FLOG! Entries - November 2007

Josh Simmons's horror influences

mike

House scribe Josh Simmons talks to The Horror Blog about Candyman, David Lynch, and "ripping nuggs." (Hat tip: Dirk)

New book illustrated by Richard Sala

Eric

A Loud Humming Sound Came From Above is a new book with cover and interior illustrations by our own, beloved Richard Sala and collecting twelve of Johnny Strike's genre-bending stories that weave together elements of vintage crime or sci-fi pulps in work that recalls variously the writings of Philip K. Dick, Edgar Allan Poe, William Burroughs and Raymond Chandler. Settings include a hellish prison workshop, a mercenary methadone clinic, and a hotel where the suicidal find a terrible reason to live; characters include the unlucky, the delusional, the sociopathic, and those doomed to see reality with a crippling clarity.

BEASTS! : Back on the Flog.

covey

Joshua "Brainiac" Glenn listed our book BEASTS! in his Boston Globe gift guide and then brought it to my attention that there is currently only one copy available on Amazon at regular price-- and one used for $72. Not wanting to see people needlessly waste their money I figured I'd announce that we are, indeed, coming out with a paperback edition next year. It won't be as fancy as the current edition but it will contain all the same great artwork. I don't foresee changing anything about the contents, although it will likely have a new cover design. Of course, if you read Chinese you may want to pick up the foreign edition that is being printed very soon.

Also, if you read the "BEASTS!" blog I set up a while back then you already know that I've decided to continue the anthology into a second volume with all new art and all new cryptids. And you've seen Jaime Hernandez's piece for it.

[Above: Dave Cooper's Bapets from Vol.1]

Brunch with Ho Che Anderson

mike

I meant to post this earlier, but couldn't find a working link until now: Multilingual European website Café Babel has an article on Ho Che Anderson, including video, plus some behind-the-scenes extras on their blog.

Dedini at GoofButton

Eric

Rare Eldon Dedini illustrations HERE for your visual pleasure.

Real HORRORSHOW, starring Johnny Ryan!

Eric

HORRORSHOW
The Art of JOHNNY RYAN
At Secret Headquarters
Friday November 30th, 2007

Dozens of new paintings inspired by cult, horror and exploitation films.
If that is not enough for you, there will be popcorn and movie inspired snacks. And if that isn't enough for you MALO-CANTINA will be providing margaritas. An odd mix, I know, but we'll make it work.

Johnny first developed his hilarious drawings in the self-published title Angry Youth Comix. Now published by Fantagraphics Books, Ryan's AYC has become the international bastion of lowbrow humor cartooning. Ryan's utterly unpretentious taboo-tackling is an infectious bombardment of political incorrectness.

Johnny will attend the opening from 7pm to 10pm. Secret Headquarters will feature Ryan's one-of-a kind original works of art through January 7th, 2008.

Located in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, California Secret Headquarters offers a sophisticated take on the traditional comic book store. Specializing in comic book culture, Secret Headquarters features the best in graphic novels, trade paperbacks and monthly titles.

We're having a PARTY and you're invited!

Eric

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery Celebrates First Anniversary on Saturday, December 8 with Debut Performance of the Tom Price Desert Classic

Following a phenomenally successful first year, it's party time at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown. On Saturday, December 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Fantagraphics commemorates this auspicious occasion with music, author appearances, a continuing display of Peanuts strips by Charles M. Schulz, and a one-day storewide sale. The festivities coincide with the colorful Georgetown Annual Holiday Artwalk.

Illustrious Fantagraphics cartoonists Jim Woodring, Ellen Forney and Jim Blanchard will preside over the party, which also marks the debut performance of The Tom Price Desert Classic. This group features prominent local musicians with past and present associations with the publisher. Fantagraphics alumnus Tom Price, former guitarist of the legendary U-Men, Monkeywrench, and Gas Huffer, is joined by current employee Martin Bland (Lubricated Goat, Bloodloss, Monkeywrench), ex-Huffers Matt Wright and Don Blackstone, and Joe Kilbourne (the Derelicts). Expect an extraordinary set of rootsy garage, punk, surf and psychobilly madness.

