Fantagraphics Blog

Courtesy Kevin Scalzo: 

 Colin Marshall interviews Alexander Theroux about Laura Warholic on his latest Marketplace of Ideas podcast. Listen here. 

Tonight in Toronto: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO, a Canuckian book launch for Toronto author BLAKE BELL on Wednesday, June 18th from 7PM-9PM at the Lillian H. Smith Library (239 College St., Toronto). And yes, FREE.    

By Miss Lasko-Gross, Ted Stearn, Leah Hayes, Dash Shaw, Sam Henderson, Jason, Lynda Barry, Michael Kupperman, and Alex Cox. (Click the thumbnails for larger versions.) Fantastic, one and all. I'll get you next time, Mr. Panter.

Concerning the post below– for the record, the first time I spoke to Dash Shaw was while designing the covers to BBB and, out of nowhere, he spoke at length about Ghost Rider and all these ideas he had about the character. To the extent that when we got off the phone I wasn't sure if he was talking about what he WOULD do with the title or what he WAS doing. I'm not at all kidding when I say he had the character so thought out that I figured he was secretly putting together a book with Marvel. Apparently…

A couple of weeks ago Gary and I went to Los Angeles for BEA 2008. In the Comic Book Salesman game we like to call this a "buy week." Here are some photos… 1 – 4. The Fantagraphics booth 5. Joe Matt, Chris Oliveros and Ron Rege Jr. (kind of blurry; but nice) 6. My man Jamie Saloman! Who has some cool photos up at the D&Q blog (Hey Jamie, Thanks for the Rory Hayes and Snatch articles. I love it when Hayes talks shit about Gene Colan's drawing!) 7. Joe points out something in his AMAZING jam sketchbook. 8….

Pursuant to yesterday's link to NY Magazine's feature on BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON creator Dash Shaw, NY Mag's VULTURE blog follows-up with Dash's vision for a revamped GHOST RIDER (seriously) as well as offers an exclusive 20 page excerpt from BBB. For FREE! Meanwhile, Van Jensen interviewed Dash for CBR, and posted a review of BBB at ComicMix, calling it "the first great graphic novel of 2008."

Courtesy Lewis Trondheim. Watching Trondheim draw this freehand, in just a couple of minutes, was kind of incredible: 

Martin Kellerman's "Rocky" is being adapted for the screen — 13 episodes of hanging out, arguing, eating, reading comics (check out Rocky's preferred reading material below), drinking coffee, listening to music, watching DVD's, playing videogames…and even indulging in the occasional bit of carnal knowledge. No details yet on when and whether there will be an English language version (or at least subtitled episodes), but in the meantime, enjoy these rockin' stills (click them for larger versions) — and watch for Fantagraphics' Rocky Volume II this Fall!

I'm only going to one comic convention the rest of the year, and for only one reason.