FLOG! Entries tagged 'Coming Attractions'

Love and Rockets: The Covers - Excerpt

mike

We know you've really been wondering what the interior of Love and Rockets: The Covers looks like... how it's laid out, what the recoloring looks like, what it includes. This PDF excerpt should answer your questions, particularly the Editor's Note:

It's a spectacular and dee-luxe production and we want to be sure we're getting everything just right at the printer, so we're taking a little extra time with it and it's now scheduled for September release. Here's a sample of the clear overlay that wraps around the front cover:

In Case We Die by Danny Bland - Free Excerpt

mike

Read the first three chapters of In Case We Die by Danny Bland below or here. (Note that there is NSFW material.) We'll wait...

OK, now that you're hooked, pre-order the book. First taste is free. (You'll also get a free download of the full audiobook when it's released, as a bonus for ordering direct from us. Details TK.)

Cover Uncovered: Barracuda in the Attic by Kipp Friedman

mike

It's our great pleasure to add another member of the fabulous Friedman family to our roster. Kipp Friedman's forthcoming memoir Barracuda in the Attic boasts this loving portrait by Kipp's big brother Drew (with hand-lettering by our own Jacob Covey), a foreword by father Bruce Jay and an afterword by brother Josh. In the book's pages you'll find true tales of the colorful clan's hijinks from New York to Hollywood and beyond, hobnobbing with the literati, mobsters, and at least one Marx brother.

We're taking pre-orders now; look for the book to hit shelves in early Fall, and if you know us you know we have more previews and sneak peeks on the way.

First Look: In Case We Die by Danny Bland

mike

Danny Bland's debut novel In Case We Die hits shelves in September. The book and jacket were designed by our guru Jacob Covey. Dig those silver & day-glo inks. Some of Danny's music-scene compadres have already read the book and had this to say about it:

"Our anti-hero is floating in a tiny lifeboat made of heroin, graveyard shifts & rock music. His companions are two fabulous women; a bombshell who robs banks & a beautifully pale rock violinist who can barely dodge suicide. ICWD is much funnier & more satisfying than any other junkie rock'n'roll tragedy." – John Doe (X)

"Bland is a brutally funny and bravely honest writer. A perfect guide through the bloodshot streets and desperate bedrooms of the underground wilderness." – Dave Alvin (Blasters)

"In Case We Die is a poetic and elegant journey ... straight to the gutter." – Wayne Kramer (MC5)

"Beautiful, literary redemption." – Exene Cervenka (X)

"A great piece of work — full of filth and heart." - Steve Earle

"A suitably Peckinpah finale. Bravo. It has been like a traveling dream state and sometimes familiar look into the abyss." – Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs)

"I am a believer in what Bland has to say. He writes with eloquence, candor, darkness, and humor....the good stuff!" – Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses)

We'll be making a few sample chapters available for you to read soon. And hey, if you pre-order the book from us, when the book is released you'll receive a code for a FREE download of the audiobook from Local 638 Records, with chapters read by a mind-blowing all-star lineup of music and cultural luminaries, including some of the folks above. Stay tuned for more details about this exclusive offer — all pre-orders are eligible, so there's no reason to put it off!

First Look: His Wife Leaves Him by Stephen Dixon

mike

Listen up, lit lovers. Two-time National Book Award nominee and multiple literary prize recipient Stephen Dixon's brand new novel, His Wife Leaves Him, is due in about 2 months and we have advance copies to show off to you.

With no chapter breaks and very few paragraph breaks (not even for dialogue) to interrupt the flow of words on the page, you're getting maybe 500 pages worth of words in the space of just over 400 pages. What a value for your book-buying dollar! Of course, none of that would matter if the words didn't coalesce into such a complex, ambitious, tender, funny story of pain and joy, memory and forgetting.

Curious? We've made the first 38 pages available to read, and you can pre-order your copy, right here.

Cover & Excerpt: Fran by Jim Woodring

mike

Frank & Fran are back for more frolic & fear in Jim Woodring's follow-up sequel/prequel to the acclaimed Congress of the Animals, due in late September. Jim calls Fran "one of the most messed-up things I've ever done," and if you know Jim's work, you know that's saying something. You'll be delighted, appalled, and amazed by the wordless proceedings and find yourself taking multiple journeys through the pages in order to unravel the mysteries therein.

Where to start with a story that has no beginning and no end? We offer a 10-page excerpt and a button to pre-order your copy right here.

