Fantagraphics Blog

Instead of spending your hard-earned money on ephemeral spark-shooting gewgaws, why not celebrate our nation's liberation from overseas oppression by investing in quality collections of classic entertainment that stands the test of time? Now through July 8, 2013 we're offering a swell assortment of titles at up to 40% off list price! Get great vintage work from some of The World's Greatest Cartoonists like Roy Crane, Jack Davis, Dan DeCarlo, Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Hal Foster, Floyd Gottfredson, Fletcher Hanks, George Herriman, Crockett Johnson, Walt Kelly, Bill Mauldin, E.C. Segar, Gahan Wilson, Basil Wolverton and many more, all at a spiffy…

San Franciscans, get ready for a busy weekend… Friday, July 5th • San Francisco, CA:  The California College of the Arts kicks off their summer series with special guest Cathy Malkasian! Cathy will be discussing her work in the animation industry, as well as her most recent book, Wake Up, Percy Gloom! (more info) Saturday, July 6th • San Francisco, CA:  And join Cathy Malkasian for a "brunch" signing of Wake Up, Percy Gloom at Mission: Comics & Art at 12:30 PM! (more info) Sunday, July 7th • San Francisco, CA:  It's your last chance to stop by the Cartoon…

(photo by Carol Roseberg)  Janet Hamlin, the only court artist from 2006 until earlier this year at the Guantanmo Bay trials, reported last week that the stadium glasses she's been using to draw the courtroom trials have been…banned.   As Hamlin explains in her upcoming book Sketching Guantanamo: Court Sketches of the Military Tribunals, 2006-2013, she has to go through intensive daily checks (including having art supplies like pastels and conte crayons searched) before being allowed to sit in her glass chamber, with a TV showing her closer shots of the defendents' faces but with a time delay. Speaking of trials, Hamlin's drawings…

   Fantagraphics and comiXology are now offering a five book digital bundle to save you money. The entire collected "Locas" saga (to date) by Jaime Hernandez stars Maggie, Hopey, their friends, families, rivals and lovers in 5 digital volumes, offered here at a special package price!   Maggie the Mechanic includes the earliest, punkiest stories with a heavy science-fiction bend. Meanwhile The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. centers on one of Jaime's peaks, "The Death of Speedy," and various love triangles. In third volume, Perla La Loca Jaime drops a narrative bomb on Hopey, a murderous hooker AND an amorous lady wrestler appear; and…

SODA POP: Super Sugar Big Buzz exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore examines formative years of Sub Pop coinciding with Sub Pop Silver Jubilee Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrates the Sub Pop Silver Jubilee celebration in Georgetown with an exhibition, panel discussion and reading on Saturday, July 13. The show examines the influence of alternative comix, illustration, and graphic design on the legendary music label, which gave rise to the last significant youth movement of the millennium. This event coincides with the Sub Pop Silver Jubilee, a free music festival commemorating 25 years of Sub Pop featuring 15 bands on 3 stages…

Don't miss a very special evening of comics and cinema with the legendary Kim Deitch on Wednesday, July 17th at Booksmith! Kim will present his latest masterpiece, The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley, with a slideshow presentation and talk, starting at 7:30 PM. And then Kim will present a very special screening of the 1915 silent film by Lois Webber, The Hypocrites! (And if you enjoy that, be sure to join Kim the following evening, Thursday, July 18th, for the kick-off of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival!) Don't miss this amazing, enlightening event with a…

“Kim Deitch has created a private world as fully realized in its own way as Faulkner’s. He’s an American original, a spinner of yarns whose beautifully structured pages and intricate plots conjure up a haunting and haunted American past.” – Art Spiegelman "Maybe even more than fellow first-wave underground comics creator Crumb, Deitch has maintained his quality." – Ray Olson, Booklist "Deitch… retains an astonishing ability to tap into the deepest desires of pop-culture junkies, and to show how the satisfaction we seek from nostalgia can lead us to some dark corners of our collective showbiz past." – The A.V. Club…

There are so many reasons to celebrate on Friday, July 12th. First off, it'll be Leslie Stein's birthday! And secondly, it'll be the release party for Eye of the Majestic Creature, Vol. 2! Join Leslie at Desert Island for a night of talking instruments, weird drifters, NA meetings, Long Island, Booji Boy, and New York City. The fun starts at 7:00 PM. Gabe, there better be cake. So, welcome to Brooklyn, indeed! Desert Island is located at 540 Metropolitan in the friendly Williamsburg neighborhood. Don't miss it!

The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley by Kim Deitch 176-page black & white 11.25" x 7.5" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-631-7 Ships in: July 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now This is a story about a girl, born at the beginning of the 20th century. She grows up in a small river town in upstate New York. One day the mysterious Charles Varnay, an eccentric who dresses in the style of an 18th century dandy, comes to town, his sole companion a remarkably intelligent dog named Rousseau. Varnay wants to star Katherine in a movie serial he plans…