rocky, updated Monday-Friday!

And this is what Comic-Con looks like after all the fans, cartoonists and celebrities have left for home.  Union guys are farting and shouting at us to hurry up and ship out so they can get their drink on. It's a blessed life (I mean that). This Flog is dedicated to the workers. Jamie Salomon of Drawn & Quarterly. This guy's taken a bullet for comics. Alvin Buenaventura of Buenaventura Press puts the finishing touches on pallet. Tom Devlin and Rebecca Rosen of Drawn & Quarterly pack up while sporting Canadian Plaid. (Please note formula: Northwesterner/Me = Plaid/Flannel Connoisseur) Excelsior!

• Profile: Spanish site Zona Negativa takes a close look at the young career of Dash Shaw (Google translation) • Things to see (and buy): Robert Goodin has put a bunch of recent work up for sale at Comic Art Collective, with more to come over the weekend (via Rob's blog)

Humbug debuts at #6 on The New York Times "Graphic Books Best Seller List (Hardcover)" for the week ending March 14 (published today). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 (Vol. 11) falls from #5 to #10. We are, of course, most pleased.

The Metabunker scoops us with the details on From Wonderland with Love, an anthology of new Danish comics we're co-publishing with Aben Maler this summer.

Take a virtual tour through our phenomenal Humbug exhibit currently on view (through April 1) at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Click here if the slideshow embedded below doesn't display, or to view greater detail in a new window. Check out some scenes from last Saturday's lively signing and performance by Dame Darcy at the aforementioned Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Again, click here if the slideshow embedded below doesn't display, or to view it in a new window. And below, catch a few of the bewitching musical numbers performed by Dame Darcy and her brother Matt at the evening's event….

Now available for preview and pre-order: A Mess of Everything, the new sequel to Escape from "Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross. Follow Melissa through high school in this collection of intense, honest, funny semiautobiographical tales. 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 visit the product details page for a downloadable PDF excerpt of the first 21 pages!