FLOG! Entries for Mike Baehr - September 2012

Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking by Charles M. Schulz - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking
by Charles M. Schulz

56-page three-color 5.75" x 5.75" hardcover • $9.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-624-9

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

During his fifty-year career, ninety-nine percent of Charles Schulz's creative energies went into the daily Peanuts comic strip. But once in a while he would create a special something else on the side, and this adorable little package collects two of his best "extras" from the 1960s: two Christmas-themed stories written and drawn for national magazines.

Created in 1963 (two years before the Charlie Brown Christmas TV special) as a supplement for Good Housekeeping magazine, "Charlie Brown's Christmas Stocking" comprises 15 original captioned vignettes featuring the entire Peanuts cast of the time — Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Frieda, Violet, Shermy, and Sally — each with a joke or reflection about the season.

"The Christmas Story" is an original tale created for Woman's Day in 1968, this one focusing just on Snoopy and the Van Pelt siblings, with Lucy and Linus each explaining the meaning of the holiday to Snoopy. "I’m going to have to be careful," Snoopy reflects at the end of the story, resting on his doghouse next to his bone-decorated tree; "all this theology could ruin my Christmas."

The book also includes notes on the provenance of the stories and a pocket-sized biography of Schulz. A perfect gift item for the season!

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

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson Vol. 4 & Vol. 3-4 Box Set - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 4: House of the Seven Haunts
by Floyd Gottfredson

280-page black & white/color 10.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-575-4

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

Who says dead men tell no tales? When grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize, they’ll find fearless Mickey all ready to rumble — as soon as he’s done fighting gangsters, bandits, and international men of mystery, that is! From Africa to Eastern Europe, our favorite big cheese is in for terrifying thrills — and he’s bringing Goofy, Donald Duck, and that big palooka Pegleg Pete along for the ride!

When Mickey sets out to eject "The Seven Ghosts" from Bassett Manor, he finds more than just specters providing the scares! Next, moving smoothly from horror to science fiction, our hero discovers an awesome "Island in the Sky" — and meets its maker, the powerful atomic scientist Dr. Einmug!

Lovingly restored from Disney’s original negatives and proof sheets, House of the Seven Haunts also includes more than 50 pages of spooky supplementary features! You’ll enjoy rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and fascinating commentary by a haunted houseful of Disney scholars.

20-page excerpt (download 3.5 MB PDF):

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

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 3 + 4 Box Set
by Floyd Gottfredson

two 280-page black & white/color 10.5" x 8.75" hardcovers with slipcase • $49.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-576-1

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

Two more volumes of Mickey's thrilling adventures from the 1930s, packaged in a beautiful and sturdy slipcase and priced cheaper than the individual volumes! A perfect gift and/or collector's item.

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

First Look: Nancy Likes Christmas by Ernie Bushmiller

mike

Get ready for a second helping of silliness and Sluggo in Nancy Likes Christmas: Complete Dailies 1946-1948 by Ernie Bushmiller, coming this November! It's another three years of goofy gags and graphic genius packaged with pop-art panache, and featuring an intro by Zippy creator and Nancy aficionado Bill Griffith. Our advance copies have arrived here at HQ (obviously) which means we'll be bringing you more previews and sneak peeks in the days to come; in the meantime you can get your pre-order in here, and find a money-saving deal on a combo of this and the previous volume here.

First Look: Walt Disney's Donald Duck: A Christmas for Shacktown by Carl Barks

mike

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, with more advance copies of holiday-themed books arriving at our door. Hitting shelves in November, it's the third book in our smash hit Carl Barks Library series, Walt Disney's Donald Duck: A Christmas for Shacktown! Another snappy hardcover collection of some of the greatest comics ever made, presented with our usual commitment to quality... need we say more? How about a 24-page excerpt with the Table of Contents and a big chunk of the featured title story? See that, and pre-order copies for under the tree and on your shelves, right here.

Blacklung by Chris Wright - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Blacklung
by Chris Wright

128-page black & white 9.25" x 12.25" hardcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-587-7

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

Chris Wright’s Blacklung is unquestionably one of the most impressive graphic novel debuts in recent years, a sweeping, magisterially conceived, visually startling tale of violence, amorality, fortitude, and redemption, one part Melville, one part Peckinpah. Blacklung is a story that lives up to the term graphic novel, that could only exist in sequential pictures — densely textured, highly stylized, delicately and boldly rendered drawings that is, taken together, wholly original.

