FLOG! Entries for Mike Baehr - November 2012

Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012 by Jim Woodring - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012
by Jim Woodring

364-page black & white 5.25" x 8" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-594-5

Ships in: December 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown here as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last.

If you are one of the fortunate thousands who enjoy untangling the enigmatic images that fill Jim Woodring's comics and drawings, Problematic is just the book for you to put under your pillow and dream on.

Woodring is a devotee of the pocket-sized Moleskine sketchbook and has filled at least one per month since 2004. Quick concept sketches, figure studies, self-challenges, finished drawings, revenge portraits and caricatures, scene tryouts... everything goes into these idea batteries.

Problematic provides the adventurous viewer with a bounty of unfiltered, hand-captured glimpses of life by an artist that Publishers Weekly called "a modern master of hallucinatory cartoon fables." Lots of this material re-emerges in the form of pictures and storylines but much of it is just too baffling to be harnessed for any practical use. Of course, these untamable notions are the best and most interesting ones; and there are plenty of them here in the 300-page brick of Problematic.

Problematic is a rollicking amalgam of reportage (i.e. the man who blew his arm off), speculative anatomy, fancy women, make-a-face games, picture-puzzles, gags, riffs and burlesques. Catalogue and exhibition simultaneously, Problematic is your best bet for a brief, energizing stroll in a distinctively enjoyable neighborhood.

"When most people try to employ dream logic in their work they fail miserably but Jim [Woodring] is great at it. The closest thing to a peer he might have is David Lynch but even that's a stretch. Jim Woodring is the only Jim Woodring and no one has done what he does except for him." – Nicholas Gazin, Vice

A guided video tour of the book with Jim Woodring:

21-page excerpt (download 2.2 MB PDF):

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

First Look: The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics by Alexander Theroux

mike

January will bring another of our occasional non-comics books, a unique work of cultural and music criticism from the prolific mind of Alexander Theroux: The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics is a scathing and hilarious examination of stupid rhymes, dud lines, silly titles, and multifarious other aspects of popular recordings of the past century (with examples of quality included for contrast), from ABBA to Zappa. On the jacket, more fine work by designer Emory Liu (featuring a vintage Robert Crumb drawing) — and wait until you see the endpapers. Get a taste with a free 20-page excerpt, and pre-order a copy, right here.

Delphine by Richard Sala - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Delphine
by Richard Sala

128-page two-color (with some full color) 7.25" x 10" hardcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-590-7

Ships in: December 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

A mysterious traveler gets off the train in a small village surrounded by a thick sinister forest. He is searching for Delphine, who vanished with only a scrawled-out address on a scrap of paper as a trace.

Richard Sala takes the tale of Snow White and stands it on its head, retelling it from Prince Charming's perspective (the unnamed traveler) in a contemporary setting. This twisted tale includes all the elements of terror from the original fairy tale, with none of the insipid saccharine coating of the Disney animated adaptation: Yes, there will be blood.

Originally serialized as part of the acclaimed international "Ignatz" series, Delphine is executed in a rich and ominous duotone that shows off Sala's virtuosity — punctuated with stunning full-color chapter breaks.

11-page excerpt (download 9.5 MB PDF):

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

Cover Uncovered: Julio's Day by Gilbert Hernandez

mike

We're putting the final touches on Julio's Day by Gilbert Hernandez in preparation for sending it to the printer, so we can now reveal the lovely final designs for the front and back covers. Book designer Emory Liu is really making his mark, don't you think?

This astonishing graphic novel, finally collected from the pages of Love and Rockets Vol. II, encompasses a century-spanning life in 100 pages. Don't just take our word for it; have a squint at those lovely blurbs from Brian Evenson and Junot Díaz, below. If all goes well we should be looking at a March release for this book, and we're already taking pre-orders.

Our Cyber Monday Sale is on NOW!

mike

Our Cyber Monday Sale discount has kicked in! See our announcement for all the details. The clock's ticking so don't miss out!

7 Miles a Second by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger & Marguerite Van Cook - Previews, ...

mike

7 Miles a Second
by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook

68-page full-color 9" x 12" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-614-0

Ships in: January 2013 (subject to change) – Pre-Order Now

7 Miles a Second is the story of legendary artist David Wojnarowicz, written during the last years before his AIDS-related death in 1992. Artists James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook unsentimentally depict Wojnarowicz's childhood of hustling on the streets of Manhattan, through his adulthood living with AIDS, and his anger at the indifference of government and health agencies. A primal scream of a graphic novel, 7 Miles a Second blends the stark reality of Lower East Side street life with a psychedelic delirium that artfully conveys Wojnarowicz's sense of rage, urgency, mortality and a refusal to be silent.

