Fantagraphics Blog

Next up in our January Book-A-Day sale is Jesse Reklaw's first long-form work, the tragicomic graphic memoir Couch Tag. Presented as a series of comic novellas that together comprise a thoughtful, sometimes dark and often hilarious memoir about childhood, family, death, mental illness, sex and drug use, the entire book is told through cleverly inviting conceits like cat histories and card games. The graphic novel is told in five parts: In "Thirteen Cats" (featured in The Best American Comics), Reklaw discovers coping mechanisms that mimic his family pets; "Toys I Love" relates the author's pre-pubescent brushes with deviant sexual activity, and the…

Up for grabs today at 40% off is Mark Newgarden's collection of syndicated comics, We All Die Alone. Newgarden's syndicated strip in such publications as L.A. Weekly and The New York Press encouraged a fervent following and exerted a fresh influence on the medium. Today they remain as vital and entertaining as when they first appeared. In addition to compiling his comics, this book is a full picture of the artist, his influences, and his many other careers. And for today only, we're marking this book at 40% off! Grab your copy now, while we still have stock at our warehouse!

Anders Nilsen's The End is a collection of short strips about loss, death, paralysis, and transformation. It is a concept album in different styles, a meditation on paying attention, an abstracted autobiography and a travelogue, reflecting the progress of his struggle to reconcile the great upheaval of a death, and finding a new life on the other side. For today only, The End is on sale at 20% off until 11:59 PST.     Tomorrow, January 2nd, we'll be highlighting Lou Reed and Lorenzo Mattotti's The Raven! Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem of the same name, this book visualizes an extraordinary…

It may be the end of 2014, but we're raring to go on January 1st with YARAS (Yet Another Ridiculously Awesome Sale!). For the entire month of January, we'll be highlighting a book a day with discounts galore and all kinds of extra tidbits and special deals. We don't even know what they'll all be yet! So don't let the post-holiday doldrums bog you down. Books will draw on a loose theme each week, and tomorrow we start with… The End! Both literally and figuratively, tomorrow will see the book The End, by Anders Nilsen, on sale all day at 20% off….

Portraits shot at the right moment are like the fermata on a pitch perfect note. Les McCann, jazz musician and photographer, was able to capture such moments of intimacy from legendary jazz singers and musicians. Feast your eyes on the first look of our finished cover art to McCann's retrospective, Invitation to Openness, curated and introduced by Pat Thomas (Listen Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975). Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Dean, and Nina Simone (as well as comedian Redd Foxx) grace the cover, a tiny sampling of the vast array of photographs that McCann took throughout his…

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery begins a new year of lively programming on Saturday, January 10 with the fascinating exhibition Black Light: The World of L. B. Cole and a workshop by French comix collective Le Cagibi.   L.B. Cole created some of the most stunning, proto-psychedelic comic book covers of all time. Black Light: The World of L. B. Cole is the first retrospective of his career, featuring the largest collection of Cole artwork ever assembled. He became famous for his brilliant primary colors – often over black backgrounds – which he used on alluring covers for crime, suspense, science fiction, and romance…

Hold on to yer hats and make way for the grand, thrilling adventures of Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy! In this 20-page, 4.2 MB downloadable excerpt, we've got the full introduction by Rick Norwood, "A History of Lickety Whop" by Ron Coulart, and 11 full pages of comics. Enjoy reading the beginning of Wash Tubb's search for Blackbeard's famed buried treasure on a little island in the Indies called Hurricane Isle, then head over to pre-order your copy of Roy Crane's Hurricane Isle and Other Adventures: The Best of Captain Easy and Wash Tubbs!

Trot out of your flat and shake off the holiday malaise Wednesday, January 14th as Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger make a guest appearance at Gosh! Comics in London. On a world tour for The Late Child and Other Animals, Van Cook and Romberger will join the monthly comics discussion group at Gosh! called Process and discuss this beautiful, poignant graphic memoir.    The good stuff starts at 7pm on the nose so don't be late for The Late Child, lest we make some terrible Big Ben jokes from across the pond. The Late Child and Other Animals is not only a gorgeous graphic novel by this comics…

Time for a last hurrah for 2014! This has been a very good year for Fantagraphics. Over the past 12 months, we have published more than 100 books, thanks to our hardworking staff and our amazing Kickstarter supporters—and a dozen of those books have become New York Times Bestsellers! Two of our longstanding favorite artists, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, were both awarded their first Eisner Awards (long-overdue, in our not-so-humble opinion); Charles Burns' Black Hole got a cameo in the sci-fi action film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; and our very own Gary Groth received The Stranger's Genius…

Happy holidays from Fantagraphics past. Here's a sampling of our holiday cards over the years from our cartoonists! (Roberta Gregory knows what's up by the by). We hope you got to spend to with — or away from — your family and look forward to another year of great comics and graphic novels!