Fantagraphics Blog

Lotsa reasons to brave the cold this week, or in the case of that Max retrospective, um, the sun. Check it out: Thursday, January 19th • New York City, NY: Join author Alexander Theroux at the Strand Bookstore for a discussion and signing of his latest work, Estonia. You can either buy Estonia from The Strand or a $10 Strand gift card in order to attend this event. Both options admit one person. (more info) Friday, January 20th •  Kansas City, MO: The name of this exhibit says it all: "GOOD THING I USED A PSEUDONYM: Work From a Three-Part…

Here's an exciting discovery: the original art for an extra-long Peanuts strip that was done by Charles M. Schulz for the July 22, 1958 issue of Look Magazine and apparently never reprinted since then. The artwork is being offered for sale next month by Heritage Auctions — thanks to Rodrigo Baeza of Comics Commentary for the tip. [Follow our Tumblr blog for lots more Things to See every day.]

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Nick Gazin reluctantly does a Top Ten Comics of 2011 for VICE, including… #3 Popeye Vol. 5: Wha's A Jeep by E.C. Segar#4 Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks …with "All of Fantagraphics' reprint books especially Pogo, Peanuts, and Prince Valiant" in the "Also Good" category • List: Chris Mautner's list of "12 Comics to Look Forward to in 2012" at Robot 6 includes our first volume of Crockett Johnson's Barnaby: "Johnson’s wonderful, vastly underrated comic strip about a little boy and his underperforming fairy godfather is finally, finally being…

Our weekly strips from Kupperman, Mahler & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — Black Classroom by Steven Weissman (view at original size): Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Angelman by Nicolas Mahler (view at original size): And elsewhere: The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Forming by Jesse Moynihan: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 updates this week, concluding serialization of his unpublished 1979 strip Downtown and returning to mew material): Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim (scroll down at the link for…

Hot on the heels of Nancy… heeeere's Franklin!

We love Danish comics (so much so that we co-published an anthology of them, From Wonderland with Love, with Danish publisher Aben Maler, and our Scandinavian comics anthology Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now is coming soon), so we're especially pleased to learn that the Danish Comics Council and comics website Nummer 9 have announced the nominees for the 2012 Ping Prisen (Prisen = Prize) and that they include: "Nostalgia" by Johan F. Krarup, from Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now: Best Danish Comic Mellem dyrene (Congress of the Animals) by Jim Woodring: Best International Comic in Danish Speedy Ortiz dør (The…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship to our mail-order customers: Action! Mystery! Thrills! Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age 1933-45 by various artists; edited by Greg Sadowski 208-page full-color 8" x 10.5" softcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-494-8 See Previews / 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. When we contemplate a memorable old comic book, the first thing that comes to mind is its cover, and that was no accident. Publishers realized fairly quickly that if…