Fantagraphics Blog

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.

 Johnny Ryan's latest strip for Vice is a surprisingly straight-up adaptation of the movie Zookeeper. I assume. Right? [See our Tumblr blog for more recent Things to See.]

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (Kerschbaum's back!): — 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: Cochlea & Eustachia by Hans Rickheit: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new strips this week): Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim: What's in the Backpack by Victor Kerlow:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Flavorwire's Emily Temple names Daniel Clowes's Ghost World one of "10 Disturbingly Brilliant Graphic Novels" (a list which includes many of the usual suspects along with some off-the-beaten-path selections): "This novel is a cult classic for a reason (and no, the reason is not Scarlett Johansson): its frank depiction of teenage life, especially in boring, suburban towns, and the awkwardness of growing up garnered an instant following, along with its cynical, hilarious protagonists. It is intensely strange, and yet somehow universal in its strangeness — because who doesn’t think their teen years were…

  Fantagraphics resident genius Jim Woodring outdoes himself in the new annual edition of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror. Li'l Bart discovers a shopworn copy of "Harvest of Fear" — an E.C. knockoff in the tradition of Four Color Fear — at a yard sale and all hell breaks loose. Woodring works within the Simpsons canon while cleverly incorporating his own idiosyncratic sensibilities. In the story, our mischievous protagonist sets out to solve the mystery of the mid-century comic book and finds the last page is the missing piece. Spooky.

Excitement for our big art book Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is building, and in that spirit fan Mike Ewing took to Twitter to point out this great compilation of Davis's animated television commercials for various products, posted to YouTube by user "chiefzabu." Fun stuff! One stars Ruth Buzzi and to my ear it sounds like the great Frank Welker in the Lectric Shave one.

Explore a world of comics! Columbus Day is upon us and we're celebrating the spirit of discovery (never mind the centuries of pillaging, genocide and other atrocities). From now through next Friday, October 14, 2011, take at least 30% off comics and graphic novels by international creators! From manga to bandes desinées, classic to cutting-edge, if it's "furrin" it's on sale. Our slogan is "Publisher of the World's Best Cartoonists Since 1976," and we mean it when we say THE WORLD. Beyond the U.S. and Canada our creators hail from such far-flung locales as Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico,…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Jeff Newelt names Leslie Stein's Eye of the Majestic Creature to Heeb Magazine's "Best of 5771: Comics" list, saying "What a treat discovering a new 'voice' that speaks to you as much as longtime favorites." • Interview: Shannon Wheeler talks about Oil and Water in a Q&A with Portland Monthly: "Fishermen couldn’t fish, plants were dying, scientists didn’t know what the effects were, and tourism was crippled. In addition to the environmental damage, there was damage to people’s lives that is profound. We very much wanted to tell the human story."