In the short span of one year, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery has established itself as a catalyst for our region's internationally recognized alternative comics, illustration and graphics arts communities. The public of all ages is invited to mingle with local cartoonists and view the current exhibition of "Unseen Peanuts" by Charles M. Schulz. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy exceptional music while getting a jump on holiday shopping with a special 20% discount on Fantagraphics diverse line of delightful, locally produced books.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale St. in the heart of Seattle's Georgetown business district. Open daily, 11:30 - 8:00 PM. Sundays until 5:00 PM.

Listing Information

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery First Anniversary Party
Featuring the Tom Price Desert Classic, Jim Woodring, Ellen Forney & Jim Blanchard
Saturday, December 8, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
All ages. Free admission.
1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) Seattle.
206.658.0110
www.fantagraphics.com

Millionaire, Crumb, Porygon, Vera, and DashShawRayFenwickTimLane

covey

Texans can buy Tony Millionaire a drink or have him sign your books this Saturday, December 1st, from 3 to 6 pm. (Austin Books & Comics, 5002 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78751.) And, yes, his Drinky Crow Show is in the works with new characters being developed and churned out of the Transylvanian Animation Factory as I type.

The insurance company was a bit put off by the condition of the offices here at Fantagraphics so we've been cleaning up. In the process this placemat sketch from R. Crumb was discovered. I've included a detail of, yes, Robert Crumb's drawing of a Pokemon (presumably one in the possession of Gary's son, Conrad).

Next Saturday, the 8th, Seattle has some good times going on. The Fantaversary for our 1 year old storefront in Georgetown and the annual Vera Bazaar craftfair along with the "Bring It, Screen It" event at The Vera Project in Belltown. BISI is a fun event for which various designers create a one-off Vera "logo" for the community to come in and try their hands at silkscreening their own shirts, etc. Below is my contribution (if, you know, somebody wants to "rainbow roll" their print). What can I say- Kids love skulls. It's a no-brainer.

Apropros of nothing: We've got some truly remarkable books coming out by "new" talents next year. I'm just sayin'.

UPDATE::: Thanks to Jenny "Felt Club" Ryan for doing stealth damage control when I erroneously called the Vera Bazaar the Bizarre Bazaar. Jenny was easy on me. It could have gotten real ugly.

Millionaire in Austin Dec. 1

Eric

Per Jacob's previous post:

Don't forget Popeye!

covey

See ya in the funny papers.

Eric

Mister Wonderful, Part 11

Eric

Read it here.

First look at Lust

mike

We just got our advance copies of Ellen Forney's Lust here at the office. Ellen picked hers up yesterday and posted this photo on her blog (Spongebob band-aid and all). Looks sharp! It'll be available in January; you can pre-order it now.

Jason previewed

Eric

The First Post excerpts Jason's latest comic masterpiece, the graphic novella I Killed Adolf Hitler. This is one of my favorite Jason books yet, a genre-bending time travel story that is a masterpiece of economy. Jason gets in and gets out like nobody's business. No chicken fat here. Read these first ten pages and see for yourself.

Seen Peanuts

mike

A handful of photos from Friday's opening of "Charles M. Schulz: Unseen Peanuts" at the Fantagraphics Bookstore can be seen by clicking the photo below:

Zut Alors, Fletcher Hanks!

covey

As the designer of Paul Karasik's "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets" I can tell you that there were dozens of directions considered for this cover design. I share Karasik's reverence for Fletcher Hanks and this final, spare white cover design [above, left] resulted from our joint response to how Hanks' work is most succinctly communicated. At the core his style is awkward but unmistakable and carries with it a baron, iconic force. His superheroes are omnipotent and dramatically unpredictable/unknowable.

I guess I'm disappointed in the new French edition cover that showed up in our offices this week [above, right]. More often than not the foreign reprints produce covers not by starting from scratch but by somehow "improving" our cover designs. And it's not like I wouldn't understand if, say, you the reader of this post thought that the French edition is just fine. But I'm still cranky that the underlying purpose to my design choices becomes cosmetic furniture to be rearranged and thrown out-- or, as is most often the case with these redesigns, added to. It's ALWAYS accumulated upon-- never stripped down.

