Fantagraphics Blog

Come experience The Cartoon Utopia, an exhibition and book signing with visionary cartoonist Ron Regé, Jr. opening Saturday, January 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM with a festive reception at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. In The Cartoon Utopia, Regé examines religious, mystical, and spiritual philosophies employing an imaginative narrative construct. The subject ideally suits the artist's intriguing rendering technique. The exhibit will also feature prints and wonderful new works created specifically for the Seattle show (see some previews on the artist's Tumblr blog), which remains on view through February 5, 2014. Meet this gifted artist on a rare visit to Seattle. The opening…

Spring is the time for new love, and like the first crocus poking through the snow, our advance copies of Young Romance 2: The Early Simon & Kirby Romance Comics, the sequel to the Eisner Award-nominated first volume, have arrived to portend the book's March release. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (whom everyone knows from their superpower-driven work) not only invented the romance comics genre, they mastered it right out of the gate, as shown in these compelling, dramatic, dynamically-illustrated tales from 1947-1949. And they've never looked better: all the sighs, swoons, kisses, heartbreak, and tears are lovingly restored in reconstructed…

Prisoner #6655321 is back! Also known affectionately as Cannibal Fuckface, our antihero is returns from the dead in the all-out war in Prison Pit Book Five by Johnny Ryan. comiXology is kindly selling the book if you want to read it on your computer, it's simply TOO SICK for the Apple Store. Fuckface still isn't dead, but can he survive the Holocaust Brothers? First he's got to destroy his arch-enemy, the seemingly indestructible Slitt, who happens to be the only one who knows how to get the hell out of the Prison Pit.  $9.99 for 125 pages that are sure to blow your collective genetalia…

On January 7th, our friends at the Society of Illustrators launched the wonderful new exhibit, The Art of Rodrigues: An Exhibition of the Late, Great Charles Rodrigues! Stop by and marvel at artwork by Charles Rodrigues, the sick mind behind some of the most outrageous, inventive, and offensive cartoons ever to appear in mass circulation magazines, including Stereo Review, Playboy, and (from its very first issue) the National Lampoon.  They'll be hosting a Happy Hour and Reception for the exhibit on Wednesday, January 29th from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM. A $10 cover charge includes one free drink ticket, buffet…

Are you ready for our biggest (by weight and total page acreage if not by height and width) single-volume book ever? Are you ready to have your brain drop-kicked through the goal posts of comic art nirvana by hundreds and hundreds of amazing, rare, and amazingly rare images by a who's-who of comic artists? Are you ready for… The Blighted Eye? Well get ready, because über-collector extraordinaire Glenn Bray is about to share his legendary collection of original artwork with you in a massive, deluxe art book that belongs on the coffee table of everyone who calls themselves aficionados of comic…

On Wednesday, January 15th, New York City is the place for Black is the Color! Come celebrate the beautiful new graphic novel from Portland-based artist Julia Gfrörer. Called “moving” by The Comics Journal, Black is the Color is the sorrowful tale of an unfortunate sailor’s abandonment, and his melancholy meeting of a mermaid named Eulalia. Come meet the artist noneother than Phoebe Gloeckner has called, "amongst the most promising artist/authors of her generation. Her work is spare and elegant, yet the hand of the artist is always evident in her line. Her characters inhabit cold or desolate environments, often on…

Charlie Brown's tribulations on the pitcher's mound, in the batter's box, and in the dugout are the stuff of myth (Sisyphus, to be precise). For all fans of America's Pastime, we've collected three of Charles M. Schulz's classic Peanuts baseball storylines into one spiffy little gift book, Batter Up, Charlie Brown! In our downloadable excerpt, Chuck's role as team manager leads to frustration as his players vex him with their idiosyncratic habits. The book should be out about midway through Spring Training — pre-order now for delivery by opening day!

Our first Spring 2014 book is ahead of schedule?? Shut up! No, you shut up! Henry has plenty to say as he makes the jump from his silent newspaper strip created by Carl Anderson to his talky full-color comic book adventures by John Liney in Henry Speaks for Himself, on our schedule for February release. Smart, funny, well-crafted, classic kids' comics, carefully restored and presented in a reader-friendly softcover… 'nuff said! See more previews and pre-order right here.

his week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.     Prison Pit Book 5  by Johnny Ryan 124-page black & white 6.5" x 8.5" softcover • $12.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-700-0 "Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit Five is disgustingly, violently brilliant." – James Cartwright, It's Nice That    "The continuing adventures of Johnny Ryan's most violent fantasies run amuck, [Prison Pit] is rapidly becoming the comic…

WHOA. Feast your eyes at this exquisite original artwork from Ron Regé, Jr.  As Ron explains on his Tumblr, "I've made 2 of these large fold-out drawings on that red dropcloth kraft paper stuff. I'm gonna put them in plastic envelopes and let people check them out at my Cartoon Utopia show at The Fantagraphics Bookstore in Seattle next week." Lucky us! And lucky you, if you join us at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, January 11th!  We're so honored to host an exhibit and signing with the artist himself, who will be arriving from L.A. with this…