Fantagraphics Blog

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago 200-page two-color 6.25" x 8" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-56097-892-3 Ships in: March 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now The biographical 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente is a human drama of courage, faith and dignity, inspired by the life of baseball star Roberto Clemente. No other baseball player dominated the 1960s like Roberto Clemente and no other Latin American player achieved his numbers. Born in 1924 in Puerto Rico, Clemente excelled in track and field and loved baseball. By the age of 17 he was playing in the PR Winter…

• Jason's commentary on this page of sound effects lettering for the English edition of You Can't Get There from Here (now seen in Almost Silent) is hilarious; plus more early strips, illustrations and film reviews at his Cats Without Dogs blog • New artwork, illustrations and handicrafts and other news (she moved to Savannah, Georgia — be her new intern!) in the latest blog update from Dame Darcy • Another early strip (from 1989) by Richard Sala • A new sketch by Lilli Carré • A new strip by Steve Brodner for yesterday's Washington Post • "Connecticut" by Josh…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List/Coming Attractions: On Publishers Weekly's "Spring 2011 Adult Announcements" preview, the following upcoming titles rank on The Top 10: Comics & Graphic Novels: "Many recent comics biographies have been presented as educational material, but Wilfred Santiago's 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente uses a more expressionist style to tell the story of the baseball superstar who rose from poverty to the top of the game and died a hero's death. Long in the making, it arrives just in time for opening day." "The comic strip gets a much needed new edition of the first…

Paul Karasik requests that the word be spread: "I am teaching at the Masters School in Angouleme and next Friday I will be making a presentation at the Festival on Friday at 4:30 about the process of adaptation in comics with a City of Glass focus… Since it is an event sponsored by the museum, it does not appear in any festival literature…" The Comics Reporter, from whom I lifted this item, comments: "Since Karasik is one of the most thoughtful and articulate cartoonists going, this is bound to be a fun way to spend your time and if you…

Michael Kupperman joins fellow cartoonists Emily Flake, Lisa Hanawalt and David Rees along with musical guest Andy Friedman for Tell Your Friends!, a Tuesday-night comedy show at Lolita Bar in NYC, tomorrow evening at 8:00. Guaranteed funny! See the Facebook invitation for more info.

Brooklyn! Catch Tony Millionaire signing his many books at Desert Island this Thursday evening at 7 PM! Gabe of DI will be printing up one of his consistently-excellent exclusive silkscreen prints for the occasion, so don't miss out on that. This of course is a prelude to Tony's art exhibit opening at Scott Eder Gallery the following night. Two nights of Tony = guaranteed fun!

* Other People's Publications** Yeah, You Know Me.      "What the hell is this?"   Working at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, I hear this question a lot, but I especially get it in reference to this week's spotlight title: Johnny 23 by Charles Burns.   If you were one of the fans crushed in the crowd when Charles Burns visited the store back in November, then hopefully you caught his discussion about the similarities in his latest novel X'ed Out and Hergé's classic The Adventures of Tintin. (Ken Parille has a great run-down on those similarities on The…

It is with great sadness that we have learned, and feel we should pass along, that one of the members of the Fantagraphics family died last year. CRAIG MAYNARD, who worked on staff here in Seattle in the early 1990s, passed away last September and we just learned about it from his family (through a reply to a rerouted Christmas card). Craig had been suffering from a number of debilitating illnesses for years and the news was not exactly a shock, but all of us from that era who worked with Craig (Gary G. and me, of course, and also…

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (to which we have a couple of new hopefully semi-regular additions): — Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size): — And elsewhere: Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga: Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit: Lucky by Gabrielle Bell: Maakies by Tony Millionaire: Majestic Creature by Leslie Stein: The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider: