Fantagraphics Blog

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…

Hee, hee! Here comes the Old Witch with a foul feast of fetid features cooked up in her cruddy cauldron! Over two dozen terrifying tales from the putrescent pen of the gourmand of gore, "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, are collected in the tomb — er, tome — we call Sucker Bait and Other Stories! It's the next vile volume in our EC Comics Library series and it's due just as the end of the year plunges you into the pit of despair. In our execrable excerpt you'll learn what atrocities await you in the Table of Contents and read a torturous trio of nauseating…

photo credit: Jacob Peter Fennell Have a creative itch you just can't scratch? Let Ellen Forney help you, tonight, Sunday, October 20th, at Town Hall in Seattle! As Town Hall's fall season Artist in Residence, Ellen is joining forces with Cornish College theater professor Kathleen Collins to present "Scratch Night" — "scratch" is as in "scratch paper," like an experiment, Ellen explains, not like a scratchy wool sweater!   Together, Ellen and Kathleen will lead this dynamic, interactive workshop exploring the analogous skills and concepts that fuel their apparently disparate artistic mediums. “There’s so much acting in comics!” Forney says….

For those of you wondering what's up with the next volume of Dungeon Quest, well, Joe Daly has detoured onto another project for a while: a new graphic novel, Highbone Theatre, which he's unveiling, chunk by chunk, as a webcomic! And there's some pretty big chunks posted so far. Expect the same blend of neck-spasming action, awkward dude interactions, and flaccid penises you love Dungeon Quest for! There's also a Facebook page for you to like for updates and such.

Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4 by Steve Ditko; edited by Blake Bell 240-page full-color 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-640-9 See More Previews / Order Now Five years before Steve Ditko began work on his now legendary co-creations for Marvel Comics, the Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, he was pro- ducing some of his best work in near anonymity for Charlton Comics. Like its predecessors, Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4 features over 200 meticulously restored full-color pages of Ditko in his early prime — stories that have never seen a proper reprinting until now, thrilling…