Fantagraphics Blog

Looky (and clicky for better lookies): • Newave! contributor Molly Kiely poses for a self-portrait with the book • These and more sketchbook wishbones by John Hankiewicz • The Skittish Horse by Jim Flora • An unpublished commissioned portrait of Johnny Cash by Jim Blanchard • What's this, new Fight or Run art from Kevin Huizenga? (click for full image) • Hans Rickheit 's Ectopiary, page 10 (plus more on his blog) • Ooh, Tim Hensley does Hitchcock: Frenzy (above), Marnie, Lifeboat • A 2009 diary strip from Gabrielle Bell

Hoy, it's a marathon Monday Online Commentary & Diversions post: • List: The Comics Journal's Rob Clough begins counting his Top 50 Comics of 2009: #1, You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler: "A mash-up of family portrait, generational analysis, autobiography and scrapbook, this book was not only the most emotionally powerful work of the year, it was the most attractively designed. The first part of what will likely be Tyler’s masterwork." #6, Like a Dog by Zak Sally: "This was a stunningly honest account and collection of early work by one of the…

Richard Krauss of Midnight Fiction has an excellent writeup and photos (such as the one of Al Greenier above) from the scene the Jan. 30 Newave! book launch and exhibit opening at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.

We've located the page that was reported missing from Walt Kelly's Our Gang Vol. 2. Click here to download a high quality TIF file of the image (12.8 MB) which you can print out, trim, and insert in your copy of the book. We'll also print the page in Vol. 5.

An underground comics fan and billiards lover with $30K to burn? This is for you. 

Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole (Softcover Ed.) By Jack Cole; edited by Alex Chun 104-page b&w/color 7.5" x 10.25" softcover • $18.99 ISBN: 978-1-60699-284-5 Ships in: March 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now In the rarefied realm of classic cartoon pin-up art, nobody did it better than Jack Cole. With his quirky line drawings and sensual watercolors, Cole, under Hugh Hefner's guiding hand, catapulted to stardom in the 1950s as Playboy's marquee cartoonist, a position he held until his untimely death at the age of 43. Jack Cole has been justly celebrated as the creator of Plastic Man…

Turns out Steven Weissman did his weekly strip in his mind-blowing sketchbook in the car from Portland to Seattle but couldn't get to a scanner, so I photographed it at his signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery tonight. Left turn! (The rest of the photos from the night will follow.)

Updates of two of our three weekly strips this evening: Whitley Strieber never imagined this in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson… …we celebrate one year of bringing you Johnny Ryan's Blecky Yuckerella with a hearty dose of WTF in this week's strip… …and Barack Hussein Obama has the week off  since Steven Weissman is on his triumphant Northwest book tour!

Feast your eyes — follow links for larger/complete versions: • A portrait of Fantagraphics' own Ambassador of Awesomeness, Janice Headley, drawn by Jaime Hernandez at APE 2008 (on the back of Daniel Clowes's name card), finally scanned • "This is only the first panel. There are literally hundreds more to follow…" Oh Jim Woodring, you had me at "This" (click for full version) • Ben Catmull has constructed a miniature of a stone hut • Two from Dash Shaw: the cover of his new zine Sundance, top (hmm, I wonder if it has anything to do with this), and "Volunteer…

Light Online Commentary & Diversions: • Review: Kevin Bramer of Optical Sloth examines a sampling of comics by Ariel Bordeaux, including her work in Raisin Pie #1 • Interview: In an interview with The Beat's Michael Fiffe, artist Mark Badger talks about his participation in Abstract Comics: The Anthology: "It came out of nowhere. It was absolutely stunning." • Plug: "New from Fantagraphics Books, Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s. At 888 pages this is a substantial collection of the comix art of the New Wave mini-comix movement. Largely inspired by the Underground Comix movement of the 60s…