Now in stock: The Comics Journal No. 291 & Usagi Yojimbo Book 5 (New Printing)!
Category: Art and Photography

The Comics Journal No. 291
Edited by Michael Dean & Kristy Valenti; Gary Groth, executive editor

This issue's cover interview is with comics artist Tim Sale, the house artist for the television series Heroes. Sale's artwork has also graced prestigious mainstream projects such as Batman: the Long Halloween, Spider-Man Blue and Superman Confidential. The Eisner winner chats about his stylized takes on characters such as Spider-Man, Batman, Daredevil, Catwoman and Superman, as well as his earlier work on comics such as Grendel, and elaborates on the dynamics of collaborating with writers such as Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke. The Journal queries up-and-coming cartoonist Josh Simmons on his disturbing and often funny body of work — his minicomics, his series Happy; his debut graphic novel, House; and his decades-spanning series Jessica Farm. Gary Groth examines the collaborations between Ralph Steadman and Hunter S. Thompson. Also in this issue: tributes to Steve Gerber and Dan Stevens; a huge gallery of kinetic anarchy from Funny, Films, Giggle, and other Golden Age comic books by Flintstones co-creator Dan Gordon; and a sneak preview of Danica Novgorodoff's Slow Storm.

216-page color/b&w 7.5" x 9.25" softcover • $11.99
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Usagi Yojimbo Book 5: Lone Goat and Kid (New Softcover Edition)
By Stan Sakai

Now in a new softcover printing with a newly-designed cover!

This fifth volume collects the epic-length "Blood Wings," in which Usagi battles a fearsome clan of ninja bats, while "Lone Goat and Kid" offers a cunning and affectionate parody of the famous "Lone Wolf and Cub" manga while doubling as one of Usagi's most dramatic and heartfelt adventures. "Frost and Fire" and "The Way of the Samurai" provide the psychological drama of this volume, which is rounded out by one of the most unique Usagi tales ever, "A Kite Story," which doubles as a fascinating look at the daily life and work of a 17th century Japanese kite maker, dramatically showcasing the thoroughness of Sakai's research and his skills as a storyteller. Featuring a foreword by the legendary Stan Lee!

142-page black & white 6" x 9" softcover • $14.95
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Save 25% on "Hidden Gems" from our backlist in July!
Category: Art and Photography

For one reason or another, every once in a while one of our books will slip under the radar and go under-appreciated, or maybe it made an initial splash but has since faded from the general consciousness. For the month of July, 2008, we're highlighting some of these "hidden gems" from our back catalog and encouraging you to discover some great but obscure books by offering them at a nice discount of 25% off! Click here for the full selection. (Sale ends at 11:59 PM Pacific time, July 31, 2008.)

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New signed bookplates available: Dash Shaw & Leah Hayes
Category: Art and Photography

We've added two new titles to our selection of books available with free signed bookplates: Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button and Leah Hayes' Funeral of the Heart. These bookplates are an exclusive free bonus when you order these books from us, and supplies are limited, so get them now and you'll have bragging rights when Dash and Leah are household names!

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Harvey Award nominees: 15% off!
Category: Art and Photography

Fantagraphics received a handful of nominations for the 2008 Harvey Awards, and to celebrate we're putting select titles on sale for 15% off through July 15, 2008! Click here to shop our nominated titles, and here's the rundown on our nominations:

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT: The Complete Peanuts and Popeye

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY: I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION: The Comics Journal

BEST ANTHOLOGY: Mome Vol. 8

Congratulations all!

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Now in stock: Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko & Dennis the Menace V. 1 Softcover
Category: Art and Photography

Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko
By Blake Bell

Steve Ditko is best known as the co-creator, with Stan Lee, of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and other classic Marvel and DC characters. But, in the context of Steve Ditko's 50-year career in comics, his creative involvement with Spider-Man is merely the tip of the iceberg. Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko is a coffee table art book tracing Ditko's life and career, his unparalleled stylistic innovations, and his strict adherence to his philosophical principles, with lush displays of obscure and popular art from the thousands of pages of comics he's drawn over the last 55 years.

216-page full-color 9" x 12" hardcover • $39.99
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Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1951-1952 (Softcover)
By Hank Ketcham

The first volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace, collecting every single panel strip from 1951 and 1952, is now available in this handsome and affordable softcover edition.