Originally published as a comic book in 1996 by DC's Vertigo Comics, 7 Miles a Second was an instant critical success and has become a cult classic amongst fans of literary and art comics, just as Wojnarowicz's influence and reputation have widened in the larger art world. This new edition finally presents the artwork as it was intended: oversized, and with Van Cook's elegant watercolors restored. It also includes several new pages created for this edition.

"Revolutionary.... a runaway, over-the-top circus... An excursion into areas few, if any, comics creators have tread." – Jim Steranko

"Seven Miles a Second veers between an almost unbearably gritty naturalism and the incendiary heat of surrealist hallucination." – The New Yorker

"A revelatory work of art." – Art in America

"A cult classic... both a celebration of the unlimited potential of the comic book form, and a perfect melding of inspiring, iconoclastic imaginations." – Jim Jarmusch

7-page excerpt (download 4.8 MB PDF):

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

Prison Pit fan art by Guy Davis

mike

There's been some great Prison Pit fan art since the series started but if I were Johnny Ryan I'd be putting my feet up and basking in this one for a while: Guy Davis renders the unnamed hulking oafspawn from Book 4. Dig it bigger here.

Our Annual Cyber Monday Sale - 30% Off 2012 Releases & More!

mike

Get ready — it's almost time for our fourth annual Cyber Monday sale! All day Monday, Nov. 26, 2012, all of our regularly-priced, currently-available and pre-orderable 2012 releases are marked down 30%! That's a fantastic deal on over 90 items, including but not limited to:

• Beautiful collections of classic comics material starring beloved characters like Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse and Pogo Possum, plus the perfect Charlie Brown gift book

• More gorgeous volumes of classic newspaper strips Buz Sawyer, Captain Easy, Krazy Kat, Mr. Twee Deedle, Nancy, Peanuts (two volumes and box set), Popeye, and Prince Valiant (and top it off with some Naked Cartoonists)

• You like European flavor to your comics? With names like Mahler, Sæteroy (Jason to you), Ott, Giandelli, Swarte, Tardi, Trondheim, and Mattotti, not to mention all the umlauts in our Nordic comics anthology, we've got you couveured

• Not to mention Weissman, Kaczynski, Rickheit, Carré, Kupperman, Regé, Van Sciver... ha, fooled ya, they're all 'Merican! They all have new graphic novels and story collections, along with Wright, Daly (South African!), and Simmons

• From the other side of the other ocean, beautiful manga by Moto Hagio and Shimura Takako

• The Alternative Comics Canon: brand new stories, collections and reprints by all-time greats Drew Friedman, Bill Griffith, Peter Bagge, Linda Medley, Spain Rodriguez, Gary Panter, Richard Sala, Diane Noomin, Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime & Gilbert, Jack Jackson, Daniel Clowes, Johnny Ryan, Jim Woodring, Rich Tommaso, R. Crumb, Crumb, and more Crumb, and C. Tyler, plus a historic collection of queer comics

• Explore the intersection of art & literature with art books by Flannery O'Connor & Malcolm McNeill (working with William S. Burroughs), a collection of visual poetry, the Significant Objects book... and plain old literature by Stephen Dixon and Monte Schulz

• Discover aspects of pop-cultural history, from Black Power to vintage skin flicks

• Deluxe collections of vintage comics material by a pantheon of greats: Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Joe Kubert, Mort Meskin, Simon & Kirby, Basil Wolverton, Jack Davis, Wallace Wood & Harvey Kurzman in the EC Comics Library, MAD-inspired parody comics and the greatest Golden Age covers,

• And some other stuff too — see the whole selection here!

PLUS: You love our exclusive FBI•MINI comics we give away with qualifying purchases, but maybe there's some you've missed out on. Well during the sale you can get DOUBLE MINIs! That's right, order a book that has an accompanying MINI and get another one of your choice, or get two of your choice instead of one for your purchase of $50 and up. All for FREE! Just indicate your preferences at checkout. And we're announcing FIVE new MINIs just for the occasion:

Angelman Merchandise Catalogue by Nicolas Mahler
Thank You by Ron Regé, Jr.
Sigmund Freud by Hans Rickheit
Ralph Azham Covers by Lewis Trondheim
Even More Problematic by Jim Woodring (available in December)

Whew! 2012 has been our biggest year yet... and here's your best chance to get caught up and spread the love of comics with beautiful gifts for all your friends and family!

The sale runs all day Monday, November 26, and ends at midnight Pacific time. Don't miss out! Order online or by phone (1-800-657-1100; 206-524-1967 outside the U.S., 9AM-6PM Pacific time); this sale does not apply at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.

