Sand & Fury: A Scream Queen Adventure
By Ho Che Anderson

144-page two-color 7.5" x 9" softcover • $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-321-7

Ships in February 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Sand & Fury is a story of blood, of sex, of death — of sound and retribution. It opens as a girl by the side of a desert road accepts a ride from a stranger. How could she know that behind that wheel sits the angel of death?

Of course, even the angel of death once had a life. During that life, death was a successful business woman, with a great career and an even greater future. It’s true she could be a little cavalier with her innate gifts; she had, after all, broken the heart of everyone who had ever loved her.

And then, one day, the monster entered the woman’s life and changed everything forever.

Inspired by the work of filmmakers like David Lynch and Dario Argento and cartoonists like Richard Sala and Charles Burns, a spiritual cousin to Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and The Tenant, Sand & Fury is at once an homage to those classic horror sources and a contemporary romantic thriller, drawn in a stark, chiseled, expressionistic line that evokes modern attitudes and classic terror at the unknown and unknowable.

Download an EXCLUSIVE PDF excerpt containing the first 10 pages of the story (1.9 MB).

"In Sand & Fury, Ho Che Anderson has done what I would have previously regarded as impossible. He’s found the illegitimate child of Faulkner and Lovecraft buried alive in a paranoiac’s terrified vision of the desert of the American Southwest... in a grave uncovered by the shriek of his own degenerate perversion of a banshee, for fuck’s sake." – Howard Chaykin

"Anderson’s blocky figures and Expressionistic use of caricature are augmented by processed period photography, an approach that calls to mind the minimalist abstractions of Frank Miller. The characters are frequently depicted in high-contrast shadow, wherein features become flattened and skin colour is often difficult to determine. The resulting aesthetic is striking and symbolic." — The Guardian

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

Now available for preview and pre-order: King - A Comics Biography: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson. This bold, vivid, and widely-acclaimed recounting of the life of Martin Luther King is back in print in a new, redesigned hardcover edition with the added materials and features you've come to expect from our Special Edition releases. Download an exclusive 18-page PDF excerpt depicting events from 1960-61 right here (7 MB). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship later this month and in stores roughly the same time (subject to change).

View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

Online Commentary & Diversions

• List: Any best-of list that leads off with a Maria Bamford reference is all right with me. NPR's Glen Weldon rounds up his best graphic novels of 2009, including You'll Never Know, Book 1:  A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("...Tyler lets her warm, fluid art draw the parallels between herself and her father, and hint at a darker story behind it all") and Low Moon by Jason ("The deadest of deadpan humor. Jason's cartoony, utterly affectless characters interact is ways that are horrible, hilarious and sad — often at the same time.")

• List: At Ain't It Cool News, Mark L. Miller names I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason to his Top Ten Independent Comics of the 2000s

• List: Josh Flanagan of iFanboy names The Best Comics of the Decade, including Palestine by Joe Sacco: "More than any of the documentaries or news stories I've seen, Palestine shaped my view about what things are like in the Palestinean territories. Joe Sacco spent time with the people who live there, and explored the sticky, nearly untenable situation that persists today. Sacco's cartoons put a human face on the people involved, and it's a stunning work, comics or otherwise."

• List: Library Journal knows that no list of 24 Graphic Novels for African American History Month would be complete without King: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson: "Widely acknowledged as a masterpiece, this award-winning biography invokes King’s flaws, tragedies, and triumphs."

• List: The owner of the Love & Maggie blog lists a personal Top 10 All-Time Issues of The Comics Journal; the ones that are still in print are #59, #71, #238, #250, and #298

• List: Online Universities judges Jordan Crane's The Last Lonely Saturday to have one of the 50 Most Captivating Covers of All Time

• Commentary: The Hooded Utilitarian's Noah Berlatsky tells a funny anecdote about Peanuts and spiritual enlightenment

The advance copies of the King Special Edition came into the office recently. They look SO killer. Eric put them on our shelf, and now everybody who walks by stops to gawk at the awesomeness. I consider this a true WIN for designer Adam Grano.

And, people say that the book is dying. Well, take that eBook readers. This is not only an amazing piece of nonfiction comics, but also a beautiful art object.

I dare anyone to pick out King Special Edition and not marvel at its beauty. Just try it. I triple dog dare you. Yeah, that's right. What are you going to do now, Chump?

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Critic John Seven names Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco one of the Decade's Best Graphic Novels, in a list focused on "graphic novels for people who don’t want to read comics." (via The Comics Reporter)

• List: Matthew Price of The Oklahoman gives Ganges #3 the 9th position on his 10 Best Periodical Comic Books of 2009: "Kevin Huizenga continues to be one of comics' brightest indie creators... Huizenga uses his talents to immerse the reader inside Ganges' head."

