Fantagraphics Blog

Noah Van Sciver drew this poster for the annual pre-SPX "SPXplosion" party/comics reading/Nerdlinger Awards ceremony at Atomic Books in Baltimore on Friday night (Sept. 9, 2011, 7-9 PM)! And he will be there in person along with all the other fine folks listed on the poster and surely many others! And so should you be!

Lilli Carré made this illustration for the bookplate/prints to be affixed in books acquired by the Montgomery County Public Library through a donation from SPX's 2011 Graphic Novel Gift Program — man oh man, that is one lucky library, for the books AND the prints!

Tim Lane teases his forthcoming short story collection in-progress, Folktales, with this eye-popping splash page. The story will also run in an upcoming issue of Strapazin. This is one of those times when I regret that we discontinued Mome.

I've been hoping Michael Kupperman's animated segments for Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse show would show up online, and lo, here's one on YouTube as pointed out by Michael on Twitter — watch it before the Viacom copyright elves make it disappear…

Shimura Takako announces that her new 28-page doujinshi Aoikitoiki (青息吐息) can now be ordered through Comic Zin for ¥420. There are a few sample pages you can check out from each of the 3 short stories, "Eve Confesses," "Friend of My Brother" and "Cover Girl": (I don't know whether shipping is available outside Japan, but presumably if you're ordering this comic you read Japanese and can suss that out on the Comic Zin website.) 

Some recent action on the themed-fan-art blogs. A couple of new ones have cropped up, one just for fun and one for a very good cause: • Noah Van Sciver takes a pretty great turn at the Covered blog — between that and this Archie Noah drew I'm starting to think he might be pretty well suited to draw kids' comics • On the Repaneled blog, Steven Weissman does the Teen Titans • Jon Morris penciled and noted Plastic Man aficionado Stephen DeStefano inked this cover for the new "DC reboot covers we'd like to see" blog DC Fifty-TOO! •…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…Yeah! is a surprisingly delightful fun fantasy of kicky pop music, weird alien fans, and evil twin competition bands…. Witty, high-spirited, and thoroughly fun, it’s the greatest Saturday morning cartoon adventure that never was. Although originally in color, Fantagraphics has reprinted the series in black-and white. It’s a sound artistic (Gilbert’s art is bold and vibrant in its original inks) and economic (keeping the price under $20) decision, and while purists may argue otherwise, a black-and-white Yeah! will appeal to teens, young girls, and manga fans: a whole new market for this sadly…

R. Kikuo Johnson has launched a new website for his comics and illustration work (including his sweet-looking upcoming book for Toon Books, The Shark King). Lots of lovely stuff to browse through. Above, part of a recent short comic for Internazionale. Hat tip: The Comics Reporter.

The PREVIEWSworld website went coo-coo-nutso with the sneak peeks over the weekend, posting previews of all three of our books scheduled to land in comic shops on Wednesday: 5 choice pages from The Hidden by Richard Sala… …the first 3 pages, plus another from later in the book, from Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette… …and an assortment of 5 pages by various contributors from Mome Vol. 22 (beware of out-of-context spoilers)!

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: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new udpates): Maakies by Tony Millionaire (and various tattoo artists): Rumbling by Kevin Huizenga at What Things Do (we're late to add this — be sure to catch up on past installments) Truth Serum by Jon Adams:  Underworld by Kaz & co. (click for animated strip):