Game 1 with Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball

TheJenVaughn

Well, baseball and softball season in the city leagues of Seattle started recently and we couldn't help but draw a little inspiration from the man who helped elevate baseball to its on-high status, Willard Mullin. The Golden Age of Baseball Drawings 1934-1972 collects for the first time Mullin's best drawings devoted to baseball — depictions of players like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra and the story of Mullin creating the Brooklyn Bum, the bedraggled mascot of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Whether you're in the dugout...

Out ready to turn a play in the infield...

Or catching fly balls in the outfield... (see me, I'm that little green and pink-banged blob on the right)

…this hardcover book is full of great baseball gags and political comics from a time when the nation needed something to keep up their moral. Our team, Scared Hitless, even decided to get uniforms to match the beautiful book jacket (or did Jacob Covey design it to match us?).

See you at the next game with some more previews of the Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972. For Seattle people, we play at the Cal Anderson park on Monday nights, 8pm. Come on by and check out this advance!

First baseman Matt enjoyed this Babe Ruth comic. Thanks to Hugo Garcia for photo help!

First Look: Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics

TheJenVaughn

Oh, goody! Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics in the pulpy flesh. A lost masterpiece from a cartoon giant. Wilson's mid-1970s Sunday strip — really a collection of one-panel gags, a freewheeling mélange of board meetings, monsters, cavemen and so on — are collected in this fine, long edition. While Wilson is better known for his work in Playboy and National Lampoon, it's fun to see him harness all the colors of the rainbow to convey the blackest of black comedy. Prismatic AND perverse.

Can you hear the oom-pah-pah accompanying some of the finest cartooning of lumpy, melty, and always hilarious people? Perhaps you need to read a few pages over here (full-screen viewing recommended), or get the PDF directly, and pre-order the book here.

First Look: The Children of Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez

TheJenVaughn

Supernatural mysteries run amok in Gilbert Hernandez's The Children of Palomar and unraveling them could mean trouble for all but this isn't quite Twin Peaks, its Palomar. Originally released as a three-issue magazine series titled New Tales of Old Palomar in the acclaimed international "Ignatz" format, these comics now live in a handsomely designed hardcover package!

We had advances of this beautiful graphic novel at TCAF but the book will debut at Comic-Con International in San Diego where Gilbert himself will sign copies and sketch Pipo, Chelo, Carmen or even a young Tonantzín inside! The rest of you will just have to preorder and wait for July! Beware the Blooter Baby...

Cover Uncovered: In Case We Die by Danny Bland

TheJenVaughn

We are very excited to reveal the cover for a book that will shake you silly while laughing in your face: In Case We Die by Danny Bland. This debut novel by the veteran Seattle musician follows a pair of outsiders who find themselves locked in the palpable, dizzy grunge-rock scene of early-'90s Seattle. Read this book on your daily commute, coffee shop, in line to a rock show, just not the library because you will choke on your own loud laughter and squeeze out a tear if your ducts are in working order.

"Ours is a story written on hotel room walls with fifty cent words" states the dedication to this story of falling in and out of love and life. Right now Danny is is most likely in a Ford Econoline van on a long stretch of highway, driving a rock band to its next engagement, but we can't wait for him to tour the states reading to you from In Case We Die. More sneak peeks are ready for you to inject soon, more information at the In Case We Die website and you can pre-order the book from us today.

First Look: Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball

mike

The title of "Sports Cartoonist of the Century" was bestowed on Willard Mullin by his peers, and his cartoons were read by millions of sports fans from the '30s to the '70s. He created the "Brooklyn Bum" and depicted legends like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax and events like Lou Gehrig's emotional retirement speech. Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972 is the first-ever retrospective of his work!

Above is a first glimpse at an advance sample copy. This hefty oversized tome is due in late July; sample some pages in our embedded preview and pre-order your copy right here.

No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics (Softcover Ed.) - First Look

mike

The first, hardcover edition of No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics was a smash hit and sold out lickety-split. We've hustled back to press for a new softcover edition, still featuring tons of great comics by Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Edie Fake, Ellen Forney, Roberta Gregory, Andy Hartzell, Ralf König, Ed Luce, Steve MacIsaac, MariNaomi, Trina Robbins, Eric Shanower, and dozens more, all under Maurice Vellekoop's candy-colored cover art. Nominated for both a Lambda Literary Award and an Eisner Award this year, the book will fortunately be back on shelves in about 3 months. Browse a 34-page PDF excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.

First Look: The End of the Fucking World (TEOTFW) by Charles Forsman

mike

We seem to have a habit of posting sneak peeks of this book right after deadly disasters. We promise it's not on purpose.