The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

The Heart of Thomas (トーマの心臓 / Thomas no Shinzō)
by Moto Hagio

528-page black & white (with some color) 7" x 9.5" hardcover • $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-551-8

Ships in: December 2012 (subject to change) – Pre-Order Now

BARGAIN COMBO:
The Heart of Thomas + A Drunken Dream Gift Set

Price: $64.98 $51.98

The setting: A boys' boarding school in Germany, sometime in the mid-20th Century. One winter day, fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death, immediately after sending a single, brief letter to another boy at the school:

To Juli, one last time.
This is my love.
This is the sound of my heart.
Surely you must understand.

Thus begins Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas — one of the most compelling and enigmatic manga graphic novels ever created, and a pioneer in the popular boys'-romance "shounen-ai" genre. Thomas's death (was it an accident? Suicide? Or even murder?) immediately throws the school into turmoil, while his letter sets off a chain of emotional upheaval both for the recipient and an ever-expanding circle of friends, family, and teachers, as secrets are revealed and shared. And then a new boy who looks exactly like Thomas shows up at school…

Unabashedly romantic and emotionally complex, The Heart of Thomas features an unusual, richly imagined setting and a cast of memorable characters. This timeless masterpiece is now finally available to American readers.

23-page excerpt (download 8.2 MB PDF):

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

Holiday Shipping Cutoffs for 2012

mike

Hello, loyal mail-order customers! Just a friendly reminder that in order for your shipment to be delivered in time for the Christmas holiday, we must receive your order before 5 PM Pacific time on the following dates (note that these are guidelines and not a guarantee of delivery):

International – Global Mail: Tuesday, November 27
International – Airmail: Monday, December 10
Domestic – Media Rate/UPS Ground: Friday, December 14
Domestic – Priority Mail: Monday, December 17
Domestic – 2nd Day UPS: Thursday, December 20

See our Shipping Charges & Information page for more general information on shipping methods, rates and so on.

(Image from Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking — the perfect stocking stuffer!)

New Comics Day 11/21/12: Castle Waiting #18

mike

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about it (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.

Castle Waiting Vol. II #18
by Linda Medley

24-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" comic book • $3.95

"I do believe Castle Waiting Vol. II #18 wraps up the current storyline for Linda Medley’s long-running fantasy comic..." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal

"If I had $15, I’d keep my purchases solely to Castle Waiting #18, the final issue in Volume 2 of Linda Medley’s slow-moving, but charming fantasy series. I don’t know if Medley is planning on a Vol. 3 or not — I hope so — her cast has grown on me and I want to continue to learn more about them." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

First Look: Prince Valiant Vol. 6: 1947-1948 by Hal Foster

mike

Let's face it, if you're reading our new hardcover collections of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, you know that every volume is a must-have, but our latest, Vol. 6, is a particular can't-miss. In it, Val and his new bride Aleta travel the New World (beating Columbus, and even Leif Ericson, by centuries) from Newfoundland to Niagara Falls and are joined by a bouncing baby Prince — that's right, it's the birth of Arn! This volume also features some of our most spectacular bonus features ever, including a double-sized fold-out of a strip hand-colored by Foster. You can get it in January (and we'll have more extensive previews by then); pre-order is open now and you can read a 12-strip excerpt, all right here.

Castle Waiting Vol. II #18 by Linda Medley - Available Tomorrow!

mike

Shipping from our mail-order department and arriving in comic shops tomorrow:

Castle Waiting Vol. II #18
by Linda Medley

24-page black & white 6.75" x 10.25" comic book • $3.95

The conclusion to Castle Waiting Volume II! The castle folk prepare for winter as Dr. Fell surprises everyone with a previously hidden talent, and the exasperated poltersprites move to claim the Keep as their own.

"Castle Waiting creates a vibrant fantasy world not unlike The Lord of the Rings' Middle-earth but with a focus on the lives of women.... Fun to read and look at, Castle Waiting will enthrall fantasy readers of both genders." – Time

Read the first 3 pages below (click images for larger versions):

Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures: The Joe Kubert Archives Vol. 1 - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures: The Joe Kubert Archives Vol. 1
by Joe Kubert; edited by Bill Schelly

240-page full-color 7.5" x 10.75" hardcover • $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-581-5

Ships in: December 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Joe Kubert sealed his reputation as one of the greatest American comicbook cartoonists of all time with the four-color adventures of Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Enemy Ace, and Tarzan, all done for DC Comics during the 1960s and 1970s (themselves already the subject of archival editions)... but he had been working in comics since the 1940s. In fact, young Kubert produced an exciting, significant body of work as a freelance artist for a variety of comic book publishers in the postwar era, in a glorious variety of non-super hero genres: horror, crime, science fiction, western, romance, humor, and more.

