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"The Amateurs is great. Conor Stechschulte knocked it out of the park." – Sammy Harkham "Stechschulte just has an uncanny knack for merging the humor of awkwardness with bloody, visceral violence." – Rob Clough The Amateursby Conor Stechschulte 64-page black & white 6" x 9" softcover • $14.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-734-5 Due to arrive in about 2-3 weeks. Click the thumbnails for larger versions; get more info, see more previews and pre-order your copy here: http://www.fantagraphics.com/theamateurs

This Thursday, April 24th, the Society of Illustrators will host an evening so fun you're sure to plotz! Get off your tuches and catch the panel discussion From the Borscht Belt to Seinfeld: The Evolution of Jewish American Comedy, and learn more about how Jewish humor grew out of Yiddish culture, defined New York City's character in the early 20th century, and filtered into our American culture, literature, art, film and television from the 1950's to the present. The event runs from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Panelists include our own Drew Friedman, who will be joined by Edward Portnoy, Ph.D,…

Pat Thomas, the author of our critically acclaimed book Listen Whitey, is now working on Invitation to Openness, a book of previously unpublished jazz photos of the 1960s and '70s. We need a reasonably priced and experienced scanner to spend a few days in Baton Rouge, LA to scan about 300 black and white 8" x 10" photos and save them as print quality high-res TIFFs. A reasonable payment to be discussed. You need to have your own scanner, computer, etc. Please contact us with your bona fides if interested.

"Charles Schulz was an American treasure — an artist, philosopher, and keen observer of human life." – Bill Clinton "The Complete Peanuts has framed Charles Schulz’s enduring masterpiece about as well any lifelong fan could’ve hoped." – "The Best Comics of the '00s: The Archives," The A.V. Club "The Complete Peanuts confronts us afresh with what a brilliant, truly modern and totally weird idea it was to create a comic strip about a chronically depressed child…" – TIME "Fantagraphics has won numerous awards for this series and they deserve them all for creating such a wonderful archive of this American treasure….

With a National Cartoonists Society award, Eisner and Ignatz nominations, and best-of-the-year recognition from Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and The A.V. Club, Joyce Farmer's graphic memoir Special Exits was one of our most acclaimed books of 2010. Now we're going back to press for a new softcover edition, coming this Summer, featuring this new cover design. Stand by for more previews in weeks ahead; meanwhile, read all the praise and pre-order a copy right here.

Look for the Record Store Day exclusive Mudhoney On Top – a live recording of the band's historic set atop the Seattle's iconic Space Needle last summer. I hovered above in a helicopter accompanied by famed rock photographer Charles Peterson. Fantagraphics staffer Janice Headley can be seen wearing the Daniel Clowes Punky shirt in the photo and is thanked on the LP.    Have a listen at the Record Store Day after-party at Georgetown Records and Fantagraphics Bookstore where Sub Pop mastermind Bruce Pavitt will DJ, joined by two of the architects of the Seattle Sound, Jack Endino and Steve…

Jim, the long-awaited new collection of Jim Woodring's non-Frank work (which includes the material from the out-of-print The Book of Jim plus much more, old and new), has gone off to the printer and here is the cover art for you to puzzle over and be made slightly uncomfortable by. Be glad we're not subjecting you to the back cover, which has what is presumably a childhood drawing by Jim that is genuinely frightening. Look for more previews and information as the July release date approaches, but don't wait to pre-order!

Look what showed up on Tumblr yesterday (and in our inboxes): Simon Hanselmann's final cover art for Megahex, his eagerly-awaited collection of Megg, Mogg, & Owl comics! We're not sure yet exactly where this will land in our schedule, but its convention debut will definitely be at SPX in September, and it is available for pre-order. For now we'll just let the artwork speak for itself… gee, it looks like Simon has publisher pride, huh? We love you too, Simon!

Barnaby Vol. 2by Crockett Johnson 376-page black & white/color 11" x 6.75" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-709-3 Ships in: May 2014 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The long-lost comic strip masterpiece by Crockett Johnson, legendary children's book author (Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Carrot Seed), collected in full and designed by graphic novelist and Barnaby superfan Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Wilson). Vol. 2 collects the years 1944-1945 of five-year-old Barnaby Baxter and his Fairy Godfather J.J. O'Malley's misadventures. The cigar-chomping, bumbling con-artist and fast-talker O'Malley takes Barnaby on a trip to D.C. to serve his term in Congress, and…

A smash hit series deserves an ultra-luxe repackaging for collectors and gift-giving, so this Fall we're bringing you the Hip Hop Family Tree Vols. 1-2: 1975-1983 Box Set! It contains the first two volumes of Ed Piskor's New York Times best-selling series (obvs) with some extra details and bonuses to make it extra-collectible and extra-covetable, not least of which is Ed's smashing new artwork for the slipcase. As if that weren't enough, hard-working Ed has whipped up exclusive cover art for both volumes, available only in the box set: Not only that, the set will also include this exclusive bonus…