Fantagraphics Blog

This happened in my neighborhood this weekend. You'd really expect Captain Haddock to know better. Maybe he's a bit lightheaded from losing all that weight. 

Just announced over the weekend, the Saturday and Sunday programming for Comic-Con international. Our official PR goes out this week but we figure some of you might not want to wait to find out about the Fantagraphics-related panels. See here for Friday's FBI-ish panels. [Note: this post is updated as we get more information.] SATURDAY:   12:00-1:00 Spotlight on Peter Bagge — Comic-Con special guest Peter Bagge talks to Fantagraphics' Jason T. Miles about his work, including the legendary Buddy Bradley stories in Hate and his new graphic novels, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. Room 3  1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Gabrielle Bell—…

We just uploaded a mess of photos from recent Fantagraphics events to our Flickr page. In reverse chronological order, starting with last night's Dame Darcy exhibit opening and Meat Cake signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery: Click here for more photos, including shots of all the artwork. From June 5th, Esther Pearl Watson & Mark Todd's visit to the store for our holiday weenie roast (with grill-meister Larry Reid): More photos here. And lastly, on July 3rd, at an undisclosed location, the triumphant return of the Fantagraphics shooting outing: Check out the Flickr group for more photos by Jim Blanchard…

Our weekly update is a little late but we have a bonus to make up for it: It's almost like the Prison Pit world and the Blecky world collide in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan… …and Steven Weissman is visiting family but still managed to send this week's Barack Hussein Obama strip by cameraphone, along with a bonus wide shot!

… who doesn't like seeing beautiful women with a comic book in their hand? This is a screengrab I just took from a Rolling Stones doc, Stones in Exile. It's Keith Richards' wife girlfriend at the time, Anita Pallenberg. The book is, of course, Herge's classic Tintin album, The Black Island.

Anyone else notice this Kindle ad in a recent New Yorker? 

Nice rock poster by MOME contributor Joe Kimball for Olympia's GUN OUTFIT. 

I don't quite understand this, but it's pretty cool. Sent to me by Olivier Schrauwen, he says, "It's a homage to Jim Woodring's Frank by the Dutch comics-collective Lamelos. They are four guys, they each did one page. They replaced Frank and his pet by their characters 'cheesehero and poophead'." And why not? 

Thanks to Mome and Comics Journal contributor Noah Van Sciver for sending me the new issue of his self-published comic Blammo after I half-jokingly entreated him to. I'm happy to report that it's a real good read! There's something for everyone: an excellent character study of a juggalo loser; heartfelt self-deprecating autobio stuff; weirdo funny-animals; ultraviolent action pitting punk rockers vs. giant lizards; and the proverbial much more. Noah's artwork is appealingly sketchy and hits all the right notes. If you have a hankering for the golden age of alternative comics and the one-person-anthology periodical, Blammo will hit the spot.

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "His wordless tale filled with an eerie landscape and creatures that are both familiar and horrifyingly alien evokes dread and mystery. Equal parts parable, fable and surreal (and perhaps at times unfathomable) vision, Weathercraft further cements Woodring's reputation as one of the true geniuses of comics." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6 • Review: "The pace of this tale [Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird] is relentless; once Millionaire pushes you down the hill you don’t stop for many miles, and you’ll hit many bumps along the way…it’s one of the most fun stories I’ve…