Fantagraphics Blog

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:   • List: Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams of The SF Site start counting down their top 10 favorite comics of 2011 in their "Nexus Graphica" column, with Rick placing Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954 at #10 ("mandatory reading for any fan of the medium") and Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi at #6 ("one of the finest examples of the genre") • Review: "In an historical moment when a cross-section of the population is waking up to the reality of brutal inequalities and the limited set…

Library Journal has named two of our releases to their top-10 Best Books of 2011: Graphic Novels list! 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago: "The Puerto Rican slugger overcame family poverty, racial prejudice, and the language barrier to become the 1966 National League’s Most Valuable Player. Santiago superbly captures the kinetic excitement of baseball as well as Clemente’s skill and warm humanity on and off the diamond." The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi: "An eccentric steampunk parody of turn-of-the-century pulp, beautifully rendered with amazing scratchboard art that mimics the look of engravings. Tardi favors the puckish over…

Comics Alliance kicks off their Holiday Gift Guide this year with a preview and recommendation of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes. CA's Chris Sims says "with its beautiful design, interesting bonus material and masterful all-ages storytelling, it’s one of the few comics that I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone…. The hardcover's packed full of feature-length stories, shorts, and even one-page gag strips, with the blend adventure and comedy that made Carl Barks so legendary — and it's even got one of the craziest Christmas stories I've ever read — all wrapped up in Fantagraphics' usual incredible design….

(click image to enlarge) I have yet to see the movie, but I'm guessing J. Edgar Hoover's obsession with Pogo didn't make the cut. Walt Kelly regularly poked fun at powerful political figures, but apparently the Pogo parody of the FBI director drove him around the bend. According to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, Hoover ordered Bureau cryptographers to decipher the secret Okefenokee code. Remind me now. Who was the cartoon character here?  A delightful example of this historically significant strip line will be on view at Fantagraphics Bookstore in "Playing Possum: The Pogo Art of Walt Kelly" opening December 10. The original…

Join our own Tony Millionaire at the third annual Feral House/Process Media Winter Solstice Celebration on Saturday, December 10th in Los Angeles!  Tony will be a guest among a whole host of amazing artists, authors, directors, and more. He'll be signing copies of his gorgeous new collection 500 Portraits, and according to his Twitter account, he'll be selling some original artwork, too! Just in time for the holiday shopping season! So, make plans now to join Tony from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery [ 4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles ].

We are proud and pleased to be publishing our first Nicolas Mahler book (a full-color hardcover, no less) this coming April: ANGELMAN. As a special blog bonus, we will serialize the first quarter of the book with the rest of our weekly digital comics, beginning this Friday… at the end of which, you will be so absorbed in Angelman's travails that you will have no choice but to pick up the book. Enjoy! Here is the title page of the book, to further whet your appetite. Between this and Jaime Hernandez's GOD AND SCIENCE, Fantagraphics' 2012 goal will be to…

Brooklyn! Prepare to get thrizzled! Join Michael Kupperman at Bergen Street Comics on Friday, December 9th as we celebrate the release of Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7! There is so much goodness in this new issue: there's an appearance from our old friends Snake ‘n’ Bacon! It's the debut of Quincy, M.E.! There's even a photocomic starring comedian Julie Klausner! And there's even more thrizzle to be had! So, get your copy and get it signed by Mr. Kupperman himself! The fun starts at 8:00 PM at Bergen Street Comics [ 470 Bergen Street, Brooklyn ]!

We're excited to announce that satirical illustrator Steve Brodner is part of an exhibit currently showing at the SVA Visual Arts Gallery in NYC. Tonight, Thursday, December 1st, they'll be celebrating with a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 PM! Titled "Being American," this collection was curated by Francis Di Tommaso who says, “The twenty artists in this show have twenty stories to tell about the experience of being American today. Though many would not normally exhibit in the same venue — the work of some is almost never seen outside of the printed page — they all have immediately accessible…

Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture – A Career Retrospective by Jack Davis 208-page full-color 10.25" x 13.25" hardcover • $49.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-447-4 Ships in: December 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Jack Davis arrived on the illustration scene in the euphoric post-war America of the late 1940s when consumer society was booming and the work force identified with commercial images that reflected this underlying sense of confidence and American bravado. Advertising agencies were looking for new ways to tap a rich and expanding market, and there was a vast array of media that needed illustrations. Davis’ animated and exuberant…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Shimura Takako’s story of two adolescents—a boy who wants to be a girl and a girl who wants to be a boy—isn’t exactly fast-paced in terms of plot, but [Wandering Son] book 2 continues the excellent work of book 1 and raises the emotional stakes a bit…. There’s… a slowly unfolding pleasure to Shimura’s story. Sensitive to the plight of young teenagers and potentially transgender youth alike, she’s managed to create a compelling story without including much that, considered in isolation, is particularly dramatic, which speaks to the realism of her efforts." –…