Fantagraphics Blog

From our pal (and Hotwire contributor) David Lasky comes the following announcement: This is an announcement for a benefit show I've been putting together — a fundraiser for ZAPP, Seattle's zine archive. Come see readings by Jim Woodring (Weathercraft), Megan Kelso (Artichoke Tales), Lucy Morehouse (Ong Ong), Greg Stump (Dwarf Attack), Zach Mandeville (Funwater Awesome), Max Clotfelter and Kelly Froh (Stewbrew), Raleigh Briggs and Julia Lipscomb. Live music by Helen Parson! [Ed. note: our own Jason T. Miles will also be there with his Profanity Hill zine distro!] Buy your tickets now for this June 15 event!

I wish I had time to Flog all that I'd like to Flog but until I manage to write some decent design-related posts (as if anyone wanted my take on the history of the illuminated Bible up through the Wolverton Bible), here's a quick bit of editorializing promotion for a few talented people: • There's a new interview with Andy Smith over on James Morrison's Caustic Cover Critic book cover blog (which is a good place to hang out if you care about such things). Andy is a UK illustrator who does a lot of distinctive book cover design work….

[We're pleased to present the following report and photos from Rebel Visions author Partrick Rosenkranz. – Ed.]

I heard last winter that Crumb 's Genesis artwork was coming to the Portland Art Museum but I didn't see anything in the local press about it until just recently. When I received a letter inviting me to attend the opening night reception on Thursday, June 10th I eagerly accepted, and not just for the food and open bar. I wanted to examine the pages up close — how much whiteout did he use (not much); the size of the originals (just a bit bigger than the printed pages); how the museum would display them (on partitions painted different colors organized by chapters with portraits of the main characters above); and what would staid Portland supporters of culture think about having one of the world's most sexually obsessed artists hanging in their museum (some claimed to be unaware of all that hanky panky in the Bible).

Of course I was totally blown away by his superb draftsmanship and mastery of human anatomy, animals, landscapes, and architecture. I bought and read the book when it came out, but that crisp black ink on white art boards looked so much more precise than their reproduction onto printed pages. Even the crosshatching and shadowing was revealed in all its convoluted entirety. On the other hand I was a little disappointed that he didn't give Genesis the down and dirty Crumb treatment we've come to expect and love, but I'm consoled by some of the other drawings he's released here and there showing what he might have done, like this Adam and Eve strip that appeared in the Crumb Handbook.

The exhibit is up until September 19th.

– Patrick Rosenkranz

[More photos after the jump – Ed.]

No-longer-daily clips & strips (we'll probably be posting these twice a week for the foreseeable future) — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources: • Presspop's limited-edition poster featuring the artwork from the slipcase of their Japanese edition of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware — it's an all-new strip! • Gary Panter has reconfigured and updated his website; details via his blog • Life Imitates Comics Dept: Andrei Molotiu discovers "The first abstract comics candy bar" (it does look remarkably like one of his own strips) • From Steven Weissman, two new Post-It Show previews,…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: "A new, superb Frank book called Weathercraft came out a few weeks ago, but I treasured Frank as a periodical, and I'd love to sit down with a few hundred issues of it when I'm an old man. … I think it's healthy for adolescent boys to have access to well-written, well-drawn comics about war, as long as the comics in question [like Blazing Combat] constantly pound home the message that war is futile, stupid and contemptible." – Douglas Wolk, "Ten Comics That Should Run Forever," TIME/Techland • Review: "If you are in search…

Celebrated Seattle cartoonist Megan Kelso unveils her latest masterpiece ARTICHOKE TALES this  Saturday from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Megan burst onto the comics scene in the early 90s with her provocative self-published zine Girlhero. She has since proven herself to be a master storyteller.. The New York Times' recent rave called her new book “…surprising and wonderful” with a “consistently sweet and airy approach [that] provides a likable surface for a story with much darker and stickier depths…” The Stranger says “Artichoke Tales feels like series of expansions. The characters and their world grow to…

Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: "…[O]ne of the collection’s great strengths [is that] it offers an extremely wide range of writing produced over eight years. … While there’s a great deal to be learned by reading any such collection, Schwartz’s editorial approach makes The Best American Comics Criticism far more entertaining than I would have thought a collection of criticism could be." – Ken Parille, Blog Flume • Review: "Giraffes [in My Hair]… is a personal lesson in history, love, redemption and all that other crap we look for in a good story — all that, and it's a…

This t-shirt design by Paul Hornschemeier made its debut on shirt.woot! yesterday and is still available as of right now. To celebrate its release, Paul has put all of the shirts in his own Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop on sale for a limited time. More info on Paul's News and Head Lice blog. Go! Buy!

    06/10/10 | 7:30PMSan Francisco CATHE BOOKSMITH

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship: Temperance by Cathy Malkasian 240-page two-color 8" x 10" hardcover • $22.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-323-1 Add to Cart • More Info & Previews Do ideas of war and enemies hold a people together? Is a culture of conflict too seductive not to be irresistible? These are the questions Cathy Malkasian explores in her second graphic novel, Temperance. Malkasian creates, as she did in the critically acclaimed Percy Gloom, a fully realized, multi-layered world, inhabited by vividly realized characters. After a brutal injury in battle, Lester has no memory of his prior life. For…