Fantagraphics Blog

The year's penultimate Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Comic Book Resources begins their countdown of the Top 100 Comics of 2009. At #82, "Because I Love You So Much" by Nikoline Wedelin: "Found in the pages of the recent anthology of Danish comics, From Wonderland with Love, this collection of strips about a mother who discovers that her daughter is being sexually abused by her dad is one of the most harrowing and utterly stunning stories about a difficult subject matter I've ever read and easily equal to the works of, say, Phoebe Gloeckner or Debbie Dreschler." (Chris Mautner)…

You too can be a goofy dude or dudette in one of two new Uncle Gabby Maakies t-shirts from Waterloo. Don't drink 'n' drive, kids.

Please be advised that our warehouse is beginning their annual inventory count tomorrow, which means that we won't be shipping orders for the next 7-8 days. In most cases we should still be able to meet the 2-4 weeks estimated time for orders with Standard shipping (as outlined on our Shipping Info page), but we can't make any promises. Please keep this in mind when placing your order!

Derek Van Gieson drew another poster for this event.

A nice short Online Commentary & Diversions update: • List: Comicdom continues their Top 100 of the 00s with Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library at #3: "Whatever the format, or content of the story, each issue of Acme Novelty Library is a special 'objet d'art,' which is part of the vision of an author who redefined what can be considered 'comics' and provided us new ways of storytelling." (from Google translation) • List: At ComicsDC, Mike Rhode John Judy reviews the year in comics, with nods to Blazing Combat ("Kudos to Fantagraphics for putting this together"), Strange Suspense: The Steve…

  I was very sorry to read this morning that the great David Levine passed away yesterday. Fantagraphics was fortunate to publish Levine's AMERICAN PRESIDENTS last year, and it's a wonderful showcase of his singular talent. Our heart goes out to Mr. Levine's family. For more on Mr. Levine, I highly recommend this excellent VANITY FAIR feature from last fall. 

As most Wednesday Warriors are aware, this is a bye week in the Diamond Comics shipping schedule, so no new comics from us or other publishers distributed by Diamond will be arriving in shops. Some enterprising folks have declared this Indy Comic Book Week, seizing the opportunity to promote independent, local, and small press publishers and creators. While we won't be participating directly, by gosh do we ever support this effort in spirit, so visit the website for the list of participating shops and more information, and go support the independent spirit with your wallet — Fantagraphics readers tend to…

Okay okay, "vinyl figurine." Designed by Archer Prewitt, coming soon from our pals at Presspop.

We published You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! with the sincere belief that it, combined with the previous volume I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!, comprised the complete comics work of Fletcher Hanks. Lo and behold, on Christmas day Seattle-based comics writer Frank M. Young posted scans of two heretofore undiscovered stories on his blog Trick Coin which have been positively identified by Hanks expert Paul Karasik: "The second story is taken directly from the final Big Red McLane tale with the captions rewritten and the faces re-rendered (possibly by another hand). "But the first story really…

Gird yourself for an epic installment of Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: Critic Robert Boyd names his top 15 Best Comics of 2009, with You Are There by Tardi & Forest at #2, Popeye Vol. 4 at #7 ("top-notch, Segar at his greatest"), Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me by Peter Bagge at #12 ("very, very funny") and You'll Never Know, Book 1 by C. Tyler at #13 ("a glorious mess, but a moving and beautiful one") • List: Comic Book Resources columnist Greg Hatcher names his Best Reprint Collections of 2009, including The Complete Peanuts ("truly wonderful… not…