Fantagraphics Blog

Here's a great resource I hadn't come across before: The Acme Novelty Archive, a slightly obsessive and quite nicely designed repository of the work of Chris Ware, compiled and presented by Adam Kempa.

Pick up the latest issue of Rue Morgue Magazine for an exclusive print-only 5-page feature by April Snellings on Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s, which provides historical context, quotes from editor Greg Sadowski and comics historian Peter Normanton, and of course lots of lurid and grisly images from the book: "The full-colour volume reprints more than three dozen of the very best non-EC [horror] titles… Some of these stories pack a punch even by today's jaded standards."

We've uploaded over 100 photos from the 2010 Bumbershoot festival to our Flickr page, including views of the entire Counterculture Comix exhibit, Jim Woodring's appearance in the "MeTube" program, and Tony Millionaire's unforgettable talk. You can view the photos a few different ways, including a slideshow; even though it's a bit of a pain to navigate I recommend browsing the photos manually, choosing "view all sizes" for each and selecting to view the exhibit photos at original size for the greatest detail. Below, just a few highlights: Local TV celeb John Keister poses with his 1984 portrait by Lynda Barry….

In response to my previous Flog post Eric plopped the new issue of the Oxford American onto my desk yesterday morning and not only does it include comics and illustrations by Drew Weing and Josh Simmons as previously reported, it also has Dame Darcy, Michael Kupperman, Eric Haven, Josh Neufeld, Jeremy Tinder and other, less-familiar talents. Let's hear it for comics in lit mags!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Publishers Weekly's Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald run down some "Graphic Novels as Gifts" suggestions, including Norman Pettingill: Backwoods Humorist ("A wooden cover introduces the amazing outsider art of Pettingill, who crafted detailed postcards of wildlife and rustic humor") and A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio ("Haunting stories of longing, memory, and love from the legendary manga-ka who changed the face of Japanese comics"). • Review: "When experienced animators turn to creating comics or illustrating children’s books, I usually find the results successful and quite satisfying. That’s certainly the case…

You can see Howard Stern's blurb for Drew Friedman's Too Soon? right there on the front cover, and this morning Howard plugged the book on his Sirius satellite radio show, captured on video and posted to Facebook by Liz Belmont. The upshot: "Very good. Love that guy. … I think Drew Friedman's my favorite artist. … I still to this day don't know how he draws like that. It's fabulous." Update: Now it's on YouTube and embedded below!

Question, video, and answer ("NOTHING.") courtesy Ben Schwartz.

Your cautionary tale of the day, from the New York Times. Speaking of Rusty, if you're in NYC, don't miss Chris Ware's art show opening this Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Adam Baumgold Gallery. 

  Right Thing the Wrong Way: The Story of Highwater Books October 1st-October 24th Opening Reception October 1st 6-9pm Fourth Wall Project132 Brookline AveBoston, MA 02215 For seven years (and one miscounted eighth anniversary party) Highwater Books was snobby, high-concept, iconoclastic, poorly-business modeled publishing company that ran itself into the ground. Highwater published books late, promised them and never published them at all and even withheld its books from distributors on principle. The company asked its artists to fold mini-comics and stand behind convention tables and sell their wares to a public that did not know what to make of…

Drew Friedman will be signing TOO SOON? at the Ocean County Library outdoor Book Fest in New Jersey on Sat., Sept. 25th — along with John Lennon's former lover May Pang and the editors of THE ONION, among many others! Saturday, Sept. 25, 11 – 3PM Ocean County Library Toms River Branch 101 Washington St., Toms River, NJ 08753