Fantagraphics Blog

There are many ways to describe R.C. Harvey, but, as anyone who has accidentally dropped his nearly-1,000-page opus Meanwhile… A Biography of Milton Caniff on his or her toes can attest, "man of few words" is not necessarily one of them. (I say this as someone who read each and every word in Meanwhile… with delight and fascination.) So it should have come as no surprise to us when Harv, commissioned to write a set of elucidatory notes for the first Pogo volume and given no word limit (as is our jauntily laissez-faire method here at Fantagraphics), turned in a…

For the first time ever, Fantagraphics will be exhibiting at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival! Come visit us this Saturday, December 3rd from 12:00 – 9:00 PM for a wealth of debuts, artist appearances, and the great Gary Groth manning the table! Gary will be joined by a truly all-star cast of artists for our first BCGF: 1PM: Josh Simmons 2PM: Kim Deitch 3PM: Dash Shaw 5PM: Jack Davis 6PM: Michael Kupperman 7PM: Al Columbia And even more of our artists will be exhibiting at the show, including Gabrielle Bell, Ben Catmull, Charles Forsman, Drew Friedman, Sammy Harkham, Tom…

Our friends at the Librarie Multi BD in Brussels launched an exhibit last week spotlighting the great Jason, and his work with Fabien Vehlmann on Isle of 100,000 Graves. The exhibit also features original artwork from Hey, Wait…, The Left Bank Gang, and Why Are You Doing This?. The exhibit runs through December 24th at the Librarie Multi BD [ 122-124 Bd Anspach B-1000 Bruxelles ].  And even if you can't make the exhibit, be sure to check out their website for some adorable shots of Jason checking out the exhibit himself!

Remember that Max retrospective exhibition we were telling you about, that was opening in Mexico in November? Hey, it opened! And we've got some photos, courtesy of the artist! Titled Panóptica, the exhibit spotlights his work from 1973-2011 with 120 original pieces, including posters, childrens books, magazine illustrations, and more. The exhibit runs through January 22, 2012 at the Centro Cultural de España [ Guatemala, 18 col. Centro Histórico, Ciudad de México ]. If you can't make it to Mexico by the end of January, Max promises to post more photos over at his blog, so check it out!

Today, we're kicking off a new weekly round-up of our Fantagraphics events, on an especially busy week for us! Mark your calendars, and go meet some of our artists: Monday, November 28th • Portland, OR: Meet Oil and Water author Steve Duin and artist Shannon Wheeler at Powell's Bookstore at 7:30 PM. Thursday, December 1st • Brooklyn, NY: Join author/editor Kevin Avery at Barnes & Noble Park Slope at 7:00 PM for a discussion and signing for Everything is an Afterthought: The Life & Writings of Paul Nelson.  • New York City, NY: Legendary cartoonist Jack Davis will be at…

Oil and Water continues to spread across Portland, Oregon, in an environmentally-friendly way! Join author Steve Duin, columnist for The Oregonian, and Eisner-winning artist Shannon Wheeler tonight at the celebrated Powell's Books for a discussion of this powerful book, with a signing to follow! The event starts at 7:30 PM. Powell's City of Books is located at 1005 W Burnside, Portland.

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new strips this week): Lucky by Gabrielle Bell : Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim (scroll down at the link for additional updates): Truth Serum by…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The good news: it’s here, it’s real. The better news: it’s incredible. Walt Kelly’s lively, robust, and poetic world is faithfully and lovingly produced in this, the first of a proposed twelve volume series. The hardcover is printed horizontally, maintaining the integrity of the 'strip' format, with ample margins to avoid any gutter-loss. Fantagraphics knew this first volume would be scrutinized by hardcore Pogo fans, and they’ve outdone expectations, dating each strip, providing historical context for the more esoteric 1940s references, and even reproducing the color Sunday strips…. Through the Wild Blue Wonder…

Kevin Huizenga sketched this detail from Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley and posted it up on his blog as part of a series of drawings making note of comics he's recently enjoyed. [Follow our Tumblr blog for lots more Things to See every day.]

In the brand new issue of Rolling Stone, Anthony DeCurtis reviews Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery (ironically subjecting it to the same star-rating system that led to Nelson's rift with the magazine):