Fantagraphics Blog

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Batter Up, Charlie Brown! by Charles M. Schulz 64-page black & white (with spot color) 5.75" x 5.75" hardcover • $9.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-725-3 See Previews / Order Now Good ol' Charlie Brown is up at bat in this delightful collection of three complete Peanuts baseball stories. Charlie Brown, along with his teammates Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Snoopy, gives it his all in these funny, touching testaments to his indefatigable spirit. "Schulz was truly one of the game's great ambassadors." – Former National Baseball Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey PEANUTS ® & ©…

The man. His work. They coexist on the cover and in the pages of Pirates in the Heartland: The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson Vol. 1, compiling Wilson's seminal underground comix work along with the first part of Patrick Rosenkranz's authoritative biography. Wilson unleashed a cannon barrage on the boundaries of the comics art form and rushed through, flintlocks blazing, cutlass in teeth, and fly open, taking no prisoners with his outrageous output. This book, combined with its two forthcoming sequels, will be the last word and the ultimate collection of a comics legend. Look for more previews between now and its…

Hey Charlie Brown: you had one job! For the new softcover editions, we redesigned The Complete Peanuts inside and out, as you can see in these snapshots of a just-arrived advance copy of the kick-off volume, The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952. Looks pretty snappy, huh? Even if you've been collecting the hardcover volumes, you'll want to have these affordable paperbacks around for the kids and for loaning out or giving as gifts to friends and relatives, and of course the brilliance of Charles M. Schulz's beloved strip endures no matter what the format. Pre-order your copy (it'll be available a couple…

The annual Jack Davis Distinguished Visiting Artist Lecture will be held this week, and noneother than savage editorial cartoonist/illustrator Steve Brodner will present a public lecture for the occasion! Join Steve on Thursday, March 20th at 5:30 PM for Game of Thrones: The Political Art of Steve Brodner, at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia! The UGA explains, "the intent of the Jack Davis Distinguished Visiting Artist program is to honor Jack and his contributions to our popular culture, and to bring outstanding professional illustrators who share in this tradition to the…

"Just as Usagi has learned that swordsmanship is more than fighting, Stan Sakai has obviously learned that art is more than drawing. The entire field would be richer if more artists embraced this lesson." – Robert Asprin, from the introduction "If you haven't seen this ultra-cool series, you must! It involves a rabbit samurai — yes, a rabbit samurai — that young readers will love for the action and sophisticated art. I adore it for those reasons too, but there's more substance to it than you might expect. A good Zen comic is hard to find, and this one is…

Steve Ditko is such a great image-maker, it must be hard for our designers to choose artwork for the covers of our Steve Ditko Archives collections of his early, pre-Marvel work. With Volume 1, Strange Suspense, we got a chance to make a double dip from the deep Ditko inkwell for our new softcover reprint, coming this summer with this newly-designed cover. Behind you, lady!! Stay tuned for more sneak peeks. (Of course, if you don't want to wait to read this book, it's available digitally right now on comiXology.)

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Trail of the Unicorn (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 8)by Carl Barks 224-page full-color 7.5" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-741-3 Ships in: April 2014 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now It’s off to Shangri-Lala for Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, on a perilous expedition to bring back a rare unicorn for Uncle Scrooge! But it’s not as easy as it sounds, with a mysterious stowaway, intrigue, and double-crosses in this land of many secrets. But once you do catch a unicorn, what, exactly, do you do with him? Then, in a trio of…

"Crane expertly mixes high action… with just the right amount of romance, creating a storytelling engine… gorgeous art, with cleanly drawn figures, extensive shading…" — Paste "…Buz Sawyer features the same seamless blend of derring-do and humor, both in its story lines and in Crane’s economical, slightly cartoonish artwork, which had made Wash Tubbs one of the most popular strips of the era and which would keep Buz flying for more than four decades." — Booklist "If I had to pick a favorite [classic comic-strip reprint] right now, I’d say the Fantagraphics reprints of Buz Sawyer by Roy Crane. I just love the energy, humor, adventure and…

If there's anyone out there who's been holding out for a softcover edition of The Complete Peanuts, your patience is soon to pay off! Or if you're late to the Peanuts party and want to start from the beginning, now is the time. Our paperback of The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952, the first volume in our definitive, unexpurgated collection of Charles M. Schulz's decades-spanning masterpiece, is due in a couple of months, and we have a bunch of pages to share with you! We've pulled our downloadable excerpt from the middle of the book at the beginning of 1952, when Schulz…

Celebrated essayist and cartoonist Tim Kreider will discuss his work and career in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday, March 22nd! Join them starting at 2:00 PM at The Headquarters Library, and hear Kreider talk of his work for The New York Times, and reflect on his long-running cartoon, The Pain–When Will It End?  Kreider's most recent collection, Twilight of the Assholes: Cartoons & Essays 2005-2009, is even more apocalyptic, deranged, and hilarious! This event is free and open to the public. The Headquarters Library is located at 401 E. University Avenue in Gainesville, FL.