Jason's new graphic novel Lost Cat will be found in stores in a couple of months. It's his longest and most complex work to date. The cat gets found on page 5, but there's plenty more mystery and surprises on the following 145 pages, and don't be surprised if you tear up at the end. This is primo Jason, folks.

For months Jason has been posting teasers from the book, which we've been sharing on our Tumblr blog. We'll have more previews coming your way soon — but why wait to put in your pre-order?

Behold these glimpses of an early advance copy of the bigger, even better second volume of Leslie Stein's Eye of the Majestic Creature. The continuing story of our hero Larrybear fleshes out her backstory and gives her a potential new love interest. Depth of character and keenness of observation elevate these warm, offbeat stories far above your average slacker comedy and create a world you'll want to hang out in. Imagine if Buddy Bradley were a gentle, artsy, laid-back girl instead of a grouchy, cynical, rage-prone guy. Add a dash of magical realism and psychedelia. Spin around in circles a few times. You're getting the feel.

We expect the book to be available toward the end of next month. You can read a 15-page excerpt and pre-order a copy here; we also have a nice discount offer on Volumes 1 and 2 together so you can get the whole story at once.

Our next two books in The EC Comics Library series are queued up for the printer and they are both solo volumes: 

Child of Tomorrow! and Other Stories collects science fiction stories written and drawn by Al Feldstein, who also scripted stories for numerous other EC artists. Feldstein's own crisp, thick-lined drawing style will definitely be of interest to Charles Burns and Dan Clowes fans. And of course it's packed with all the UFOs, BEMs, robots, rockets, and Cold War-fueled apocalyptic scenarios you could hope for. (And wait until you see the eye-popping day-glo orange on the cover in person!)

Johnny Craig was responsible for some of EC's most infamous images (severed head, anyone?) and was the only EC artist to habitually write his own stories. Fall Guy for Murder and Other Stories collects crime and horror work by Craig — 23 grim, gorgeous, graphic tales featuring murderous spouses, executioners, thieving surgeons, vengeful sword-swallowers, time bombs, private dicks, vampires, werewolves, and ghouls.

Both of these must-have volumes (aren't they all?) will be arriving in late July/early August — more sneak peeks are on the way, and you can pre-order them (separately, or together for a discount) right now.

Our Eisner-winning series goes chromatic! The first of two volumes collecting the great Floyd Gottfredson's 1932-1938 run on the Sunday Mickey Mouse comic strip, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Color Sundays Vol. 1: Call of the Wild is truly a spectacular package. The linework is so crisp, the authentically-recreated color so dazzling (and surprising... yellow Donald Duck??), you'd be forgiven for thinking these strips are from 80 days ago, not 80 years! And of course you also get all the informative supplemental features these volumes are known for. Get more details, read a 21-page excerpt, and pre-order this volume right here.

And have we got a sweet offer for collectors who want the eventual 2-volume box set but are eager to start reading the first volume: pre-order the box set now and we'll send you this volume as soon as it's released, with the second volume and slipcase when they're available in the Fall — all for the regular box set price, which is cheaper than buying the volumes separately! Keen-o!

We're excited to show off this advance copy of our handsome hardcover presentation of Bread & Wine by Samuel R. Delany and Mia Wolff, coming in about 2 months. Here's what some people had to say about the original, long out of print 1999 edition:

"Samuel R. Delany is one of the finest living American writers. In this revealing autobiographical love story, told in collaboration with fine artist Mia Wolff, Delany's brilliance shines." – Neil Gaiman

"Wildly eccentric artwork, a storyline that'd make Capote blush... Bread & Wine is smoking-gun proof that comics can go anywhere - and do anything." – Frank Miller

"Told simply and methodically like Delany's 1996 memoir, The Motion of Light in Water, the story is subdued yet acutely emotional. It reaches across the boundaries of race and class — as well as across hilariously opposed standards of personal hygiene — to capture two people in the process of building a life together." – Publishers Weekly

More previews are forthcoming, including a look at the spectacular surprise under the dust jacket. Preview a 6-page excerpt and pre-order a copy right here.

