Fantagraphics Blog

Anders Nilsen Interviewed by Royal Jelly: now with more interview from John Orlow on Vimeo. By way of explanation: "This is a redux version of the interview from the Royal Jelly side of the phone. The video is still recorded by Anders but the audio is from my hand-held recorder, I hope this clears up some questions about what I am asking the interviewees."

Gary Groth passed this along to me to share with you: Davd Collier appears in this promotional video for Canadian singer-songwriter Luke Doucet's new album Steel City Trawler, which includes "an original comic book interpretation of lyrics from the new songs, Hamilton’s geography and history, as well as Luke’s own life, past and present" by Collier. Samples of the work can be seen in the video and on Doucet's website.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions will spill over into tomorrow because I have to take off to see John Porcellino & Noah Van Sciver… • Review: "Oh, the things men do to torture themselves. [Catalog No. 439:] Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes is an amazing flashback to a time before the Internet, television, radio, movies and pretty much every other form of entertainment. […] This book is chock full of some of the funniest and most sadistic devices ever dreamed up by the human mind. It’s almost as if the guy from the Saw movies had wanted…

  Jim Woodring posts on his blog: "Page 36 of the forthcoming CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS; lamisters Frank and Quacky tour the terminal play zone." That guy's name is Quacky? Awesome! The book's due next Spring.

For quite some time we've had the 1987 first hardcover edition of Love and Rockets Book 3 (Las Mujeres Perdidas, as it was known for subsequent editions), available to order from our warehouse. Apparently all this time we've been displaying the wrong cover art, which is a shame — that's the actual cover above (and back cover below) and holy cow, look at that gorgeous coloring by Eric Vincent. This edition also features a spiffy endpaper pattern featuring your favorite L&R characters, plus a color section reproducing the covers of the original issues! This really is a handsome package thanks…

This weekend is Seattle's BUMBERSHOOT festival ("bumbershoot" is old-timey for "umbrella" — get it? it rains a lot here!), one of the biggest cultural events of the year in the great Pacific Northwest, and Fantagraphics will have a presence at the show in a few different ways, most notably a massive art exhibit curated by our own Larry Reid. Here's the skinny on all FBI goings-on:    NORTHWEST COMIX: A 30-YEAR SURVEY OF SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE CARTOONISTSCurated by Larry Reid in Association with Fantagraphics Books Venue: Northwest Rooms Open free to the public September 4-6 with admission to Bumbershoot 2010 This retrospective examines…

Nice to see Pearl Jam posed in front of our conjoined neighbor Georgetown Records for this publicity photo for their new album — it'd be even nicer if the photographer had gotten the boys to shuffle over 20 feet to get a shot in front of our window too… (Thanks to our pal Kurt Schlosser for forwarding the image.)

Underwood is a new literary audio zine which presents short stories in a 12" vinyl format, a beautiful idea made even more beautiful by Jordan Crane's gatefold artwork for the current edition. Scans and info from Hard Format, link via our own Jacob Covey.

At his blog, Drew Friedman wishes Robert Crumb a happy 67th birthday with a selection of his favorite Crumb work and his cover illustration for The Life & Times of R. Crumb. Happy birthday Bob, and congratulations for picking up the Harvey Award for Best Artist over the weekend.

Kim Deitch will be keynote speaker at Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation , a conference presented by the Comparative Literature Program at Purdue University in Indiana this Friday, September 3 at 4:30 PM, with a signing to follow. Kim says "I'll have some original art for sale — if you are in the neighborhood, stop by!"