Fantagraphics Blog

This month's issue of Booklist will include review of a recent release by a Fantagraphics creator, excerpted below:   Pogo – The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 3: "Evidence to the Contrary" by Walt Kelly "Despite its cast of anthropomorphic animals-the eponymous possum, Albert the Alligator, Porky Pine, and the rest-Pogo was the most adult-aimed of all newspaper comic strips. The fluid grace of Kelly's artwork and the inventiveness of his humor are matched by his verbal dexterity, from the characters' cornpone patois to their ingenious wordplay. Four decades after its demise, Pogo remains one of a handful of truly essential…

Saint Coleby Noah Van Sciver 116-page black & white 7.5" x 9.25" hardcover • $19.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-817-5 Ships in: February 2015 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Saint Cole depicts four days in the life of a twenty-eight-year-old suburbanite named Joe who feels trapped working overtime at a pizza restaurant to support his girlfriend, Nicole, and their infant child. Especially when Nicole invites her troubled mother, Angela, to move into their two-bedroom apartment until she lands on her feet again. Joe reacts to this development by further retreating into alcohol. He thinks he loves Nicole but resents her at the same…

Prince Valiant Vol. 10: 1955-1956by Hal Foster 112-page full color 10.25" x 14" hardcover • $35.00ISBN: 978-1-60699-800-7 Ships in: January 2015 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now Our tenth volume finds our band of heroes making their way back to the Kingdom of Thule by way of Constantinople and Eastern Russia. Soon they are attacked by a tribe of barbarians who kidnap Aleta for the great Dragada Khan who wants to make her one of his wives. After nearly being killed in battle, Valiant returns to his homeland only to find the threat of hunger hovers over Thule. As Val…

Today it was revealed that our 'Silver Member' Free Comic Book Day contribution is a sweet flip book: Hip Hop Family Tree Three-In-One featuring Cosplayers by Ed Piskor, Dash Shaw and friends, you'll get 56 pages of full-color all-action.   Featuring Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree series and Dash Shaw's Cosplayers! Piskor's half features excerpts from the first two HHFT volumes, the forthcoming Vol. 3, as well as the Rob Liefeld/Spike Lee commercial adaptation exclusive to the Hip Hop Family Tree Box Set. Plus pinups by R Crumb, Scottie Young, Jim Rugg, Jenny Goldstick, Ben Marra, and plenty of other surprises! Shaw's side delivers an all-new, 20-page…

Baseball fans, rejoice! We have the final cover design for our upcoming book, Willard Mullin's Casey at the Bat and Other Diamond Tales, which collects Mullin's illustrations accompanying baseball-themed poetry by Ernest Thayer. The original images for Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" were thought to be lost for years, until they reemerged at an auction in 2002. With material including the poems "Iron Horse Lou" and "O Brooklyn, My Brooklyn" and an introduction by Yogi Berra, Casey at the Bat makes for a great addition to any baseball fan's bookshelf. We expect a March release for this book, though you can pre-order…

  The celebration of our momentous Complete Zap Comix continues with two events this week. On Thursday, December 18 at 7:00 PM, editor J. Michael Catron will give an entertaining "History of Zap Comix" slide presentation at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.   This Saturday, December 20 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, the bookstore hosts A Tribute to S. Clay Wilson with Patrick Rosenkranz, Dennis Dread, and Jim Blanchard. Underground comix authority Rosenkranz will screen a short film and sign copies of The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson: Pirates in the Heartland and related titles. Dennis Dread will present Entartete Kunts, a provocative collection of "degenerate"…

"I can count on one hand the number of comic artists whose work is as strong… maybe on two or three fingers… It’s a laff riot, what can I tell ya?" – R. Crumb "Peter Bagge is the funniest cartoonist in existence… The situations Peter creates for his characters are gripping, hilarious and bitingly honest. His drawing style is completely original and would be funny on its own, even without his great stories." – John Kricfalusi Sweatshopby Peter Bagge, with Stephen DeStefano, Bill Wray, Stephanie Gladden, Jim Blanchard, and Johnny Ryan 152-page full color 6.75” x 10.25” softcover$19.99 | 978-1-60699-812-0…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Spawn of Marsby Wallace Wood and Al Feldstein 216-page black & white 7.25" x 10.25" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-805-2 See Previews / Order Now Wallace Wood fans love his sleek, preternaturally lush art, but they especially love the wonderment of his spectacular science fiction. This highly anticipated mouth-watering collection features over two dozen stories brimming with Wood’s meticulously detailed, genre-defining brushwork—all save the one Wood wrote himself on the typewriter of EC editor Al Feldstein. And with titles like "Spawn of Mars," "The Dark Side of the Moon," "A Trip to…

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: Creeping Death from Neptune: The Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton Vol. 1edited by Greg Sadowski 304-page full color 8" x 10.5" hardcover • $39.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-505-1 See Previews / Order Now This is the first of two volumes reprinting copious amounts of comics stories and recounting the career of cartoonist Basil Wolverton. Based on his correspondence and journals, the biographical portion of the books follows Wolverton from childhood to adult day-to-day life as freelance cartoonist, itinerant handyman, persistent contest enterer, and local pastor of the Radio Church of God. Wolverton lived…

Captain Easy fans, this is the book you've been waiting for! Following the success of our Eisner Award-nominated series collecting the Sunday Captain Easy strips, we are proud to present a brand new collection of the very best of the best of Roy Crane's beloved and influential adventure comic strip in Hurricane Isle and Other Adventures: The Best of Captain Easy and Wash Tubbs. Here is our finalized cover design, which—we think you'll agree—lets Crane's work speak for itself. Now, rest easy, mate, this book is already up for presale and is on course for a February release date.