Fantagraphics Blog

The book might not be out until October but you can peruse the table of contents of The Best American Comics 2012, edited by Françoise Mouly, now! Created by series editors, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, this year's Best American Comics honors many Fantagraphics authors. Not only is there a Gary Panter cover but the inclusion of Jimbo, Joyce Farmer's Special Exits, Jim Woodring's Congress of the Animals, Jaime Hernandez's Love Bunglers from Love and Rockets, Michael Kupperman as well as Charles Burns, Blab's Nora Krug, Hotwire's David Sandlin, Jordan Crane, Jonathan Bennett, Renee French, David Collier and Chris Ware.

We're proud to announce the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery Fall Schedule! Come find out why New York Magazine listed us in their Urbanist's Guide to Seattle! See why the Seattle Weekly named us Seattle's Best Comic Book Store, adding "it's a gallery, bookshop, and thriving arts community all in one." But, hopefully, you know how great we are already, so just c'mon out and buy some books! • Saturday, September 8th: GARY PANTER Dal Tokyo exhibition and book signing. Exhibition continues through October 10. • Saturday, October 13th: THE HORROR: EC Comics Library exhibition with music performance by MOLLY NILSSON. Exhibition…

A+ B, Down, Down + Forward, Down + Back, Pencil, Ink, Fail. GAME OVER. To celebrate Geek Girl Con and PAX Prime, Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery presents “GAME OVER.” This exhibition, opening on Saturday, August 11th, will feature the “box art” of some of our most famous graphic novels reimagined as failed videogame adaptations. No set of killer button combos or brute force could make these “graphic novels as games” playable, but Prison Pit for Nintendo 64 is even gorier than Mortal Kombat, and you can bemoan Pete Bagge's Hate-come-to-virtual-life as a CD-ROM. You can even draw your own failed…

Buz Sawyer Vol. 2: Sultry's Tiger by Roy Crane 228-page black & white/color 9.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-499-3 Ships in: September 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now BARGAIN COMBO: Buz Sawyer Vols. 1 + 2 Gift Set Price: $70.00 $56.00 Add to Cart World War II has ended, and with so many pilots mustered out at the end of the war, jobs for pilots are hard to find, and Buz’s record as a “hot-shot” pilot does not recommend him to commercial airlines. While looking for a job, Buz visits his old alma mater and spends time with…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics by various artists; edited by Justin Hall (cover art by Maurice Vellekoop) 328-page black & white/color 7.75" x 10.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-506-8 "No Straight Lines: 4 Decades of Queer Comics features work by Alison Bechdel, Maurice Vellkoop, Dan Savage, Howard Cruse,…

  It's Thrizzlin' Hot outside on the first day of August. To celebrate the heat, the next two issues of critically-acclaimed humor series Tales Designed to Thrizzle (#5 and #6) by Michael Kupperman are now available for download at $2.99 each at comiXology. No need to choose between the Old People issue, #5, or the issue with those charming Cockney grave robbers, #6, when they are such a steal of a deal! Now with too much color! "Seriously, go to your local comics shop and buy this. In fact, buy everything Michael Kupperman's ever done. Not only is he hysterical,…

The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln by Noah Van Sciver 192-page black & white 7.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-619-5 Ships in: August 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown at left as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last. The debut graphic novel from Noah Van Sciver follows the twentysomething Abraham Lincoln as he loses everything, long before becoming our most beloved president. Lincoln is a rising Whig in the state’s legislature as he arrives in Springfield, IL to practice law. With…

The sun is shining on the newest Online Commentaries & Diversions:   •Interview: Creator of the epic series Dungeon Quest, Joe Daly, is interviewed about the third graphic novel on The Comics Journal by our own Eric Buckler. "I liked the idea of creating a character without shame, and a almost healthy polymorphous sexuality, and within that a kind of an innocence, or at least a pureness. I also try to challenge myself to see what cartooning can achieve, what it can get away with. There seem to be things that cartoon characters can get away with, that would be…

Dal Tokyo by Gary Panter 220-page black & white 16.25" x 6.25" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-56097-886-2 Ships in: August 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Gary Panter began imagining Dal Tokyo, a future Mars that is terraformed by Texan and Japanese workers, as far back as 1972, appropriating a friend’s idea about “cultural and temporal collision” (the “Dal” is short for Dallas). Why Texan and Japanese? Panter says, “Because they are trapped in Texas, Texans are self-mythologizing. Because I was trapped in Texas at the time, I needed to believe that the broken tractor out back was a car…