Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, January 14 as we celebrate one of midcentury America’s most influential artists. The Life and Legend of Wallace Wood debuts with an exhibition and slide talk by J. Michael Catron. Wallace Wood was among the most prolific and diverse artists of his era. His work included colorful covers for 1950s science fiction magazines and romance comics before contributing to the wildly popular war, crime, horror, and suspense comics on the notorious EC imprint, prior to its demise as result of the draconian restrictions imposed by the Comics Code Authority. He went…
Re/Read: No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics
Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid drawing attention to backlist books you may have missed or deserve another look. This time we’ll discuss No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall. Comics frequently play a prominent role in social justice movements. Such is the case in the LGBTQ community, as demonstrated by No Straight Lines. Cartoonist Justin Hall carefully curated a comprehensive anthology of contemporary comics covering themes of coming out, the response to the AIDS crisis, and current issues and attitudes facing the LGBTQ community. His insightful introduction…
The Year’s Last Digital Backlog Bonanza
We’re in the last week of the year, but we’ve got time for one more backlog dump before you hang up the new calendars. Working with comiXology and Google Play, we’re attempting to provide you with the best of our back catalog including these four books that are available digitally for the very first time: Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental by Drew Friedman and Josh Alan Friedman From Shadow to Light: The Life and Art of Mort Meskin by Steven Brower Mascots by Ray Fenwick HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU…
What’s in Store: Ed Luce at Fantagraphics Bookstore on January 7
Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, January 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM as Bay Area artist Ed Luce presents his latest comix collection, Wuvable Oaf: Blood & Metal. Luce chronicles the adventures of Oaf Jadwiga, a gay former wrestler looking for love in unlikely places. The oversized Oaf lives in The City with a cluster of kittens and a fondness for Morrissey, queercore, and black metal music. The comical adventures and colorful characters in Luce’s work make for a wildly entertaining modern romance – at once outrageous and charming. With a background in fine art, Luce…
Re/Read: Palestine by Joe Sacco
Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or are worth another look. As much of the world’s attention turns to developments in the Middle East over two thousand years ago, I engage in my annual ritual of re-reading Joe Sacco’s Palestine. Shortly after arriving at Fantagraphics Books in 1992 as marketing and promotions director, Kim Thompson handed me blue line proofs of a new project by Joe Sacco. I remember thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?” There was precious little precedent for this type of treatment of…
What’s in Store: Top Ten of 2016
It’s come time for Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid to select my favorite comix of 2016. A tough task this year with so many wonderful new books – a little like choosing which of my children I love the most. The choices are so close this list could easily be reversed. 10. Hey Lady. With a button affixed to the cover of each issue, I was immediately attracted to Regina Schilling’s zines. When I was able to fully absorb the contents, it became clear there was more to these creations than a clever premise and seductive artwork. Schilling selects a…
Digital WE TOLD YOU SO and more!
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! We Told You So, the book celebrating our 40th anniversary is here and ready to read and enjoy on your tablets. In 1976, a fledgling magazine held forth the idea that comics could be art. In 2016, comics can now be enjoyed by an adult readership and are reviewed favorably in the New York Times. We Told You So: Comics as Art is an oral history about Fantagraphics Books’ key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored, and fading expression of Americana. It includes appearances by Chris…
Coloring Pages from All Time Comics
Ever wanted to color the brilliant work of Herb Trimpe? Or be the next Ben Marra? Then check out these free to download coloring pages torn from the brand new series All Time Comics, hitting stores this March! All Time Comics: Crime Destroyer #1 From Fantagraphics, the publisher of the world’s greatest cartoonists, comes ALL TIME COMICS, a shared superhero universe featuring the world’s most fanta*stic heroes. Atlas! Blind Justice! Bullwhip! Crime Destroyer! Each issue of ALL TIME COMICS features a mash up of new cartoonists and classic comic book creators collaborating with writer Josh Bayer to unleash superhero stories…
Angouleme Official Selection 2017
It might be in French, but pictures tell a thousand words. And if you take a peek at the list for the 2017 Official Selection books from the Angouleme Festival International de la Bande Dessinée, you’ll see three Fantagraphics titles (via their foreign editions) listed as eligible for an award at this year’s festival taking place January 26-29th. Congratulations to all the nominees! Here are your Fantagraphics selections: Patience by Daniel Clowes Patience is an indescribable psychedelic science-fiction love story, veering with uncanny precision from violent destruction to deeply personal tenderness in a way that is both quintessentially “Clowesian,” and…
Re/Read: Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge
Re/Read is an occasional column by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid examining backlist books you may have missed or merit another look. This time we’ll focus on Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge. A generation of comix enthusiasts came of age following the foibles of Buddy Bradley and his crew of lovable losers in Peter Bagge’s Hate. This work came to define the youth movement associated with Seattle’s “grunge” counterculture. Bagge became a central figure in illustrating the attitudes and aesthetics of this global phenomenon. A truly remarkable achievement. Buddy Buys a Dump collects the 9 issues…
