Fantagraphics Blog

Don't miss the dazzling array of attractions at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in the coming weeks and months. The action begins with the Georgetown Carnival on Saturday, June 14 from noon to 10:00 PM. Cheer on our entry in Hazardfactory's famous Power Tool Races and enjoy free concerts by Fantagraphics friends like Jack Endino's Earthworm, Mark Pickerel, Ancient Warlocks, Tummy, and more! Acrobats, carnival games, sideshows, burlesque, beer gardens and so much more. All free, all day.    On Sunday, July 13 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM two extraordinary artists, Eleanor Davis and Esther Pearl Watson, appear at the store…

Guess who's coming for dinner and that dinner is CAKE?! Fantagraphics with a smashing line-up of cartoonists will be in Chicago May 31-June 1st for the next greatest thing in comic shows. The show is opening Saturday and Sunday this week from 11am-6pm at 3656 N Halsted. Special Guest Tony Millionaire will be at a table RIGHT NEXT to our signing books all day, all weekend. The map on the site was a bit too tiny even for my magnifying glass soooo just look for us at table 6-7. Jacq Cohen is repping us and is usually dressed to the nines.  …

Dash Shaw is having a prolific year, with no signs of slowing down. His newest graphic novel, Doctors, is due this Fall. As with his other sci-fi-tinged stories, Shaw uses futuristic technology to explore human issues — this time, the ethics and emotional impact of interrupted mortality. In our downloadable preview, an older woman with a seemingly idyllic life finds romance with a younger man — but her daughter appears with an unbelievable claim that her life as she knows it is not what it seems. Doctors will be on call (in stores) in September (and available at SPX) and…

One of our most anticipated books of the year, An Age of License by best-selling cartoonist Lucy Knisley is officially at the printer for September release, and we are pleased to unveil the final cover art for you right here. Knisley's engaging cartoon travel diary maps a physical and emotional journey as she travels through Europe on a book tour. The book has its big debut at Comic-Con in San Diego in July (where Lucy is a special guest!) and, for folks who won't be there, pre-sale on our website is on now. (Publishing press & pros, we'll have a…

"Strange Suspense offers page after lurid four-color page of Ditko's weird monsters, rubber-faced crooks, and abstracted landscapes… The book is a white-knuckle trip through Ditko’s fevered imagination." – The A.V. Club "This book is chock-full of intense faces and monsters and colors. Strong blacks, horror comics, mean revenge, strange surgery…It's all horror comics from before Fredric Wertham illegalized good-time comic books." – Vice "The tales in this tome are sheer pre-Comics Code Authority horror, complete with stabbings, decapitations, mutilations, and disintegrations. …Ditko's talent jumps off the page and one of the benefits of reading the stories in chronological order is seeing…

Saturday, June 21  Savannah, GA: There's no more fun, or witchy, way to ring in the changing seasons than to celebrate the summer solstice with renaissance woman and artist, Dame Darcy! June 21st, on Tybee Island beginning at 1 pm, a mermaid parade full of art, glitter, and fishy frolicking, will commence in front of Fannies on the Beach, and party through town to the back river beach near the pier where there will be a picnic, live music, prizes, and the crowning of the Mermaid Queen, so wear your most creative mermaid best!  Along with being a animator, dollmaker, musician, fashion model,…

Feel the no-love wash over as comiXology continues the serialization of Hate by Peter Bagge and Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Book 2 where slobby chicks rule! In issue #11 of Hate, Buddy and Lisa hit rock bottom: their disgusting and pathetic behavior ostracizes them from all their friends, including the usually tolerant George Hamilton III, who moves out in a huff. In fact, Buddy and Lisa can't even stand each other, but they're all they have left now! This bitter orgy of alcoholism, desperate sex, and bad attitudes is only $1.99 for 25 pages. "I love Hate!" – Matt Groening  Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Book 2 continues in Issue #3 "Bum…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Barnaby Vol. 2by Crockett Johnson 376-page black & white/color 11" x 6.75" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-709-3 See Previews / Order Now Resuming our noble undertaking: The long-lost comic strip masterpiece by Crockett Johnson, legendary creator of Harold and the Purple Crayon, collected in full! Barnaby's deft balance of whimsical fantasy, timeless humor, and elegant cartooning will delight readers of all ages.

You love comics, we love comics, and Drew Friedman has taken his love for the medium and given it tangible form in 83 beautiful, evocative, full-color portraits (plus some spot illustrations) of the pioneers of the art and business of comics, with some words about each, collected in an oversized coffee-table art book titled Heroes of the Comics: Portraits of the Legends of Comic Books, coming this August. Our downloadable excerpt includes the Table of Contents, 2 pages from Friedman's Introduction, and 8 portraits (from funnybook progenitor and EC founder Max Gaines through Superman creators Siegel & Shuster) with their…

To kick off pride month, on June 8th the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco will be hosting the first annual Queer Comics Expo, also affectionately known as the Queer Comicon, presented by the Queer Cultural Center. Mingle with drag queens, watch comic demonstrations, and join in on conversations about the history and future of LGBTQ comics! This first annual event begins at 11 am, and runs until 5 pm, and will be a fun full day of celebration, achievements, and comics!  Celebrating the achievements made in queer comics will be headlining exhibitor, Ed Luce! Announced earlier this month at TCAF, Fantagraphics…