This week's strips, normally posted on Fridays (we'll probably be late with them next week too):

Start your day with a nutritious breakfast in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

Once again we're teaming up with Things from Another World to participate in their second annual Autograph Card/Auction event to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Fantagraphics artists will be contributing original sketches to the benefit auction, and each sketch is printed up as a free limited-edition autograph card that will be given away at our booth and at the TFAW booth. Our first participating artist to be announced is Peter Bagge — stay tuned for future announcements!

Prince Valiant Vol. 2: 1939-1940
by Hal Foster

112-page full-color 10.25" x 14" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-348-4

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

For 35 years, Hal Foster created epic adventure and romantic fantasy in his legendary Sunday strip, Prince Valiant. Realistic in its visual execution and noble in its subject, depicting a time in which the fabled warriors of history and legends fought together for the greater good, it remains one of the great masterpieces of the medium.

In this second volume, Prince Valiant helps his father reclaim his throne in the kingdom of Thule, fights alongside King Arthur, and is made a knight of the Round Table in recompense for his bravery and wit. Bored by the peace he helped to create, Val decides to independently pull together the forces to battle the Huns’ descent on Southern Europe. When Val’s army breaches the Huns’ stronghold, however, he discovers that corruption reigns still further west in Rome. Thus Val sets off with Sir Gawain and Tristam of Arthurian legend fame, and the familial kinship of the trio sees them through chivalrous escapades, false imprisonment and daring escapes. By the end of this volume, they go their separate ways, and Val boards a ship to Sicily—yet a storm approaches, throwing him off-course, as adventure follows him everywhere.

Fantagraphics is proud to present these strips, which, thanks to the use of original proof sheets and advances in printing technology, are even brighter and crisper than when they were originally published 70 years ago. Foster’s work, painterly and sweeping, is finally treated to the grand depiction it deserves. These illustrative, time-honored comic strips will enthrall old readers and just as easily awe new ones.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 12-page PDF excerpt which includes Mark Schultz's Introduction and 9 strips (6.55 MB). Also, read editor Kim Thompson's Afterword from Vol. 1, detailing the production and restoration of these new editions, right here on our website.

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

Bonus Savings: Order Prince Valiant Vols. 1 & 2 together for a discounted price of $47.99 (a savings of about 12 bucks)! Order now and we'll ship you both books when Vol. 2 arrives in our warehouse.

From our pal (and Hotwire contributor) David Lasky comes the following announcement:

This is an announcement for a benefit show I've been putting together — a fundraiser for ZAPP, Seattle's zine archive.

Come see readings by Jim Woodring (Weathercraft), Megan Kelso (Artichoke Tales), Lucy Morehouse (Ong Ong), Greg Stump (Dwarf Attack), Zach Mandeville (Funwater Awesome), Max Clotfelter and Kelly Froh (Stewbrew), Raleigh Briggs and Julia Lipscomb. Live music by Helen Parson! [Ed. note: our own Jason T. Miles will also be there with his Profanity Hill zine distro!]

Buy your tickets now for this June 15 event!

[We're pleased to present the following report and photos from Rebel Visions author Partrick Rosenkranz. – Ed.]

I heard last winter that Crumb 's Genesis artwork was coming to the Portland Art Museum but I didn't see anything in the local press about it until just recently. When I received a letter inviting me to attend the opening night reception on Thursday, June 10th I eagerly accepted, and not just for the food and open bar. I wanted to examine the pages up close — how much whiteout did he use (not much); the size of the originals (just a bit bigger than the printed pages); how the museum would display them (on partitions painted different colors organized by chapters with portraits of the main characters above); and what would staid Portland supporters of culture think about having one of the world's most sexually obsessed artists hanging in their museum (some claimed to be unaware of all that hanky panky in the Bible).

Of course I was totally blown away by his superb draftsmanship and mastery of human anatomy, animals, landscapes, and architecture. I bought and read the book when it came out, but that crisp black ink on white art boards looked so much more precise than their reproduction onto printed pages. Even the crosshatching and shadowing was revealed in all its convoluted entirety. On the other hand I was a little disappointed that he didn't give Genesis the down and dirty Crumb treatment we've come to expect and love, but I'm consoled by some of the other drawings he's released here and there showing what he might have done, like this Adam and Eve strip that appeared in the Crumb Handbook.

