Fantagraphics Blog

London • Valentine's Day 2014SEQUENTIAL, the graphic novel storefront and reader app focused on literary graphic novels, has announced that it is releasing titles by legendary art comics and graphic novel publisher Fantagraphics Books. The first tranche of titles, released on Valentine's Day, includes essential work from Fantagraphics flagship title Love and Rockets in the form of Jaime Hernandez's seminal Locas series, which tells the tales of Maggie and Hopey and a unique cast of characters. Fantagraphics associate publisher Eric Reynolds said, "SEQUENTIAL's efforts to curate a quality selection of non-mainstream digital comics and graphic novels is something that we…

Tony Millionaire is everywhere! Coming this March, just in time for Spring Break, the man himself will be appearing at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery to sign the brand-monkey-spanking new Sock Monkey Treasury: A "Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey" Collection on Saturday, March 8th from 6-9pm.    For the first time, all twelve of multiple Eisner Award-winner Tony Millionaire's acclaimed Sock Monkey all-ages comic books (1998-2007) are collected under one cover, as well as the full-color graphic novella "Uncle Gabby" full-color illustrated storybook, "The Glass Doorknob", and the only full-length Sock Monkey graphic novel "The Inches Incident." 336 pages are lovingly bound and…

Harvey Kurtzman's taut, humanistic scripts and John Severin's gritty, detailed artwork (inked with preternatural precision, usually by Will Elder) combined to make some of the finest war stories ever told in any medium in the pages of EC Comics. Bomb Run and Other Stories collects all of this essential work in one hardcover volume for the first time. Our downloadable excerpt comes complete with the Table of Contents and three full stories: the centuries-spanning "How They Die!"; the cautionary WWII tale "Weak Link!"; and the high-flying, Greek myth-inspired title story. Originally on the calendar for July, we wrapped this one…

On Monday, the fine folk at Peanuts let me grace their campus for a rather incredible visit. Nomi Kane, former Fantagraphics intern, Center for Cartoon Studies' 2011 alum and Donna Almendrala, CCS 2012 alum, were kind enough to show OSU librarian Caitlin McGurk and me around!   The waiting room was chock full of Peanuts paraphenalia including some VERY familiar reprints of Peanuts. One could even call them the COMPLETE PEANUTS. Vicki works on some of the ad and the pencilling the graphic novel Peanuts produces (Paige Braddock inks). She also could make ANYTHING out of anything — her chair was refurbished with a…

Don’t miss an opportunity to meet Gregory Benton at Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, February 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM as he presents his new graphic novel B + F. Benton's award winning fable explores an otherworldly forest with a woman and a dog as they encounter its denizens, both benevolent and malicious. A wordless meditation on goodwill, hostility, and isolation. Join us in welcoming this engaging artist to Seattle. (Please note: the previously announced musical guest appearance by Jeremy Spencer at Georgetown Records has been cancelled due to illness.) The following Wednesday, February 26 from 7:00 to 11:00 PM we host Foxing…

Make your picks at PIX: The Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo!  On Saturday, March 22nd, you can meet two of the awesome people on our roster: Ed Piskor, artist behind Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1: 1970s-1981, and Trina Robbins, the author of Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. PIX: The Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo is held at the Federation of Teachers at 10 South 19th Street in the city's South Side neighborhood.

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Perfect Nonsense: The Chaotic Comics and Goofy Games of George Carlson by George Carlson; edited by Daniel Yezbick 320-page color/black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $49.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-508-2 See Previews / Order Now George Carlson was one of the most prolific and innovative cartoonists and illustrators of the 20th century, whose playful, absurdist, exquisitely rendered drawings graced every medium, from comic books to children's games to magazines — and Perfect Nonsense is the most definitive and expansive collection of his work ever published! Perfect Nonsense is a cornucopia of Carlson's outrageous…

Los Angeles, brace yourself for the wonder of Ron Regé, Jr.'s Cartoon Utopia, coming March 1st to the gallery Dem Passwords in Los Angeles! Ron relates on his blog, "If you were to go way back in the archive of this blog, you would notice me talking about The Cartoon Utopia as of a set of concepts & ideas that I was creating art with, not simply the title of my book. The project started as a set of drawings that were displayed in solo art shows around the world." The utopia lives on! A year after the book's release,…

The best-seasoned pan that your friends accidentally cleaned with soap of Online Commentaries and Diversions:        • Review: Comics Bulletin looks at Charles Forsman's latest: "Celebrated Summer works as an excellent examination of what remains unspoken between close friends and what it means to feel trapped in your own skin." –Geoffrey Lapid, Comics Bulletin   • Review: Santa Barbara News Press in PRINT, baby reviews "Unexpectedly, almost secretly lovely, Celebrated Summer has a sadness and listlessness at its core that resonates much louder…Forsman gets in and out quickly, not making more of this tale of suburban apathy than needs making, which only makes his story that much…