Given the subject matter, calling our upcoming paperback collection of Charles Forsman's The End of the Fucking World "cute" seems a little weird, but it's partly the tension between wanting to put it in your pocket and being gripped by the harrowing story that gives the work its power.

This highly-anticipated book drops in July (after debuting at CAKE in Chicago in mid-June). We have an excerpt of the first two chapters for you to read right here, and stay tuned for details of an exclusive signed Risograph print you'll be able to get as a pre-order bonus!

Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics - 16-Page Excerpt

mike

In terms of pure fun, Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics is hard to beat. Our wide-format volume, coming late next month, collects the full run of Wilson's little-seen mid-1970s weekly newspaper strip. Each installment contains 5 or so gags in signature Gahanian style — droopy, lumpy and slightly twisted.

Find out what you're in for with our excerpt containing the first 15 strips. View the preview in the embedded reader here (full-screen viewing recommended) or get the PDF directly, and pre-order the book here.

First Look & Excerpt: Lost Cat by Jason

mike

As you can see, Jason's new graphic novel Lost Cat (coming in July) is presented in the same handsome hardcover format as his story collections Low Moon and Athos in America and the reprint volumes What I Did and Almost Silent. His longest, and dare we say one of his best, works to date deserves no less.

A detective story with multiple mysteries, romantic longing, and a head-spinning finale all delivered in trademark understated Jason style, it's a thrilling, heart-tugging, satisfying read. And there's a cute kitty cat. See for yourself with our free 15-page excerpt, and pre-order yours right here.

First Look: The Love and Rockets Companion

mike

Here's your first sneak peek of an advance copy of The Love and Rockets Companion, edited by Marc Sobel & Kristy Valenti and coming in July. This book fits nicely on your shelf with the Love and Rockets Library volumes and serves as your guide to the L&R universe, with 3 major interviews with the Hernandez brothers, character guides, previously unpublished artwork, Locas and Palomar timelines, a complete bibliography, and letter column excerpts. All this wrapped in a fold-out jacket with a poster on one side and character family trees on the other! We'll show you that in action along with more views of the book soon.

Our free 32-page preview assembles short excerpts from each of the major sections; read it here, where you can also place your pre-order. And you can pre-order a set of the Companion, Covers, and Reader books at a nice discount here.

First Look: The Daniel Clowes Reader

mike

Advance copies are in and here's a quick peek at The Daniel Clowes Reader: A Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories, with Essays, Interviews, and Annotations. True to the title, it's got the whole Ghost World graphic novel in it, plus a bunch more stories, interviews with Clowes, and a bunch of smart people writing a bunch of smart stuff about the stories, all wrangled and partly written by Ken Parille and packaged up in this smart-looking compact flexi-bound softcover designed by Alvin Buenaventura. It's a must for every Clowes fan and for any serious reader of comics, which means you!

The book's due out in July; you can pre-order and sample the contents with a free 31-page excerpt right here.

1st Look: The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley by Kim Deitch

mike

A century ago in sleepy Lumberton, the moving pictures, with their daring heroines, were the most exciting thing to happen to young Katherine Whaley. When a movie production came to town, her life took a most unexpected turn.

Decades later, Whaley recounted her wild, weird years in the company of the mysterious eccentric Charles Varnay and his uncannily intelligent dog Rousseau. Varnay aimed to produce a movie serial, with Katherine as its destined star, propounding a message about the future of the human race — a message he claimed was recorded on ancient artifacts in the voice of Jesus Christ himself!

The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley is an intriguing new entry in Kim Deitch's series of graphic-novel alternate histories of early 20th century showbiz. We got our advance copies yesterday and we'll have mail-order copies available in a couple of months -- pre-order and read a 17-page excerpt right here.

Cover Uncovered: Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics

mike

Oh, what a treat! We couldn't be happier that the great Gahan Wilson did this all-new illustration for the cover of our upcoming collection of Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics, his 1974-1976 funny-pages feature. Yep, it's another great but short-lived comic strip by one of cartooning's best, fished from the deep waters of obscurity and given the loving Fantagraphics treatment! These darkly delightful, subversively satirical strips have been carefully spiffed up and will be presented in a "widescreen" hardcover format hitting shelves in July. More sneak peeks are on the way, and you can pre-order now.

Glimpses of the new Love and Rockets, Daniel Clowes and Kim Deitch books

mike

The FedEx man made us very happy this morning, bringing advance copies of The Love and Rockets Companion, The Daniel Clowes Reader, and Kim Deitch's The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley. We'll have more to show & tell you soon!