Fantagraphics Blog FantaBlog

Have a look at (and inside) a real-life copy of the upcoming book Explainers – The Complete Village Voice Strips (1956-66) by Jules Feiffer. For a Flickr slideshow, click here, or to browse manually, click here. (And don't forget you can read the Introduction, and preview more strips, here; and registered users can download yet another preview excerpt here.)

Congratulations to all of the nominees for the 2008 Eisner Awards. We're celebrating our 11 nominations (plus a few for some of our favorite artists) by putting all of our nominated titles on sale for 20% off through May 15, 2008! The full list of nominations is below; click here to browse all of the sale items. Best Short Story"At Loose Ends" by Lewis Trondheim, in Mome Vol. 8 "Whatever Happened to Fletcher Hanks?" by Paul Karasik, in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! "Young Americans" by Emile Bravo, in Mome Vol. 8 Best AnthologyMome (Vols. 6-9) Best Graphic…

Petey & Pussy, courtesy John Kerschbaum. Look for the Petey & Pussy graphic novel in late 2008 from Fanta — you heard it here first!

  Another new interview with Leah Hayes, this time with Christopher Mautner of Newsarama, on the eve of the release of Funeral of the Heart.   

… haven't been to enough comics events in Seattle lately, I'm participating in this at Hugo House tonight:  The Hugo House InPrint Series presents: Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press?An Evening with Northwest Independent Press Publishers Tuesday, April 15th, 2008, 7:00 – 9:00                            Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave. SeattleAdmission $3 members/$5 non-members Why Publish With an Independent or Small Press? The Northwest features a handful of excellent independent press publishers who are producing interesting work and attracting positive critical attention and awards.  Tonight editors and publishers from several publishers will be on hand to explain…

Tim Hensley apparently posted this over at Blog Flume last month but it just yesterday showed up my RSS reader. I'm in awe of the sketchbook pages he's been posting over there, too.

R.I.P. to Ollie Johnston, and with him, Disney's Nine Old Men.

DREW FRIEDMAN ART SHOW AND BOOK SIGNING AT ROCKETSHIP IN BROOKLYN MAY 16! WHO: Drew Friedman WHAT: Opening reception and book signing WHERE: Rocketship 208 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 • 718.797.1348 WHEN: Friday, May 16, 8PM “Drew Friedman isn't just a brilliant artist. He takes you to a place. He takes you back in time. He makes you smell the stale cigarettes and cold brisket and you say thank you for the pleasure.” — Sarah Silverman Join cartoonist DREW FRIEDMAN for a special exhibition of original art and objects, along with a book signing in conjunction with the release…

Advertisers, now you can reach comix readers in the direct market AND the book trade via Love and Rockets: New Stories, our new annual trade-paperback L&R series! Opportunities are available now, and the deadline for the first issue is coming up soon (May 1), so you won't want to delay. Click here for all the details.

Please join us this Thursday, April 17 in welcoming David Hajdu to Seattle. A longtime friend of Fantagraphics, Hajdu is the author of The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America, which examines the hysteria surrounding the popularity of comics in the Cold War era. Hajdu is music critic for the New Republic and author of Positively 4th Street. He’ll be speaking on the subject of “Outsiders in the Panels” at 7:30 at Town Hall, 1119 Eight Avenue in Seattle. Tickets are $8 ($6 students), available at www.nextbook.org. Also this Thursday evening at 7:00 PM,…