In a night of piratical treachery when an arrogant school teacher is accidentally shanghaied aboard the frigate Hand, his fate becomes inextricably fettered to that of a sardonic gangster. Dependent on one another for survival in their strange and dangerous new home, the two form an unlikely alliance as they alternately elude or confront the thieves and cutthroats that bad luck has made their companions and captors. After an act of terrible violence, the teacher is brought before the ship’s captain and instructed to use his literary skills to aid him in writing his memoirs. He is to serve as scribe for a man who, in his remaining years, has made it his mission to commit as many acts of evil as possible in order to ensure that he meet his dead wife in hell. As the captain’s protected confidant, finding his only comfort in the few books afforded him, the teacher bears witness to monstrous brutality, relentless cruelty, strange wisdom, and a journey of redemption through loss of faith.

Advance Praise:

“I could not have imagined how impressive a work Blacklung would turn out to be. It’s a graphic novel, both in its vernacular term and in a more literal sense, violent and horrible and poetic at the same time – the sort of thing McCarthy might write if he were more interested in pirates than cowboys or Appalachians. Blacklung is a great book; canonically great.” —Chris Schweizer (Crogan’s Adventures)

“A truly organic and interesting way to cartoon, the complete package of verbal cadence and informative visual style.” – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

12-page excerpt (download 4.9 MB PDF):

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

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman - Now in Stock

mike

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:

Barack Hussein Obama
by Steven Weissman

112-page full-color 7.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-623-2

See Previews / Order Now

What does it mean to live in America today? If you know there’s no right answer to that question, you’ll want to read Barack Hussein Obama — a book about you; about your country, your family, your president.

Barack Hussein Obama is not a graphic novel. It’s neither a biography nor an experiment, but a whole, fully-realized parallel America, a dada-esque, surrealistic satirical vision that is no more cockeyed than the real thing, its weirdness no more weird, its vision of the world no more terrifying, where the zombie-esque simulacra of Joe Biden and Hillary and Newt and Obama wander, if not exactly through the corridors of power, through an America they made and have to live in, like it or not.

American cartoonist Steven Weissman takes from the lives of the leader of the free world, his friends, his family, his sworn enemies, and gives them a new life that is both withering and oblique, devastating and contemplative, chaotic and pellucid.

Before you lose your will to vote, read Barack Hussein Obama.

Naked Cartoonists: Drawers Drawing Themselves Without Drawers - Now in Stock

mike

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:

Naked Cartoonists: Drawers Drawing Themselves Without Drawers
by various artists; edited by Gary Groth

156-page full-color 6.25" x 8.25" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-538-9

See Previews / Order Now

At last!

Cartoonists — Naked!

In an irreverent twist to the fine art tradition of The Nude, this unique and original collection presents a “stripped” down version of the infamous “Gallery of Rogues” exhibit of cartoonist self-portraits at Ohio State University.

Here you’ll find a cornucopia of cartoonists’ nude self-portraits from the collection of Mark J. Cohen and Rose Marie McDaniel.

The cartoonists inside aren’t afraid to bare all. Here you’ll find: Scott (Dilbert) Adams, Sergio (Mad) Aragonés, Will (The Spirit) Eisner, Will (Mad) Elder, Jules (Village Voice) Feiffer, Al (Mad Fold-Ins) Jaffee, Lynn (For Better Or For Worse) Johnston, Bil (Family Circus) Keane, Russell (Broom-Hilda) Myers, Charles (Peanuts) Schulz, Jeff (Bone) Smith, Art (Maus) Spiegelman, Mort (Beetle Bailey) Walker, Gahan (The New Yorker) Wilson and over 50 more!

The Kupperuffington Post

mike

Good news for anyone mourning the demise of Michael Kupperman's weekly Up All Night strip (or any Kupperman fan, or anyone who likes funny things): he's now back on the beat doing a regular strip for The Huffington Post. Kupperman! Huffington! Kupperman! Huffington! Kupperman! Huffington! Kupperman! Huffington! Kupperman! Huffington!