For the first time, 33 of the best of these stories have been collected in one full-color volume, with a special emphasis on horror and crime. The Kubert work in this book is that of a burgeoning talent attacking the work with tremendous panache, and in the process, developing a style that became one of the most distinctive in the medium.

Since these stories were written and drawn in the pre-Comics Code era, they are more thrilling, violent and sexy (by contemporary standards) than much of his later, Code-constrained work. And just the titles of the comic books from which these stories are taken are wonderfully evocative of a bygone era of four-color fun: Cowpuncher, Abbott and Costello Comics, Three Stooges, Eerie, Planet Comics, Meet Miss Pepper, Strange Terrors, Green Hornet Comics, Whack, Jesse James, Out of This World, Crime Does Not Pay, Weird Thrillers, Police Lineup, and Hollywood Confessions.

As with Fantagraphics’ acclaimed Steve Ditko and Bill Everett Archives series, Weird Horrors and Daring Adventures boasts state-of-the-art restoration and retouching, and an extensive set of historical notes and an essay by the book’s editor Bill Schelly, author of the Art of Joe Kubert art book and Man of Rock Kubert biography.

22-page excerpt (download 14.9 MB PDF):

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

First Look: Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 2 by Michael Kupperman

mike

Don your finest potato sack, put the nearest container on your head and get ready for the January arrival of Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 2, the second hardcover collection of Michael Kupperman's cult-smash humor comic! Join Snake 'n' Bacon, Twain & Einstein, Quincy M.E., Jungle Princess and a cast of dozens more on an absurd journey through history, to the moon and into your dreams! This volume collects issues 5-8, plus a full issue's worth of brand-new never-before-seen material. See for yourself why Conan O'Brien says Kupperman has "one of the best comedy brains on the planet right now." Read a 16-page excerpt and pre-order your copy (with a money-saving deal on a set of both volumes) right here.

Cover Uncovered: Prison Pit Book 5 by Johnny Ryan

mike

Nobody can ever accuse Johnny Ryan of slacking. Prison Pit Book 4 is still warm on the shelves and already Johnny has turned in the cover art for Book 5, which won't be out until Fall of next year. What is that floating death head tank thing? Who are those guys? What kind of crazy shit is gonna happen in this one? WHAT KIND???

Jim Woodring's guided video tour of Problematic

mike

Uncle Jim takes you on a narrated tour through his upcoming book Problematic: Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2012 (due next month) and shows off a few of the original Moleskine notebooks from which the drawings in the book were taken, describing it all in his inimitable style. Hey, this means I don't have to shoot the usual preview video of the book — although in a bit of a switcheroo, Jim has loaned us 4 of his sketchbooks for us to shoot and upload video of those (they're just sitting around in my living room right now, no big deal, PLOTZ), so stay tuned for that!

Jack Jackson video profile

mike

Jaxon - drawn to the task from Telebob on Vimeo.

If you'd like to know more about Jack Jackson before digging in to our forthcoming volume Jack Jackson's American History: Los Tejanos & Lost Cause, this short video documentary created by Bob Simmons is an excellent primer. (Hat tip to Patrick Rosenkranz for pointing it out to us a ways back.)

Cover Uncovered: Forlorn Funnies Vol. 1 by Paul Hornschemeier

mike

Hot pixels! Paul Hornschemeier just revealed the cover art for Forlorn Funnies Vol. 1, the first volume of his new one-man anthology series which we have the pleasure of bringing to you in September of next year. (You may remember it was originally announced for Fall 2010, but then Paul got busy with little things like getting married, moving, becoming a dad, doing artwork and animation for an IFC show amongst other projects... stuff like that.) For several months now Paul has been revealing work-in-progress glimpses (along with sketchbook artwork) on his Tumblr blog, so head over there for a taste of things to come.

First Look: 7 Miles a Second by Wojnarowicz, Romberger & Van Cook

mike

It's our great privilege to be bringing you a "lost" comics masterpiece of the 1990s in a new, definitive, remastered, expanded hardcover edition. 7 Miles a Second is the memoir of renowned artist, writer, filmmaker and activist David Wojnarowicz, from his youth husling on the streets of Manhattan to his battle with AIDS in adulthood, drawn by James Romberger and colored by Marguerite Van Cook. Alternately lyrical and harrowing, blending gritty realism with elements of surrealism and psychedelia, it's been called "revelatory," "revolutionary" and "a cult classic"... and now it can finally be seen the way it was always intended. This book should be available in January, and it looks like we'll be able to offer an exclusive signed bookplate, possibly with brand new art, to our mail-order customers. Stay tuned for details and more extensive previews; read a 7-page excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.