The Strand Book Store, School of Visual Arts, TOON Books, Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics Books are pleased to announce the winners of the Strand Tote Bag Design Contest, which kicked off on March 1 and concluded on March 31, 2010. The winners were chosen by a prestigious panel of judges, including Françoise Mouly (art editor of The New Yorker & Editorial Director of TOON Books), Art Spiegelman (Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist & Strand tote artist), Stephen Heller (Co-Chair MFA Designer as Author Program, SVA), Adrian Tomine (author of the bestselling book, Shortcomings & Strand tote artist) and R. Sikoryak (creator of the book, Masterpiece Comics & Strand tote artist).

Artists from around the world submitted over 800 unique and creative representations of the Strand Book Store, for a chance to win many prizes, including an afternoon with Françoise Mouly and staff at TOON Books, over $1000 worth of books from Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics Books and TOON Books, a complimentary Continuing Education class at SVA, a $300 gift card from DaVinci Artist Supplies, a $100 gift card from Think Coffee and a family membership at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

The winning image will be featured on a Strand tote bag, available at the Strand and on strandbooks.com, beginning in June.

The images are still up on the Strand site, if you haven't yet had a chance to see them all, go HERE and click "view submissions" to see all 811 designs.

The Grand Prize winner is Zak Foster, for his image "Contents, color":

Second Prize winner is Domitille Collardey, for her image "Rainy & Birds":

Third Prize winner is Tim Goldman, for his image "Strandbot loves books!":

For more information, and to view a slideshow of the Top 20 finalists' designs, go HERE. 

Weathercraft
by Jim Woodring

104-page black & white 7" x 9.75" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-340-8

Ships in: May 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

For over 20 years now, Jim Woodring has delighted, touched, and puzzled readers around the world with his lush, wordless tales of “Frank.”

Weathercraft is Woodring’s first full-length graphic novel set in this world — indeed, Woodring’s first graphic novel, period! — and it features the same hypnotically gorgeous linework and mystical iconography.

As it happens, Frank has only a brief supporting appearance in Weathercraft, which actually stars Manhog, Woodring’s pathetic, brutish everyman (or everyhog), who had previously made several appearances in “Frank” stories (as well as a stunning solo turn in the short story “Gentlemanhog”).

After enduring 32 pages of almost incomprehensible suffering, Manhog embarks upon a transformative journey and attains enlightenment. He wants to go to celestial realms but instead altruistically returns to the unifactor to undo a wrong he has inadvertently brought about: The transformation of the evil politician Whim into a mind-destroying plant-demon who distorts and enslaves Frank and his friends. The new and metaphysically expanded Manhog sets out for a final battle with Whim...

Weathercraft also co-stars Frank’s cast of beloved supporting characters, including Frank’s Faux Pa and the diminutive, mailbox-like Pupshaw and Pushpaw; it is both a fully independent story that is a great introduction to Woodring’s world, and a sublime addition to, and extension of, the Frank stories.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 12-page PDF excerpt (1.4 MB).

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

It was our great pleasure to once again host hometown hero Peter Bagge at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery and to welcome the great James Sturm all the way from Vermont for a joint signing and book release on Saturday evening. Unfortunately some technical difficulties put the kibosh on James's planned multimedia presentation but it was a lively evening regardless, with a great turnout of fans and Seattle cartooning luminaries alike. Above: David Lasky chats with James, Fantagraphics' Janice Headley rocks the register, and Peter takes a breather. Check out some more photos on our Flickr page.

Friday evening means a new batch of online strips:

Salem F.D. to the rescue in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson...

...Wedgie receives some "wisdom" in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and this week's is by far the weirdest installment of Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman yet.

Daily clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Paul Hornschemeier teases his contribution to Marvel's forthcoming Strange Tales 2, and does Denzel for the WSJ; also, he'll be at C2E2 tomorrow signing at the Chicago Comics booth!

• Johnny Ryan posts this and more Prison Pit fan art by Matt Furie for The Boys Are Back in Town art show at GRSF — dear Johnny, how about a series of Cold Heat Special-style Prison Pit Specials?

• Lumpy Noodle drops some Bible on you, courtesy of Steven Weissman

• Fletcher Henderson, 1942, by Jim Flora

• Kevin Huizenga draws Miyazaki and a monkey, maps his cartoon universe

• Jim Woodring did this

• More "Tales of Abstraction House" from Derek Van Gieson

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "When most people try to employ dream logic in their work they fail miserably but Jim [Woodring] is great at it. The closest thing to a peer he might have is David Lynch but even that’s a stretch. Jim Woodring is the only Jim Woodring and no one has done what he does except for him. ... There’s not much point in trying to sum up the story of [Weathercraft]. There’s no text, the art is beautiful, and you’re totally consumed by the world he’s created and you exist inside it while you’re reading it." – Nick Gazin, Vice

• Review: "You know who is awesome and holds more water than anyone in comics? Basil Wolverton, that’s who. I might have gone overboard there but Basil Wolverton is so fucking funny that it’s no laughing matter. ... This little hardcover [of The Culture Corner] is sweet. The left page of each spread contains the pencil sketch of every comic that it’s available for and even the sketches for comics that never got finished. It is rad as hell." – Nick Gazin, Vice (same link as above) 

• Review: "Holy crap, I love [Ganges]. Huizenga has this amazing way of writing and drawing comics that hit me in the soul, either directly reflecting an experience I can relate to (having trouble falling asleep in #3) or a feeling (like missing the good old days of a group of awesome work friends). Plus, his art style is this amazing mix of surreal and everyday imagery that mimics the daily weirdness of being a creative, introspective person and also takes on the look of a classic comic strip (Glenn’s nose reminded me of Popeye for some reason)." – T.J. Deitsch, United Monkee (via Sean T. Collins)

