Fantagraphics Blog

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "There is no one remotely like Jim Woodring. I admire dozens of living cartoonists, but Jim's wordless comic book stories… are some of the most mindbending books I've ever read…. Is there a lesson to be learned from Congress of the Animals? What is the meaning behind it, and Woodring's other books? That's the question I'm unable to answer. His comics affect the part of my brain that can think and feel, but cannot verbalize. His comics change me, but I can't say why or how." – Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing • Review:…

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (with a couple of new and hopefully regular additions): — Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size): Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): And elsewhere: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Humblug by Arnold Roth (4 new udpates!): Gonna try running Keeping Two by Jordan Crane here: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Delve into the peculiar mysteries of the Unifactor as Seattle artist Jim Woodring unveils the secrets behind his brand new graphic novel Congress of the Animals, released this month by Fantagraphics Books Inc. Congress of the Animals is the highly-anticipated follow-up to last year’s Weathercraft, and in 2010, Woodring was awarded the Stranger Genius Award for literature. Join us at the Elliott Bay Book Company at 7:00 pm on Thursday, June 30th as Woodring himself takes us page by page through his latest creation, with explanations and anecdotes on his first full-length graphic novel to star his signature character, Frank….

[In this installment of our series of Editors Notes, Kim Thompson interviews himself (in a format he's dubbed "AutoChat") about Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Patrick Manchette, now available to pre-order from us and coming soon to a comics shop near you. – Ed.] Okay, if I already have West Coast Blues, why should I buy Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot? My promotional tagline for Sniper is, “For those who thought West Coast Blues wasn’t violent enough.” Seriously? West Coast Blues was pretty brutal. Sniper mops the floor with it. It was…

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi; based on the novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette 104-page black & white 7.5" x 10.75" hardcover • $18.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-448-1 Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Martin Terrier, ice-cold mercenary-turned-contract-killer, has his future all mapped out: He has just executed what he intends to be his final job and is ready to move on to the next phase of his life, which involves discreet retirement accompanied by a long-lost girlfriend. But Terrier’s employers are emphatically not pleased with his decision, old enemies begin to re-emerge, and soon Terrier…

It's official: Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune Vol. 2 by Roy Crane is headed to comic shops next week, and Diamond's PREVIEWSworld website has a very excellent selection of pages for you to check out!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse] is not just a great Mickey Mouse comic, it's one of the best comics of all time…. When Gottfredson took over the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip in 1930, he created stories that still hold up eighty years later as solid well-done comics. That alone would be an incredible achievement, especially considering how few stories from the era even seem readable to a modern audience, but Gottfredson takes things to an entirely different level with comedy that's still funny and adventures that are genuinely thrilling…. As to the book itself,…