Fantagraphics Blog

My name is Eric, and I'm a recovering Comicon attendee. Okay, that's a loaded opener and implies that I had an unhappy experience this year. I didn't; I just couldn't resist. But my way of navigating the show and finding ways to make it more enjoyable have definitely evolved over the years. I've been to every Comic-Con but one since sometime in the early-to-mid-1980s (and I'm only 39 — you do the math), long before the current convention center was built. I've gone as a child, an adult, a fan, a retailer representative, a journalist, a publicist, and a publisher….

Georgetown Records and Fantagraphics Bookstore Host a Party for COVER STORY: Odd, Obscure and Outrageous Album Art on Saturday, August 14. Spend a hot August night with cool music and art at Georgetown Records and Fantagraphics Bookstore in Seattle. The party celebrates the publication of COVER STORY Volume Two: Odd, Obscure and Outrageous Album Art on Saturday August 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Contributors Aja West and Cheeba preside over the festivities with a show of album art from the book, a book signing, and a rare combined DJ appearance. COVER STORY Volume Two: Odd, Obscure and Outrageous Album…

Barry Windsor-Smith fans, we are pleased to share the following announcement with you: Windsor-Smith Studio is pleased to announce the publication of POETRY A stunningly colored work printed by the giclée process, making the reproduction as beautiful as the original painting. This signed and numbered limited edition of 375, in a deluxe, foil stamped presentation folder, features a 20" x 12 3/8" image on 22" x 15" UltraSmooth heavy 100% cotton rag, acid free & pH buffered paper. The price is $135, including insured shipping. POETRY is available from Glimmer Graphics, at their web site:http://www.glimmergraphicsprints.com/Poetry.html  

Jamie Coville of TheComicBooks.com has posted audio of several panels at Comic-Con 2010, including: the Spotlight on Moto Hagio (MP3); the Spotlight on Peter Bagge (MP3); the Comics Criticism panel with R.C. Harvey, Gary Groth and others, moderated by Ben Schwartz (MP3); the Comics Reprints Revolution panel with Gary Groth and others (MP3); and the Bill Everett panel with Blake Bell & Wendy Everett (MP3). Thanks to Blake Bell for the tip-off! Illustration swiped from Johnny Ryan's Facebook page.

We packed three powerhouses of alternative comics behind one table and the result was one of our busiest signings in a week full of busy signings! Peter Bagge was kept busy by a long line of fans requesting sketches of Bizarro, Buddy Bradley and so on: He also used the occiasion to debut his band's new CD! Dame Darcy brought along her usual assortment of lovely couture dolls and other merch: Poor Tony Millionaire got lost in the convention hall for a while but quickly settled in for a brisk round of signatures and Drinky Crow sketches: Tony was joined…

Our Saturday morning kicked off, appropriately enough, with Mitch Schauer & Mike Vosburg, co-creators of our new all-ages graphic novel RIP M.D. Next up, Blake Bell, Andrei Molotiu (seen here talking with Douglas Wolk I believe) and Ben Schwartz & son joined us: Here's Ben meeting actor James Urbaniak, whom you may remember from his portrayal of Crumb in American Splendor and whose voice you may recognize as that of Dr. Thaddeus Venture: Tim Hensley met eager fans, hawked copies of his Victor Banana CDs, and signed copies of Wally Gropius: Carol Tyler brought some amazing collectibles to sell, including…

Twitter user Jesse Mack posted this glimpse of Michael Kupperman's artwork from The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by Kristen Schaal & Rich Blomquist (who, Kupperman notes, met working on Kupperman's Snake 'n' Bacon Adult Swim pilot). In closely related news, Kupperman also notes that he contributed as a writer to the book Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk. And in a last bit of Kuppermanic news, he has the following piece in the Law & Order-themed art show "These Are Their Stories" at Gallery Meltdown in L.A. opening tonight at 8:

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Interview: The Minneapolis City Pages talks to Zak Sally about the "2nd Annual Report," a big old hootenanny celebrating and benefitting his small press imprint La Mano which took place at Eclipse Records in Minneapolis last week (which we found out about too late to Flog, dang it): "La Mano is what it is, the stuff I love. A celebration of stuff that people make and create by hand. Last year was great, and if every year there could be a sort of one spot where all that stuff is able to happen in, I'm…

You know the old saying: "If you remember the 60s, you weren't there." For me this cliché also applies to most of the 80 and 90s. Rampant grunge nostalgia has given rise to no fewer than a half-dozen recent or soon-to-be-published books on the subject. As a peripheral player in Seattle's proto-grunge punk scene, I've been asked repeatedly to recount the specifics of my misspent youth to a cadre of eager young "rock historians." Hell, I'm lucky if I remember what happened last week, much less 25 years ago. Thankfully we had Peter Bagge to chronicle the entire era. His…