Dennis the Menace began on March 14, 1951 (four months after Ketcham's friend and colleague Charles Schulz started his own historic comic strip). He went on to become the second most popular cartoon kid in the world — after Charlie Brown, of course. Dennis the Menace first appeared in 16 American newspapers; by the end of 1951, he was appearing in over a hundred. The reason for Dennis' success is easy to figure out: It was one of the most brilliantly observed and empathetic comic strips about childhood ever drawn. Ketcham captured the mischievousness, rambunctiousness, and anarchy of a kid's world better than any other cartoonist. The strip appeals to both parents and children — while parents shake their heads ruefully at how accurately Ketcham caught the essence of children's natural zest for mayhem, children identify with Dennis and the chaos that he leaves in his wake — just a hop, skip, and a jump away from their own fantasy of themselves! Ketcham was a cartoonist with a vivacious line that was exquisitely suited to depicting adults and children. His gags were funny, subtle and touching. Ketcham drew Dennis the Menace from 1951 to 1994, when he retired and let his assistant take over the strip.

624-page black & white 5 1/8" x 6" softcover • $18.99
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Fantagraphics & Merge Records Present...
Category: Art and Photography

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS & MERGE RECORDS PRESENT:
TOWN OF MIRRORS: A Robert Pollard Book Release Party and Art Exhibition

at the MERGE RECORDS HQ
Friday, August 15, 6PM

DURHAM, N.C. — The Merge Records HQ will be hosting Dayton, Ohio's Robert Pollard on Aug. 15th for Town of Mirrors, an art exhibition and book release party celebrating the release of Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard, to be published in August by Seattle's Fantagraphics Books. Town of Mirrors will be the inaugural art show in Merge's downtown Durham office as part of Durham's Third Friday, a monthly downtown arts and culture “crawl.”

The forthcoming Town of Mirrors coffee table art book will premiere at the event, with many of the actual collages from the collection hanging in the show alongside several new works. The Reassembled Art of Robert Pollard collects the very best of Pollard's visual art and lyrics/poetry from his storied career. Featuring over 180 of Pollard's favorite collages, hand-picked by the artist, as well as over a dozen new collages produced exclusively for this book, Town of Mirrors is the first comprehensive collection of Pollard's visual art ever released. Original artwork and copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Listing info:

WHO: Robert Pollard
WHAT: Town of Mirrors Book Release Party & Art Exhibition
WHEN: Friday, August 15th @ 6pm
WHERE: Merge Records HQ, 409 E. Chapel Hill St., Durham, NC

Robert Pollard is the Dayton, Ohio singer-songwriter, who was the leader and creative force behind the legendary rock group Guided by Voices, one of the most influential bands of its generation (SPIN magazine recently named Pollard one of “The Top 50 Rock & Roll Front Men of All-Time”). Town of Mirrors is his first book.

In addition to being a revered songwriter and recording artist, Pollard is a gifted and prolific visual artist, working mostly in the medium of collage. His work has been exhibited at Michael Imperioli's Studio Dante in New York and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. He has created the covers to almost every Guided By Voices record and countless other Pollard-related releases.

Robert Pollard released four records on Merge, the most recent of which, Coast to Coast Carpet of Love and Standard Gargoyle Decisions, were released in October 2007. Mr. Pollard most recently released Robert Pollard is Off to Business on his own Guided By Voices, Inc. label. He was a fourth grade schoolteacher until 1994, when Guided by Voices first broke into the national consciousness with the release of the album Bee Thousand. With over 900 songs registered to his name with BMI, Pollard is among the most prolific and acclaimed songwriters of his time.

Town of Mirrors is published by Seattle's Fantagraphics Books, best known as North America's premiere publisher of graphic novels and comic strips.

Book info:

Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard
By Robert Pollard
Introduction by Rick Moody
$29.99 Hardcover
Music / Art
144 pages, full-color, 10” x 10”
ISBN 978-1-56097-924-1
PUBLICATION DATE: Aug. 15, 2008

“The visual art of Robert Pollard is uncanny, moving, strange, and it summons a dark melancholy at the same time; an austere beauty is forged in what is degraded and worthless in the image repertoire of culture itself.” – RICK MOODY, from his introduction

Currently listening : Robert Pollard Is Off to Business By Robert Pollard Release date: 2008-06-10

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Fantagraphics & Desert Island celebrate the life and art of RORY HAYES
Category: Art and Photography

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS & DESERT ISLAND present:
WHERE DEMENTED WENTED: Celebrating the Comics and Art of RORY HAYES

Join us for a book release party and panel discussion featuring:

KIM DEITCH
BILL GRIFFITH
GEOFFREY HAYES
and moderator
DAN NADEL

Listing information:

WHAT: Book Release Party for WHERE DEMENTED WENTED: THE ART AND COMICS OF RORY HAYES, with panel discussion and Q&A
WHO: Dan Nadel, Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith & Geoffrey Hayes
WHERE: DESERT ISLAND • 540 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn, NY • 718.388.5087 • desertislandbrooklyn.com
WHEN: Friday, August 8, 7PM (discussion begins at 8PM)

FREE ADMISSION
An exclusive, limited-edition Hayes silkscreen will be available for this event.

