Fantagraphics Blog

Who's ready for some Comic-Con?! Fantagraphics is getting ready to head to San Diego ourselves, and over the next week, we'll be rolling out our list of debuts and our signing schedule right here on the FLOG. How about a list of panels featuring our fabulous Fantagraphics artists? See you there! Thursday, July 12th • 1:00-2:00 PM // CBLDF Master Session: Gilbert Shelton: With his creations The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, and Wonder Warthog among others, Comic-Con special guest Gilbert Shelton is a master of establishing iconic characters and presenting them in scenarios that underscore his expressive…

In an ongoing effort to nurture young talent and provide a showcase for emerging artists, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery presents “The Massive World of Mini Comics.” This exhibition features art created by young students who attended an 826 Seattle workshop devoted to comic zines taught by Seattle cartoonists Max Clotfelter, Ben Horak and Tim Miller, and facilitated by Fantagraphics Books and Alex Bleecker, program coordinator for 826 Seattle. The opening on Saturday, July 14, and the work will remain on display through August 9. Instructors Clotfelter, Horak and Miller are active participants in Seattle’s lively small press and self-publishing comics…

Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 3 (1938-1940) by Roy Crane 152-page full-color 10.5" x 14.75" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-529-7 Ships in: August 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now SPECIAL OFFER: Order this volume and get Vol. 1 and/or Vol. 2 for $29.99 each; that's 25% off! Make your selection using the menu above. “Crane’s work is sheer energy. It’s somewhere between Crane and E.C. Segar that (Carl Barks’ beloved) Donald Duck got forged; the kind of ruddy-cheeked adventurousness that underlies the content is certainly the same work that moves Donald and his nephews…

A new and improved website is ready to be feasted on by your eyes! Tim Lane, of Abandoned Cars and Hotwire, recently vamped his site, JackieNoName, which features original comics, as well as illustrations made for The New York Times and alt-weekly papers like the OC Weekly and Seattle Weekly.

Delivered fresh this morning: advance copies of Noah Van Sciver's debut graphic novel The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, a bracing and evocative account of the President-to-be's struggles with depression as a young man. Having garnered advance praise from both Chester Brown and Lincoln biographer Joshua Wolf Shenk, this is a major work by a prolific rising talent. Stay tuned for more previews and pre-order your copy today to make sure you're among the first to get the book when it's released in September.

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title (contact your local shop to confirm availability and U.S. holiday hours), which is also now available and shipping from our mail-order department: Castle Waiting Vol. II #17 by Linda Medley 24-page black & white comic book • $3.95 Also available: 2-issue subscription to #17-18 • $5.50 postpaid Linda Medley continues to gather loose ends and drop new hints in this new issue of the beloved series. Chess has a surprising revelation about the identity of baby Pinter's father — could it be tied in with the war?…

 The rawest Online Commentaries & Diversions: •Interview: Christopher Irving questions the ineffable Pete Bagge on his vast body of work on NYC Graphic. Bagge says, "With the style of work that I do, I like it to look on the surface like it’s shallow and stupid, but when you read it, the context is really sweet. . ." Christopher Irving reports: "Part of what makes Pete Bagge such an effective writer is his ability to tap into personal experiences that are universal. . . being jilted by a lover, getting angry at traffic, or trying to hide something from your…

Before there was Mome, before the current explosion of small-press anthologies, there was Blood Orange, the short-lived mid-'00s series edited by Chris Polkki which gathered rising stars of the art-comics scene in four distinctive, beautifully designed 48-page issues. Blood Orange captured the pulse of alt-comics circa 2004-2005. We recently recovered a small quantity of shrink-wrapped packs of all 4 issues from the distributor, and we're now offering them via mail-order for the special low price of $17.85 — that's 3 issues for the price of 4! (You can also get the individual issues for $5.95 each.) In the first issue:…