Fantagraphics Blog

A fan named Ross Adams went and got himself a tattoo of the Caligulon symbol from Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit Book 3, and then Johnny went and tweeted about it. No word as to whether Adams can now shoot destructive/transfigurative rays from his shin.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "It should go without saying by now that any new volume of Love and Rockets is a must for any serious comics fan… [and] New Stories 4 is… one of the major events of the comics year … [A]nyone who loves brilliant cartooning technique should appreciate the way Jaime draws the casual sag of a post-coital naked body, or the way he illustrates a pre-schooler tugging at his mother, oblivious to any notion of 'personal space.' And anyone who’s alive in the world should be moved by this story’s depiction of life as…

Wilfred Santiago takes you "behind the pages," sharing some of his process art from 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente and showing how his sketches and thumbnails developed into the final pages. Cool! Click each image to dig 'em on Flickr. [See our Tumblr blog for more recent Things to See.]

Advance copies of Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7 by Michael Kupperman just arrived at the office and we're all pawing at them eagerly. You can get your very own world-premiere copy at Desert Island in Brooklyn this Thursday on the next stop of the Twain in the Membrane tour! Everyone else, it'll be in stores next month. Stay tuned for more and better previews, of course!

Plan ahead for the future with a blast from the past — it's the 2012 Jim Flora calendars! There's the Sheffield Island letterpress calendar, as seen above, based on a 1954 Flora woodcut…  …And there's the smaller classic design, featuring Flora's illustrations from the 1950s: Swingin' Sax, Boogie-Beat Drummer, and Stardust Moon. These are all hand-printed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress of Knoxville, and as the Jim Flora website promises, they are guaranteed to include your birthday, as well as those of your family and friends!

PREVIEWSworld presents a 4-page sneak peek at Gahan Wilson's Nuts, in comic shops this week (plus 3 pages from Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons as a bonus)!

Got a hole in your jacket from that Chris Ware story that reached in, tore your heart out, and stomped it into the ground? (His writing, that is, not the man himself — he's pretty laid-back.) Patch it up with one of these rad new patches from our friends at Quimby's in Chicago!  Heat adhesive, four-color embroidered, and only five freakin' bucks.  Only available at the store for now, but they should be on sale on their website soon.

Two bearded artists with "ham" in their last names have teamed up for this latest release on Drag City Records! Under his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy nom de plume, Will Oldham has a brand-new album out now featuring cover art by the one-and-only Sammy Harkham. Why, I think it might be time for another edition of Under the Covers with Fantagraphics…

For the chilly month of October, the Center for Sex & Culture in San Francisco is heating things up with their new exhibit Dirty Comics: An Exhibition of Erotic Comic Art. Bay area erotic artist Jon Macy has curated a show featuring 30 different comic artists, including our very own Dame Darcy! The Center for Sex & Culture is located at 1349 Mission Street between 9th and 10th Streets, on the corner of Grace Street. Thanks to the always-intrepid Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter for the heads-up— uh, I mean, tip-off— uh, I mean… never mind.

Artwork continues to pour in for the benefit auctions for the family of Dylan Williams & Sparkplug Comic Books: above, a page of Stephen DeStefano's artwork from his 2010 graphic novel with George Chieffet, Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History (ending in 5 days); below, "Water Goat," a new original drawing by Renee French (ending in 3 days). Click each image to go to the respective eBay auctions, and see additional contributions from David Lasky, Greg Stump and Skinner at The Divine Invasion and Profanity Hill.