The controversial cartoonist Rory Hayes was a self-taught dynamo of the underground comics revolution. Attracting equal parts derision and praise (the latter from the likes of R. Crumb and Bill Griffith), Hayes emerged as comics' great primitive, drawing horror comics in a genuinely horrifying and hallucinatory manner (some have called him the Fletcher Hanks of the underground). He has influenced a generation of cartoonists, from RAW to Fort Thunder and back again.

On Friday, Aug. 8, on what would have been Hayes' 59th birthday (Hayes died of a drug overdose in 1983), Desert Island and Fantagraphics Books will celebrate the life and art of Rory Hayes with a special evening celebrating the release of WHERE DEMENTED WENTED, the first-ever collection of Hayes' legendary comics and art. Editor Dan Nadel (Gary Panter, The Wilco Book) will moderate a discussion of Hayes' work with three men who knew and worked with Hayes: Kim Deitch (creator of Waldo the Cat), Bill Griffith (creator of Zippy the Pinhead), and Geoffrey Hayes (brother of Rory and author of the recent Benny and Penny from Toon Books).

WHERE DEMENTED WENTED: THE ART AND COMIX OF RORY HAYES is the first retrospective of Hayes' career ever published, and features the best of his underground comics output alongside paintings, covers, and artifacts rarely seen by human eyes — as well as astounding, previously unprinted comics from his teenage years and movie posters for his numerous homemade films. The Art and Comix of Rory Hayes also serves as a biography and critique with a memoir of growing up with Rory by his brother, the illustrator Geoffrey Hayes, and a career-spanning essay by Edward Pouncey (a.k.a. Savage Pencil). Also included is a rare interview with Hayes himself.

"Rory Hayes was the real thing; a genuine 'outsider' artist. His work retains its raw, primitive power to this day, teetering precariously between chaos and control, madness and oddly endearing teddy bears." – Bill Griffith

"A great American primitive." – R. Crumb

WHERE DEMENTED WENTED:
THE ART AND COMICS OF RORY HAYES
Edited by Dan Nadel and Glenn Bray
Essays by Geoffrey Hayes and Edwin Pouncey
$22.99 Paperback Original
144 pages, black-and-white (with 48 pp. in color), 8" x 10"
ISBN 978-1-56097-923-4 • PUBLICATION DATE: AUG. 8, 2008

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Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery: "Now Serving Cheesecake"
Category: Art and Photography

THE CLASSIC ART OF CARTOON PIN-UP OPENS SATURDAY, JUNE 28

The post-war era in America gave rise to a remarkable number of amazing cartoonists retuning from overseas. These members of our “Greatest Generation” had their careers interrupted by World War II and again when the comic book hysteria of the 1950s all but erased this innocent pastime from the cultural landscape. When comic book work could no longer provide their livelihood, many turned to racy down-market digests, and in the process created a legacy of sensual and seductive pin-up art that remains as appealing today as it did when this distinctly American aesthetic emerged. A new exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery opening June 28 highlights the work of five of the most notorious pin-up cartoonists of this period.

“Now Serving Cheesecake: The Classic Art of Cartoon Pin-up,” organized by Los Angeles author and archivist Alex Chun, highlights stunning original artwork and artifacts by Jack Cole, Dan DeCarlo, Don Flowers, Bill Ward and Bill Wenzel. Chun is the author of no fewer than six books featuring the work of these artists and examining their contributions to American popular culture. Many of these artists enjoyed success in the field of mainstream comics, creating memorable characters like Plastic Man, Josie & the Pussycats, and Torchy Todd, working in newspaper syndication and comics publishers including Archie and Timely Comics - the predecessor to Marvel Comics. The publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's sensational tirade Seduction of the Innocent, and subsequent Senate hearings on Wertham's suggestion that comic books led to juvenile delinquency and social deviancy, forced these artists onto the pages of men's magazines. These popular digests, published primarily by Humorama, featured photos of 50s icons like Bettie Page and gag cartoons with scantily clad women. While mild by today's standards, these anachronistic depictions of blonde bombshells, silly secretaries and gold-digging seductresses are emblematic of their era.

