Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department: 

The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 3: Starring Fritz the Cat (New Softcover Ed.)
by Robert Crumb

128-page black & white/color 8.5" x 11" softcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-0-93019-375-1

See Previews / Order Now

Starring Fritz the Cat includes Crumb's classic original Fritz stories from 1965, including "Fritz Bugs Out" and "Fritz the Cat, Special Agent for the CIA," the first two "real" stories in the Fritz canon, as well as "Fritz the Cat, Ace Statesman," four pages of a previously unpublished Fritz story, and several Fritz illos never before printed in color. Plus: Crumb's first published work from Help! and Yell, including the "Harlem Sketchbook" and the "Bulgarian Sketchbook," most never before reprinted; two dozen of his Topps trading cards, plus extremely rare promotional items, as well as many creeting cards done for American Greetings, several in full color; and many pages of strips from Crumb's 20-year-old sketchbooks. Plus more of Marty Pahls's ongoing Crumb biography, including the story of Crumb's first acid trip, with more rare photos of the young Crumb!

1989 Harvey Award Winner, Best Domestic Reprint Project

Buy Two, Get One Half Off! When ordering this volume, add any two other available volumes from The Complete Crumb Comics series and the third volume will be half price! See product page for more details.

Wandering Son fans rejoice — the latest volume of Shimura Takako's highly addictive manga series has been bundled off to the printer for release this Spring! This final version of the cover isn't too different from the version that's already been floating around out there — we just went with brown instead of grey for the spine and title logo — but we're excited to share it with you nonetheless. In this volume things are starting to get a little more fraught as our cast edges into adolescence and feelings start to get more complicated. Don't forget, we're still offering our Vols. 4-6 subscription  — save money and automatically receive the next 3 volumes as soon as they're released!

The great Gary Panter returns to the Fredericks & Freiser gallery in Chelsea for an exhibit of his paintings on Friday, January 25th!

As Gary tells us, "The gallery flooded and has had a lot of repairs and toil to get back in business. My work luckily was on a high shelf and so was not destroyed in the flood and so you can still see it rather than blobs of flotsam."

Support the arts and hurricane recovery, and take a trip to Chelsea for the opening reception from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.  Fredericks & Freiser is located at 536 West 24th Street in NYC.

Friday, January 18th

• Rochester, NY: The Nazareth College Department of Art launches their exhibit "Good Work," featuring our own Steve Brodner, Debbie Drechsler, Drew Friedman, and Richard Sala! (more info)  

Sunday, January 20th

• Buffalo, NY: It's your last chance to catch the exhibit, Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels, & Revolution, an in-depth career retrospective on the late, great Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. (more info)  

Oh, you know, just another masterpiece from one of the all-time greats. Our advance copies of Julio's Day by Gilbert Hernandez arrived late last week and we're still all abuzz with excitement. This magnificent graphic novel compresses the complexities of a century-long life into 100 pages, from birth to death (with a few sidetracks along the way). Collected from the pages of Love and Rockets but standing alone from Gilbert's post-Palomar continuity, it's the perfect introduction to the genius of Beto. This beautiful hardcover should be available in March. Stand by for more extensive previews; for now you can read a 9-page excerpt, and pre-order your copy, right here.

As we reported last fall, the mighty Ron Regé, Jr. will be leading a week-long intensive workshop at SAW, the Sequential Artists Workshop, from March 4th through 8th, in Gainesville, Florida!

Ron says, "If you are curious about, say, Jodorowsky's Psychomagic, surrealist revolution, alchemical archetypes, or other aspects of pulling spirits through the chaos of the ether (in relation to comics?) then come on over and we'll see what happens!" And who isn't curious about all those things?

Friend Ron on Facebook, and you'll get a sneak peek at his upcoming curriculum! He's been sharing PDF's and YouTube clips related to what he'll be throwin' down. It'll be the most magical Spring Break in Florida ever! And there's still time to sign up -- you can also get the "package deal" and take John Porcellino's class the week before. 

Join Fantagraphics Books in our hometown of Seattle from Jan. 25-28 at the American Library Association Midwinter show, taking place at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown. Fantagraphics will be exhibiting with our distribution partner, W.W. Norton & Co., in booth #2409.

We'll be showcasing our first 2013 releases, including a few none of you have seen yet, and also hosting weekend signings and raffles with authors PETER BAGGE and JIM WOODRING!

