Fantagraphics Blog

  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."

Oops! Due to an inventory SNAFU the 2005 Special Edition issue of The Comics Journal was mistakenly thought to be sold out and removed from our online catalog. But we still have a bunch of 'em! This oversized (12" x 12") humdinger includes features on masters of manga Hideshi Hino, Suehiro Maruo, Saseo Ono, Osamu Tezuka and Yoshihiro Tsuge;  three great writers on Vaughn Bodé; Bill Blackbeard on Milt Gross; a report from the Montreal comics scene; and a star-studded anthology comics section on the theme of "seduction" with comics from (deep breath): Rick Altergott, Ho Che Anderson, Andrice Arp,…

I took no pictures at APE this year save for the one above, of my pal Dan Shahin in his homemade Rory Root t-shirt (with Root's face comprised of a mosaic of hundreds of comic book covers). If I was to only take one photo, this strikes me as a perfectly appropriate one, as APE always reminds me of Rory, and his memory loomed large over the show for me (I wore my old Comic Relief t-shirt on Saturday in my own small attempt to honor the big guy). This was the first APE I've attended since Rory passed away…

Trina Robbins signing at the Fantagraphics booth at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 I am personally so over-the-moon-excited about this weekend's event, and frankly, you should be, too! We are thrilled to present artist & women's comix "herstorian" Trina Robbins at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, October 8! The reception runs from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, and we'll be debuting our latest exhibit, showcasing The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons from 1913 – 1940. Trina will be leading a slideshow presentation of Brinkley's work that you do not want to miss, and she'll be signing copies…

One man. One-hundred-and-one one-panel cartoons. Our Oil & Water artist Shannon Wheeler presents just that, with an exhibition of his New Yorker artwork opening tonight at PCPA [ 1111 SW Broadway, Portland ]. How perfect is THAT street address?

Comics are taking center stage in America's Heartland this autumn, as the University of Iowa presents the exhibit Graphic Language: The Art and Literature of Comics, which runs through December 11th. This exhibit is truly impressive, featuring original artwork from Carl Barks, Steve Ditko, Hal Foster, and Jack Kirby, as well as Winsor McCay, Frank Frazetta, and Milton Caniff. There's gonna be a special section devoted to original work for EC Comics, from artists like Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, and Bernard Kriegstein. And covering the spectrum, the exhibit also spotlights contemporary cartoonists like Gilbert and Jaime…