Every day in July we're spotlighting books from our month-long Hidden Gems Sale, wherein we're featuring some of our under-the-radar backlist titles and encouraging you to try them by offering them at a nice discount of 25% off!

The subject of today's spotlight, British cartoonist Carol Swain, has been acclaimed by Alan Moore and called "the Raymond Carver of British comics" by Time Out, yet somehow still remains something of a secret.

Foodboy

Foodboy is about loss and hope, friendship, faith, and bonds that are tested when the paths of two boyhood friends diverge. Gareth and Ross live in a small Welsh village; when Ross ends up alienated from society and living in a near-feral state after an encounter with a visiting troupe of Evangelists, it falls to Gareth to try to help him. Foodboy is drawn in Swain's trademark style of exquisite panel compositions.

80-page black & white 7" x 10" softcover
regularly $9.95 • ON SALE $7.46
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Invasion of the Mind Sappers

A disquieting meditation on teenage fantasies in the tradition of Heavenly Creatures and The Miracle, Swain's first full-length graphic novel tells the story of Dai, Helen, and Ivan, three friends who believe that the earthquake that rocked their hometown was caused by — yes — a crashlanding UFO, survived only by their temporary headmaster. Are they right, or is the truth even stranger? Swain's brutally honest depiction of small-town life and her powerfully forthright graphic style create a bruising, harrowing masterwork.

80-page black & white 7" x 10" softcover
regularly $8.95 • ON SALE $6.71
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Our pal James DC hosts a 1 hour special round-table discussion about Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko. James talks with comic book artists Brendan McCarthy and Steve Marchant and the author of the book, Blake Bell.

The show premieres 5pm - 6pm GMT, Thursday 31st July on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / Globally streamed at www.resonancefm.com

The show will also be available for podcast/download a few weeks after airing. Check www.resonancefm.com for more info. We'll do our best to remind you when it happens.

Published by Fantagraphics and making its world premiere at Comic-Con this weekend, SUBLIFE is a one person anthology series by John Pham featuring one single, serialized story (221 Sycamore St.) backed up by smaller, hopefully more self-contained strips. It should hit bookstores some time in the Fall, and the first issue will be squarebound, 64 pages, two-color. It'll feature the first part of the Sycamore St serial, as well as a nice two page genre strip called "Deep Space."Here are a few preview jpegs of the strips for your perusal.

John Pham will be signing the only available copies of SUBLIFE for the next couple of months this Friday & Saturday at Comicon at the Fantagraphics Books Booth (1716) at these times:

Courtesy Bob Fingerman: 

Ah, it's a beautiful day in Seattle and currently the entire top floor of our building is occupied solely by myself and Adam Grano while everyone else gets their nerd on in San Diego. I could get used to not going to Comic-Con. (Note to Adam: can we get a ping pong table in here, toot-sweet?) 

Anyway, we just received advance copies of two new books (these are also debuting at the con) that will hit stores in early September: LOVE & ROCKETS: NEW STORIES #1 and DEITCH'S PICTORAMA. It occured to me that this means we will be releasing two books, on the same day, by two different sets of cartooning/sibling legends. Kind of cool. 

Every day in July we're spotlighting books from our month-long Hidden Gems Sale, wherein we're featuring some of our under-the-radar backlist titles and encouraging you to try them by offering them at a nice discount of 25% off!

The subject of today's spotlight, Wilfred Santiago, is poised to make a major splash in 2009 with 21, his comics biography of baseball legend Roberto Clemente.

In My Darkest Hour

The Age of Anxiety has never been better depicted in comics form than in In My Darkest Hour, a modernist, mainstream graphic novel that explores the inner life of its protagonist, Omar Guerrero, a 28 year-old Latin American transient, who confronts his pervasive feelings of inadequacy, anger, guilt, and escalating alienation. The first full-length graphic novel from Pop Life collaborator Wilfred Santiago, in a lovely two-color format.

128-page two-color  7" x 9" softcover
regularly $14.95 • ON SALE $11.21
Order Now

Courtesy Joe Sacco:

All times subject to change due to the whims of cartoonists and/or the vagaries of Comic-Con International, Interstate 5, and the airline industry. 