...and Spacehawk for Halloween!

mike

We just gave you your first glimpse of our big, deluxe collection of Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk; now here's a look at a much smaller Spacehawk package which you can pick up for FREE on Halloween exclusively at participating comic shops: our Spacehawk Halloween ComicFest 2012 mini-comic! Featuring a complete space-faring, monster-jammed Spacehawk story and some fun Spacehawk surprises cooked up by our own Jen Vaughn, this all-ages treat was produced especially for Halloween ComicFest 2012. It's our second 2012 Halloween freebie along with Jack Davis's Tales from the Crypt!

First Look: Spacehawk by Basil Wolverton

mike

Spaaaaaaaacehaaaaaaawwk! We just got our advance copies of a book that Basil Wolverton fans have been clamoring for for years and anyone who likes weird, wonderful comics will definitely want to check out: a complete collection of Wolverton's amazing Spacehawk sci-fi/Axis-busting adventure comics from 1940-1942. Painstakingly restored in glorious, saturated full color in an oversized (seriously, it's a big book) Flexibound softcover, this magnificent package will have your eyeballs blasting out of their sockets and into deep space. It'll be available in about 2 months; you can pre-order a copy and read a honking 26-page excerpt now, and we'll have more previews to share in between now and then. (And check our next post for more Spacehawky news.)

Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories (The EC Comics Library)
by Harvey Kurtzman, et al.

240-page black & white/color 7.25" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-545-7

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

BARGAIN COMBO: Corpse on the Imjin! + Came the Dawn (The EC Comics Library) Gift Set Price: $57.98 $46.38

Order this book and receive the Jack Davis's Tales from the Crypt Halloween mini-comic shown here as a FREE bonus! Limit one per customer while supplies last.

The creation of MAD would have been enough to cement Harvey Kurtzman’s reputation as one of the titans of American comics, but Kurtzman also created two other comics landmarks: the scrupulously-researched and superbly-crafted war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. Here were finally war comics without heroic, cigar-chomping sergeants, wisecracking privates from Brooklyn, or cartoon Nazis and “Japs” to be mowed down by the Yank heroes, but an unflinching look at the horror and madness of combat throughout history.

Kurtzman employed some of the finest of the EC artists including Jack Davis, John Severin, and Wallace Wood, but his vision came through clearest in the dozen or so stories he both wrote and drew himself, in his uniquely bold, slashing, cartoony-but-dead-serious style (“Stonewall Jackson,” “Iwo Jima,” “Rubble,” “Big ‘If ’,” and Kurtzman’s own favorite, “Air Burst”) — as well as his vividly colored, narratively-dense covers, all 23 of which are reproduced here in full color in a special portfolio.

Corpse on the Imjin! is rounded off with a dozen or so stories written and laid out by Kurtzman and drawn by “short-timers,” i.e. cartoonists whose contributions to his war books only comprised a story or two — including such giants as designer extraordinaire Alex Toth, Marvel comics stalwart Gene Colan, and a pre-Sgt. Rock Joe Kubert... and such unexpected guests as “The Lighter Side of...” MAD artist Dave Berg and DC comics veteran Ric Estrada — as well as a rarity: a story by EC regular John Severin inked by Kurtzman.

Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC line, Corpse on the Imjin! features extensive essays and notes on these classic stories by EC experts — but Kurtzman’s stories, as vital, powerful, affecting, and even, yes, modern today as when they were created 60 years ago, are what makes this collection a must-have for any comics reader.

25-page excerpt (download 3 MB PDF):

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

Buz Sawyer Vol. 2: Sultry's Tiger by Roy Crane - Now in Stock

mike

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:

Buz Sawyer Vol. 2: Sultry's Tiger
by Roy Crane

228-page black & white/color 9.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-499-3

See Previews / Order Now

BARGAIN COMBO: Buz Sawyer Vols. 1 + 2 Gift Set Price: $70.00 $56.00

World War II has ended, and with so many pilots mustered out at the end of the war, jobs for pilots are hard to find, and Buz’s record as a “hot-shot” pilot does not recommend him to commercial airlines. While looking for a job, Buz visits his old alma mater and spends time with glamorous Tot Winter and girl-next-door Christy Jameson. He finally finds the perfect job as a troubleshooter for International Airways, flying to trouble spots all over the world.

