Fantagraphics Blog

Janet Hamlin has worked as a sketch artist like no other, in an American court like no other: at the Defense Department’s Military Commissions, the tribunal chambers at Guantanamo Bay. In Sketching Guantanamo, you can take a look at the young Canadian who grew into manhood behind the barbed wire of Guantanamo — beard and all — claiming his innocence, and that he was tortured, until he ultimately confessed to committing a war crime when he was 15. Then peer through double-glazed soundproof glass as Hamlin gives the world its first look at the man who boasted that he orchestrated…

Galerie Champaka in Brussels is proud to present an exhibition dedicated to the work of Maurice Tillieux! This public art show features our favorite private eye, Gil Jordan, among the 48 original pages of artwork, and 8 large-format color prints. The Galerie Champaka Bruxelles is located at 27, rue Ernest Allard, Brussels. Can't make it to Belgium? Enjoy Tillieux's art in Gil Jordan, Private Detective: Murder by High Tide, and hang in there for the forthcoming release of Gil Jordan, Private Detective: Ten Thousand Years in Hell. Tillieux

Sketching Guantanamo: Court Sketches of the Military Tribunals, 2006-2013 by Janet Hamlin 172-page full-color 11.25" x 8.25" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-691-1 Ships in: October 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Camp X-Ray in the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, opened in January, 2002 in the wake of the 9-11 attacks to house alleged terrorists — off the American mainland, unaccountable to the U.S. judiciary — in "indefinite detention." Newer and more permanent prisons were later built miles away, and continue to house terrorist suspects today. The United States government does not allow photographs of the military trials at Guantanamo,…

September 27, 2013 – Seattle, WA . Join visionary artist and cartoonist Jim Woodring at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on October 12 for an exhibition and book signing commemorating publication of his latest graphic novel Fran. The event features works created with his giant quill pen and musical entertainment by Stephen Steinbrink. Seattle-based iconoclast Jim Woodring has enchanted readers for years with the improbable adventures of Frank and a supernatural cast of supporting characters. Metaphysical romance enters the picture in Fran, when the title character seduces Frank. Woodring describes this latest wordless volume as both a sequel and prequel to his sensational graphic…

Holy yes-more-please, SPX rocked us. Jacq Cohen, Gary Groth and I traversed across the country for one of the single best comic books shows that exists. We knew it was going to be quite the fun time when we boarded the plane and saw Joseph Remnant. A small favor to stranger later and he was TRAPPED between us for 4+ hours. SPX is that magical place where we stay in the same hotel as the convention so you run into people all the time. We found a Ben Catmull by the elevators right away! Maybe he was haunting the place…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Treasury of Mini Comics Vol. 1by various artists; edited by Michael Dowers 848-page black & white/color 5" x 6.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-657-7 See Previews / Order Now BARGAIN COMBO: Newave! + Treasury of Mini Comics Gift Set Price: $54.98 $43.98 Written, drawn, printed, collated, folded, and stapled the DIY way: self-published and self-distributed mini comics are the labor of an underground comics industry, a subculture that thrives and depends on the selling and trading of these handcrafted booklets. In this community, there are no barriers to entry, no profiteering, and no…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Ray and Joe: The Story of a Man and His Dead Friend and Other Classic Comics by Charles Rodrigues edited by Bob Fingerman 184-page black & white (with some color) 8.25"x 10.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-668-3 See Previews / Order Now Fantagraphics is proud to announce the release of the first volume of another great, under-appreciated, quintessentially American cartoonist. "Black as sin and decay and perversion" is how National Lampoon editor Tony Hendra described the work of Charles Rodrigues. By all accounts, this small, politically conservative, devout Catholic, was a good-natured dumpling of…

Arriving in just a few weeks, Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain is the fifth release (and the fifth volume) of the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. In our downloadable preview, you'll see the first appearance of Barks's most famous original creation, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, in an excerpt from the title story, plus another chunk of a longer story (Donald tries his hand at horticulture; what could go wrong?) and two complete one-pagers. It's another handsome hardcover full of some of the greatest comics ever! Our final batch of sneak peeks is still to come, but why wait? Pre-order your…

From the editorial offices of The Comics Journal comes the latest TCJ Library edition, The Comics Journal Library Vol. 8: The EC Artists (Part 1)! This hefty oversized book, edited by TCJ co-editor Michael Dean, includes feature-length interviews with Will Elder, Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert, Harvey Kurtzman, George Evans, Al Jaffee, and John Severin — some from the pages of TCJ, some from other sources, some expanded from previous appearances, and some published here for the first time! Together they form the first part (yes, there will be a Part 2) of a wide-ranging oral history of the greatest mainstream comic book publisher,…