WEDNESDAY Signings:

6PM-8PM: Kim Deitch
8PM-9PM: Jim Woodring

THURSDAY Signings:

12PM-1PM: Kim Deitch • Jon Vermilyea • Robert Goodin
1PM-2PM: Kim Deitch • Jon Vermilyea • Gilbert Hernandez • Natalia Hernandez
2PM-3PM: Gilbert Hernandez • Mario Hernandez • Natalia Hernandez
3PM-4PM: Paul Karasik • Blake Bell
4PM-5PM: Dan Nadel • Jordan Crane • Jim Woodring
5PM-6PM: Tim Lane • Jim Woodring
6PM-7PM: Tim Lane • Craig Yoe

Thursday Panels: 

2:00PM: Spotlight on Jim Woodring, Rm. 10
6:25PM: Independents panel with Jim Woodring, Rm. 26AB

FRIDAY Signings:
    
11AM-12PM: Paul Karasik • Blake Bell • Dan Nadel • Kim Deitch
12PM-1PM: Kim Deitch • Tim Lane • Dash Shaw
1PM-2PM: Tim Hensley • Jon Vermilyea • Robert Goodin • Tim Lane
2PM-3PM: John Pham • Johnny Ryan • Jordan Crane
3PM-4PM: Jean Schulz • Gilbert Hernandez • Jaime Hernandez • Mario Hernandez • Natalia Hernandez
4PM-5PM: Gilbert Hernandez • Jaime Hernandez • Mario Hernandez
5PM-6PM: Zak Sally • Jim Woodring • Craig Yoe
6PM-7PM: Zak Sally • Jim Woodring • Dash Shaw

Friday Panels:  

5:30PM: Spotlight on Kim Deitch, Rm. 10

SATURDAY Signings: 

10AM-11AM: Jim Woodring • Kim Deitch • Paul Karasik
11AM-12PM: Blake Bell • Craig Yoe • Kim Deitch
12PM-1PM: Jaime Hernandez • Gilbert Hernandez • Mario Hernandez • Natalia Hernandez
1PM-2PM: Jaime Hernandez • Gilbert Hernandez • Mario Hernandez • Natalia Hernandez
2PM-3PM: Dash Shaw • Johnny Ryan • Jon Vermilyea
3PM-4PM: Dash Shaw • Tim Lane • John Pham
4PM-5PM: Dame Darcy • Ted Stearn • John Pham • Tim Lane
5PM-6PM: Jordan Crane • Johnny Ryan • Zak Sally
6PM-7PM: Jim Woodring • Zak Sally • Dame Darcy

Saturday Panels:  

3:00PM: Spotlight on Al Jaffee, Rm. 8
3:00PM: Comic Art panel with Jaime Hernandez, Jordan Crane and Craig Yoe, Rm. 3
4:30PM: "The Story of an Image" panel with Kim Deitch & Jim Woodring, Rm. 4
4:45PM: "It's a Great Comic-Con, Charlie Brown" panel with Jeannie Schulz, Rm. 6A
5:30PM: "The World of Steve Ditko" Panel with Blake Bell, Kim Deitch & Gary Groth, Rm. 4
7:00PM: "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary screening, Rm. 5AB

SUNDAY Signings: 

10AM-11AM: Blake Bell
11AM-12PM: Jim Woodring • Blake Bell • Kim Deitch
12PM-1PM: Jim Woodring • Kim Deitch • Ted Stearn • Dame Darcy
1PM-2PM: Jaime Hernandez • Jordan Crane • Zak Sally 
2PM-3PM: Dash Shaw • Tim Lane • Jaime Hernandez 
3PM-4PM: Dash Shaw • Jon Vermilyea • Robert Goodin

But wait!!! That's not all...

New Graphic Novels and Collections:

• Love & Rockets: New Stories #1 by the Hernandez Brothers
• The Portable Frank by Jim Woodring
• Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane
• Sublife by John Pham
• Deitch's Pictorama by Kim Deitch w/Seth & Simon Deitch
• Ghost World: The Special Edition by Daniel Clowes
• Mome Fall 2008 (Vol. 12) by various
• Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard
• Our Gang Vol. 3 by Walt Kelly

New Comic Books & Magazines:

• Meat Cake #17 by Dame Darcy
• Sammy the Mouse #2 by Zak Sally
• Tales Designed to Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman
• The Comics Journal #292 by various
• Delphine #3 by Richard Sala
• Grotesque #2 by Sergio Ponchione
• Interiorae #3 by Gabriella Giandelli

And don't miss these recent hits:

• Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw
• Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell
• Pocket Full of Rain by Jason
• Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez
• Jessica Farm by Josh Simmons

In addition to the above, we will also have over 400 other items available from our impressive backlist, as well as lots of freebies (The Comic Strip Masterpieces Tabloid! Our Free Comic Book Day comic I.G.N.A.T.Z.! Coupons! Catalogs! And more!) as well as t-shirts and other surprises.

Oh, one more thing. Some of you may have scrutinized the above list and asked "Who is Natalia Hernandez?" Natalia is the eight-year-old creator of The Adventures of Crystal Girl, the premiere issue of which will debut exclusively at the Fantagraphics tables and can be purchased from Natalia's Business Manager & Agent, Mr. Gilbert Hernandez, during the above-posted autographing times. This is my early pick for Book of the Con.

TOP: Photo by the Great Matt Silvie. Photo credit also by Matt Silvie.

Go read: Jeremy Eaton on how he almost had the chance to revamp a Marvel icon: Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.