Fantagraphics Blog

You may have been wondering, "Is there going to be any new material in Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius collection?" The answer: Oh yes there is.

Fantagraphics is pleased to present to the public our BLAD for Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons, our 3-volume, 1000+-page slipcased hardcover set collecting half a century's work by the macabre master, due this October. (BLAD is the appropriately vampiric-sounding acronym for Book Layout and Design, a promotional piece made for the book trade which showcases upcoming books.) Click each page for larger, higher-res versions, which include specs, production details, excerpts from the introductions by Neil Gaiman and Hugh Hefner, and, of course, samples of the unparallelled artwork collected in the book.

Your Online Commentary & Diversions return from a short vacation. More catch-up tomorrow. • Review: "[C.] Tyler’s fluid, expressive linework, complemented by subtly overlaid watercolors, gives ideal visual expression to a narrative that’s at once sensitive and hard-nosed. [You'll Never Know, Book 1] is Tyler’s first book-length effort, but decades of drawing mostly autobiographical stories have honed her skills, enabling her to produce a work that ranks in quality with the graphic memoirs of Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) and Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis)." – Gordon Flagg, Booklist (Starred Review; no link) • Review: "Norwegian-French cartoonist Jason’s new book [Low Moon] is…

Two great C. Tyler multimedia features to share with you: first up, the Inkstuds radio programme has an extensive and lively conversation with Carol in downloadable and streaming audio. Next, the American Legion website presents a series of video interviews with Carol and her University of Cincinnati students detailing the program whereby the students collaborate with veterans on graphic memoirs of the veterans' combat experiences. Click here for the introductory article and here to jump straight to the video (screencap above).

The Online Commentary & Diversions never end: • Review: "The Alack Sinner stories are an accomplished example of crime fiction in comics, but that's not all they are."  – Robert Stanley Martin, Pol Culture • List: "I would recommend the Love and Rockets series by Jaime Hernandez. I liked seeing the progression and development of the series (it was started in the 80s). The art is fantastic and H.O.P.P.E.R.S. stands as a complete world unto itself." – Jillian Tamaki, on CBC Radio's Canada Reads: The Book Club "Top 10 Graphic Novels" • List: "Ghost World by Daniel Clowes [is p]robably…

I'll probably repeat this sentiment in the future but I have to say that the upcoming Gahan Wilson collection is a bit of a dark horse for me. I was never exposed to much Wilson work before beginning on this project and every day I'm floored by it. Gahan Wilson's work is easily some of the most consistently funny work I can imagine. If your bent is at all towards macabre humor this is one you want to start saving up for. And, hey, it's a great gift for new parents too!

I think we're all caught up on our Online Commentary & Diversions now: • Review: "It's impossible not to love Jason's hapless cartoon characters; they're dog-faced descendants of Charlie Chaplin in that way, usually placed into situations far beyond their control or understanding… The five stories that make up Low Moon, Jason's newest collection of comics, hark back to the classic golden age of film… Each story reverberates with the little eccentricities that Jason has built a career on (instead of gunfights, the cowboys in the title story battle over long games of chess). Remarkably, none of them seem over-the-top…

In the world of Homage Blogs there is a LOT of hit and miss but this one honoring Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" seems to be bursting at the seams with an earnestness that in itself is wonderful to see.  …Timing's not bad to help out the movie either but Mr. Sendak deserves riches, so let's eat it up. If you're into such things, director Spike Jonze started a blog ostensibly focused on the film but it seems rambling to me.