Fantagraphics Blog

I've been putting together Peter Bagge's next Hate Annual (#7) which contains ten pages of his Weekly World News "Bat Boy" strips. The strips are some of my favorite work from Pete and I was curious about how he came to do a comic strip for the notoriously bizarre supermarket tabloid. So for the fans here's some quick Q&A:

Go here and click "Cartoonist Interruptus" in the upper left corner to watch a five-minute clip of Daniel Clowes helping the "Mythbusters" crew design a Steam Machine Gun.

From his forthcoming WebComic, "Bodyworld," beginning in January 2008. I am rapidly becoming a very big Dash Shaw fan.

The new strip by Daniel Clowes. Read it here. Meanwhile, it looks like the episode of the Simpsons that features appearances by Daniel Clowes, Art Spiegelman, and Alan Moore has been rescheduled yet again from Nov. 11 to Nov. 18, but check your local listings.

New Tales of Old Palomar #3by Gilbert Hernandez The third and last installment of New Tales of Old Palomar, in which Gilbert Hernandez returns to some of his best-loved characters, focuses on the gorgeous but troubled Tonantzín. Everybody in Palomar seems to take the supernatural with a grain of salt, but young Tonantzín is determined to uncover the mystery of the laughing baby that only appears to her, haunting her daily life. What is the baby's link to the giant stone idols that stand outside the small town…? 32-page black & white 8.5" x 11" saddle-stitched softcover with jacket $7.95…

Betsy and Meby Jack Cole Having mastered comic books and gag cartoons, in 1958, nearly two decades after he unveiled Plastic Man to the world, Jack Cole set his sights on the cartoonist's pot of gold — a syndicated newspaper strip. He hit the bull's-eye with Betsy and Me, a breezy domestic farce focusing on a middle-class urban couple and their smart-aleck genius son. Cole stripped his style down to its bare essentials, creating a strip that sparkles with economy, wit, and charm. What gave the strip its edge, however, was Cole's innovative storytelling, which utilized ironic tension between protagonist…

Perla La Loca: A Love and Rockets Bookby Jaime Hernandez Perla begins with the "Wigwam Bam" story, arguably Jaime Hernandez's definitive statement on the post-punk culture. As Maggie, Hopey, and the rest of the Locas prowl Los Angeles, the East Coast, and parts in between trying to recapture the carefree spirit of those early days. "Wigwam Bam" brings us up to date on all the members of Jaime's extensive cast of characters and then drops a narrative bomb on Hopey (and us) in the very last pages. Split up from Hopey yet again, Maggie bounces back and forth between a…

Beyond Palomar: A Love and Rockets Bookby Gilbert Hernandez Beyond Palomar collects two of Gilbert's groundbreaking works about the Central American hamlet of Palomar in one affordable book. "Poison River" is a dizzying period piece often hailed as one of Hernandez's masterpieces. It traces the pre-Palomar childhood of Luba, her teenage marriage to gangster Peter Rio, the secrets behind her mysterious mother, all the way up to her subsequent escape and arrival in Palomar. "Love and Rockets X," set in the early 1990s (in the waning years of Bush I's post-Reagan hangover, with Gulf War I in the background), takes…

November is Classic Comic Strip Month!20% Off Comic Strip Reprint Books Fantagraphics Books is celebrating national Classic Comic Strip Month in November with a 20% discount on all strip reprint titles. Now is the time to explore the delightful works of timeless artists like Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland), E.C. Segar (Popeye), Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), George Herriman (Krazy Kat), and the incomparable Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts), among countless others. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle will feature these and other titles all month long at 20% off our already bargain prices. Look for similar promotions at your…