photo credit: Anne Fishbein

That's Fantagraphics friend Scott Jacobson to the far right, one of the former writers of The Daily Show who helped develop Michael Kupperman's Snake ‘N’ Bacon [adult swim] pilot.

How can Scott look so sad when he's standing next to the mighty-mustachioed Tony Millionaire? Well, it could be because they were attending something called "Beefsteak 2011," or maybe it's because Scott recently decided to shutter his indie label, Fayettenam Records. (Fine, maybe it's neither of those reasons.)

But at least the label is going out in pure style, with the compilation Grow Up/Move Out, featuring some super-rad artwork from the aforementioned Mr. Kupperman!

It's got a killer, killer line-up, and I'll let Scott describe it: "The songs are all unreleased or super-rare, and include beautiful contributions from Darren Hayman, Tenement Halls, The Human Hearts featuring Franklin Bruno, Jeffrey Lewis, Refrigerator, Peter Peter Hughes, Heartbreak Scene featuring Mark Szabo, Saucer featuring Bill Goffrier of Big Dipper and the Embarrassment, Matthew Hattie Hein, Brian Dewan, Mean Spirit'd Robots, Kleenex Girl Wonder, The Tony Green Orchestra, Ron House, and two young Brooklyn bands of whom I'm a huge fan: Hospitality and Darlings."

And you can get this digital-only compilation now for a suggested donation of $7.00 -- or hell, give more! All proceeds (minus Bandcamp's 15%) are being donated to City Harvest, an NYC-based homeless charity.

Oh, and I should mention that Scott's other final Fayettenam release is an actual, physical 7" single by The Human Hearts featuring Franklin Bruno... Yep, the same Franklin Bruno who composed the theme music for Michael Kupperman's Snake ‘N’ Bacon [adult swim] pilot! FULL CIRCLE FLOG POST! Get yours today!

The Silver Comic Books for Free Comic Book Day 2012 were announced today and we're pleased to be able to reveal that we'll be bringing you TWO wonderful all-ages titles! (We don't have cover art to show you yet (the ones on the FCBD website are just placeholders) but we'll be sure to post 'em here as soon as we can.)

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Family Comics

Three amazingly adventurous, thrillingly stupendous, wonderfully wondrous comics by one of the greatest cartoonists of all time, Carl Barks! CARL BARKS! The biggest name in cartoons, second to only Walt Disney! Find out what happens to Donald, Daisy, Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, and the Nephews in these extremely entertaining and wonderfully told full-color comics!

Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby Sampler

Before Harold and the Purple Crayon there was Barnaby. Created by Crockett Johnson, Barnaby ran in newspapers for over ten years (1942-52). Its subtle ironies and playful allusions won many passionate readers as they followed the adventures of 5-year-old Barnaby Baxter and his cigar-chomping fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley.

The annual Free Comic Book Day event takes place at participating comic shops on May 5, 2012!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Plug: At The Huffington Post, Dave Scheidt's "2011 Holiday Gift Guide Comic Books" include Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman: "The funniest comic you've never read. Laugh out loud funny. Spastic, bizarre and gut busting. Fans of Saturday Night Live, Mad Magazine and just anyone who likes to laugh will love this book. A fair warning, if you read this book in public, you will laugh like a mad man and most likely frighten people like I did."

• Plugs: The staff of The Outhouse puts together their "Holiday Wishlist 2011," with "Royal Nonesuch" recommending Pogo - The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly...

"Kelly's Pogo is a masterclass in wordsmithing, satire, and relatable art. Although this collection apparently doesn't get to the more overtly political satire that made Pogo so famous, it does promise to be a great look at the start of an important and quintessential comic strip. The statements Kelly makes in these early stories are about character relationships, design, and humor as well as use of the English language in surprising and touching ways. This is the surely the ground floor of what looks to be the next great collection series in comics literature."

...and "Nightfly" suggesting The Complete Peanuts 1950-1954 box set:

"Charles M. Schulz's relatable characters are literally part of the fabric of my being. Peanuts helped forge my earliest appreciation for sequential art and, funny as it seems, philosophy. I can't wait until the day I have a shelf filled with every strip ever starring Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Pig-Pen and the rest of the Peanuts gang."

• Plugs: iFanboy's "2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Lost Treasures," written by Paul Montgomery, includes:

...Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 + 2 Box Set by Floyd Gottfredson...

"Mickey’s grown soft in his old age, but back in the day he was my kind of bastard. Dude’s a straight up rascal, and launches headlong into danger, starting with the seminal 'Race to Death Valley.' Floyd Gottfredson’s wily take on the character is revered by the best cartoonists, and Fantagraphics has packaged these earliest serial strips from the 30s in some truly handsome volumes. Take advantage of the two volume slipcover edition for a great value and the publisher’s now signature excellence in presentation."

...The Complete Peanuts 1979-1982 box set by Charles M. Schulz...

"Every year, the top item on my own Christmas list is the annual box-set collecting Fantagraphics’ latest volumes of Charles Schulz’s Complete Peanuts.... Watching Chuck and Snoopy evolve from their original designs of the early 50s to the more familiar iterations I grew up with in the Funnies is an incredible experience."

...The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi...

"Turns out it wasn’t that easy navigating the Arctic Ocean from Russian to France at the turn of the 20th century. If you dig on Poe and Verne and antique diving helmets, this woodcut melodrama is just for you."

