Fantagraphics Blog

• Michael Kupperman is stepping up the art posts on Twitter, with the "doodle" above and an older strip with the promise of new ones to come (!) • A couple of recent landscapey drawings by Gabrielle Bell (and they're for sale) • An older watercolor sketch (above) and an unused character by Leslie Stein • Album covers and undead Popeye by Tony Millionaire And more Things to See from the past week: • New illustrations from Matthias Lehmann at his Bloc-Notes blog • Odds, ends, outtakes and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog • Steven…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Battling an administration that smugly created their own reality, even if (and sometimes, especially if) it flew in the face of reason, morality and/or common sense, [in Twilight of the Assholes] Kreider employed a vicious, scorched-earth set of tactics that matched the passionate intensity of the right, only imbued with a wicked and outrageous sense of humor to go with a keen sense of observation. Whether or not one agreed with all of Kreider’s observations about American culture…, the sheer relentlessness of Kreider’s attacks combined with the elegance and intensity of his line…

Jaime Hernandez had an illustration in last week's issue of The New Yorker (hopefully still on the stands), for an article on asteroid hunters. This is as big as I can show it to you without a subscription — hopefully you have one so you can check it out full-size!

Photo credit: Jonas Seaman Get ready! This weekend, Friday, March 4th – Sunday, March 6th, Fantagraphics will be taking the 9th Annual Emerald City Comicon by storm! And slashing things open on Friday, March 4th will be Jacques Boyreau, editor and cultural historian of the book Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box, a celebration of some of the most louche, decadent, minimo-pervo artwork to ever grace a VHS box. Join Jacques at the Fantagraphics booth at space #808! He'll be signing copies of Portable Grindhouse, and showing film footage, on Friday, March 4th from 4:00 to 6:00…

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web: — "Ham-N-Tashen" by Steven Weissman (for the Henry & Glenn art show in L.A.; view at original size): — And elsewhere: The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum (an encore presentation of John's Act-i-vate strip at MTV Geek) concludes: Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate): The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider (with essay): Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits depicts old age as a wild, lurching ride from medical crises to euphoric nostalgia to an eerie calm as the end draws near. […] Aging and dying are rare topics in literature and cinema, let alone in comics, which makes Special Exits an automatic standout. But it would be an excellent book even if the shelves were full of fictionalized memoirs about elder care." – The A.V. Club • Review: "…[W]ith Special Exits, Farmer delivers a wonderful memoir about her aging parents and their aging process. […] This is…

Lilli Carré reveals on her Kettle of Fish blog that she's contributed a 4-page story and cover illustration to the next issue of long-running Swedish comics magazine Galago. Lucky Swedes!

Here's the Peanuts cartoon modified by Michael Kupperman which is lighting up the comics blogosphere today after being tweeted by @MKupperman last night. Below, perhaps of more interest to serious Kupperman fans, another tweeted image from last night: a glimpse of his next book coming in September, Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 (in which "Twain meets with Ike Eisenhower and his unbelievably hot wife, Mame"):

As we announced on our Twitter feed last week, the highly anticipated next release in our manga line, Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako, is now at the printer and set for a May/June release. In this sensitive masterpiece from Japan's most prominent creator of LGBT manga, Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. Shimura portrays their journey with affection, sensitivity and humor. We know lots of you are really champing at the bit for this one — here's your first look at…

Northwest residents won't want to miss out on the action after the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle on Saturday, March 5. Captain Kirk, Riker, Data, Crusher… hell — half the crew of the Enterprise will be guests at the convention. After the convention, beam yourself down to the Jewel Box Theater at the Rendezvous for the fabulous "Con Artists" concert. The show is FREE with convention credentials. The party opens with a solo music set by Matthew Southworth, co-creator of Stumptown (with convention guest Greg Rucka.) Before concentrating on his comics career, Southworth made a splash with the Capillaries. Also…