Tomorrow, February 2, 2012, through Sunday, February 5, 2012, it's the return of our "Undergroundhog Day" Sale with at least 30% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Joyce Farmer, Bill Griffith, Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! Yes, this includes brand new books like Bill Griffith's Lost and Found and the hardcover Fritz the Cat collection, plus not-quite-out-yet books like Diane Noomin's Glitz-2-Go, Spain Rodriguez's Cruisin' with the Hound and the expanded edition of The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 1! The sale starts tonight and continues through the weekend. (Discount not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.)

Oops! Due to an inventory SNAFU the 2005 Special Edition issue of The Comics Journal was mistakenly thought to be sold out and removed from our online catalog. But we still have a bunch of 'em! This oversized (12" x 12") humdinger includes features on masters of manga Hideshi Hino, Suehiro Maruo, Saseo Ono, Osamu Tezuka and Yoshihiro Tsuge;  three great writers on Vaughn Bodé; Bill Blackbeard on Milt Gross; a report from the Montreal comics scene; and a star-studded anthology comics section on the theme of "seduction" with comics from (deep breath): Rick Altergott, Ho Che Anderson, Andrice Arp, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Ariel Bordeaux, David Collier, Colleen Coover, Jeremy Eaton, Mary Fleener, Rick Geary, Bill Griffith, Matti Hagelberg, Richard Hahn, Leah Hayes, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Paul Hornschemeier, Igort, Gerald Jablonski, Ted Jouflas, Megan Kelso, Peter Kuper, Carol Lay, Lorna Miller, David Paleo, Arnold Roth, Michael Sloan, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Carol Swain, and Ken Takahama, not to mention a back-cover illustration by Tony Millionaire! Why don't you have one already? Get it now!

February 2nd 2011, for one day only, it's our "Undergroundhog Day" Sale with at least 30% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Joyce Farmer , Rand Holmes, Jack Jackson, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! The sale starts tonight and it'll be over before you know it, so get ready! (Discount not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. A big tip o'the hat to our own Ted Jouflas for the sale idea!)

After all these years we're still blown away when fans have their favorite Fantagraphics characters inked permanently on themselves. Here's a few fan tattoos that have been shared with us via the Fantagraphics and Love and Rockets Facebook pages over the last couple of months:

Darren Brown's arm full of Maggie, inked by Jason Mcafee at Temple Tattoo in Oakland, CA:

Ghost World's Enid & Rebecca on Gastón Victorica, inked by El Buho:

Dan Clowes's Blue Bunny on Nicole Radcliff's arm:

Vaughn Bodé's "self" on David Dickie:

A teeny tiny trio of Drinky Crows from Billy Foster, inked by Ace Farren Ford of Purple Panther Tattoos in L.A.:

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Kelso’s work radiates a warmth, poetry, sympathy, and simultaneously earthy and otherworldly essence that few comics creators have brought to the table with such quiet confidence and grace. The closest comic in recent memory to match Artichoke Tales, both in breadth and depth, is Jeff Smith’s Bone. [Grade] A" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "...Fantagraphics’ hardcover edition of The Book of Mr. Natural feels like the perfect introduction to R. Crumb’s most enduring creation—and to the sexual peccadilloes that occasionally get both character and creator in hot water. ... It’s fascinating stuff, and should be mandatory reading for anyone who squirmed through Terry Zwigoff’s excellent Crumb documentary—or for anyone looking to get their danders up at Crumb’s allegedly misogynistic tendencies. [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "[Editor Eric] Reynolds has done an amazing job of balancing serials with a variety of single-page strips and one-shots. Expanding Mome to include translations from international cartooning stars, short works from established cartoonists and left-field contributions from illustrators not known in the comics world have kept things interesting on an issue-to-issue basis. The eccentricity of Reynolds’ taste as an editor has been another major factor in preventing Mome from getting into a rut. ...[T]his issue of Mome is a fine overall read, and the first half is especially spectacular." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Review: "Percy Gloom is a moving, engaging, enlightening book. It’s exactly the sort of comic readers should be demanding – thoughtful and intelligent, a beautifully drawn narrative that unfolds its layers over the course of multiple readings. Cathy Malkasian’s produced two winning graphic novels, and she’s clearly a talent that deserves a far wider readership." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Profile: For The New York Times, Reyhan Harmanci reports on how Mark Bodé is carrying on his late father Vaughn's legacy: "Vaughn Bodé created a world in his comics that Mark has fleshed out, making oil and spray paint paintings from his father’s cartoon panels and unfinished sketches. The younger Mr. Bodé perfected his father’s signature pieces: the ever-slouching Cheech Wizard, the science-fiction-inflected planet full of lizards, the cartoonishly lewd 'Bodé broads.' As Mark Bodé, 47, who is based in Daly City said, 'I am mortal and he is immortal, and the two of us work well together.'"

