Fantagraphics Blog

The Comics Journal #286 Our cover this issue spotlights Paul Gravett's extensive and fascinating conversation with one of Britain's national treasures, Gemma Bovary author Posy Simmonds. It's a career-spanning discussion ranging from Simmonds' early days as a compulsive comicker to her career at The Guardian, her children's books, all the way to her forthcoming graphic novel Tamara Drewe. (Click here to read a lengthy series of excerpts from the interview.) Join Shaenon Garrity for a chat with one of the finest writers currently working in genre comics, Wonder Woman scribe Gail Simone. The two discuss Simone's controversial "Women in Refrigerators"…

Stay tuned for a more detailed announcement.

I have no idea who Luke Maxwell is, and I'd be hard-pressed to say he has any real talent for cartooning, but this comic strip, titled "My Crazy Dad!" is nonetheless one of the best comics I've read in while and I crave more. I've read it at least three times now since my pal Jason Grote first tipped me to it.

Been meaning to write reviews of things I like but just can't seem to stay on top of it, I can't write as fast as I read, and not enough things that I read engage enough to want to sit down and write about them. But Jacob's Cold Heat post inspired me to mention a few things, real quick-like…

Cold Heat Special by Jon Vermilyea – What Jacob said below. This special issue of the Cold Heat series is way better than any of the other issues, which frankly kind of mystify me (and my pal Dan Nadel's unabashed enthusiasm for it only makes me feel like some kind of lame dilletante for not getting it). But this is just a great comic book by Jon Vermilyea, accessible to just about anyone (and not contigent upon having any familiarity with Cold Heat), and the 16" x 23" silkscreened cover is so fucking attractive that I want to frame it. I'm not sure the art on the inside needed to be this big (11 1/2" x 16" or so), but the treatment is worth it for the cover, and the inside tells a genuinely charming story that would work at any size, and reminded me of some of Jaime Hernandez's or Jordan Crane's more fantastical work. I really liked it. If this had been submitted to me for Mome, I would have jumped for joy upon reading it.

Whether or not you're a fan of the original run of Cold Heat comics I highly recommend picking up the new Cold Heat Special with Jon Vermilyea doing the artwork to Frank Santoro's writing. I don't have time to write up a proper review of the comic but suffice it to say that Vermilyea is a great young talent and you could do worse than to collect all his work before you can't Ebay it for less than an arm and a leg. This particular CH story is by far my favorite–but then the style of Frank Santoro's airy art…

NOVEMBER IS CLASSIC COMIC STRIPS MONTH! We are truly living in a Golden Age of classic comics strip collections, and as such we're collaborating with CHECKER PUBLISHING (Flash Gordon, Little Nemo, Steve Canyon), DRAWN AND QUARTERLY (Moomin, Oh Skin-nay!, Walt and Skeezix), and IDW (Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates) to produce a cool, oversized promotional sampler that comic shops can distribute in November (cover pictured above). This full-color 11" x 17" tabloid showcases some of the very finest Gasoline Alley, Dick Tracy, Krazy Kat, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Steve Canyon, Terry and the Pirates, Dennis the Menace, Flash Gordon,…

This article about the University of Cincinnati's new comics courses also includes a great little promotional video of Carol Tyler drawing/teaching/talking comics with her students. ABOVE: Carol Tyler (right) and Diane Noomin.

Beyond the Groovy Age of Horror has taken the only proper blogosphere course of action this Halloween: they've posted a new interview with our own favorite master of the macabre, Richard Sala.

Jenny Ryan embroidered this awesome cover for Nickelodeon Mag's "Comic Book" section this month, based on a drawing by her husband, Johnny Ryan. Very cool. From Jenny's Flickr page.