Fantagraphics Blog

As a Comic Book Salesman at this year's Comic-Con it was impossible not to feel the crushing presence of the latest and greatest bullshit Hollywood and beyond had to offer and I'm not sure why.  Why did this year feel any different from last year, or the year before?  Maybe I've gone to one-too-many Comic-Cons thus forcing me into a downward spiral of delusion and dread?  Or maybe the mainstream acceptance sought by the comics industry at large is really a Trojan Horse?  Regardless the cause, there were far too many injustices committed at this year's Comic-Con and yes I…

A quiet day for Online Commentary & Diversions in the wake of Comic-Con: • Review: "…A Mess of Everything surprised me. It turned out to be quite worthy: funny, insightful, and at times, moving. It’s not a revolutionary book — it doesn’t stretch or redefine the bounds of its genre — but [Miss] Lasko-Gross reminded me that the beauty of her chosen genre is that everyone’s story is, in fact, different and unique. If the author is a skilled storyteller, it’s as good as a reason as any to read yet another graphic novel about growing up, even if you’ve…

Gary Groth just emailed me some copy regarding the forthcoming 300th issue of The Comics Journal and I simply want to run it verbatim, because it sounds pretty damn great:  We paired established, influential creators with rising stars and asked them to talk about the changes the comics medium has been going through during the eventful 33 years of the Journal's existence. Among the intergenerational dialogues to be overheard: alt wiz Kevin Huizenga and reigning Maus king Art Spiegelman; the most convention-shattering cartoonist/publishers of their respective hemispheres Kramers Ergot's Sammy Harkham and L'Association's Jean-Christophe Menu; celebrated Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons and award-winning…

 "COMICS SAVANTS" EXHIBITION OPENING AUGUST 8 — FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKSTORE & GALLERY CELEBRATES SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE CARTOONISTS July 29, 2009 – SEATTLE, WA. Since relocating to Seattle from Southern California 20 years ago, Fantagraphics Books has remained committed to nurturing and promoting the diverse practitioners of alternative comics in the Northwest. The country's most successful purveyor of challenging comics routinely employs local cartoonists and publishes the work of regional artists which has contributed to Seattle's international reputation as the unrivaled center of alternative comics. To celebrate this association, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery presents "Comics Savants: A Survey of Seattle Alternative Cartoonists" opening…

Here's today's batch of Online Commentary & Diversions: • Comic-Con: More on the big show from Brian Heater at The Daily Cross Hatch & The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon • Comic-Con: We love you too, Tom • Comic-Con: Looks like Kelly Kilmer scored a bunch of great stuff at our booth on Sunday  • Review: "The first four issues of Michael Kupperman's awesome comedy comics zine Tales Designed to Thrizzle have been collected into a single hardcover volume that is a superdense wad of funny, surreal, bent humor… This is weird, funny, Subgenius-esque toilet reading that will keep you very…

I've seen a few bloggers link to my comicon post yesterday and say it's a huge red flag for the future of indie comics at the con. Re-reading my post, it probably sounds more dire than it could have. We actually had a pretty successful show. Not our best ever, but a solid one. I think last year was our most successful ever, and you simply can't repeat that every year. I had been steeling myself in advance for a major downturn this year given the economy and it simply didn't happen. We saw a minor dip, and although the economy likely played a…

Another big Fanta week at comic shops! Look for the following titles on the shelves of your preferred emporium: The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 (Vol. 12) by Charles M. Schulz The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set by Charles M. Schulz The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 9 by Robert Crumb Mome Vol. 15 – Summer 2009 Skin Deep (New Softcover Edition) by Charles Burns We always recommend contacting your local shop to confirm availability, and hit our handy links up there to get more info on each title. Happy Wednesday hunting.

More Online Commentary & Diversions from yesterday, today and last week — and thus we are caught up: • Review: Comicdom reviews Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman in Greek; Google attempts to translate • Plug: Certain Fantagraphics employees will be excited to learn that Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh is a fan of Daniel Clowes and Eightball, as revealed in Brian Heater's interview at The Daily Cross Hatch • Plug: "You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, the second and final collection of Fletcher Hanks’ Golden Age superhero and adventure comics work, …is a…

Ace Hal Foster biographer Brian M. Kane (author of the forthcoming Definitive Prince Valiant Companion from Fantagraphics) just pointed out a fascinating fact to us: The Syndicate color proofs that we are using for the first time for our brand new edition of Prince Valiant have yielded at least one instance of a page that was originally toned down (presumably by the Syndicate) and has, in the 71 years since then, never been printed in Foster's original, unexpurgated, slightly more bloodthirsty version! Compare and contrast these two versions of page 50: While panel 3 is essentially the same in terms…