Fantagraphics Blog

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Esteemed Washington, DC bookstore Politics & Prose has posted their list of "Favorite Graphic Literature of 2011": "It seems sort of cruel to celebrate the final issue of Mome, Fantagraphics’ premier anthology of comics. But one can hardly resist such a celebratory finale. As to be expected, Mome Volume 22 packs a wallop, throwing in a mind-bending array of cartoonists, some Mome regulars, some first-time contributors. Some favorites: Joe Kimball’s 'Secret Hand,' Tim Lane’s 'Belly Gunner,' Eleanor Davis’ 'Nita Go Home' and 'Loving Bin Laden' by James Romberger. As always, this is a…

In a year-long wind-up to the end of all time (according to the Mayan calendar), Elysian Brewing Company and Fantagraphics Books, both of Seattle, are planning a series of twelve beers, issued on the 21st of each month in 2012 and featuring label artwork by Charles Burns. Taken from Burns's weirdly apocalyptic work Black Hole, the labels will adorn Elysian's "Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse," featuring the creativity and unusual ingredients for which its brewing team is known. What twelve beers would you brew (and drink) if you knew they would be your last? First up in January is NIBIRU, named…

In this month's issue of Booklist you can find praise for three of our recent releases: Nuts by Gahan Wilson: "One of the greatest gag cartoonists, whose monthly contributions to Playboy may prove that magazine’s most durable legacy, Wilson gave National Lampoon something to be remembered for, too — his only comic strip, collected here. Titled to echo Charles Schulz’s great newspaper feature full of kids who think and talk like adults, the six-paneled Nuts develops a realistic situation from out of memory (the strips typically begin with the word “remember”). All the fully visible characters are children, mostly boys,…

Dan Clowes Extended Interview from Closer Productions on Vimeo. This is a fantastic "extended" clip of Dan Clowes' interview for the Shut Up, Little Man film, although it makes me nostalgiac for the pre-Internet 1990s, when things like these tapes were shrouded in mystery.

Michael Kupperman is helping Comic Book Jones celebrate their 4th anniversary! Join Michael tomorrow Friday, December 16th at this Staten Island comic book store for a fun-filled afternoon of signings, plus 25% off everything in the store! Why, that happens to include Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 and Tales Designed to Thrizzle! As of this typing, there's no set signing times, but we'll keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook as soon as we get more details! Comic Book Jones is located at 2220 Forest Avenue, Staten Island, NY. UPDATE: Comic Book Jones let us know “He will be appearing at…

The eagerly-awaited new issue of Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle hits comic shops next week and Diamond's PREVIEWSworld website offers up an exclusive peek at 3 pages from the issue!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The book is lovingly made and the strips presented with care and pleasure. But is it any good? Oh yes. It's funny and charming, bursting with witty wordplay and vivid characters you love immediately. You can see the influence the Marx Brothers and Krazy Kat and Mark Twain had on Pogo and its love of silly grammatical puns and Southern dialect. And you can see the influence Pogo had on Doonesbury and Calvin & Hobbes… In short, read Pogo and you can immediately see it slide into the pop cultural matrix and how…