Fantagraphics Blog

The colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack celebrates the holiday season on December 11 with a diverse array of challenging visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic business district. Dozens of independent artists' studios will be open to the public, joined by the many creative enterprises that make Georgetown a wonderfully unique civic asset. Among the many highlights of the holiday Art Attack: Open studios at Equinox with live music, blacksmithing demonstrations, refreshments and the work of over 50 resident artists; Georgetown Arts and Cultural Center hosts figurative sculpture by Katrina Wolfe; the 4th Annual Holiday Artisans Bazaar Party…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about our release this week, check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. Special Exits by Joyce Farmer 208-page black & white 8" x 10" hardcover • $26.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-381-1 Ordering Info & Previews "A decade-plus in the making project by underground veteran Joyce Farmer; observations of the declining health of her father and stepmother, and Farmer’s own changing role in their lives. I know nothing more, but I’ll be eager to…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "The second volume of Linda Medley's quirky Eisner-winning modern classic has finally arrived. […] Castle Waiting is a warm yet bittersweet ramble through the margins of the fairy tale world. […] Medley's distinctive black and white art is full of life, while her writing is as engaging if leisurely as ever." – Publishers Weekly • Review: "…[O]ne of the best and most under-covered of many under-covered comics of 2010 [is] Fantagraphics’ English-language edition of Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches. […] Fascinatingly structured as a 20-page overture leading into an…

Gipi recounts the story behind this illustration, learning that he's not the first artist in Italy to have this idea recently.

An exciting announcement from Zak Sally and his La Mano 21 imprint: The Kim Deitch Files print portfolio nears completion and will make its debut at two opposite-coast events in December: the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival on Dec. 5 and the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 4th Anniversary celebration on Dec. 11, where Zak will also be performing a solo music set. Sez Zak: "The Kim Deitch Files is a limited edition portfolio of the looseleaf 'story' pages which serve as Kim's sketchbook; it's where he works out the ideas for his comics. included in this folio are selections of…

Here's an illo Ray Fenwick did for O Magazine (bigger at Ray's site).

Dreaming of a Black Christmas? Start your holiday shopping at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle this weekend. We'll be giving away a free BLACK HOLE comic book with every purchase through Sunday, November 28. An amazing stocking stuffer valued at $4.50. Visitors will get a chance to see the exquisite exhibition of Seattle native Charles Burns. This wonderful display, spanning his 30-year career in comix, remains on view through December 7. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street in the heart of Seattle's lively Georgetown arts community. Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until…

Click for improved/additional viewing and possible artist commentary at the sources: • Noah Van Sciver draws a rock show (Danzig!) for the Denver Westword, plus more stuff at his blog • Richard Sala's "Psycho-rama" from Blab #7, 1992 • Jackie No-Name diorama cutout and Belligerent Piano intro page from Smoke Signal #3 courtesy of Tim Lane  • Speaking of Smoke Signal, here's Leslie Stein's "Murmur" from that selfsame publication • Robert Goodin does Simon & Kirby at Repaneled • Carol Tyler was a visiting artist at the Center for Cartoon Studies last week (and celebrated a birthday yesterday), all noted…

Mack White appears as "Sir Real" in this clip from the film-in-progress Bozoland by J. Ryan Barone. Some old-school Austin weirdness there. See two additional clips at Mack's website.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "Greg Sadowski‘s excellent Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s (Fantagraphics Books) was the first of a quartet of books on horror comics to surface this fall, and for my money, it’s arguably the most invaluable of the bunch. […] There are some real revelations here, and I can tell you that this hardcore horror comics scholar/collector/creator is eternally grateful for all that Sadowski and Benson have added herein to a richer knowledge of these unique comics and this grossly misrepresented and misunderstood period in comics history. With an eye toward…