The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, June 28 and continues through July 25 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale St. The opening reception from 6:00 to 9:00 PM features a live pin-up cartooning demonstration and a performance of 50s torch songs by the Fraus. Author Alex Chun will attend to sign his many pin-up books, published by Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books. The opening coincides with the colorful “Artopia” Georgetown arts festival featuring art, music, dance, performance art, film, and the ever-popular Hazard Factory power tool races throughout the neighborhood. Admission is free.

A selection of imagery in a variety of formats is available for publication. For additional information contact Larry Reid.

LISTING INFORMATION

NOW SERVING CHEESECAKE: The Classic Art of Cartoon Pin-up!

Original Art and Artifacts by Jack Cole, Dan DeCarlo, Don Flowers, Bill Ward, and Bill Wenzel. Curated by Alex Chun.

Opening Reception Saturday, June 28, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Live Pin-up Cartooning Demonstrations, music by the Fraus and more.

Exhibition continues through July 25, 2008

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street. (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

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Now in stock: new titles from T. Ott & Johnny Ryan!
Category: Art and Photography

The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8
By Thomas Ott

Swiss horror master Thomas Ott returns with the first full-length graphic novel of his career. When clearing up the cell of a prisoner who has been sentenced to death and subsequently executed, a prison guard finds a small piece of paper with a combination of numbers on it.

On the spur of the moment, he puts it into his pocket.

As the guard lives a solitary, monotonous life, the numbers on the paper awake his curiosity. To find out their hidden meaning could add a new meaning to his life as well, so the guard stumbles into situations in which the number or part of it seem to achieve a certain importance and offer him hints and possible solutions. And the numbers signal a radical change in his luck. He gets to know a woman, falls in love with her, and one night, in a casino, he wins a huge amount of money when gambling on these numbers.

But the next morning, the woman and money have disappeared.

The man goes in search of the woman and the money. But from that day on, his luck changes and the numbers bring him only bad luck, sending him inexorably into an abyss that he might not recover from. Thomas Ott's O. Henry-esque plot twists will delight fans of classic horror like The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt, or modern masters like filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan; his hallucinatory, hyper-detailed scratchboard illustrations will haunt you long after you've put the book down.

104-page black & white 6.25" x 10" hardcover • $28.95
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Angry Youth Comix Vol. 2 14
By Johnny Ryan

In this issue Boobs Pooter reveals THE WORLD'S FUNNIEST JOKE!

24-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" comic • $3.50
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Now in stock: Pocket Full of Rain by Jason & Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 11 reprint!
Category: Art and Photography

Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories
By Jason

This multifaceted anthology collects over 25 stories from the first decade of Jason's career, including his remarkable calling card, the novella-length thriller "Pocket Full of Rain," which has never before been published in English. Like a number of his initial stories, "Pocket" is actually drawn with realistic human beings instead of blank-faced animal characters — a true revelation for Jason fans. In fact, this book showcases three distinct styles: his earliest "realistic" drawing style (used to unsettling effect in some particularly creepy stories), an intermediate "bighead" cartoony style that still features humans (used for both humor and drama), and the "funny-animal" style he's now best known for.

The book reveals a young cartoonist experimenting with styles, working through his obsessions (love, loneliness, film, Hemingway) and paying tribute to his cartooning heroes (Wolverton, Moebius, Pratt). Also, croquet-playing nuns, sentient cacti, autobiographical drunken escapades, lists of people who deserve to die, and a color gallery featuring God cheating at Trivial Pursuit.

160-page b&w/color 7" x 10" softcover • $19.99
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The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 11 (New Softcover Printing)
By Robert Crumb

MR. NATURAL COMMITED TO A MENTAL INSTITUTION!!!

This freshly reprinted volume contains Crumb classics Dirty Laundry 2 (the ground-breaking Crumb/Kominsky jam), the last of the Arcade strips, full-cover covers for books, comics and LPs, and Crumb's complete 40-page epic Mr. Natural serial from the pages of the Village Voice. In it, our hero, having given up on the "wise man" business, has sent away all his students and lives a quiet life. But during a particularly arduous meditation, he wrestles with the Devil, and at last achieves total enlightenment.

He's locked up in a nut house right away, of course.

Thus endeth the Age of Aquarius.

Other classic stories include "I Once Lived the Life of a Millionaire" (the Snoid vs. The Revolution) and "Josephine and the Cross-Eyed Quadroon" (which covers just about all the bases, political incorrectness-wise).

Re-live the 20th Century with Crumb!

136-page b&w/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99
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