Fantagraphics Blog

Google news just alerted me to this parallel universe called "Utah" where there's a real estate agent named Eric Reynolds selling homes in the town of Herriman.

…in January 2009, according to an [adult swim] promo I just saw during a DVR'ed episode of Metalocalypse. 2009!

The New Yorker has announced a contest inviting cartoonists to design their own version of the magazine's mascot, Eustice Tilly (originally designed in 1925 by Rea Irvin for the very first issue). My favorite Tilly probably has to be the above Crumb version, which was perceived as a blasphemous betrayal of the mag's proud tradition by some of its more calcified subscribers when originally published in 1994. Now it's a decade and a half later and folks like Crumb, Aline Kominsky, Chris Ware (see his Tilly below), Adrian Tomine, and Daniel Clowes are fairly regular contributors to the mag. Mouly…

Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace Box Set 1955-1958By Hank Ketcham A swell custom-designed case containing the third and fourth volumes of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace with strips from the years 1955 through 1958. (Sorry, case is not peanut butter or root beer resistant.) two 672-page B&W 5.5" x 6.25" hardcovers with custom box $39.95Order Now!

Acme Novelty Library #18By Chris Ware In keeping with his athletic goal of issuing a volume of his occasionally lauded ACME series once every new autumn, volume 18 finds cartoonist Chris Ware abandoning the engaging serialization of his "Rusty Brown" and instead focusing upon his ongoing and more experimentally grim narrative , "Building Stories." Collecting pages unseen except in obscure alternative weekly periodicals and sophisticated expensive coffee table magazines, The ACME Novelty Library #18 re-introduces the characters which New York Times readers found "dry" and "deeply depressing" when one chapter of the work (not included here) was presented in its…

… regarding Chris Ware's recent output. From the aforementioned publications earlier this week, to the recent film poster for The Savages, and now to obscure midwestern literary journals, he continues to shame underachievers everywhere. More here. Tip 'o the Floghat to reader A.T.

Insomnia #3By Matt Broersma In the conclusion to Matt Broersma's noir triptych… Miles Anderson lives in a safe, predictable world defined by his job as an L.A. television producer, his affairs with girls from the office and the shopping trips of his beautiful wife, Elena. Then, one evening, Elena disappears. Is she off on another trip? With a man? In mortal danger? As the days pass, and the suspense mounts, Miles Anderson's search for answers leads him instead deeper and deeper into an abyss of mystery, until at last he's forced to confront the unthinkable… Part of the Ignatz Series….

The Last MusketeerBy Jason After his existential thriller (Why Are You Doing This?), his Parisian famous-writers crime caper (The Left Bank Gang), and his time-travel story (I Killed Adolf Hitler), Jason's fourth full-color album may feature his loopiest premise yet. Set in the present time, The Last Musketeer stars the by-now centuries old musketeer Athos, who has been reduced to a suavely dressed but useless near-panhandler trading on his now almost extinct fame. All this changes when one day the Martians attack Earth. Suddenly there is a need for swashes to be buckled, and Athos leaps back into the fray…

MOME Winter/Spring 2008 (Vol. 10)By various artists; edited by Gary Groth & Eric Reynolds Critically acclaimed for its compilation of dynamic young cartoonists, this volume of Mome showcases the vibrant newbies and a few of the more established artistes. Mome Vol. 10 features the 20 page conclusion to the Jim Woodring graphic novella, "The Lute String." This story, previously published only in Japan, features Woodring's signature characters — Frank, Pupshaw, and Pushpaw — in a universe-bending saga that finds the trio in a very unexpected world of flying, shrieking demons and bulbous-faced monsters. Also featuring the work of Tom Kaczynski…

Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The StrangerBy Ellen Forney Ellen Forney's follow-up to her wildly popular I Love Led Zeppelin is a collection of cartoons celebrating the sometimes stunningly crude, sometimes surprisingly sweet online world of personal classifieds. Forney has for several years been illustrating the Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger's "Lustlab" classified ads by interpreting the most interesting, outrageous, or idiosyncratic ad in that week's paper. To cap it off, the collection includes frank, revealing interviews with some of the advertisers conducted by Forney, plus an introduction by the notorious sex advice columnist and novelist (and Stranger editor),…