Re/Read is a recurring column by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid looking back at books you may have missed or are worthy of another read. This time we’ll discuss the stunning collection, Is That All There Is?, by Dutch master Joost Swarte. Like many American comix enthusiasts, I first became aware of Joost Swarte though Art Spiegelman and François Mouly’s RAW anthology. It was a revelation when Fantagraphics Books published Is That All There Is?, the first substantial English edition of his remarkable comix and graphics. While Swarte’s work often references classic American comic strips, his work…
Prince Valiant – “A History of Valiants” by Kim Thompson
{product_snapshot:id=1581,true,false,false,left}This Afterword is excerpted in its entirety from Prince Valiant Vol. 1: 1937-1938 from Fantagraphics Books. Terrifically popular from its inception, Prince Valiant is one of the most frequently reprinted comic strips of all time. Like many other classics, it was extensively collected in comic book form early on, but starting in the 1950s, it was also one of the first to graduate to bona fide book editions. Sadly, commercial and technical limitations conspired to undercut the true glory of Foster’s work, as the strips were recolored (inevitably to their detriment, as in the otherwise impressive 1960s Nostalgia Press editions)…
