Fantagraphics Blog

Last minute notice! Jaime Hernandez will be giving a keynote address at University of Texas El Paso's second-annual “El Paso in the Comics” event, at 7 PM tonight! More info here. (Via The Comics Reporter)

We are pleased to announce that Luba by Gilbert Hernandez is a finalist for a 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in their first-ever Graphic Novels category. See the complete list of finalists here. Winners will be announced on Friday, April 23, 2010. Congratulations Gilbert! A monumental honor for a monumental book.

What we have here is an illustration by Joost Swarte depicting himself and Robert Crumb in Crumb's workroom paging through Crumb's Genesis, with a little help from a certain bearded, white-robed fellow. It was produced by (I think) Griffioen Grafiek as a limited-edition giclee print and can be ordered online from Pinceel out of Belgium. Spotted by our own Jason T. Miles.

Tony Millionaire flexes his comedic chops and joins the illustrious ranks of David Lee Roth as portrayers of unsavory purveyors of ice cream in comedic short subjects, in Tony's case Lil Peskies in "Goil Trouble."

Have a look, have a click: • Johnny Ryan's latest comic for Vice almost seems like it could be a Prison Pit prequel • Of Renee French's daily drawings, this was an easy one to choose to feature after it thoroughly heebied my jeebies • Steve Brodner illustrates some recent news items that would have Orwell spinning in his grave — and Orwell spinning in his grave for good measure • A bit of Ted May fan art by Kevin Huizenga • Dame Darcy is having another print sale/painting raffle (that's the painting above; the print is different), and also…

Win big in today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Only the Cinema's Ed Howard begins counting down The Best Comics of the Decade: part 1 includes Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle at #52 ("…absurd scenarios proliferate throughout each issue of Kupperman's series, as he follows each loony premise through to its (il)logical end result. He's a versatile stylist as well…"), Eleanor Davis's Mome stories at #51 ("The short stories of Eleanor Davis draw on myth and horror to craft succinct, mysteriously moving little parables, like Grimm fairy tales where the "monsters" are almost always infused with pathos and…

Just a note that we just finished shuffling things around on the front page of fantagraphics.com, so it might look a bit different than you've gotten used to — hopefully the new layout is a bit cleaner and more logical in its arrangement and emphasis. Let us know your thoughts.

The official announcement is as follows: Covered Art Show March 6, 8-10 pm Secret Headquarters Los Angeles, Ca Artists from North America and Europe re-imagine old comic covers in their own style. Based on the blog: www.coveredblog.blogspot.com  and curated by blog editor, Robert Goodin. Artists included are: Andrew Brandou, Jeffrey Brown, Albert Calleros, Coop, Ludovic Debeurme, Michael Deforge, Valerie Fletcher, Yoko Furusho, Robert Goodin, Lisa Hanawalt, Dustin Harbin, Sammy Harkham, Sam Henderson, Josh Holinaty, Patrick Kochakji, Joy Kolitsky, Joe Lambert, Bob London, Tom Neely, Ben Newman, Laura Park, Brian Ralph, Aaron Renier, M. Jason Robards, Johnny Ryan, Richard Sala, Genevieve…

A special bonus in your weekly batch of online strips: Awesome parenting in this week's The House of No, rejected New Yorker cartoons by Derek Van Gieson… …and this week Derek got one in! He's got it has an extra one (oops, I got misled by the caption font) on his blog… …iBlecky in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan…. …and the conversation gets awkward in Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman.

Observe & report: • My Love for You Is a Stampede of Horses has images and a review of Esther Pearl Watson's gallery exhibit Space is the Place — check back Monday when they'll be giving away a copy of Unlovable! • Several sketchbook pages by Sophie Crumb, including the portrait of her mom Aline above