Fantagraphics Blog

"I consider [Carl Barks's comics] to be the best form of storytelling I’ve ever read. My father always made sure to leave the comics page open in the newspaper in the morning so we kids could read them. I think that without my father, I wouldn’t have ended up on the career path that I’m on." – Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Disney Dads "It’s probably one of the least sentimental Christmas stories around (and thus a favorite of many fans). It features an early example of Scrooge’s lack of charity, counterbalanced by his steadfast work ethic…I can’t…

"One of comics' revered masters gets a fresh new reprinting worthy of his work and accessible to kids…. Despite the dark undertones, the comic expressions and dialogue is still laugh-out-loud funny. A wonderful project that should put Barks’s name in front of new generations of admirers." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "Even the silliest premise, when executed by an artist in perfect control of his gifts, can land with deftness and grace — that's something that strikes you again and again as you read Barks' work. And it's a lesson that won't get lost on any kid with whom you…

Barracuda in the Attic attacks New York City on Monday, December 16th! Join Kipp Friedman in conversation with fellow writer Jay Ruttenberg at the 2A Bar! Starting at 8:00 PM, Kipp will share stories about growing up and getting into hi-jinx on both coasts with his brothers Drew and Josh Friedman.  2A Bar is located at 25 Avenue A in Manhattan, at the corner of 2nd Street and Avenue A. Admission is free, drinks are cheap — you shouldn't miss it!

photo credit: Joshin Yamada, Stumptown 2012 Wednesday, October 23rd • New York City, NY:  Peter Bagge brings his new Drawn & Quarterly title The Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, to Book Culture at 7:00 PM! (more info) Thursday, October 24th • Brooklyn, NY:  And then Peter Bagge heads to WORD for a signing across the water at 7:00 PM! (more info) Friday, October 25th • Columbia, SC:  And Ed Piskor is bringing Hip Hop Family Tree to the 2nd Annual Cola-Con, a convention where comics meets hip hop — so basically, the perfect place for Piskor to be! (more…

Out the same day as in print is Fran by Jim Woodring, now out for your digital reading pleasure on comiXology. What is to become of the beloved trilobular chuckbuster Frank now that he has journeyed outside the Unifactor and met his soulmate, Fran? The answer is delivered here in devastatingly unpredictable fashion. At 104 pages, this book is an absolute delight for $15.99 for Fans of Frank, connoisseurs of bizarre romance, and spelunkers in the radiant depths of graphic metaphysical psychodrama will want to add this singular cartoon adventure story to their lifetime reading list. Swipe yourself silly in Jim Woodring's crazy universe…

Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 5)by Carl Barks 216-page full-color 7.5" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-697-3 See More Previews / Order Now Scrooge McDuck is now such a fixture in the Disney universe that few remember Carl Barks had been writing and drawing Donald Duck stories for half a decade before he cooked up the miserly multiplujillionaire — for what he thought would be a one-time Christmas yarn involving Donald, the nephews, Scrooge in a bearskin, and (inevitably) a couple of real bears. "Christmas on Bear Mountain" is one of…

"AAIEEE!!!!!!" …is just what you'll say when you check out this latest art exhibit at the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin! The AAIEEE! exhibition transcends the comic book of times past and reiterates how potent imagery can be. It presents works by emerging and established comic book artists like our own Lilli Carré (whose work is shown above) and Gary Panter, alongside Chris Ware, Souther Salazar, Karl Wirsum and the Chicago collective, Trubble Club. AAIEEE! is part of The Open Eye, a collection of shows around Ray Yoshida's work, collections, and influence. AAIEEE! runs through February 16, 2014. The…

“Fans are not interested in quality.” “This field is full of pirates.” “If you get a title that catches on, then add a few more, you’re in for a nice profit.” —Martin Goodman “No other field of endeavor is so populated with the get-rich-quick boys.” — Literary Digest “[Martin Goodman] used to split my salary up into six different checks.” “The guys who published were monsters.” — Vince Fago, Timely Comics editor-in-chief “We want plenty of sex, horror, and gore.” — Gene Fornshell, a Goodman editor “I felt that we were a company of copycats.” — Stan Lee Fans and the public…

The Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman's Empire by Blake Bell & Dr. Michael J. Vassallo 304-page black & white/color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-552-5 See More Previews / Order Now   Marvel Comics is home to such legendary super-heroes as Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, all of whom have spun box office gold in the 21st century. But Marvel Comics has a secret history hidden in the shadows of these well-known franchises. The Secret History of Marvel Comics digs back to the 1930s when Marvel Comics wasn’t…

With Halloween looming, allow me to suggest thirteen frightening favorites from Fantagraphics Books. Spooky fun for everyone, in no particular order.    Daniel Clowes' modern masterpiece Ghost World eerily conveys the otherworldly cool of 1990s counterculture. Peculia, by Clowes colleague Richard Sala, collects the misadventures of the precocious protagonist of his Evil Eye comic book serial. Northwest native Charles Burns' essential Big Baby anthology of contemporary horror comix includes classics like "Blood Club," "Teen Plague," and "Curse of the Molemen."   Mysterious Traveler collects proto-psychedelic horror from Steve Ditko's Charlton era. Similarly, Weird Horrors displays the late, great Joe Kubert's pre-Code…