Fantagraphics Blog

  Embarking on a barnstorming tour of the former Yugoslavia, cartoonists Max Andersson and Lars Sjunneson (Bosnian Flat Dog) cart along a macabre papier-mâché "mummy" of Marshal Josip Broz Tito encased in a refrigerator. At border crossings, intimidating guards are reduced to giddy fans, clambering for photos with the late dictator's effigy. Subsequent stops prove stranger still: artisans incorporate the shells that destroyed their cities into their handicrafts… a makeshift gallery of illustrations is found on the walls of a decimated apartment block… a collector has amassed a menagerie of "mutant" Mickey Mouse figurines originating from former communist countries… Only heightening…

Naughty by Monte Schulz 440-page 6.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-682-9 Ships in: September 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Veteran Joe Krueger is drifting in 1950s California, looking for work wherever he can find it. Tired after a long drive, he stops at a boardinghouse and meets sweet — and sexy — Ida, who rents him a room. That very night, Ida tells him "Mother" and "Father" have run their auto over a cliff, then seduces him in the teary aftermath. Smitten now, Joe starts helping out around the boardinghouse, and the two marry. The honeymoon is over when…

The Complete Peanuts 1989-1990 (Vol. 20) by Charles M. Schulz 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-680-5 Ships in: September 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now   This 20th volume is particularly dense with romantic intrigue, as Marcie and Charlie Brown end up at camp together, sending Peppermint Patty into mad jealousy (especially since Marcie can't resist teasing her)… and an old friend of Charlie Brown's attempts to look him up again but confuses him with Snoopy and goes on a date with him instead. But the most crucial event in romance is Charlie Brown's romance with…

"Charles Schulz was an American treasure — an artist, philosopher, and keen observer of human life." – Bill Clinton "The Complete Peanuts has framed Charles Schulz’s enduring masterpiece about as well any lifelong fan could’ve hoped." – "The Best Comics of the '00s: The Archives," The A.V. Club "The Complete Peanuts confronts us afresh with what a brilliant, truly modern and totally weird idea it was to create a comic strip about a chronically depressed child…" – TIME "Fantagraphics has won numerous awards for this series and they deserve them all for creating such a wonderful archive of this American treasure. This series is…

Trina Robbins wrote the book, literally, on the history of women cartoonists, and now she's back with a completely revised, updated and rewritten version. Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013 is an eye-opening, reader-friendly overview, loaded with illustrations and full comics pages in an oversized softcover format. From the early days of the art form, to the Golden Age, through the Underground, and into the present day, women's often-underappreciated contributions to the medium come under Robbins's spotlight to be given the recognition they deserve. This book will be available in November; we'll have more previews for you in the…

“Over the last few decades, Jim Woodring has been drawing a series of wordless, blissfully cruel slapstick fables, set in a world of grotesque entities and psychedelic minarets: half unshakable nightmare, half Chuck Jones cartoon filtered through the Bhagavad Gita.” – Douglas Wolk, The New York Times Book Review “When most people try to employ dream logic in their work they fail miserably but Jim Woodring is great at it. The closest thing to a peer he might have is David Lynch but even that’s a stretch. Jim Woodring is the only Jim Woodring and no one has done what…

Fran by Jim Woodring 104-page black & white 7.25" x 9.75" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-661-4 Ships in: October 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now For the past 20 years or so, Jim Woodring’s beloved trilobular chuckbuster Frank has enjoyed one mindbending catastrophe after another in the treacherous embrace of The Unifactor, the land into which he was born and from which escape seemed neither desirable nor likely. And then, abruptly, in 2011’s acclaimed Congress of the Animals (the second Woodring orginal graphic novel, following Weathercraft) Frank did leave the Unifactor for uncharted lands beyond — where, after a string of trials,…

"The Complete Crumb series is especially useful in reminding us that Crumb has continued to evolve through the sixties. His more recent work is quieter and more literary… The most recent installment, collecting material originally published in Weirdo magazine, contains some of Crumb's best work." – The National Post "The Complete Crumb Comics is an indispensable and beautifully executed effort." – L.A. Weekly "This collection is a fascinating insight into one of the most talented and intriguing cartoonists to have graced us with his art. The entire series is highly recommended." – Library Journal "This volume contains what, in my…

photo credit: Charles Peterson Wednesday, September 18th • Tempe, AZ: Don't miss Danny Bland readin' and signin' his debut novel, In Case We Die, at Changing Hands! (more info) Thursday, September 19th • Ottawa, ON: Oh, Ottawa! Dave Cooper presents his latest art show Eddy Table and Other Misbehavers at the La Petite Mort Gallery! Dave will have a ton of affordable drawings and doodles available, as well as a cool super-affordable, specially-priced inaugural fine art print to celebrate his new printing venture! (more info) • Ottawa, ON: Ottawa, it's a two-fer-Thursday! World-famous cartoonist and filmmaker Max Andersson will screen…

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 17: Cave Wimp by Robert Crumb 136-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-684-3 New 2013 printing! Ships in Ocbober 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The 17th volume of the comprehensive and multiple award-winning Complete Crumb Comics series — nominated for both 2003 Harvey and Eisner Awards — completes the 1980s and leads into the 1990s. This was a creatively fertile period for Crumb, who had given up the editorial reins of his own legendary Weirdo magazine, allowing him to get back to the proverbial drawing board. Included are Crumb's contributions to…