Hot on the heels of Gene Deitch's The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove comes another collection of jazzy midcentury music illustrations, The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora. Lovingly compiled and authored by Flora doyens Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, and designed by Laura Lindgren, this softcover coffee-table book will be swingin' and be-boppin' its way to you this Summer. Take it away, Irwin:

"It features all of Flora's known album and EP covers (including back cover illustrations) from 1947 to 1961 for Columbia, RCA Victor, and their affiliated labels, along with music-themed fine art works, illustrations, and sketches. The book was completed last week and will head shortly to the printer. (Despite what it says at Amazon, the publication date will be sometime in August, not June 30. We dawdled a bit.)"

One of the world's great cartoonists, Jacques Tardi, revisits the subject which drives some of his most passionate work in Goddamn This War!, a chronological, infantry-eye view of the first World War.

Our edition of Goddamn's predecessor, It Was the War of the Trenches, was one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of 2010, earning two Eisner awards and a spot on numerous "best of the year" lists. Here's just a sampling of the praise, which could just as well apply to Goddamn: 

"The potency of the soldiers' tragic stories is enhanced by the elegance of Tardi's lucid drawing and keen compositions... This masterful condemnation of the cruelty and stupidity of war... is a cri de coeur that stands out even amid Tardi's impressive body of work." - Gordon Flagg, Booklist (Starred Review)

"This is war as hourly apocalypse, Expressionist and agonizing." – Joe Gross, Austin American-Statesman

"Originally inspired by his grandfather's first-person stories, Tardi has created not a formal history but a masterful graphic and visceral tone poem about war." – Library Journal

"Few people alive today are old enough to remember World War I, and as it recedes into the past, the 'war to end all wars' becomes more abstract. But French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's graphic novel, It Was The War of the Trenches..., brings the Great War to life in all its mud- and blood-soaked misery. Without a trace of sentimentality, Tardi's richly detailed and grimly rendered vignettes depict the horror, illness, cruel manipulations, and stupidity of this giant black spot in human history." - Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing

Stand by for more previews; read a 16-page excerpt and pre-order your copy right here. 

Wandering Son fans will be happy to know that we're catching up on our release schedule and Volume 5 is off to the printer now for release in August (barring any calamities), just 3 months after Volume 4, which is due later this month after a slight delay.

Which gender-specific uniform is a gender-questioning teen to wear to the junior-high entrance ceremony? Can new and old friendships survive romantic jealousy? These and other questions are addressed with uncommon insight in this volume of Shimura Takako's delightful, acclaimed dramedy.

"...[L]ike the best coming-of-age stories — comics or otherwise — Wandering Son is meticulously accurate in its details, but universal in its emotions. Gay or not, readers shouldn't find it too difficult to identify with kids who feel like their bodies and their friends are equally culpable in the worst kind of betrayal, preventing them from realizing the potential they see in themselves." – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club 

We'll have more sneak peeks for you in the weeks to come; you can pre-order the volume right now. And it's not too late to get in on our 3-volume subscription, which gets you Vols. 4-6 with a smart discount and free shipping, with each volume sent to you as soon as they are released! 

Some lucky dozens of you have already got your hands on advance copies of Dash Shaw's incredible new graphic novel New School on his ongoing book tour... If you haven't had a chance to fondle a copy, here's a couple of photos to ogle for the time being.

A powerful combination of 1990s nostalgia, family drama, speculative fiction, and experimental visual techniques, flavored with wonder and deadpan humor, New School is unlike anything you've read before. Library Journal and Paste both named it one of their most-anticipated books of the year, with the latter saying "In a few short years, Dash Shaw has proven himself a restless artist, committed to pushing what comics can do and what his own talents can accomplish... it's nice to see him return with two works, no less." (The other one is 3 New Stories.) And it's a big honkin' book.

Portlandians can pick up the book and see Dash this Thursday, May 2, at Floating World Comics; Seattleites, come on down to Dash's signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, May 4; Torontonians, catch Dash at TCAF May 11-12! Everyone else, the book'll be out in June. More previews are forthcoming; read our free 18-page excerpt and pre-order your copy right here.

The lucky seventh volume of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant is off to the printer for release in August and here's our final, fine-tuned cover art. From an investigation of black magic to a quest for Christian missionaries, from epic derring-do to lighthearted domestic comedy, this volume runs the gamut of what readers love Foster's dashingly-told, masterfully-drawn strip for.

This Saturday, May 4, head to your participating local comic shop for a FREE excerpt from this volume in our Prince Valiant: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition comic book! And we'll have more sneak peeks for you right here in the coming weeks. Of course, you don't have to wait until then to put in your pre-order.