Fantagraphics Blog

Femke Heimstra, High Priestess of European Low Brow, opens a new exhibition, "The Bone Shaped Bone," at Roq la Rue in Seattle this Friday, November 12 [along with "Super Things" by Ryan Heshka, whom you may remember from Blab Vol. 18 – Ed.]. I was able to get a preview of the show on Monday, and her new work is breathtaking. While the entire exhibit is already sold out — natch — Femke will be on hand to sign a limited number of copies of her wonderful picture book, ROCK CANDY, which includes an introduction by Roq la Rue proprietor…

ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO 2010 from chris anthony diaz on Vimeo. Chris Diaz is back with another adorable video from the floor of APE 2010. See me and Janice acting goofy, Tony Millionaire, Dan Clowes and a bunch of other happy comics people. Ah, nostalgia. Thanks Chris!

The only thing possibly harder than being a parent is being an adult child watching your parents' health deteriorate.  On this Sunday, Nov. 14 at noon, graphic novelist JOYCE FARMER and author Beth Harpaz will discuss their roles in this "Sandwich Generation" at the Painted Bride Art Center as part of the First Person Arts Festival in Philadelphia. Go HERE for further details and ticketing information. Attendees will enjoy a lunch of bánh mi (Vietnamese hoagies) from Bridget Foy's. This should be a very special event. In her new graphic memoir SPECIAL EXITS, Joyce Farmer chronicles the decline of her parents' health, their relationship with one another…

Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition by Stan Sakai 1160-page black & white/color 2-volume hardcover 7.5" x 11" x 3" slipcased set • $100.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-154-1 Ships in: December 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Created in 1984 as a supporting character for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo has vaulted to the very forefront of iconic modern comics characters and is a perennial favorite amongst young boys and adult fans. Usagi Yojimbo chronicles the action-packed wanderings of a masterless samurai (a “ronin”) in feudal Japan — as told with funny-animals. (If PIXAR and the late Akira Kurosawa…

  This single panel from Neal Adams' BATMAN ODYSSEY #4 sums up what strikes me as being the most unintentionally hilarious mainstream comic I've possibly ever read. It's bafflingly crazy.  I should note that the subsequent panel, not pictured, reveals that Alfred is not actually showing Bruce how to bounce the ol' pogo stick, but instead is playing the "World's Smallest Violin". You all know the "World's Smallest Violin" joke, right? Everyone does. So I ask you, is this how you would draw the act? Is that how you would draw the person on the receiving end?  Also, note the…

Enjoy "Good Grief: The Story of Peanuts", a half-hour BBC Radio 4 audio documentary on Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts, hosted by Pete Paphides, who talks to Jean Schulz and members of Schulz's family as well as fans like Chris Ware, Chip Kidd and Russell T. Davies, interspersed with vintage clips of Schulz himself and audio from the Peanuts TV specials. (Via Bleeding Cool.)

  As Eric already reported here on the FLOG, the world recently lost a great man, Sub Pop Records employee Andy Kotowicz. Our own Zak Sally used to be in a band on that label, Low, and to help raise money for the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation, he's auctioning off this beautiful original work of art on eBay.  I'll let him explain it: this is zak sally: what we have here is the original art for a flyer i did while i was in the band Low; copied this image on nice paper and sent it to all the promoters…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about our releases this week, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Vol. 1: Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon by Jacques Tardi 96-page full-color 8.5" x 11.5"  hardcover • $24.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-382-8 "Being Fantagraphics’ fourth entry in its current effort at bringing the great Jacques Tardi to English, this time starting up a full-scale sub-series dedicated to the artist’s long-running, rather droll evocation of turn-of-the-century fictions, centered on an…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "I wasn't expecting to be blown away by Destroy All Movies!!! […] I was sure I would get tired of reading it after a few pages. The opposite happened — I got hooked and couldn't stop. Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly, the editors of this mind-bending reference of cinematic trash culture, are obsessives to be sure…, but not the kind who exhaust you with eye-glazing otaku trivia that doesn't matter to anyone but other obsessives. Instead, their reviews (written by Carlson, Connolly and their cohorts) are accessible, insightful, entertaining, and funny in a…

Another glimpse of Jim Woodring's Congress of the Animals, coming next Spring. Click through to The Woodring Monitor for an embiggenable version.