• Review: "Opulent; florid; intermittently bizarre: Red Barry, Will Gould’s gangling, glowering, undercover cop, countered Chester (no relation) Gould’s grimly taciturn Dick Tracy with a ripely atmospheric, robustly theatrical, unflinchingly lurid theater, replete with run-on dialogues, soliloquies and, not infrequently, faces that appeared to be 'made up' in the pointed, dagger-like beards, eye patches, and whiskers that would earn a chuckle of recognition from George Jean Nathan (once-and-forever dean of American drama critics)." – Donald Phelps, The Comics Journal

• Plug: On his News and Head Lice blog Paul Hornschemeier says "if you're not yet reading anything and everything Tim Lane and Tim Hensley produce, you're missing out. Hensley's comics and posts are always a welcome addition to any day over at Blog Flume and Lane's ongoing strip, Belligerent Piano reminds of me of the baby produced from the time Chester Gould had a three-way with Alex Raymond and Spain Rodriguez. Who's the one with the womb? I'm not telling."

• Profile: Paul Constant of The Stranger talks about James Sturm in anticipation of Sturm's appearance with Peter Bagge at our flagship store this Saturday

Craig Yoe talks about his book The Great Anti-War Cartoons at Politics and Prose in Washington DC at 7PM tonight — that's in 2 hours! More info here.

Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918: Love in a Kestle or Love in a Hut
by George Herriman

160-page black & white/color 9" x 12" softcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-316-3

Ships in May 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

When Fantagraphics launched our collection of Krazy Kat Sunday strips back in 2002, we picked up with the 10th and 11th years of the legendary strip (1925-1926) because another publisher had already collected the first nine during the 1980s and 1990s. But now, with that publisher long gone and their Krazy Kat collections fetching record prices (some over $100!) among collectors, it’s time to go back and get every one of these comic-strip masterpieces back into print — re-scanned and re-retouched from original tearsheets, using 21st century digital resources.

Fantagraphics will be collecting these first nine years of Sundays into three volumes comprising three years apiece, starting with the very first Sundays from 1916 through 1918, and incorporating all the original articles and special features from the first edition, including rare art, series editor Bill Blackbeard’s definitive historical overview “The Kat’s Kreation,” and updated and expanded “DeBaffler” endnotes explaining some of the arcana behind the strip’s jokes.

Krazy Kat, with its eternally beguiling love triangle of kat/dog/mouse, its fantastically inventive language, and its haunting, minimalist desert décor, has consistently been rated (literally) the best comic strip ever created, and Fantagraphics’ award-winning series one of the best classic comic-strip reprint series ever published. Krazy and Ignatz 1916-1918, the 11th of a projected 13 volumes collecting the entirety of the Sundays, brings us within a brick’s throw of finishing “The Komplete Kat Sundays” once and for all!

Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (2.4 MB).

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• What Things Do has started excerpting strips from The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo.

• Johnny Ryan illustrates a short story by Gary Fairfull for Vice

• Bill Griffith recently posted his "Top 40 List on Comics and Their Creation" on Facebook and it's been making the rounds; you can see the whole thing at Cartoon SNAP

• This week's "I, Anonymous" spot by Steven Weissman

• Tony Millionaire presents an all-tattoo Maakies this week

• Street sketching with soprano soundtrack, by Frank Santoro

• Sen. Mitch McConnell & pollster Frank Luntz by Steve Brodner, with commentary

• A splash page by Derek Van Gieson

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: At Graphic Novel Reporter, Peter Gutiérrez has a Q&A with Jaime Hernandez & Todd Hignite, author of The Art of Jaime Hernandez: "I was a little surprised to find out that my approach to sex in comics is different from the norm. I've always tried to treat it as naturally as somebody talking about having to buy groceries, and I guess it paid off. Who knew?"

• Review: "As for this book, yes, it's completely lovely, gorgeously designed by Jacob Covey. Its contents are so damn delightful that within one week of finishing reading the book, I was actively entertaining buying what seemed to be all of it again in another format. It's an absolute treasure, a work of art I'm glad to own. ... Locas II is recommended, strongly, if you haven't read the material, but do some research [link added - Ed.] and make sure you're not duplicating yourself too much if you have." – The Hipster Dad's Bookshelf

• Review: "No one smiles. It’s am emotional world presented in emotionless, static drawings and strange greens and beiges. Nothing is visually beautiful, and while all of this would seem to work against the impact of the story, it ultimately conveys a feeling of overwhelming nervousness, or waking up way too early in the morning and blearily staring into an unfamiliar world, and this is what infects you until it all makes sense. ... [Mother, Come Home] is not a light read, but it feels much lighter than the works that it seeks to shadow, and should be a welcome addition to any collection." – Collin David, Graphic Novel Reporter

• Plugs: In their "Graphic Novels Prepub Alert," Library Journal's Martha Cornog spotlights August releases Nancy Is Happy: Complete Dailies, 1942–1945 ("Nancy has inspired numerous pop culture variations and tributes as well as a forthcoming serious analysis: How To Read Nancy (Karasik & Newgarden, Fantagraphics, Aug. 2010). The who’s who among Nancy Revivalists includes Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes — who wrote the introduction. This first reprint volume collects the second four-year span of the run. The first four years will appear later, since the archival material is more sparse and difficult to collate") and RIP M.D. ("A 'full-color, all-ages adventure' with an animated cartoon series in development, a promising bet for reluctant readers.")

• Plug: At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins on our MoCCA table: "You could safely shop only from Fantagraphics and still experience a hella great comics industry in microcosm."