He encounters Sultry, the beautiful and dangerous woman he met on a Japanese-held island during the war, with fatal results for a major character in the strip. He travels to the arctic to stop the Mad Baron, an insane ex-Nazi trying to shoot down International Airways planes. And, in the only adventure to combine the daily and Sunday story lines, he teams up with his old pal Roscoe Sweeney to discover a fabulous ancient Mayan treasure. This book reprints the Sunday pages from this adventure in full color for the first time.

In the last adventure in our 2nd volume, Buz is kidnapped and flown to Africa by mysterious assailants. His friend Chili Harrison bets International Airways chief Mr. Wright $200 that even in this desperate situation, Buz will manage to get involved with a pretty girl. Long-time readers of the strip will have no trouble guessing who wins that bet.

Comic strip historian Brian Walker wrote, “Buz Sawyer combined fast-paced adventure stories…with authentically illustrated military equipment and real locations, which Crane researched during trips around the world.”

Roy Crane’s drawing and storytelling skills just get better and better. With this volume’s Buz reprints from 1945 to 1947, Crane hit his stride.

Subscribe to the next 3 volumes of Wandering Son!

mike

Readers of Shimura Takako's Wandering Son series are among the most vocal and devoted fans we have, and to reward your loyalty we're pleased to offer a special discounted subscription on the next three volumes (4-6) with FREE domestic shipping (and discounted foreign shipping rates)! Or, if you prefer, you can pre-order this December's Vol. 4 and/or next June's Vol. 5 separately right now. We'll start posting previews of Vol. 4 next month, so be on the lookout for that.

The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln by Noah Van Sciver - Now in Stock

mike

Just arrived and shipping now from our mail-order department:

The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln
by Noah Van Sciver

192-page black & white 7.25" x 9.25" hardcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-619-5

See Previews / Order Now

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

The debut graphic novel from Noah Van Sciver follows the twentysomething Abraham Lincoln as he loses everything, long before becoming our most beloved president. Lincoln is a rising Whig in the state’s legislature as he arrives in Springfield, IL to practice law. With all of his possessions under his arms in two saddlebags, he is quickly given a place to stay by a womanizing young bachelor who becomes his friend and close confidant. Lincoln builds a life and begins friendships with the town’s top lawyers and politicians. He attends elegant dances and meets an independent-minded young woman from a high-society Kentucky family, and after a brisk courtship, becomes engaged. But, as time passes and uncertainty creeps in, young Lincoln is forced to battle a dark cloud of depression brought on by a chain of defeats and failures culminating into a nervous breakdown that threatens his life and sanity. This cloud of dark depression Lincoln calls “The Hypo.”

Dense crosshatching and an attention to detail help bring together this completely original telling of a man driven by an irrepressible desire to pull himself up by his bootstraps, overcome all obstacles, and become the person he strives to be. All the while unknowingly laying the foundation of character he would use as one of America’s greatest presidents.

Advance praise:

"Noah Van Sciver has brought new soul to this hard, weird time in Lincoln's life. The Hypo is a story of suffering & yearning, artfully told." — Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Lincoln's Melancholy

"Noah Van Sciver has developed a storytelling style that I find enormously appealing. In this book he's used that style to create a vivid and engaging portrait." — Chester Brown, author of Louis Riel

Bricks for the Bros: Love and Rockets wins 3 Ignatz Awards!

mike

We have lots of post-SPX catching-up to do but first and foremost congratulations are in order to Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez who swept their Ignatz Award categories and came away from the ceremony lugging 3 brick trophies: Outstanding Series for Love and Rockets: New Stories, Outstanding Artist for Jaime, and Outstanding Story for Jaime's "Return for Me" from Love and Rockets: New Stories #4! Outstanding indeed, and a perfect way to usher in the new issue by capping off a year of universal and thunderous acclaim for the previous issue. We'll hopefully have a first-hand report and photos from the scene once our away team gets settled back in here.

Presenting Mark Kalesniko's 'Tarantula'!

mike

We are excited to present an all-new, all-original 40 page comic by Mark Kalesniko for FREE, exclusively here on the Fantagraphics website! "Tarantula" is a hair-raising, funny, exciting, creepy-crawly tale which pits Mark's protagonist Alex against an unwelcome 8-legged home invader. Enjoy this fun and fast-moving tale right here!

