Fantagraphics Blog

A century ago in sleepy Lumberton, the moving pictures, with their daring heroines, were the most exciting thing to happen to young Katherine Whaley. When a movie production came to town, her life took a most unexpected turn. Decades later, Whaley recounted her wild, weird years in the company of the mysterious eccentric Charles Varnay and his uncannily intelligent dog Rousseau. Varnay aimed to produce a movie serial, with Katherine as its destined star, propounding a message about the future of the human race — a message he claimed was recorded on ancient artifacts in the voice of Jesus Christ…

Oh, what a treat! We couldn't be happier that the great Gahan Wilson did this all-new illustration for the cover of our upcoming collection of Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics, his 1974-1976 funny-pages feature. Yep, it's another great but short-lived comic strip by one of cartooning's best, fished from the deep waters of obscurity and given the loving Fantagraphics treatment! These darkly delightful, subversively satirical strips have been carefully spiffed up and will be presented in a "widescreen" hardcover format hitting shelves in July. More sneak peeks are on the way, and you can pre-order now.

The genius Dash Shaw has been touring across the country in support of his latest graphic novel, New School, as well as the one-shot comic book, 3 New Stories.  On Tuesday, May 21st, he brings at all back home to Brooklyn with an animation screening at Light Industry in the lovely Greenpoint neighborhood.    Dash will screen his animation works, from cinematic permutations of his own comics, as well as adaptations of game shows and reality tv that marry their source materials' original audio tracks with a series of static illustrations to uncanny effect — Wheel of Fortune never seemed…

We've mentioned before how our own Johnny Ryan is a frequent contributor to VICE Magazine. Why, he can sometimes be found drawing chipmunks blasting Ted Nugent with semen, for example! This Friday, May 17th, at the appropriately named Pure Evil Gallery, VICE will be holding an exhibition of work from some of their favorite illustrators, including Johnny —  "just so we can stick all their drawings up on a wall and show everybody else how great they are," they say. The exhibition is going to include a selection of new prints, work that's been featured in VICE and original drawings…

The FedEx man made us very happy this morning, bringing advance copies of The Love and Rockets Companion, The Daniel Clowes Reader, and Kim Deitch's The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley. We'll have more to show & tell you soon!

Holy smokes, has it really been 20 years since the "Hateball" tour with Peter Bagge & Dan Clowes? Our old pal Devlin Thompson of Bizarro Wuxtry in Athens, GA shares memories and photos of their stop there.

A metaphorical Winnebago (one that drives on water) containing 7 Australian comics creators has embarked upon a three-week North American tour, and this Saturday, May 18th, they'll stop at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery! Come meet Scarlette Baccini, Mirranda Burton, Marijka Gooding, Patrick Alexander, Gregory Mackay, Dan Hayward and Bruce Mutard from 1:00 to 8:00 PM! They'll be giving a short presentation, discussing their work, and screening the feature-length documentary Graphic Novels! Melbourne!, which illuminates how Melbourne's strange water produces so many good comics.  Join us for the International Comics Celebration this weekend, and let's help welcome them to Seattle! Fantagraphics…

Jason's new graphic novel Lost Cat will be found in stores in a couple of months. It's his longest and most complex work to date. The cat gets found on page 5, but there's plenty more mystery and surprises on the following 145 pages, and don't be surprised if you tear up at the end. This is primo Jason, folks. For months Jason has been posting teasers from the book, which we've been sharing on our Tumblr blog. We'll have more previews coming your way soon — but why wait to put in your pre-order?

"Graphically elegant, done in a style reminiscent of early comics masters like Winsor McCay and Johnny Gruelle (who drew Raggedy Ann); the content, on the other hand, comes bubbling up from a part of the imagination that polite cartoonists lock away." – Charles McGrath, The New York Times "So glad you and your family like Father Ted. You've already thanked me with the entertainment you've given me over the years. In fact, the show might not have been quite the same if I hadn't discovered Maakies all those years ago." – Graham Linehan Green Eggs and Maakies by Tony Millionaire 120-page black & white 12.25” x…

Behold these glimpses of an early advance copy of the bigger, even better second volume of Leslie Stein's Eye of the Majestic Creature. The continuing story of our hero Larrybear fleshes out her backstory and gives her a potential new love interest. Depth of character and keenness of observation elevate these warm, offbeat stories far above your average slacker comedy and create a world you'll want to hang out in. Imagine if Buddy Bradley were a gentle, artsy, laid-back girl instead of a grouchy, cynical, rage-prone guy. Add a dash of magical realism and psychedelia. Spin around in circles a few times. You're getting…