The Stranger, one of our local alt-weeklies that shares many ties with Fantagraphics throughout the ages ran a tribute to Kim Thompson written by former employee Robert Boyd. Giving context to the comics world as the more commercial spoke the art world wheel, Boyd touches on Kim's job as a creative enabler and rabid music fan. "Kim encouraged and cajoled many cartoonists to produce art they never otherwise would have dreamed possible. I imagine that if Fantagraphics had not been there in 1982, Jaime Hernandez might have gone on to a successful, respectable career as a penciller for Marvel and…
SPX-tra Events This Weekend in Bethesda, MD!
You know you don't wanna miss our schedule of signings, our list of debuts, and our programming, and that's a'comin'… but, here are a few other things you don't wanna miss this SPX weekend! Saturday, September 14th • 5:30 PM: Carousel returns to this year’s SPX with a great line up of readers and drawers, including our own Michael Kupperman, Leslie Stein, and Anders Nilsen, along with Lisa Hanawalt, Sam Henderson, and Kriota Willberg. Hosted by your pal, and ours, R. Sikoryak. Sunday, September 15th • 1:30 PM: What does this poster mean?! Mark Twain as Val Kilmer?! Does this…
The Secret History of Marvel Comics by Blake Bell & Dr. Michael J. Vassallo – Excerpt
Ready for a detailed account of an often misrepresented slice of American publishing history and a revelatory examination of comics-industry lore that faces controversial topics head-on? Our downloadable sneak peek of Blake Bell and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo's new book The Secret History of Marvel Comics lets you read the Table of Contents, the authors' Introduction (in which they gut the 3 most common myths about Marvel), and the full first chapter ("The Way It Began," tracing the early life and career of Martin Goodman), illustrated with plentiful pulp covers by J.W. Scott and others. This insightful tome arrives in or around late…
New Comics Day 9.11.13
This 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. Love and Rockets: The Covers by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez 144-page full-color 10.25" x 13.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-598-3 "As you might expect, Love And Rockets: The Covers is very attractive, very well-put together, and the fact that the production values on display flatter the work inside gives you…
Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4 – Excerpt
We continue our comprehensive collections of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko's 1950s work in this new 4th volume of The Steve Ditko Archives from editor Blake Bell. Impossible Tales finds Ditko ensconced at Charlton Comics and doing some of his best work for their horror and suspense titles. See for yourself in our downloadable excerpt, which contains the book's Table of Contents and three complete stories! Pre-order the book here for expected delivery in late October.
Dave Cooper’s Eddy Table and Other Misbehavers Exhibit in Ottawa!
Oh, how ironic that Dave Cooper's pillowy female forms will be on display at the La Petite Mort Gallery in Ottawa… But indeed, they will, in a show titled Eddy Table and Other Misbehavers! So head over there on Thursday, September 19th at 7:00 PM for a wonderful show, affiliated with the great Ottawa International Animation Festival! (You might recall, another Fantagraphics artist Max Andersson will screen first feature-length film Tito on Ice at this animation festival, too!) Dave will have a ton of affordable drawings and doodles available, as well as a cool super-affordable, specially-priced inaugural fine art print…
Jaime Hernandez wins Best Cartoonist at Harvey Awards
On Saturday, Jaime Hernandez was honored with the Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist during Baltimore Comic Con. The Harvey Awards are voted on by Jaime's fellow cartoonists and creative professionals in the comics industry. A great nod to a great cartoonist the same month as Love and Rockets: New Stories #6 is out. Pick up a copy at SPX in Bethesda, Maryland this week!
Ray and Joe by Charles Rodrigues – Excerpt
Are you of delicate, easily offended, politically correct sensibilities? Look away, my friend, look away. Coming in October, Ray and Joe: The Story of a Man and His Dead Friend and Other Classic Comics collects classic National Lampoon strips by Charles Rodrigues in a classy-looking hardcover that belies the degeneracy within. A man cavorts with a corpse; a private eye conducts business from within an iron lung; a child ruins minds and causes havoc with her ugliness; conjoined twins put a new twist on self-loathing; and other weirdos get weird. Meet the titular characters (if you can call a cadaver a…
This Week in Fantagraphics Events: 9/9-9/16
It's one helluva busy week for Fantagraphics! Monday, September 9th • Portland, OR: Tonight, Danny Bland celebrates his debut novel, In Case We Die, at Powell's Books on Hawthorne at 7:30 PM! (more info) Wednesday, September 11th • San Francisco, CA: Join Danny Bland for a reading of In Case We Die, at Booksmith! (more info) Thursday, September 12th • Seattle, WA: Our very own Jason T Miles will be part of group art show at Cairo, comprised of collaborative and independent ink drawings with artists Darin Shuler and Aidan Fitzgerald! Join them from 7:00 to 9:00 PM for art,…
Hip Hop Family Tree (Vol. 1) by Ed Piskor – Excerpt
There's a pretty good chance you've already checked out Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree in serialized form at Boing Boing, but here's the first bunch of pages as they appear in the first print collection, which is debuting at SPX this coming weekend and should be in stores in October! Step back to the mid-1970s in the Bronx as DJ Kool Herc gives birth to an art form, meet the early players on the scene, witness the first rivalries, feel the block-rocking beats… and pre-order first-printing copies for yourself and all your homies!