• List/reviews/analysis: On the Inkstuds radio program, a roundtable of prominent critics (Sean T. Collins, Tim Hodler, & Chris Mautner) join host Robin McConnell for a discussion of 2009's standout books, including our two "You" books, You Are There by Tardi & Forest and You'll Never Know, Book 1 by C. Tyler

• Reviews/analysis: The Hooded Utilitarian's contrarian critical roundtable of Ghost World marches on with Ng Suat Tong, Vom Marlowe, Kinukitty again, and more Noah Berlatsky, who also points out that you can follow the whole thing here

• Review: "What's better than a new story by Jason? Why, several in one volume, of course! ...[T]he more of Jason's weird energy and quirky, poignant storytelling that I can consume at one time, the better. ... It's kind of a mystery how well he's able to do it, crafting easy-to-follow stories in such a minimalist style, but luckily, they're incredibly enjoyable, so one can easily get lost in them, forgetting questions of craft and technique because those aspects become all but invisible. ... [Low Moon] is another great example of the strange alchemy that Jason has mastered, drawing readers in to compelling tales of people caught up in oddly familiar situations, even when they're dealing with something that's off-kilter from reality as we know it. That's the Jason touch, and long may it continue to grace our pages." – Matthew J. Brady

• Plug: In Richard Metzger's profile of Steve Ditko for Dangerous Minds, he says "I may be a little late to the game on this one, but I recently got a copy of Blake Bell’s Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, a coffeetable book published by Fantagraphics last year and it is a wonderful and fascinating look at Ditko’s life and work. Kudos to Bell for putting together such a volume which was clearly a labor of love and unique erudition."

• Interview: Excerpted in its entirety from The Comics Journal #300, the conversation between Ho Che Anderson and Howard Chaykin

• Things to see: What's this, another "Blind Date" strip from Dash Shaw?

• Things to see: Drew Friedman revisits a Sports Illustrated illo of Tiger Woods and Mike Tyson he did a while ago and ponders their subsequent role reversal

• Things to see: If you haven't seen the comics section in the San Francisco Panorama from McSweeney's yet (featuring Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Kim Deitch, Seth, Art Spiegelman etc.), Flickr user Steve Rhodes has a mess of photos of the whole dang paper

• Things to see: Paul Pope draws Captain Easy in action (our Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 1 is currently scheduled for February) (via The Comics Reporter)

• Things to see: More cut-outs (older ones this time) from Tim Lane

• Things to see: More Post-its from Anders Nilsen

• Things to see: I'm happy to report that Noah Van Sciver's cartoon interviews for The Comics Journal continue at TCJ.com, kicking off with David Heatley

Once again we're bringing you an advance sneak peek at our listings for the next issue of Previews, this time with our releases scheduled for February 2010. It's going to be a big month for us with 8 new books, including two new Love and Rockets collections (one from Gilbert & one from Jaime), a great Kim Deitch yarn, horror noir from Ho Che Anderson, Captain Easy Vol. 1 (resolicited from August), a new softcover edition of the almost-out-of-print Blazing Combat, The Best American Comics Criticism of the 21st Century, and, pictured above, the breathtaking new graphic novel from Eisner Award winner Cathy Malkasian! Check it all out right here.

We just turned in our listings for the October issue of Previews, for our releases scheduled for December. The issue won't be out for a few more weeks, but you can get a first look at what's on tap right here! Spoiler alert: it includes King: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson, the Newave! anthology of 1980s underground minicomix, the new volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace, a new edition of the out-of-print 12th volume of The Complete Crumb Comics, Uptight #4 by Jordan Crane, and Chocolate Cheeks by Steven Weissman! Another great month full of great comics -- the Fantagraphics juggernaut juggers on!

All last week and this week we're bringing you a sneak peek at our Fall 2009 - Winter 2010 schedule of releases! Today's excerpt from our latest book distributor's catalog includes Norman Pettingill: Backwoods Humorist, the outsider cartoonist's first retrospective; King of the Flies Vol. 1: Hallorave by Pirus and Mezzo; Scream Queen: Sand and Fury by Ho Che Anderson; and The High Soft Lisp, a new Love and Rockets collection from Gilbert Hernandez. (Note that all the info in this catalog is subject to change along the way to the books' release, including release dates, prices, cover art, book specs, etc.) Click here to download the PDF!

All last week and this week we're bringing you a sneak peek at our Fall 2009 - Winter 2010 schedule of releases! Today's excerpt from our latest book distributor's catalog includes The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D., a collection of short stories by Dash Shaw; the second volume of John Pham's Sublife; and the expanded deluxe reissue King: The Special Edition by Ho Che Anderson. (Note that all the info in this catalog is subject to change along the way to the books' release, including release dates, prices, cover art, book specs, etc.) Click here to download the PDF!