Fantagraphics Blog

The nice folks at Comic Strip Tees promise "every week new comic, every week new shirt," and last week, that shirt featured the artwork of our very own Hans Rickheit! Might as well wear Cochlea & Eustachia while you're reading about them in Folly: The Consequences of Indiscretion! His work might make you feel uncomfortable, but at least your clothes won't be…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Blacklung by Chris Wright 128-page black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-587-7 See Previews / Order Now Chris Wright’s Blacklung is unquestionably one of the most impressive graphic novel debuts in recent years, a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah. Blacklung is a story that lives up to the term graphic novel, that could only exist in sequential pictures — densely textured, highly stylized, delicately and boldly rendered drawings that is, taken together, wholly original. In…

Last night in Los Angeles at the Public Image Ltd show, Pat Thomas ran into John Lydon backstage (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols). The two have worked together on some album reissues and Lydon was excited to get a copy of Thomas' book, Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power. In fact he said, "it's like Christmas." Thomas' book moved Lydon to start "digging out my Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron records again." A good read guaranteed.

Daylight Savings is upon us this weekend, which means those of us in the Northwest can look forward to darker evenings and some good ol' Seasonal Affective Disorder. What better time to burrow under the blankies with The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, a documentation of Abraham Lincoln's crushing cloud of depression by Noah Van Sciver! Reading Noah's sensitive look at Lincoln's irrepressible ambition despite his troubled times is even better than one of those sun lamps. After all, Lincoln made it through the darkness, and so will you… Friday, November 2ndFantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery Seattle, WA Friday, November 2ndShort…

Find your roomiest tote bag, and stop by the bank for dollar bills… It's time for the 2nd Annual Short Run Small Press Fest this Saturday, November 3rd at the Vera Project in Seattle Center! Since Short Run is a celebration of small press, Fantagraphics won't be there ourselves, but many of our artists will have tables, including  Andrice Arp, Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard, Jason T. Miles (with his distro Profanity Hill), Michael Dowers, Pat Moriarity, and Noah Van Sciver. Short Run runs (heh) from 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM. A little advice, if I may: get there early! There…

* Other People's Publications** Yeah, You Know Me. I almost hesitate to spotlight this book, 'cause we can hardly keep it in stock! Thanks to rave reviews in Time Magazine and Seattle's own The Stranger, no one is forgetting The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song, out now from Abrams ComicArts. It's been an honor watching this book unfold from local fellas, cartoonist David Lasky and writer Frank M. Young, and the finished product is even more beautiful than I could've imagined! Don’t Forget This Song is more than just an "graphic novel" bio on country music legends The Carter…

We're reminding you to check out The Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition entitled Rarely Seen: Contemporary Works on Paper, that is up from now until January 13, 2012. Organized by the Prints and Drawings Department of the museum, the show also includes comics from the Ryerson Library collection including Blexbolex, Mat Brinkman, Charles Burns, R. Crumb (Zap and Weirdo), Hairy Who, Humbug magazine, Al Jaffee, Rory Hayes, Jay Lynch, David Sandlin, Art Spiegelman, S Clay Wilson (Zap), and issues from Raw magazine. The non-comics but still amazing part of the show includes artists such as Ed Ruscha, Martin Kippenberger, Carrol…

Spacehawk by Basil Wolverton 272-page full-color 9.25" x 13" flexibound softcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-550-1 Ships in: November 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Basil Wolverton is one of the greatest, most idiosyncratic talents in comic book history. Though he is best known for his humorous grotesqueries in MAD magazine, it is his science-fiction character Spacehawk that Wolverton fans have most often demanded be collected. The wait is over, as Spacehawk features every story from Spacehawk’s intergalactic debut in 1940 to his final, Nazi-crushing adventure in 1942. Spacehawk is the closest thing to a colorfully-costumed, conventional action hero Wolverton ever…

Fantagraphics Bookstore and Georgetown Records are pleased to announce a sensational series of music, comix, and literary events for the remainder of this year. Don't miss a minute! On Friday, November 2, David Lasky and Noah Van Sciver appear for a joint exhibition and book signing from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Musical entertainment will be provided by K recording artist Dennis Driscoll, who promises to cover some Carter Family material. The following Saturday, November 10 at 7:00 PM, newly christened "Stranger Genius" Ellen Forney will present her courageous new graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me in the Microsoft…

 The kissiest babyface on a campaign of Online Commentaries & Diversions: • Review: The Las Vegas Weekly breaks out their ballots and their copies of Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman. J. Calob Mozzococco says, "Weissman’s delicate line work and fine-art design style further remove the narrative from the caricature-style visuals usually associated with comics about politicians, and is perfectly suited to the meandering, poetic, almost meditative comic." •Interview (audio): Steven Weissman talks about comics, math and trying to identify with such public, political characters on the Inkstuds podcast with Robin McConnell. Weissman talks about the impotes impotus for Barack…