Fantagraphics Blog

At the Comics Reprint Revolution panel at Comic-Con today, Gary Groth announced that Fantagraphics is partnering with Walt Disney Enterprises to publish the complete Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse strips. Techland's Douglas Wolk talked to Gary on the convention floor and got some exclusive details. There's also coverage at Comics Alliance, iFanboy, and Robot 6 (so far). Stay tuned for more details and a more formal announcement. (Image via The Inspiration Grab-Bag.)

We're pleased to present this brilliantly animated teaser video for the upcoming graphic novel Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History by Stephen DeStefano & George Chieffet. The video was art directed by Stephen, no stranger to the animation industry, and brought to life by animator Miguel Martinez-Joffre. You can ask Stephen all about it today from 4:00-5:00 at Comic-Con when he signs with us at booth 1718 (plus Saturday 5:00-7:00 and Sunday 10:00-noon). We've uploaded the video to YouTube and Flickr. We hope to have a higher-def version available soon, but in the meantime, enjoy!

We had a flurry of exciting celebrity shoppers toward the end of the day: Above, Fire & Water author Blake Bell meets the television & movie actress of the oddly similar name Lake Bell and the world does not implode, possibly due to Lake's boyfriend, comedian Nick Kroll, executing the perfect photobomb. Here, Nick strikes a perfect mirror-image pose with one of two Drew Friedman books he picked up while Tom Spurgeon botches his photobomb. Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, creators of the BBC comedy series Look Around You among other things, stopped by the booth after a friendly hint…

Like Moto Hagio, Carol Tyler added a little something extra to her white-board sign-in for her signing for the premiere of You'll Never Know Book 2: Collateral Damage. I had to take off soon after helping get her set up and snapping these pics, including the one below of her yukking it up with Eric Reynolds, but hopefully I'll have more to report after her Friday signing.

In the interest of fact-finding, we stood in line for free ice cream on our Comic-Con lunch break to confirm that yes, the graphics on the van (and the napkins which were handed out with the ice cream) are indeed by Ben Jones. The dude in the van said that Ben applied the vinyl decals by hand. BJ + B&J to promote Adult Swim (home of The Drinky Crow Show, once and possible future projects from Michael Kupperman, and possibly Ben's show Neon Knome among other fine programs) is brand synergy I can get behind. If I see it again…

Gilbert, Jaime, and Natalia Hernandez packed 'em in for two solid hours of signing & sketching mania as fans snapped up the new issue of Love and Rockets: New Stories (not to mention Natalia's new minicomic The Cat Eyes #1). Also, judging by the second picture below, Natalia thinks Adam Grano is crazy.

Oh man did it pain me to erase Moto Hagio's unsolicited drawing off of our whiteboard! I console myself with other artwork which followed and the hope that she will do a new drawing each day. She signed copies of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and drew sketches for a big group of very excited and appreciative fans, with the assistance of Drunken Dream translator/editor Matt Thorn and, behind the scenes, interpreter/personal assistant (and mobile veterinarian, for real) Mari Morimoto. See below (or here) for video of Hagio-sensei sketching a character!

Our first signing of the day featured Johnny Ryan signing the brand new Prison Pit: Book 2 and Esther Pearl Watson signing both volumes of Unlovable and working artwork for on her top-secret new graphic novel in progress. The Johnny logo on the whiteboard is by me, but then I had the better idea of having the artists sign themselves in, so Esther's is by Esther.

Here's a two–part stroll around booth #1718 right around opening time. There were significantly fewer books by the end of the day. Below, another con debut which somehow failed to upload for inclusion in last night’s post: Zak Sally's Sammy the Mouse #3.