Re/Read in a recurring column by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid that examines backlist titles you may have missed or are worthy of another read. This time we’ll look at Guy Colwell’s essential Inner City Romance. Inner City Romance collects five issues of the transitional underground comic book series of the same name, originally published from 1972 to 1978. Colwell’s comix provide an unvarnished look at the impact of crippling poverty, substance abuse, and violent crime in the aftermath of the Bay Area’s sixties counterculture. His work is informed by his incarceration at McNeil Island federal penitentiary as a Viet…
What’s in Store: Rock is Not Dead
Join us on Saturday, March 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery as we celebrate the release of Rock is Not Dead, a collection of comix and prose inspired by contemporary pop music. This ambitious publication, from Canada’s 11th Dimension Press, comes complete with a CD of the songs referenced in the book. The event will include a performance by Amy Denio, who is featured on the project covering the Throwing Muses “Not Too Soon” which provided the inspiration for Seattle cartoonist Noel Franklin’s contribution to the book. Other subjects include songs by The Clash, Beatles,…
New Comic Book Day! Oct. 12th 2016
Digging those fall vibes and digging these #NCBD releases. You can find these titles in any decent store near you, or on any decent website (like ours!) Band for Life by Anya Davidson Band for Life is the story, told in comic strip form, of a noise rock band and their community of friends and acquaintances based in an alternate reality version of Chicago. Though beset with disaster at every turn and frequently reduced to squabbling, they stick together because the band is the fulcrum of their otherwise confounding lives, and together they help each other find their way. Fusing…
This Week’s Digital Releases
Old favorites Fuzz and Pluck are back with a brand-new adventure and an incredible artists makes their Fantagraphics debut . . . this week in digital releases! You might know Ted Stearn’s Fuzz and Pluck from Zero Zero or Mome. You might know them from their own series and previous collection. The only thing you need to know now, however, is that they’re back! Carrying on their tenuous, co-dependent friendship, the irritable rooster and awkward bear find themselves on a ramshackle barge slowly drifting out to sea. How they got there, how they will escape, and all the classic cartooning…
The Truth About Pepe the Frog
Fantagraphics Books and Matt Furie, the creator of the eternally chill comic book character Pepe the Frog, condemn the illegal and repulsive appropriations of the character by racist fringe groups linked to the alt right movement and the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Furie’s character has been categorized as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League as a result of these uses, creating significant emotional and financial harm for the creator. Most media reports now routinely default to a narrow description of Pepe as a representation of white supremacy, ignoring the mellow, positive-vibed frog that he is in the hands of…
Bill Griffith and Zippy Go Digital!
Today Fantagraphics and comiXology are teaming up to celebrate one of the all-time greats: Eisner Award winner Bill Griffith! Not only is Griffith’s underground comix collection Lost and Found available digitally for the very first time, but also all of his Zippy the Pinhead comic strip collections ranging from 2004 to 2013. Whether you are an avid Griffith fan catching up on all his work or someone who’s just being introduced to his unique brand of comedy, it’s all here! Starting today you can find all these books on comiXology: Lost and Found: Comics 1969–2003 Zippy the Pinhead: From Here…
What’s in Store: Northwest Exposure
Don’t miss the Northwest Alternative Comics exhibition at Washington State University’s Museum of Art featuring Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, David Lasky, Max Clotfelter, Tom van Deusen, Eroyn Franklin, Taylor Dow, Mita Mahato, and Paul Chadwick, on view through December 17. Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid served as a consultant and will speak (very briefly) at the opening reception on Thursday, October 6. Artist talks, workshops, and related activities are planned throughout the run of the show. WSU is conveniently located in the middle of nowhere, on the border between Washington and Idaho south of Spokane. Then tune up…
Check Out This Week’s Digital Lineup!
New comics from living legends and new favorites, underground artists and Fantagraphics Underground — this week’s got it all! We are proud to present four new digital debuts that both run the gamut of subject matter and celebrate the comics medium as a whole. Gilbert Hernandez is back is with a brand-new, full-color, sexually-explicit retelling of Bible parables. As only the unfettered id of Hernandez could conceive, Garden of Flesh retells the stories of Adam and Eve up to Noah’s Ark, blurring the lines between erotic and pornography. Find this book on comiXology and Google Play today! …
Banned Books Week Sale
Save 20% off select titles by Alison Bechdel, Daniel Clowes, Gilbert Hernandez and more, now through October 1st. Click to shop the sale.
Re/Read: Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull
Re/Read is a regular feature by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid focusing on books worthy of closer scrutiny. With Halloween season fast approaching, we’ll look again at the exquisitely spooky opus Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull. Ghosts and Ruins contains meticulously rendered drawings of haunted dwellings and the otherworldly creatures that inhabit them. An atmospheric narrative accompanies each image, revealing the mysterious circumstances of the illustrations. In this attractive hardcover volume, Catmull mines similar territory to his acclaimed comic book Monster Parade. Freed from the conventions of sequential comix, this work evokes the sinister charm of Edward Gorey,…
