Fantagraphics Blog

Michael Kupperman (a.k.a. @MKupperman) will follow you on Twitter for 90 days (maybe more if he likes your tweets, I guess), retweet you once, mention you in a tweet, and draw your portrait if you are a) a UK resident and b) the winner of this eBay auction benefitting the UK's great charity organization (or should I say "organisation") Comic Relief. Cor blimey, guv'nor!

We found out about this event too late to notify you about it in advance, but Drew Friedman had a book release extravaganza for his new book Sideshow Freaks from Blast Books at The Drama Book Shop in NYC last week where he was interviewed on stage by Irwin Chusid, with special guest appearances by Todd Robbins, Larry Storch, and James Taylor (not the singer) and an introduction by the one and only Joe Franklin! The whole thing was captured on video in 6 parts — part 1 is embedded above and here are part 2, part 3, part 4,…

At Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources, as part of their "Month of LGBT Comics" feature, Brian Cronin presents a sampling of 10 pages from Shimura Takako's Wandering Son Vol. 1 and reviews the book: "It is astonishing how well Shimura brings things to a slow boil, until the story is bubbling with emotion. You really feel the pain that Shuichi is going through as he deals with the fact that he is, well, you know, a she. There is a real sensitivity to this work that I found extremely appealing. Shimura really captures the awkwardness of it…

Yep, yet another way for you to follow us! In additon to Flog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. we now have a Tumblr blog. We've noticed a bit of a burgeoning community there and it seemed like it might be fun what with the "liking" and "reblogging" and whatnot, so what the heck. We're still getting into the swing of things and learning as we go (and we may yet change our design theme) but I think hopefully we're doing it right so far and we invite you to check it out and maybe follow along. (I should also note that…

As previously reported, Fantagraphics is gearing up for the 2011 MoCCA Fest in New York City, April 9-10! And not only will we be joined by Peter Bagge, Michael Kupperman, Ted Stearn, Leslie Stein, Stephen DeStefano, and Gahan Wilson, but we just added Kim Deitch, Drew Friedman, Mark Newgarden, Nate Neal, Derek Van Gieson, and Sara Edward-Corbett to our signing roster, too! More details (along with a signing schedule) to follow soon!  See you there!

Francophiles and Fantagraphics followers unite! On Saturday, March 12, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery hosts "Better Tardi Than Never: How France's Greatest Living Cartoonist Took a Mere 32 Years to Break Through to American Audiences." It examines the life's work of Jacques Tardi. Organized by Fantagraphics Books co-publisher, editor, and Tardi translator Kim Thompson, the exhibition includes pages from the artist's earliest English translations in 1977 to the present. Thompson began translating Tardi in 1983 with an excerpt from It Was the War of the Trenches in RAW #5. He became a tireless advocate of this extraordinary artist, translating and publishing…

The back page of the 2011 edition of the Comic-Con Annual magazine features the great moment at last year's San Diego con when Inkpot Award-winning manga-ka Moto Hagio met one of her inspirations, the great Ray Bradbury, and presented him with a copy of her book A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. Click the image for a larger scan and see another snapshot here.

From Paul Karasik via Dan at TCJ.com comes word of this new product from Hex Games: Leopard Women of Venus, a role-playing game inspired by the comics of Fletcher Hanks. Wow! From the product description: "Leopard Women of Venus is a mind-melting pulp science fiction role-playing game inspired by the works of Fletcher Hanks. Hanks wrote and drew bizarre and memorable work in the earliest days of American comic books. His work is boldly drawn, frequently ugly, and strangely fascinating. Leopard Women of Venus gives you the tools you need to recreate the magic and lunacy of a Fletcher Hanks…

In an effort to find a loving home for some fascinating artifacts and give ourselves a little more storage space, we are auctioning the original production pasteups for the entire issue #133 of The Comics Journal from 1989, including all 120 original pages, front and back covers, and production ephemera. Gary Groth provided this description of the issue: "This was our special sex & violence issue, published at the height of a minor but persistent media brouhaha over the sexual and violence quotient in 'grown-up' comics from Marvel and DC. DC had implemented a ratings system — or announced it…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Analysis: At The Comics Journal, Ken Parille does a close reading of "Bianca" from Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (for which we provided a free PDF download of the story): "I first saw 'Bianca' as a conventional sentimental tale, exploring such familiar themes as 'the sanctity of childhood' and 'the power of art.' And many online writers, regardless of their aesthetic evaluation of its merits, seemed to concur. Some found its sentimentality beautiful, others found it excessive, but all agreed it needed little explication. Had I read it only once or…