Fantagraphics Blog

[The Umpteen Millionaire Club is our series which puts forth book club discussion questions for Fantagraphics titles. The Comics Journal interns Brooke Chin, Tom Graham and Toby Liebowitz put together this set of questions. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, questions can be found behind the jump. – Ed.]

Julio’s Day is a graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez that spans the hundred-year life of one man. It opens with his birth; it follows Julio and his family and friends in a small farming village as successive generations are born and die. Packed within the pages is a range of human experience: a soldier goes to war and is changed; evil in the family goes unaddressed; and there’s the blue worm. We follow Julio to the end, which is much as the beginning, or, to quote Samuel Beckett, "the same day, the same second."

Zippy: The Dingburg Diaries by Bill Griffith 232-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-641-6 Ships in: June 2013 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Comprising a full two and a half years' worth of dailies and full-color Sundays, The Dingburg Diaries is the third Zippy book featuring tales of "Dingburg, the City Inhabited Entirely by Pinheads" — Zippy’s home town. There’s even a long series of "Historical Dingburg" strips, chronicling the pinhead population through the years, from 1840, when Dingburg’s "Town Fool" accidentally invented disco, to 1958 when Dingburg Beatniks flourished in the town’s Bohemian neighborhood. Like, Yowl,…

Our own Gary Groth and Mike Catron will be pillaging and plundering at VikingCon 2013 in Bellingham, WA, on Saturday, May 11th!  VikingCon describe themselves as, "a cultural convention that serves as a place for individuals involved in the comic world across all levels of experience to come together and engage in meaningful conversations and explorations." And with that in mind, go engage in meaningful conversations with Gary and Mike in the following panels! 11:00 – 12:00 PM // The Age of Modern Comic: The Modern Age of Comics is a period in the history of American comic-books that began…

Here's the second thing you see in the intro/title sequence to Marc Maron's new show, Maron, (premiering tonight at 10 pm on IFC) as the camera pans across his garage: Here's the second thing you see when you open Tony Millionaire's new book Green Eggs and Maakies (coming soon): Here's Tony's interview on the July 5, 2012 episode of Marc's WTF podcast, a portion of which is transcribed on the page facing the portrait in the book. Here's Tony's book 500 Portraits featuring many more comedians, actors, authors, historical figures, composers, fetuses, etc. Here's another IFC show featuring artwork by a Fantagraphics artist in the opening credits (and…

Montreal, get ready to laugh so hard you choke on your poutine. Michael Kupperman and Lisa Hanawalt, two of the funniest people in comics, will be signing at the Librarie Drawn & Quarterly on Monday, May 13th! Join them starting at 7:00 PM for a slideshow presentation, jokes, drinks, and for a signing of Kupperman's greatest works, including his most recent, Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Vol. 2! The Librarie Drawn & Quarterly is located at 211 Bernard Ouest in Montreal, Quebec.

Get your free tickets, YES, the event has limited seating so make sure to signup for the Friday night before TCAF. "Come kick-off the 10th Anniversary of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival with us on the evening of Friday, May 10th! TCAF will welcome to the stage alt-comix legends Gilbert Hernandez and Jamie Hernandez, as they engage in a lively career-spanning conversation with The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon! Both artists will also sign autographs and meet with fans at the event. Selections from their complete comics library will be available for sale at the event.   Plus! A look back…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Wandering Son (放浪息子 / Hourou Musuko) Vol. 4 by Shimura Takako; edited and translated by Matt Thorn 224-page black & white 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-605-8 See Previews / Order Now Wandering Son Vols. 4 – 6 Subscription Price: $65.97 $52.78 POSTPAID Wandering Son has garnered extensive praise (from the GLBT community, from manga fans, and from comics fans in general) for its uniquely funny, warm, and sensitive treatment of the travails of two Japanese tweens who find themselves coping with the knotty issue of gender identification as they slowly…

Hot on the heels of Gene Deitch's The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove comes another collection of jazzy midcentury music illustrations, The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora. Lovingly compiled and authored by Flora doyens Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, and designed by Laura Lindgren, this softcover coffee-table book will be swingin' and be-boppin' its way to you this Summer. Take it away, Irwin: "It features all of Flora's known album and EP covers (including back cover illustrations) from 1947 to 1961 for Columbia, RCA Victor, and their affiliated labels, along with music-themed fine art works, illustrations, and sketches. The book was…

Guy Peellaert: The Adventures of Jodelle and Fragments of the French Pop Years at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. The late French artist Guy Peellaert was among the most influential figures in European pop culture throughout his career. His collaborations with personalities like Serge Gainsbourg, Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger, Wim Wenders, David Bowie, Martin Scorsese, and others left an indelible mark on contemporary culture. The legacy of this important artist is celebrated in a new book and exhibition, Guy Peellaert: The Adventures of Jodelle and Fragments of the French Pop Years at Fantagraphics Bookstore opening May 11, 2013. The book…