As you are surely aware by now if you've been following this blog, Fantagraphics will be releasing two graphic novels by the great French cartoonist Jacques Tardi this summer. Yesterday I discussed the first of the two, Ici même. Today I hit the other one: West Coast Blues, née Le petit bleu de la côte Ouest. Tardi has always had a special affinity for detective-slash-crime fiction, so it was natural that he would pair up with Jean-Patrick Manchette. Aside from being the pre-eminent crime writer of his generation, with ten short, powerfully dark crime novels to his credit, Manchette happened…
“Rocky” by Martin Kellerman – #456
{mosimage} Fritz the Cat meets Jane Austen!?! This mostly autobiographical daily strip details the rudely hilarious travails of a young cartoonist and his layabout pals and neurotic girlfriends. Basically, it’s the pottymouthed animal-headed Seinfeld-esque comic strip we’ve all come to love. A smash hit in its native Sweden, presented in English for the first time. Join us Monday through Friday for a new daily strip, with a rolling archive of a week’s worth of strips. “It’s being acclaimed as the funniest Swedish comic of our time, but it’s more than that. Rocky is the long awaited generation novel that no…
The secret life of a Fantagraphics Bookstore employee
A couple of weeks ago, Wired.com profiled nine different comic store employees, including Gary Panter's daughter Olive. However, their feature focused solely on stores either in New York or the Bay Area, bypassing the Emerald City and our very own fine establishment, the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Therefore, we've taken it upon ourselves to spotlight an employee from our store (whom you might also meet staffing our booth at various conventions across the country), using the same basic questions Wired used for their interviews. Wired.com, you're welcome. Name: Janice Headley Store: Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery Age: 32 Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…
Paul Hornschemeier: Cloistered in Crowds
Above: the limited edition print that will be sold in conjunction with Paul Hornschemeier's show "Cloistered in Crowds," opening April 2 at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art in Portland. Some familiar faces in there. More details and process art at Paul's blog.
Save Leon
Kevin Huizenga, Ted May and Dan Zettwoch, co-creators of the recently-canceled (and consistently great) strip Amazing Facts… and Beyond! with Leon Beyond, are seeking to keep Leon alive in online form by accepting commissions (strips on a topic of your choice, prices ranging from a paltry $30 up to $200), donations in any amount, and subscriptions in what they call a "Beyondathon" of fundraising. Read Leon's plea and open your wallet!
Quimby-scope
Flickr user vin dog assembled this nifty animation using frames scanned from Chris Ware's Quimby the Mouse.
The Lloyd Llewellyn Llottery
20/20 Club members: check your inbox for details on how you can have a chance to buy one of a scant handful of recently-unearthed copies of the outrageously out-of-print #$@&! The Official Lloyd Llewellyn Collection by Daniel Clowes! Plus there's an incredible bonus if you combine it with an order of $100 or more. All the details are in the email; if you're a 20/20 Club member and you don't receive the email, for pete's sake write me at "mbaehr" at this here "fantagraphics.com" domain before the end of the week so I can add you to our mailing list…
Daily links: 3/11/09
• Review: Bookforum says of the two volumes of Beasts!: "Covey’s brave band of 180 artists… put these mythological and folkloric beings on vivid display. The distinct and varied styles of the cartoonists, illustrators, and graphic artists give further evidence of each creature’s unique characteristics… The enthusiastically detailed evocations in these books give us all reason to believe." • Review: Dear Stranger reads The End #1 by Anders Nilsen and declaims "It’s sad. In that way that things are only ever sad when they’re really honest, so it’s beautiful, but you feel a bit guilty for thinking so — because…
The New Godfather
By Drew Friedman for the New Republic.
Tardi Part III: A First Graphic Novel
When I decided to launch this "Tardi library" project, I quickly knew that I wanted to include as one of the first books Ici même. This is, if I do say so myself, a bit of nervy move, because Ici même is long (at almost 200 fairly dense pages, it's among his most massive) and, in its satirical, surreal playfulness, difficult to pigeonhole (NOT a World War I drama! NOT a detective novel! NOT a Feuillade-esque fantasy romp!) and not exactly the most accessible of Tardi's works. But Ici même is one of the milestones of French comics. Created in…
