Fantagraphics Blog

I want to help Gary win $15,000 dollars.

Popeye.

This week's book buzz from blogs and beyond: • The Forager Blog takes a concise look at You Can't Get There from Here by Jason (via Sean T. Collins) • Jan Stephens looks at Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman • ComicList reviews Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell; also, Four Realities reprints Dave Sim's review of the book from Ditkomania • Bust is "so beyond excited" for the release of Ghost World: Special Edition by Dan Clowes; Brazilian blog Suburbana plugs the book in Portugese • Sean T. Collins on Jason's Pocket Full…

  You are invited to hear Jules Feiffer read from and discuss his long-awaited collection, Explainers, featuring the complete first decade of his legendary and groundbreaking comic strip, Sick, Sick, Sick (and later redubbed Feiffer), from the Village Voice. WHO: Jules Feiffer WHAT: Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips 1956-66WHERE: TATTERED COVER COLFAX AVE.2526 East Colfax Ave.Denver, CO 80206303.436.9219WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008 at 2:00PM  

As promised, here's an advance look at the new upcoming 12th issue of Linda Medley's Castle Waiting Vol. II, the long-awaited bowling issue! It's in stores now and if all goes well we should have it in stock here on the website next week. Click here if the slideshow doesn't appear above.

Time for a new installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 32-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. In this week's episode: a change of scene. Also, Steven says "I've already redrawn the first panel, but I'll leave it like this for whomever wants to see it this week." Oo, exclusive outtake deleted bonus scene! (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)

  My old pal Joe Newton, cartoonist and former Gas Huffer drummer and Stranger art director, just released this new print through Etsy that he and Davin Kuntze created.  100% of the $20 sale price goes to support the Obama campaign. This is a limited edition letterpress poster, created with 100+ year old woodtype and custom-cast metal type. A real collector's item. The numbered edition is limited to 100 copies, and is printed with oil-based inks on high-quality, heavyweight paper. Meanwhile, longtime comics editor Pete Friedrich just sent out this image (along with this link): It should come as no surprise that Fantagraphics is an Obama stronghold. 

The following books are now available for pre-order! Click the cover images for more info about each book. And of course we'll be bringing you previews as the release dates get closer. All are expected to arrive between now and the end of October. For more, see our Upcoming Arrivals page. (Coincidentally, today is Joe Kubert's 82nd birthday!) And new editions of these out-of-print books by Jason:

FANTAGRAPHICS AND THE STRAND BOOKSTORE PRESENT: KIM DEITCH TALKS PICTORAMA AND MORE ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 18 Veteran underground cartoonist Kim Deitch, creator of the acclaimed Fantagraphics collection Shadowland and the Pantheon graphic novels Alias the Cat and Boulevard of Broken Dreams, has recruited his entire cast of siblings to produce a unique, all-new "picto-fiction" pocket book. Alternating between heavily illustrated near-comics stories and outright prose, Deitch's Pictorama is a testament to the entire Deitch family's amazing yarn-spinning abilities. Join Deitch at the Strand as he gives a power point presentation telling the story of how Deitch's Pictorama came about and…

  You know, I see Jacob Covey every day but somehow every time I read an interview with him I learn something new. Reading his comments on the design of Popeye, a project/topic I would have thought we'd exhausted in office talk, is fascinating peek into the thought processes that go into graphic design.