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday we're celebrating independence and freedom of speech by taking at least 20% OFF almost every book and comic in our Underground Comix category, including books by Vaughn Bodé, R. Crumb, Kim Deitch, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Robert Williams and more! The sale is over at the end of the day on Friday, July 9, so don't delay!

PLUS...

We still have a large selection of backlist titles at great discounts of 1/3 to 1/2 off the cover prices in our Clearance Sale and Closeout Deals sections.

Cartoonist Mark Bodé talks about his cartoonist dad, underground icon Vaughn Bodé, in this video for WalrusTV (the video content arm of streetwear purveyors Upper Playground).

Link trail: Journalista ← Mike Lynch ← WalrusTV

During our recent inventory count at our storied and labyrinthine warehouse, we discovered additional copies of several items thought to be sold out and unavailable for weeks, months — or years! Grab these gems while you can before they run out again — quantities are limited!

The Bill Sienkiewicz Sketchbook
Introduction by Alan Moore!

The Comics Journal Special Edition - Summer 2002
The premiere second issue of the "supersized" Comics Journals, with a great Woodring interview and cover.

The Complete E.C. Segar Popeye Vol. 9: 1934-1935 (Hardcover)
Our original Popeye reprint series from the 1980s. Handsome clothbound volume.

Dead End
Out of print European album-sized collection of T. Ott stories.

Haw!
Awful Brunetti gags; has been re-collected in Ho! but this original version is awful cute.

The Evolution & History of Moosekind
By Bob Foster. Like Larry Gonick but with moose. From the pages of Marvel's old Crazy magazine. Funny!

International Bob
A hard to find collection of Terry (Cud) LaBan's alternative-comics work.

The Island of Dr. Moral
Brilliant weirdness from the brilliant Jeremy Eaton.

Junkwaffel Vol. 2
Classic Vaughn Bodé material.

Love and Rockets: Short Stories
Just $5.48 (half cover price), a great entry point to Jaime's early Locas!

Love and Rockets Book 7: The Death of Speedy (Hardcover)
Includes some of everyone's favorite Jaime "Locas" stories. Now half off the cover price!

Muzzlers, Guzzlers and Good Yeggs
Last few copies of this great Joe Coleman book collected from BLAB!

The Reaper of Love and Other Stories
A 1988 reprint of classic Berni Wrightson material from 1968-1971! Out of print for years!

A Shroud for Waldo
Graphic novel length "Waldo" story by Kim Deitch.

Online Commentary & Diversions for today:

• List: Carol Borden of The Cultural Gutter names Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 as one of "10 Comics I Liked in 2009," calling it "an amazing collection of Golden Age comics and heroes, beautifully restored."

• Review: "It’s weird and it’s different and it immediately showed me that Ganges #2 is not what I thought it was. I was expecting mopey autobio, a distant cousin of Blankets with better artwork, and instead got something that was well worth the hype. ...It’s a comic about people and how they interact, held high by shockingly good art. The first ten pages show that Huizenga can do some amazing things with storytelling and the rest of the book shows his strong grasp of body language and how to make talking heads interesting." – David Brothers, 4thletter!

