Fantagraphics Blog

Hey Chicago! This Saturday, May 28th, cartoonist Wilfred Santiago will be at Chicago Comics signing his latest graphic novel 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. Wilfred Santiago signs 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. Chicago Comics is located at 3244 N. Clark Street, and the signing starts at 3:00 pm!

Queen of the Black Black by Megan Kelso 168-page black & white 7" x 9.25" softcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-459-7 Ships in: June 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Before her comics were serialized in the New York Times Sunday Magazine (“Watergate Sue,” 2007) or released by Fantagraphics Books (Artichoke Tales, 2010), Megan Kelso was a classic DIY cartoonist/publisher, who crafted and self-published her popular minicomic Girlhero from 1991 to 1996. Queen of the Black Black, which collects these early Girlhero strips (as well as a few from other sources) and was originally published in a limited edition 12 years…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: Race To Death Valley kicks off Fantagraphics’ latest series of vintage newspaper strips… About halfway through the [first story] arc, …Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse begins to develop the characteristics that would sustain it for decades to come: a fast pace, frequent narrow escapes, and an industrious hero who throws himself fully into every endeavor, in ways that both get him into trouble and help get him out. …Gottfredson… took the broad idea of a good-natured mouse and sketched in his own attitudes about hard work, courage, and the importance of…

Jordan Crane has posted two pages' worth of his long-simmering serial "Keeping Two" over at his webcomics site What Things Do.

On his blog, Drew Friedman posts: "My illustration for an article in the latest Billboard magazine about late night talk shows competing for musical guests, re-casting the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Left to right: Paul (Jimmy Fallon), Ringo (George Lopez), George (David Letterman), John (Conan O'Brien)."

Jason reports on his blog that he is finishing up the lettering on "Tom Waits on the Moon," the last story to be completed for his next book Athos in America. "No, there is no Tom Waits and no moon in the story. Possibly there is a guy called Tom," he says. Dang. In an earlier post he says he's bringing the pages to Paris tomorrow for scanning — then Hubert colors them, Jason draws the cover, and that's a wrap for the art on the book!

Johnny Ryan gives us a look inside the offices of Vice magazine on the occasion of their 100th issue.

Curator Robert Boyd gives you a guided video walk-through of Walpurgis Afternoon: The Art of Jim Woodring & Marc Bell at Lawndale Art Center in Houston. Man I wish I could see this in person. The exibit runs through June 4.

Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 2 (1936-1937) by Roy Crane 144-page full-color 10.5" x 14.75" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-391-0 Ships in: June 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now This second of four volumes reprints in full color the rare Captain Easy Sunday pages from the 1930s. Roy Crane’s Soldier of Fortune, Captain Easy, fights for gold in the frozen north, is mistaken for a bandit, protects a formula for artificial diamonds, is stranded on a desert island, visits the tiny Balkan country of Kleptomania, and faces a firing squad. Captain Easy hobnobs with…