Fantagraphics Blog

Michel Gagne, editor of our forthcoming 2012 book Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's 1940s-50s Romance Comics, has posted some samples of his restoration work and some fascinating backround information on the long gestation of this labor of love on the Collected Editions Discussion Forums hosted by MarvelMasterworks.com. For more, see the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center blog.

Dear old golden rule days are back, and kids, even your grandparents knew that comics are WAY more fun than homework. In that spirit we're offering 30% OFF our kid-friendly All Ages and Young Adult categories for one week only! For younger kids, save on classics like Peanuts, Popeye, Prince Valiant, and, yes, Pogo, not to mention Dennis the Menace, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse! Our full range of Usagi Yojimbo books is marked down, including the deluxe box set. Plus our new bande desinee reprints and modern classics from Belgium & France, a bunch of other kid-friendly but still…

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago is now available to our mailorder customers with a signed bookplate at no extra charge! Supplies are limited and may run out without warning, so act with appropriate haste. Wilfred signed these plates back in May when he was visiting Seattle and we promptly misplaced them (whoops), so if you ordered the book from us between May 4 and now, let us know and we'll be happy to send you one.

We constructed this 3D image of the Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 & 2 Box Set to show you how the books look in the slipcase. Below, a look at both sides (click for slightly larger versions): Design for the series is by Jacob Covey. Stay tuned for more previews coming soon!

A new limited-edition giclee print of a reworked version of Mr. Natural #2 by Robert Crumb is now available from Wildwood Serigraphs. And there appears to be a new (I think) installment of "Crumb on Others" where the man holds forth his candid opinions on various prominent figures in comics and popular culture, from his underground contemporaries to Charles Schulz, from Walt Disney to Walt Kelly, from The Beatles to Bettie Page. Must read!

At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason is posting rough sketches and brief notes on each of the stories in his upcoming book Athos in America. Above, "So Long, Mary Ann," followed by "The Brain That Wouldn't Virginia Woolf," with more to come. There's something else great on his blog that we're saving for later. (You've seen it already if you follow our Tumblr.)

Via our colleagues at AdHouse, it's the cover illustration for the 2011 SPX program guide by newly-minted Mome contributor Jim Rugg… and what's that making a cameo appearance? It's Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius being read by the girl in the foreground, who, if she's to scale with the book, is about 9 feet tall (without the boots).

Daniel Clowes has been awarded the very prestigious 2011 PEN Literary Award for Outstanding Body of Work in Graphic Literature. Congrats Dan, and well done PEN Awards judges.

"Hey kids! Get off my lawn!" That loving portrait of the incomparable Tony Millionaire can be found in the collection Heroes & Villains, out now from Zero+ Publishing. In fact, photographers Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho captured quite a few of our beloved artists in this volume! Take a look: Johnny Ryan Gabrielle Bell Anders Nilsen A book release and signing party is going on tonight in L.A., and an exhibition of selected photographs with contact sheets and Polaroids will be on view! I can't wait to see more! LAUNCH LA Thursday, September 1st, 7-10 pm125 East 6th StreetLos Angeles,…