...Pogo - The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Volume 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly...

"Years in the making, this new collection of Walt Kelly’s Pogo dailies and weekend strips does due justice to a comic that ought to be as much a household name as Peanuts or Doonesbury.... Mix in Kelly’s whimsical, lyrical 'Swamp speak' and you’ve got some real poetry on your hands."

...and Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks:

"This is as beautiful a book as I’ve purchased this year, and the stories within have much to offer both children and adult fans of visual storytelling and even comedy. Barks knew how to contract a joke, and this is a masterclass."

• Plug: Robot 6's Michael May makes an unexpected choice when spotlighting upcoming titles listed in the current issue of Previews: "The Big Town - Charles Schulz’ son wrote this novel (the last in his jazz-age trilogy) about the end of the Roaring Twenties and 'the role of business, crime, morality, and love in our lives.' It’s not comics, but it sounds ambitious and transporting."

• Interview (Audio): Renee French is the guest on the latest episode of The Ink Panthers Show podcast, who promise chat about "puffy man-nipples"

At his Warren Peace Sings the Blues blog Matthew J. Brady makes a pretty darn convincing case that Floyd Gottfredson drew an uncredited cameo by Offissa Pupp from George Herriman's Krazy Kat into the December 19, 1930 Mickey Mouse strip, as collected in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley. See the evidence and judge for yourself!

Johnny Ryan’s new comic for VICE would be pretty great even if it ended right there but there’s 6 more panels of that awesomeness.

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Guess what classic... well, it seems almost wrong to call something this slickly designed and smartly edited and overall wonderful a "fanzine," but let's go with "fanzine" anyway... so guess which classic fanzine is returning after a five-year hiatus this Spring?

Perhaps you couldn't make it to our events in New York this past weekend, or maybe you had such an awesome time, you wanna relive it again through photos.  Well, my friend... this FLOG post is for you.

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Here's the man of the weekend, Mr. Jack Davis! (I love this photo; how could I not open with it?)

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Jack had an especially busy weekend, because not only was he a guest-of-honor at the 2011 Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival, but he also had an art show at the Scott Eder Gallery, and a talk at The Strand Bookstore! Here he is, in a rare moment of relaxing, with fellow Fantagraphics artist Derek Van Gieson. (Not pictured, but also at the table, Nate Neal, and someone flipping through Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture!)

photo credit: Derek Van Gieson

Speaking of The Strand, the event at this famed NYC bookstore was a huge success! Derek has some more gorgeous black-and-white photos at his blog, and we've got some more pics from Jeff Wong below:

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Look, it's good ol' Tom Spurgeon and Bob Fingerman!

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Jack Davis, tellin' it like it IS, with Gary Groth! 

photo credit: Jeff Wong

photo credit: Jeff Wong

It's always great to see Heidi MacDonald, stopping by to chat with Mark!

photo credit: Jeff Wong

Sam Henderson!

photo courtesy of Drew Friedman

And finally, here's an adorable shot of Drew and Jack, after their panel on Saturday night!

Thank you so much to The Strand Bookstore, the Scott Eder Gallery, and to the mighty organizers of the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival for an amazing weekend!  Thanks to our ass-kicking artists, Josh Simmons, Kim Deitch, Dash Shaw, Jack Davis, Michael Kupperman and Al Columbia for spending time signing at our table. And, as always, thanks to our awesome customers for stopping by our table, and making our first visit to the BCGF a successful one!

Come celebrate the festive 5th anniversary of Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, December 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Holiday cheer galore! Opening reception for “Playing Possum: The Pogo Art of Walt Kelly,” music by Sawsome (a female banjo and saw duet), complimentary refreshments, wandering Christmas carolers, and more!

We can hardly believe it’s been 5 years already. This wonderful experiment in promoting comix culture has been an amazing experience. Make plans to join us on this momentous occasion. The party coincides with the lively holiday edition of the Georgetown Art Attack with open art studios, exotic shopping, diverse dining and imbibing throughout the historic arts community.

We’re located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) only minutes from downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

The cartoonist Lilli Carré has an exhibit opening tonight at the Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex in Chicago, entitled... Lilli Carré, Cartoonist.  It's so apropos!

But the exhibit also spotlights Lilli's animation work, as a series of short animated films she describes as “moving drawings” will be projected on the windows facing Sheridan Road.  Inside, you'll find a collection of Lilli's recent string drawing pieces, along with some books and comics.

The free reception goes from 5:00 to 6:30 PM tonight, and you should be able to make an online reservation here.  Loyola University Chicago's Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex is located at 1131 W. Sheridan. And the exhibit will be up until January 21, 2012!

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7
by Michael Kupperman

32-page full-color 6.75" x 9.5" comic book • $4.95

Ships in: December 2011 (subject to change) — This comic will be available to order simultaneous to its release to comic shops.

In this issue Quincy, M.E. makes his comic book debut, struggling through the fantastic landscapes of his own dreams in “Quinception,” in which St. Peter also gets his own comic book. Snake ‘n’ Bacon make an appearance in “Reservoir Dogs 2,” where the gang reunites for another caper. Twain and Einstein deal with some family issues, McArf the Crime Dog takes a bite out of scum, and the origin of The Hamanimal! Plus a photocomic starring comedian Julie Klausner, "Voyage To Narnia."

Preview 3 pages here.

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