• Tunes: Zak Sally provides a soundtrack playlist for Like a Dog to Largehearted Boy, who says of the book "Sally is incredibly inventive, these cartoons differ in theme greatly, but all come together through his dark, foreboding illustrations. This volume is worthwhile alone for the two editions of Sally's Eisner Award nominated comic, The Recidivist, but the additional works offer a glimpse into this talented artist's evolution (as do the copious notes included in the collection)."

• Interview: TCJ.com begins serialization of Gary Groth's interview with David Levine from The Comics Journal Library Vol. 4: Drawing the Line (originally from The Comics Journal #178)

• Plug: Poopsheet Foundation's Rick Bradford flogs Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s

• Plug: At his blog Love the Line, Richard Cowdry says Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s "is the book I'm MOST looking forward to in 2010!"

• Tribute: For Time magazine, Edward Sorel remembers David Levine (via Journalista)

• Commentary: Illustrator James Gurney quotes art historian/Prince Valiant expert Brian Kane about the history of 19th century illustrated newspapers

• Links: Love & Maggie provides a detailed, annotated and hyperlinked overview of The Comics Journal #38 from 1978

• Things to see: A whole mess of recent illo jobs by Steve Brodner

• Things to see: Mike Sterling takes a look at an interesting Vaughn Bode rarity

Today's hot batch of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[T]he furtive griminess that Jason wrings from his stock character designs is impressive to behold... [Y]ou'll enjoy any number of his typical moments of storytelling grace..." - otherwise Tom Spurgeon is unfortunately somewhat sparing in praise for Jason's Low Moon at The Comics Reporter

• Review: "Miss [Lasko-Gross]' previous book, Escape from 'Special,' launched her fearless plan to produce an autobiographical trilogy. [A] Mess [of Everything] tackles the high-school years, which involve mean girls, mean boys and plenty of awkward social situations. Each anecdote is super-short with cringeworthy dialogue that you'll identify with and will remind you of how fortunate you are to have lived through that rough period." - Whitney Matheson, "Three Graphic Novels You Should Read Immediately," USA Today Pop Candy

• Review: "I’ve read some crazy comix, and while he won’t scare you under the sheets like S. Clay Wilson, [John] Kerschbaum can be as raw as R. Crumb, Peter Bagge, and [Johnny] Ryan, who may be his closest comix cousins... No fan of adult funny animal comics (like Fritz the Cat) will want to miss Petey & Pussy... Petey & Pussy is some funny shit." - Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin

• Interview: The Pull List podcast talks to Bob Fingerman about his latest releases, including Connective Tissue

• Plug: Jeet Heer gives a nice shout-out to Humbug ("amazing") in this interview on the topic of "Cartoon Conservativism" (worth reading in its own right) with Inside Higher Ed

• Plug: "I’m really looking forward to [You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler]: a graphic memoir and family drama exploring the person we try to present to the world, and reality." - Corey Blake

• Plug: "Fantagraphics is shortly to publish a new edition of Prince Valiant, Hal Foster's legendary, Golden Age comic strip of knights, swashbuckling, romance and chivalry... Foster's artwork is amazing. Foster was an exceptional talent in an era of exceptional talents."  - OK Erok

• Plug: "The fifth issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle is in and it's even weirder than the last one. See aliens give a bloke sexy lady legs! Twain plus Einstein plus enraged badger! Hobo fashion! If you've not read any of Michael Kupperman's stuff before now's yer chance..." - Gosh! Comics

• Analysis: The following academic journal article contains discussion of Daniel Clowes and especially the Hernandez Brothers: "Artif[r]acture: Virulent Pictures, Graphic Narrative, and the Ideology of the Visual." Mosaic: Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 28.4 (December 1995): 79-109 by William A. Nericcio (link courtesy the author, via Facebook)

• Events: This Portland art show at Guapo Comics & Coffee features Andrice Arp and lots more local talent

• Things to see: Conan O'Brien by Drew Friedman, for the NY Observer. Freckles, liver spots; tomato, tomahto

• Things to see: Hairy Green Eyeball presents a Vaughn Bodé "Cheech Wizard" story