Fantagraphics Blog

Ajax Wood IS Cannibal Fuckface // Photo credit: the amazing Jonas Seaman Get ready for the Friday Night Fuckface FrightFest as our own Ajax Wood reprises his role as Cannibal Fuckface to celebrate the debut of Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit 3 at the San Diego Comic-Con! Seriously. You do not want to miss this. It's gonna be the San Diego Cannibal-Con from 5:00 to 7:00 PM this Friday night. Not only is Fantagraphics debuting Prison Pit 3, but Johnny will be debuting the brand-new Cannibal Fuckface action figure — 7.5" inches of "pure soft vinyl violence." And Johnny notes: "These…

Trying to keep up with Online Commentary & Diversions while also at Comic-Con may be foolhardy, but I'll be giving it a go: • Plug: "Reviewers will compare [Everything Is an Afterthought] to Lester Bangs’s Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, but Avery’s palpable esteem for his subject elevates the book above anthology to research-rooted valentine; indeed, the book is partly a biography of a Minnesota-grown rock journalist whose lean style recalls the film noir he adored." – Heather McCormack, Library Journal • Interview: At Comicdom, Thomas Papadimitropoulos talks to Michael Kupperman (interview in English follows introduction in Greek): "Despite having some…

It's the World Series of special editions! For the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, artist Wilfred Santiago has designed a very special custom version of 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. This exquisite edition boasts so many special features, and it's limited to THREE copies. That's it. No more. And it's ONLY available at the Fantagraphics Booth #1718 at Comic-Con! Wilfred Santiago will be signing at the Fantagraphics Booth #1718 from noon until 1:00 PM on Friday, July 22nd and Saturday, July 23rd. Don't miss your chance to meet this great artist, and check out this glorious piece of art!

Publishers Weekly just posted their comics reviews for July and we thought they'd make a nice post all on their own. Excerpts follow: Celluloid by Dave McKean: "McKean’s ability to master many artistic styles and use them to present an ever-changing surreal visual narrative is on full display…. The work has a dreamlike quality throughout, sometimes confusing, sometimes nightmarish, sometimes bizarre, as shapes and people meld and twist into one another. Nothing is ever really explained or resolved, putting the burden on reader to take their own meaning away from the night’s events." Queen of the Black Black by Megan…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[L]ike the best coming-of-age stories — comics or otherwise — Wandering Son is meticulously accurate in its details, but universal in its emotions. Gay or not, readers shouldn’t find it too difficult to identify with kids who feel like their bodies and their friends are equally culpable in the worst kind of betrayal, preventing them from realizing the potential they see in themselves." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club • Review: "The tone of each book is very different, with the Gil Jordan collection favoring clever mysteries, narrow escapes, and broad comic relief,…

During a pig roast party in Georgetown last Saturday night, Jim Woodring and Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid ran into the proud owner of Fantagraphics old delivery truck. At a 1991 signing at Fallout, this white Econoline van was adorned with exquisite images by Woodring, Daniel Clowes, the Hernandez Brothers, Peter Bagge, Roberta Gregory, Aline Komisnky-Crumb, Michael Dougan, Paul Mavrides and R. Crumb, who lettered his famous "Keep on Truckin" phrase on the front bumper. The van was sold for a song and sat derelict for years, but the owner reported that restoration of the historic vehicle began two weeks ago….

Hokey smokes, look at these gorgeous pages from the tribute to Johnny Gruelle that Tony Millionaire is penning for our upcoming collection of Gruelle's Mr. Twee Deedle. Be sure to head over to Tony's blog for a slightly larger view and some lovely correspondence between Tony and HIS MOM!

Fantagraphics is puttin' the "comics" back in Comic-Con as we head to San Diego this week with a slew of scintillating signings, almost two-dozen dynamite debuts, and a collection of comics sure to please any comics fan… and fill those enormous free tote bags they give away at the door. First up, DEBUTS! • Love & Rockets New Stories 4 by Los Bros Hernandez• Mark Twain’s Autobiography by Michael Kupperman• Prison Pit Vol. 3 by Johnny Ryan• Mome 22, edited by Eric Reynolds• The Raven by Lou Reed and Lorenzo Mattotti•  The Art of Joe Kubert, edited by Bill Schelly• Setting the Standard: Alex Toth,…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Willie & Joe: Back Home by Bill Mauldin; edited by Todd DePastino 288-page black & white 8" x 10" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-351-4 See Previews / Order Now In the summer of 1945, a great tide of battered soldiers began flowing back to the united States from around the globe. Though victorious, these exhausted men were nevertheless too grief-stricken over the loss of comrades, too guilt-ridden that they had survived, and too numbed by trauma to share in the country’s euphoria. Most never saw a ticker-tape parade, or stole a Times…

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Willie & Joe: The WWII Years (Softcover Ed.) by Bill Mauldin; edited by Todd DePastino 704-page black & white/color 8" x 10" softcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-439-9 See Previews / Order Now During WW II, the closest most Americans ever came to combat was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army. This new paperback edition of the 2008 two-volume, deluxe hardcover set brings together Mauldin’s complete works from 1940 through the end of the war under one cover. This collection of over 600 cartoons,…