Came the Dawn and Other Stories by Wallace Wood - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

Came the Dawn and Other Stories (The EC Comics Library)
Illustrated by Wallace Wood; written by Al Feldstein et al.; edited by Gary Groth

208-page black & white 7.25" x 10.25" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-546-4

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

BARGAIN COMBO: Corpse on the Imjin! + Came the Dawn (The EC Comics Library) Gift Set Price: $57.98 $46.38 Add to Cart

Order this book and receive the Jack Davis's Tales from the Crypt Halloween mini-comic shown here as a FREE bonus! Limit one per customer while supplies last.

The 20th century had hit its exact midpoint. Social upheaval — sexual, social, racial, cultural — was in the air; and the fledgling EC comics line was about to become a vital part of it.

Working within the horror, war, crime, and science fiction genres, publisher William Gaines and editor/writer Al Feldstein combined a deliciously disreputable, envelope-pushing sensibility with moments of genuine, outraged social consciousness, which shone a hard light onto such hot-button topics as racism, anti-Semitism, mob justice, and misogyny and sexism.

The 1950s were also a launching pad for some of the greatest comic book artists in history, many of whom worked for EC — including Wallace Wood, whose hypnotically detailed, lushly expressive brushwork brought to life menacing thugs, ominous cityscapes, and small-town America, as well as Everymen grappling with profound moral issues — not to mention some of the most heart-stoppingly beautiful women ever to sashay across a comic book page.

Came the Dawn collects all 26 Wood-drawn horror and crime stories — including the full baker’s dozen of EC’s most courageous and politically charged dramas.

Taking its title from one of Wood’s all-time classics, the evil little paranoid thriller “Came the Dawn,” this collection features page after page after page of Wood’s sleek and meticulously crafted artwork put in the service of cunning twist-ending stories, most often from the typewriter of EC editor Al Feldstein. These tales range from supernatural shockers from the pages of Tales From the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear (“The Living Corpse,” “Terror Ride,” “Man From the Grave,” “Horror in the Freak Tent”) to often pointedly contemporary crime thrillers from Crime SuspenStories (“The Assault,” “The Whipping,” and “Confession,” which was singled out for specific excoriation in the anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent, thus giving it a special cachet), but the breathtaking art and whiplash-inducing shock endings are constants throughout.

Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC line, Came the Dawn features extensive essays and notes on these classic stories by EC experts — but the real “meat” of the matter (sometimes literally, in the grislier stories) is supplied by these ofted lurid, sometimes downright over-the-top, but always compelling and superbly crafted, classic comic-book masterpieces.

23-page excerpt (download 2.4 MB PDF):

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

Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 2 is in the can!

mike

At 3:29 AM EDT on Tuesday, Michael Kupperman completed work on the new material to be included in the second hardcover collection of Tales Designed to Thrizzle! It's the equivalent of a full new issue of the series, in addition to the material compiled from issues 5-8. It's all in our hands now to be laid out by our art department and shipped off to the printer for a December release. Above, a tiny taste posted by Michael on Twitter.

Captain Easy erratum

mike

That "lickety-WHOP" sound you hear is us beating ourselves up over a recently-discovered error in Roy Crane's Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune Vol. 3. Editor Rick Norwood explains:

"I made a serious mistake in editing Captain Easy Volume 3: an older strip appeared where the July 3, 1938 strip should have been. I apologize for my error. The missing strip will appear in Captain Easy Volume 4, and can be viewed now [above]."

Click the image above for a much larger and more legible version. Believe us, we are taking steps to ensure we don't miss any more misplaced pages in the proofreading process!

First Look: Prison Pit Book 4 by Johnny Ryan

mike

The first physical copies of Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit Book 4 have crawled up on our shores, and more copies will be infecting Small Press Expo this weekend (where you can get an exclusive bonus signed bookplate) in advance of oozing into stores in November. This volume features the most hideous transmogrifications, the craziest foes, and the most brutal trials yet for our antihero Cannibal Fuckface as he seeks to free himself from the mysterious Caligulon. Plus a chainsaw on a stick. Get a taste with a 14-page excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.