Fantagraphics Blog

We've been posting these as we've found them, but here's a (slightly OCD) alphabetical list of Fantagraphics titles and whose year-end lists that they've appeared on, for your handy reference. (Links will continue to be added as we find them.) Rankings appear in parentheses; no number means the list was unranked: Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane• Mark Athitakis' American Fiction Notes, "Favorite Books of 2008"• Alan David Doane, "Debut of the Year"• Inland Empire Weekly• Publishers Weekly "Comics Week's Third Annual Critic's Poll" (Honorable Mention)• Frank Santoro, "Top 9 of '08" (#2)• Marc Sobel (#2)• St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Best Books of…

  The Times Online seems to think so. Thanks to our neighbors at the Stranger for the link.  Next thing you know, someone's going to try to tell me that Batman and Robin are gay. As if!  

• Review: Matthew Brady looks at Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers • Review: ComicMix calls Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw "one of the best and most accomplished graphic novels of 2008"

Good grief, I forgot to post this yesterday! I'll have today's batch later today. • Paul Gravett names Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell and Where Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes two of the Best Books About Comics of 2008 • The editors at Amazon put Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw at #4 on their list of "Top 10 Books: Comics & Graphic Novels" • The Inkstuds radio programme presents a conversation with Mome contributor Robert Goodin • The Village Voice casts a favorable eye on Beasts! Book 2 •…

Check out Joseph Remnant's cartoon appreciation of Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 by Patrick Rosenkranz, as published in the July 2008 issue of Arthur magazine, now available to read online.

Artist Femke Hiemstra has launched a fantastic new website, FEMTASIA. If you haven't heard of her yet, Fantagraphics will be publishing Hiemstra's first art collection, ROCK CANDY, in the late Spring of this year, so you will soon.

 In the February 2009 issue, DISCOVER magazine will launch the first in a series of comic strips illustrated by our good pal Peter Bagge.  Bagge's "History of Science" comic will present the characters and events of science history in a fresh and irreverent light, sure to capture the eyes of DISCOVER's readers and blind them with science. DISCOVER's February issue hits newsstands January 13, 2009.  

  Over the holidays John Kerschbaum sent me an amazing poster that he recently completed for NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's a Family Guide/Map of the entire museum with seemingly every artifact in the museum drawn into it, a maze of detail that would make Will Elder proud and that will spellbind kids in ways that I bet the Met has trouble doing sometimes, unfortunately. Cartoons to the rescue! The poster is available for free at the museum.  Just ask for a "Family Map" at the main info desk in the Great Hall.  The Museum is currently working on a swanky version available…

  Esther Pearl Waston – "Visons of the Future"Exhibition: January 10 – February 7, 2009Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10th, 7-10 pmwith a performance by Party People.  billy shire fine arts5790 washington blvd.Culver City, CA3232970600 "Visions of the Future" opens January 10, 2009 with a performance by the "Party People; " space-themed music will play through a Commodore computer-the perfect complement to Watson's father's futuristic visions using outdated engines and computers. Of particular interest to comics fans: the opening reception will include the world premiere of Esther's new book, UNLOVABLE, in limited quantities! I love this book so much and hope you will, too….