Fantagraphics Blog

Yo La Woodring // photo credit: Eric Reynolds The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is thrilled to announce that this Saturday, January 12th, as you admire our exhibit of original artwork by the legendary Jim Woodring, and while you get your copy of Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012 signed, you will be enjoying the sweet, sweet sounds of the not-even-released-yet Yo La Tengo album Fade in the background! I don't even know where to start in listing all the ties between indie rock veterans Yo La Tengo and our own Uncle Jim. Jim did some of the illustrations in their CD The…

Seattle is once again the center of the alternative comix universe with shows opening all over town this weekend. On Friday, January 11 at Roq la Rue from 6:00 to 9:00 PM is the post-apocalyptic group show "I'll Love You Til The End Of The World" featuring Fantagraphics favorites Camille Rose Garcia and Scott Musgrove. The same evening you'll find "Friends" at Cairo, featuring Intruder artists Max Clotfelter, Darin Shuler, Aidan Fitzgerald, Tom Van Deusen, Marc J. Palm, David Lasky, Nikki Burch, Ben Horak, Jason T. Miles, Tim Miller, James Stranton, Kazimir Strzepek and Alexa Kristine Koenings. (The future of…

Ooh la la! The loveable duo of Fuzz and Pluck are making their French debut this month from our fine colleagues at Éditions Cornélius! And to celebrate, an exhibition of original artwork is being launched at Librairie Les Super Héros in Paris! Join artist Ted Stearn on Friday, January 25th as he heads to the City of Light for the opening reception and book signing. Ted also reports that 20 original pages will be available for purchase!  Super Héros is located at 175 Rue Saint-Martin in Paris. The exhibit will be on display through Saturday, February 9th.

Our collection The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008 continues its global voyage with an entire weekend of events in San Francisco! Join editors Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill for signings and readings on Thursday, March 14th at The Poetry Center on the campus of San Francisco State University [ 1600 Holloway Avenue ] at 4:30 PM. Nico and Crag will also present The Last Vispo on Friday, March 15th at 7:00 PM at Meridian Gallery [ 535 Powell Street ]. Bay Area residents, don't miss these very special performances celebrating 21st century international visual poetry!

Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, January 12 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM for the book launch party of Jim Woodring’s Problematic. An exhibition of imagery not included in the book will be displayed, as well as the artist’s original sketchbooks, including examples of Woodring’s inventive pop-up drawing constructions. Get a rare glimpse inside the creative process of this iconoclastic master of modern cartooning. The artist will be available to sign copies of his exquisite new book. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack, featuring festive art events and exhibitions throughout the neighborhood. Fantagraphics Bookstore is…

• Review: Publishers Weekly gives a starred review to 7 Miles a Second by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook. "The author’s prose is poetic, arriving with a light touch while delivering a heavy, dark, and understandably angry message. Part of what makes the book unusual is that it does not go out of its way to be uplifting… Romberger and Van Cook’s art is hyperactive, with splattery color that suggests the out-of-body acid-trip world of contradictory values and constantly shifting danger that Wojnarowicz lived in." • Preview: Publishers Weekly also posted a preview of the comic 7 Miles a…

From Cathy Malkasian, the first in a series of animated "commercials" for Wake Up, Percy Gloom, the upcoming sequel to her acclaimed debut graphic novel Percy Gloom, coming this Spring. If you weren't already conscious of the book… now you are!

No, no, not the Olympics but something just as awesome. Mome Vet Eleanor Davis recently recieved a GOLD Medal from the Society of Illustrators. The Society of Illustrators site gives more informatoin on the art show and medals. "The first of the two-part annual exhibition Illustrators 55 will be held at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators January 4 to January 26, 2013. The exhibit features works by leading contemporary illustrators worldwide, juried by a prestigious jury of professionals.  Sequential/Series work includes multi-image projects for which a sequence of images is necessary to fully convey an…

FINALLY! Jim Woodring and his throbbing universe lead character Frank into the digital realm at comiXology. Weathercraft is Woodring's first full-length graphic novel set in the world of his most beloved character, Frank — indeed, Woodring's first graphic novel, period! — and it features the same hypnotically-gorgeous linework and mystical iconography. As it happens, Frank has only a brief supporting appearance in Weathercraft, which actually stars Manhog, Woodring's pathetic, brutish everyman (or everyhog). What happens when we are stretched to our limit? Will we come out the other end a changed person (or hog)? A 2010 Finalist for the Los…

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. (Note that this includes some books that haven't been officially announced as shipping yet — unless we missed it — but we're pretty confident they've shipped over the last couple of weeks and we got tired of waiting to post the blurbs.)  Delphine by Richard Sala 128-page two-color (with some full color)…