The exhibit is up until September 19th.

– Patrick Rosenkranz

[More photos after the jump – Ed.]

[Read more...]

No-longer-daily clips & strips (we'll probably be posting these twice a week for the foreseeable future) — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Gary Panter has reconfigured and updated his website; details via his blog

• Life Imitates Comics Dept: Andrei Molotiu discovers "The first abstract comics candy bar" (it does look remarkably like one of his own strips)

• From Steven Weissman, two new Post-It Show previews, this week's "I, Anonymous" and a fantastic Covered entry (above)

• Also on Covered, Jon Adams's delightfully cheeky homage to Chris Ware; elsewhere, the new episode of Jon's Truth Serum

• Speaking of the Post-It Show, here's one by Andrice Arp along with more info about the exhibit

• Sketchbook silhouettes by John Hankiewicz

• Frank Santoro's Italian job

• It's this week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• Jim Flora illustrated Ohio for Fortune Magazine, 1947

• Damselflies & mushrooms from Debbie Drechsler

• Gabrielle Bell posts the second half of her France travel diary as well as Laura Park's hilarious response thereto

• Paul Hornschemeier posts his newest Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop design and stumbles across his entry in a Nancy theme sketchbook which we've possibly featured on Flog before but it's worth another look

• Noah Van Sciver posts another excerpt from his work-in-progress The Hypo

• Josh Simmons introduces a new character at Quackers

• From Renee French, a head, a tube (photo), a bunny

• Steve Brodner plugs the documentary film Gasland

• Roger Langridge draws Barney Google

• More Tales of Abstraction House from Derek Van Gieson

• Johnny Ryan cat portrait

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: "A new, superb Frank book called Weathercraft came out a few weeks ago, but I treasured Frank as a periodical, and I'd love to sit down with a few hundred issues of it when I'm an old man. ... I think it's healthy for adolescent boys to have access to well-written, well-drawn comics about war, as long as the comics in question [like Blazing Combat] constantly pound home the message that war is futile, stupid and contemptible." – Douglas Wolk, "Ten Comics That Should Run Forever," TIME/Techland

• Review: "If you are in search for fresh ideas or even tried and true ideas presented in a fresh light, this is the book you've been yearning for. Werewolves of Montpellier is one of those true indie gems that make me glad I took a chance reading something outside of the mainstream. ... Werewolves of Montpellier is by far my favorite Indie Book of the Year so far. ... If you're a fan of the Coen Brothers or David Lynch, it's a safe bet that any work by Jason is going to be right up your alley. ...[I]n Werewolves of Montpellier, Jason takes his style of irreverence and perfects it. I guarantee if you take a chance with this book you will not forget it and seek out more Jason. It's one of those stories that sits with you long after page last comes to pass. Hilarious, profound, fun, and meaningful. Werewolves of Montpellier is filled with indie goodness." – Mark L. Miller, Ain't It Cool News

• Review: "Eisner Award winner Kim Deitch has been weaving a complex universe of ghosts, aliens, demons, puppets, spiritual leaders, and complicated animal characters for over 40 years, and in the tradition of Vonnegut, Deitch occasionally places himself in the middle of his own madness. If that sounds a bit meta, that’s only the barest tip of the squirmy, lascivious iceberg that Deitch has planned for you [in The Search for Smilin' Ed]. ... The lines between fiction and fact are so effectively blurred and made bizarre that I still retain a bit of paranoia and doubt about the veracity of any evidence that Smilin’ Ed was ever on TV... The images are so dense that it’s amazing they retain the clarity that they do, but it’s an amazing and unexpected study in the principles of positive and negative space." – Collin David, Graphic Novel Reporter

