The Clouds Above (Softcover Ed.)
By Jordan Crane

Jordan Crane's all-ages classic is in paperback for the first time! This gorgeously packaged (yet affordable) children's fantasy has become an instant classic since its original hardcover release in 2005, becoming a perennial bestseller for Fantagraphics in three hardcover printings. This paperback edition — a first — includes five new pages not included previously!

On their way through the city to school, Simon and his cat Jack keep taking shortcuts that lead them through fantasy worlds of wooden monsters and insatiable appetites, just for starters. Will they make back home safely? This is undoubtedly one of the more handsome and unique packages in recent memory, with a brilliant graphic novel inside that justifies its elegant format. The Clouds Above calls to mind everything from Where the Wild Things Are to The Wizard of Oz to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with its depiction of a fantastic world that lurks just around the corner from reality and that only children believe exists.

224-page full-color 6" x 6" softcover $16.99
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Via the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive blog. Doom's metal tongue is a nice touch. 

All of the cool babies will be wearing Drool Buster bibs, created by Percy Gloom cartoonist Cathy Malkasian, for sale in her new Etsy shop. (Via The Wood Paneled Basement, the blog of Mome cartoonist Robert Goodin.)

This week's free preview is a downloadable 20-page excerpt from The Clouds Above, the all-ages classic from Jordan Crane which is being released in a new softcover edition this spring. These previews are exclusive to registered Fantagraphics.com users, so sign up and/or sign in to view. As a free bonus for everyone, the two images above, taken from the interior of the all-new cover flaps, are available for download as desktop wallpapers!

(As a reminder, 20/20 Club members receive these previews two weeks before we post them on the website... usually, except the past couple of weeks when we accidentally switched them around!)

We've put the entirety of Gary Groth's introduction to Explainers, the forthcoming collection of Jules Feiffer's Village Voice strips (due in June), here on the website for your reading pleasure. The feature includes a sideshow preview of 11 strips selected by Groth as standouts from the collection. Read it now!

Aw, shucks! The top response (with 37.1% of 170 votes) to our poll question "What was the primary reason you registered on Fantagraphics.com?" was "Just because I love you." See the full results here. Thanks for the outpouring of affection.

Starting today there's a brand new poll which you can find at the bottom of the right column here on FLOG and on various other pages of our site (including the homepage): Which part of our product listings do you find most useful or persuasive? The results will help us make the website an even better shopping experience, so vote today!

We made brief mention of this a few posts back, but here's the full announcement: 

By popular demand — by which we mean “endless nagging from people on the TCJ.com message board” — The Comics Journal is pleased to announce that online-only subscriptions are now available, at over half off the print-subscription price. Choose from five-issue and ten-issue subscriptions to the subscriber section of the TCJ website, where you can not only read the current issue over the Internet, but every issue from TCJ #278 to present as well! Details at the links.

But wait, there’s more! We realize that you might want a look at what you’re purchasing, so for one week only, we’ve decided to make the online version of current issue, TCJ #288, free in its entirety for your reading pleasure. The whole thing’s there, from the best-of-2007 section to the comics section, and there’s no need to register — just click here and start reading! Offer ends Sunday evening, March 16, at which time the issue goes back behind the subscriber firewall.

Enjoy!

It was a lively scene down at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday evening for our special Friends of the Nib Comics Jam with special guest of honor Kim Deitch and emcee Jim Woodring. We've got lotsa more photos right here at this link.

A happenin' crowd: 

 Kim signs books:

 Presenting a world premiere preview slideshow of Deitch's Pictorama:

 "Dial M for Monster"!

This installment of Steven Weissman's "Chocolate Cheeks" comes to you slightly tardy and in glorious black and white! In this week's strip: the perils of fame. (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)

Look what arrived at our offices yesterday: advance copies of The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968. It's due in stores in late April; we should have it available to order here on the website a couple of weeks before that. Stay tuned!

You sure are, Snoopy, you sure are.