And this angst isn't rooted so much in pride of my own work (and certainly not rooted in some sense of vicarious possessiveness) but, frankly, it would be fun to see another, better-than-my-own take on the cover. Something besides a redecoration. In this case the French surprised me by throwing a heavy blue shag carpet over the top of fine (white) hardwood floors. They FORCE us to contextualize our god-like hero, to literally solidify Stardust in space and thereby reduce his power. His omnipotent presence is gone and he simply becomes a component in a generic field of empty blue space. The iconic quality of his turned-away pose goes from being a stark portrait of his unknowable-ness to a poorly-timed snapshot of some sci-fi space traveler. (I'm not truly an expert but besides the fact that this panel is fabricated it doesn't FEEL like Hanks to me. His character is never so incidental to a composition and landscape never dwarfs his heroes. Though his worlds are bleak, they aren't so expansively EMPTY.)

And, yes, I realize there are dozens of reader guffaws rising up at my overanalysis of this composition. I know that nobody is viewing this cover and having these thoughts pop into their mind. For the record, I don't believe it's a conscious response that the book browser has to these things; I do believe there is an unconcscious response though. On my best day the goal is not to 'market' a book but to distill unconscious cues into evoking some story about the content in a single, eye-catching cover design... Ultimately I don't feel like this new design remains as pure to the artist's peculiarities, nor does it pop off a bookshelf as strongly. (Consider the effect of an expansive white cover with a vague superhero form that causes you to wonder what the hell you're looking at versus a niche-specific panel from a sci-fi comic book. The lack of context leaves some room to engage the viewer's own imagination and, therefore, compel that person to pick up the book.)

I digress.

In any case your favorite outsider comic artist just learned French and got that much more eccentric.

All of my personal issues aside, the production on the book's interior is excellent. The hand-lettering is translated and convincingly intergrated to the point that halftone backgrounds are continued seemlessly and the letters are uniquely degraded, blending into the page as if originally written in French. The printing is crisp and the color is solid. It's absolutely worth owning if you read French or have a beloved Frenchie on your holiday shopping list.

MEANWHILE:

You know who created a superb cover (and spine) design? Anders Nilsen for his "Monologues for the Coming Plague." Perfect. And today he loans some images of his sketchbooks and gives a Q&A to the great "Book By Its Cover" blog, which is really giving the spotlight to some cool cartoonists lately.

People really win!

mike

Fantagraphics manda!, originally uploaded by Besacalles.

The Flickr user who won our contest to be the 1000th person to add us as a contact posted this nice photomontage of her winnings. She chose Camille Rose Garcia's The Magic Bottle and John Benson's Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations. You're welcome, Besacalles!

Sayanora Suckers!

Dear Friends,

After nearly a dozen years of selling comic books for the Publisher of the World's Greatest Cartoonists, I must sadly announce that I am (voluntarily) moving on to other -- non-comics -- pastures.

When I started at Fantagraphics back in 1996, I had no idea what to expect from the comic book world. I was a naïve young pup just looking for a publishing job. Over the years I've learned a lot from the job (mostly by trial and error) and made a lot of good friends (and a few enemies). I have spent half of my 20's and 30's working for a company that stubbornly and stringently holds the integrity of their favored art form high above all else*. Working in comics and working for this company has given me extraordinary experiences that will influence everything that I do in the future.

Thank you for helping to create those experiences.

Sincerely,
Gregory Zura
Sales/Marketing Guy

* Excluding Eros, of course ;-)

Wimpy in the news

mike

With uncanny timing, this article in the Asia Times uses J. Wellington Wimpy as a metaphor for some sort of financial-market phenomenon that goes straight over my head. (Via Spurge.)

New Release: Popeye Vol. 2: "Well Blow Me Down!"

mike

Popeye Vol. 2: "Well Blow Me Down!"
by E.C. Segar

Our second volume (of six) of the acclaimed hit series collecting the entirety of E.C. Segar's original Popeye (a.k.a. Thimble Theatre) comic strips begins with a foreword by Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker and continues with an introduction by noted film and cartooning critic Donald Phelps. This second volume features work from 1930 to 1932, and most notably includes the debut of Segar's second greatest character: J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy stands as a one-of-a-kind icon some 70 years after his creation, the most likeable lowdown cad ever to grace the comics page. Popeye Vol. 2 includes the stories: "Clint Gore" (continued from the cliffhanger last volume); "A One-Way Bank," in which Popeye opens a bank that allows withdrawals but no deposits; a long war story featuring King Blozo that begins with "The Great Rough-House War"; and "Skullyville," which wraps up the daily strips for this volume.

168-page 11" x 17" B&W/color hardcover with die-cut cover $29.95
Order Now!