• Review: "By being both foreboding and accessible, menacing and friendly — and doing so without suffering from sort of comic book schizophrenia, Hensley manages to create something rather unique and deeply rewarding in Wally Gropius. This is a comic that rewards multiple readings and contemplation. It's also one of the best — and funniest — books of the year." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review: "Speaking of strange, what an oddly delightful little book [Dungeon Quest Book 1] is, a mash-up of Dungeons & Dragons-type adventuring and stoner attitude... To some degree, this book is a distant cousin to Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit. The main difference being that Daly is more concerned with pot jokes than gore. Both though, are part of this seemingly new try to find ways to give the familiar fantasy genre a clever twist. And both are concerned with exploring different ways to portray action and violence in comics. ... Based on the strengths of this introductory volume... I'm willing to go where the adventure leads to." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[O]ne of the collection’s great strengths [is that] it offers an extremely wide range of writing produced over eight years. ... While there’s a great deal to be learned by reading any such collection, Schwartz’s editorial approach makes The Best American Comics Criticism far more entertaining than I would have thought a collection of criticism could be." – Ken Parille, Blog Flume

• Review: "Giraffes [in My Hair]... is a personal lesson in history, love, redemption and all that other crap we look for in a good story — all that, and it's a lovingly illustrated graphic novel that breathes characterization and intrigue from the first page to the last. ... When you toss in Carol Swain's trademark pencil-scratch panels, the whole thing comes together as a great piece of art and story. Sure, it's about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but it's somehow still a new and fresh experience. I wish I'd come across it sooner." – Thorin Klosowski, Denver Westword

• Appreciation: "Even though a variety of comics initially got me interested in graphic novels (or comics for grown ups), the Hernandez brothers created a world which intrigued me the most. ...[W]ith Love and Rockets Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez struck a chord with me. Life, love, sex, action, punk, weirdness, sci-fi, death, art etc it’s all there. ... Overall all of the characters and stories are highly 'recognizable' from real life, in the way that they are human. Some stories are simple and some are surreal, just like life itself." – Matto Fredriksson, Music for Mechanics

• Interviewer: Johnny Ryan's already-legendary onstage interview with Lawrence "Real Deal" Hubbard (along with Dan Nadel's Art in Time panel) is now available for audio download at Comics Comics

This t-shirt design by Paul Hornschemeier made its debut on shirt.woot! yesterday and is still available as of right now. To celebrate its release, Paul has put all of the shirts in his own Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop on sale for a limited time. More info on Paul's News and Head Lice blog. Go! Buy!

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Temperance
by Cathy Malkasian

240-page two-color 8" x 10" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-323-1

Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Do ideas of war and enemies hold a people together? Is a culture of conflict too seductive not to be irresistible? These are the questions Cathy Malkasian explores in her second graphic novel, Temperance.

Malkasian creates, as she did in the critically acclaimed Percy Gloom, a fully realized, multi-layered world, inhabited by vividly realized characters. After a brutal injury in battle, Lester has no memory of his prior life. For the next thirty years his wife does everything to keep him from remembering — and re-constructing — a society, Blessedbowl, that elevates him as a hero. Blessedbowl is a cultural convergence of lies, memories, stories, and beliefs. Its people thrive on ideas of persecution, exceptionality, and enemies, convinced that war lurks just outside their walls. They have come to depend on Lester, their greatest war hero, to lead the charge once the Final Battle begins.

What kind of enemy could topple such a people and its walls? Mere memory, it seems, as Lester gradually emerges from his amnesia. Temperance is an eyewitness’s account of recovery and awakening. The graphic novel works on two levels. It considers the concepts of violence, stories, and belief, and their place in holding a culture together, slyly echoing contemporary political issues in a nation at a stressful time currently at war with a ubiquitous enemy. Secondly, the fissures in Lester and Minerva’s marriage is echoed in the greater political upheaval around them.

Malkasian creates a densely textured social context, masterfully conveying the idiosyncratic physical domain with its spiraling structures and quasi-medieval architecture along with intimate yet plastic portraits of her characters in a rich, tonal pencil line. Temperance is a galvanizing work of empathy and violence by one of today’s most thoughtful and accomplished cartoonists.

2008 Eisner Award Winner: Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award — Cathy Malkasian

Download an EXCLUSIVE 16-page PDF excerpt (18.7 MB).

Bonus Savings: Order Cathy Malkasian's Temperance + Percy Gloom together for a discounted price of $33.99 (a savings of about 8 bucks)!