Hector Mumbly : Dave Cooper :: Lemony Snicket : Daniel Handler

Dave's also showing off his process and selling the original art from the book. (Hat tip: Meathaus.)

Our week of video and photo teasers of upcoming releases continues with Mome Vol. 12, the next installment of our quarterly-ish cutting-edge comics anthology. Watch the video above, and take a closer look in our photo gallery.

This week's free preview is actually 3 previews! We're bringing you 4-to-5-page excerpts from three upcoming installments in our Ignatz Series: Baobab #3, Delphine #3 (pictured above), and Grotesque #2. These previews are exclusive to registered Fantagraphics.com users, so sign up and/or sign in to view.

(As a reminder, 20/20 Club members receive these previews two weeks before we post them on the website, just one of many great reasons to join up...)

Our pals at the First Post have posted a special nine-page preview of Blake Bell's STRANGE & STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO, which seems to be the book everyone is talking about this week. Find out what all the hubbub's about. 

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!

Today's installment features a rescued-from-obscurity rarity from comics great Gil Kane.

Blackmark

In 1974, Gil Kane created Blackmark as a paperback series for Bantam Books. Kane was a comics artist specializing in superheroes who had drawn every major character from Superman and Spider-Man to Green Lantern and Conan. Blackmark was his attempt to go "independent" and create a series which he would own and whose creative direction he could control. The first volume of this sword-and-sorcery/heroic-fantasy narrative, designed and published in the paperback format, has been out of print for over 25 years, and the completed second volume was never published. Fantagraphics Books is proud to collect both volumes in a single trade book format, larger than the original paperback size to better showcase Kane's elegant art.

160-page black & white softcover
regularly $16.95 • ON SALE $12.71
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Made by our pals at Sparkplug and found via our pals at Drawn & Quarterly, the above map shows you where to feel the love (and do all your shopping) at Comic-Con next week. Click for the big version.

OUT NOW! 

DIAMOND COMICS no. 2

The second issue of Floating World Comics experimental comics tabloid. Maybe you were lucky enough to find a copy of the first issue? They’re free at cafes, bars, and shops all over Portland. Issue 2 features more incredible work from Luke Ramsey , Evan Meister, Barnaby Ward, Bald Eagles , Kevin Hooyman and more.

 Huzzah!

We're continuing to tease you this week with video and photo previews of our upcoming releases. This time, it's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #4, the latest issue in the hilarious hit series from Michael Kupperman. Watch the video above, and take a closer look in our photo gallery.

Male Odor Monsters
A group exhibition featuring original works by:

Brian Chippendale
Matthew Thurber
C.F.
Carlos Gonzales

Wednesday, July 16, 7pm - August 5

Hope Gallery - 1547 Echo Park Ave 90026

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 artist we're featuring today, Mark Kalesniko, got widely noticed for his series Alex, which was later collected in a graphic novel of the same name. Today we're putting the spotlight on three of his earlier, lesser-known titles:

S.O.S.

Before Alex, Kalesniko made S.O.S., a lyrical allegorical comic with a beautiful Asian-American protagonist. The story details how Chloe slowly finds her identity and achieves independence and empowerment while literally "adrift on the ocean" on a small sailboat beset by a huge, ravenous shark. S.O.S. is a metaphorical one-shot, a dramatic short subject told entirely in pantomime. Kalesniko brilliantly unveils the conflicts within Chloe — between tradition and modernity, between the safety of her chinese family and the unfamiliar dangers of the Western world. The story is told in ink, collage, and wash, introducing to comics the exciting panel-to-panel "camerawork" which Kalesniko has refined into an assured mastery.

24-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" comic book
regularly $2.75 • ON SALE $2.06
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Mail Order Bride

Monty, a Canadian comic-and-toy-shop owner and a pathetic 39-year-old virgin, expects his Asian mail-order bride Kyung Soo to fulfil his female Asian fantasy stereotypes: obedient, hardworking and loyal. Tall and accentless, Kyung turns out to be much more complex than Monte is willing to accept. This sharp and affecting look at their prickly relationship is told over 264 elegant, touching pages in this original graphic novel by Disney animator Mark Kalesniko. Kalesniko adroitly juxtaposes Monty's non-sexual, juvenile obsessions with his objectification of his bride, drawing a direct line between loneliness, consumerism, and how the need for order in one's life compromises the approach to matters of the heart.

264-page black & white 8" x 11" softcover
regularly $19.95 • ON SALE $14.96
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Why Did Pete Duel Kill Himself?

Before the astonishing Mail Order Bride, Kalesniko created this equally fine work of comic art. He combines stylish graphics and a keen eye for the perspective of a child in his first book-length graphic novel. Here, the unexpected suicide of a young, marginally successful actor sets the tone for this examination of the childhood of Alex Kalienka. Petty humiliations, minor injuries, small betrayals — the overall gradual degradation of growing up different provides a stunning glimpse at the existential nature of life.

96-page black & white 7" x 10" softcover
regularly $8.95 • ON SALE $6.71
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