Fantagraphics Blog

Last night the 25th Lambda Literary Awards were presented and Justin Hall received one for No Straight Lines in the LGBT Anthology category. Congratulations to Justin and all the contributors to this amazing anthology that showcases four decades of queer comics, a historical tome of first person documentation and literary comics! No Straight Lines is ALSO up for an Eisner Award in Best Anthology. The hardcover version of the anthology sold out very quick last year but fear not, we have a softcover coming out in a few months. Browse a 34-page PDF excerpt and pre-order your copy right here. Can't…

  Pull up a stool to our entry in Hazradfactory's famous Power Tool Races at the Georgetown Carnival this Saturday. The Fantagraphics Bar Car blends Pina Coladas while leisurely tooling down the track. (The resulting cocktails will be served to race officials following each run.) Inspired by the mid-century motifs of Shag, Fantagraphics Bookstore's annual entry is going for cool, not speed. Come watch us win. The Power Tool Races commence at noon and continue all afternoon, concluding with a delirious demolition derby. Enjoy an afternoon of free entertainment including acrobats, aerialists, brass bands, tall bikes, belly dancers, stiltwalkers, fortune tellers, burlesque acts, beer…

  Pull up a stool to our entry in Hazradfactory's famous Power Tool Races at the Georgetown Carnival this Saturday. The Fantagraphics Bar Car blends Pina Coladas while leisurely tooling down the track. (The resulting cocktails will be served to race officials following each run.) Inspired by the mid-century motifs of Shag, Fantagraphics Bookstore's annual entry is going for cool, not speed. Come watch us win. The Power Tool Races commence at noon and continue all afternoon, concluding with a delirious demolition derby. Enjoy an afternoon of free entertainment including acrobats, aerialists, brass bands, tall bikes, belly dancers, stiltwalkers, fortune tellers, burlesque acts, beer…

The title of "Sports Cartoonist of the Century" was bestowed on Willard Mullin by his peers, and his cartoons were read by millions of sports fans from the '30s to the '70s. He created the "Brooklyn Bum" and depicted legends like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax and events like Lou Gehrig's emotional retirement speech. Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972 is the first-ever retrospective of his work! Above is a first glimpse at an advance sample copy. This hefty oversized tome is due in late July; sample some pages in our embedded preview and pre-order your copy right…

Anders Nilsen wrote a beautiful and thorough post on his process for creating The End in addition to where some of the disparate parts were printed and many of the outtakes. "It can be a bear keeping everything flowing just right – balancing the rhythm and content of the individual pieces with chronology while also keeping two-page spreads on even/odd pages… Keeping all this straight can be a little crazy-making." Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Two brothers on a mysterious island. By acclaimed cartoonist Dash Shaw. New School by Dash Shaw 340-page full-color 8.75" x 11.25" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-644-7 Due to arrive in about 1-3 weeks. Click the thumbnails for larger versions; get more info, see more previews and pre-order your copy here: http://www.fantagraphics.com/newschool

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  Wake Up, Percy Gloom! by Cathy Malkasian 192-page two-color 8.25" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-638-6 See Previews / Order Now BARGAIN COMBO: Percy Gloom Gift Set Price: $47.94 $38.35 Cathy Malkasian's second Percy Gloom graphic novel is another fable that the author brings to vivid life through her lush and detailed pencil renderings, surreal humor, absurdist characters, breathtaking landscapes, and luminous storytelling. Kindhearted, Candide-esque Percy wakes up from a 200 year nap and finds himself in a strange new land. Searching for his mother, lamenting his long-lost love and soul-mate Miss…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:  The End by Anders Nilsen 80-page two-color (with 16pp. full color) 7.25" x 10.5" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-635-5 See Previews / Order Now Assembled from work done in Anders Nilsen’s sketchbooks over the course of the year following the death of his fiancée in 2005, The End is a collection of short strips about loss, paralysis, waiting, and transformation. It is a concept album in different styles, a meditation on paying attention, an abstracted autobiography and a travelogue, reflecting the progress of his struggle to reconcile the great upheaval of a death, and finding…

The first, hardcover edition of No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics was a smash hit and sold out lickety-split. We've hustled back to press for a new softcover edition, still featuring tons of great comics by Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Edie Fake, Ellen Forney, Roberta Gregory, Andy Hartzell, Ralf König, Ed Luce, Steve MacIsaac, MariNaomi, Trina Robbins, Eric Shanower, and dozens more, all under Maurice Vellekoop's candy-colored cover art. Nominated for both a Lambda Literary Award and an Eisner Award this year, the book will fortunately be back on shelves in about 3 months. Browse a 34-page PDF excerpt and…

Bread & Wine by Samuel R. Delany & Mia Wolff 64-page black & white 8.25" x 10.5" hardcover • $14.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-632-4 Ships in: June 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Written by black, gay science-fiction writer, professor, and theorist Samuel R. Delany, and drawn by artist/martial arts instructor Mia Wolff, Bread & Wine is a graphic autobiography that flashes back to the unlikely story of how Delany befriended Dennis, and how they became an enduring couple — Delany, a professor at Philadelphia’s Temple University, Dennis, an intelligent man living on the streets. For casual readers and fans, Bread & Wine…