We'll also be giving away some freebies, including comic books by Carl Barks, Crockett Johnson, Woodring and Bagge, plus other surprises...

Here's the schedule:

PETER BAGGE: Saturday, Jan. 26th at 11AM

JIM WOODRING: Sunday, Jan. 27th at 11AM

SEAN PIDGEON: Friday, Jan. 25 at 6PM (author of Finding Camlann: A Novel, courtesy W.W. Norton)

It should be a fun show for us. Seattle and King County boast two of the great library systems in America, so you know it should be a great ALA, and we'll be excited to show our hometown pride. Come ask us for great book, comics, restaraunt and tourist tips!

Also, out-of-town visitors please note! We'll be hosting a reception at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery  that Saturday night from 4:30 to 6:00 PM following a Graphic Arts Guild workshop featuring Ellen Forney, David Lasky, Phil Foglio, and others. Stay tuned for more info. 

ALA Midwinter Booth #2409: FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS / W.W. NORTON

This is sure to be a very special and poignant event: C. Tyler will be making a rare West Coast appearance to discuss her work at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 31st!

Titled Scrapbooks, Army Surplus, Comics and Other Stuff: A Conversation with Graphic Storyteller C. Tyler, she will discuss her stunningly rendered and intensely personal series You'll Never Know: A Graphic Memoir, and will delve into comics, family memories, gender, and generations.

This event is FREE and open to the public. The discussion starts at 7:00 PM in the Annenberg Auditorium [ 3502 Watt Way ] of the University Park Campus. Reservations are recommended, so click here to RSVP!

...and we love Wonkette's graphics department, but today especially.

Here's a preview of the sassy Libby aka Lady Liberty as drawn by THE Jaime Hernandez for the 2013 Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's card. And they must have answered my prayers because I've been wanting a new baseball tee for a long time. I'll let Deputy Director Alex Cox tell you more below:

Legendary cartoonist Jaime Hernandez rings in 2013 for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund by providing the art for this year's membership program!  CBLDF protects the freedom to read comics by providing legal aid, resources, and education in the service of protecting the comics medium's First Amendment rights.  Members provide the monetary foundation CBLDF needs to protect perform that important work, and this year every member is being rewarded with a membership card designed by Hernandez.  Members who can afford to join at higher levels will also be able to receive exclusive items featuring Hernandez's striking art, including a member exclusive t-shirt, a limited letterpress print, and more!

Jaime Hernandez is best known as the co-creator (with brothers Gilbert and Mario) of the of the epoch defining masterpiece Love & Rockets. His characters Maggie and Hopey among the most iconic characters in the history of independent comics.  This year marks the 30th Anniversary of LOVE AND ROCKETS' debut, and the CBLDF is proud to have Mr. Hernandez's insightful take on Lady Liberty as the mascot for our 2013 membership program. When discussing helping the CBLDF, by creating this extraordinary piece of art, Mr. Hernandez stated simply, "It's pretty much a no brainer. We need the CBLDF."

This year we're asking everyone who supports the freedom to read comics to become an intellectual freedom fighter and join the CBLDF!  As a member, you will be an active part of the field's most proactive advocacy group, and ensure that our important work protecting the right to read, create, own, and sell comics can continue to grow.  Your support will help advance our important legal and education work from courtrooms to classrooms and beyond. Your membership contribution makes you an essential part of the team that helps protect and advance the rights of this incredible art form.

All members will receive the 2013 membership card by Hernandez.  When you join at the $100 Advocate Level, you will receive an exclusive long sleeve t-shirt, available only to members, as well as button pack and sticker set! This shirt features the gorgeous Jaime Hernadez line art, and will only be available to members who join the CBLDF in 2013! Other levels offer other incentives, including a limited edition signed and numbered letterpress art print, and CBLDF branded items including sports bottles, hooded sweatshirts, and embroidered polo shirts. All of these premiums thank our members for their generosity, and let them show that they're a proud member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund team, who are always ready to stand up for the freedom to read comics!

To view all of the membership levels and learn more about CBLDF's important work, please visit: http://cbldf.myshopify.com/collections/memberships

 So get involved and get some hot Jaime merchandise! We'll keep our eyes peeled for a Jaime-CBLDF inspired tattoo.