A few years ago for Christmas, Mrs. Flog bought for me via eBay a collection of a half-dozen Christmas cards created and sent by Gasoline Alley creator Frank King to a longtime friend between 1952-1961. Yes, I have the greatest wife ever. Anyway, I thought I would share them, because King really went all out on his cards. Here's the earliest that I have, from 1952, it's an amazing little 5" x 7" self-published, three-page gem.
Just received today: the breathtaking wraparound cover, designed by Chris Ware, for the final volume in our Krazy & Ignatz series (that is, until we start re-printing the early Eclipse volumes -- more info on that in this previous Flog post). The book is due later this year. Click the image for a closer look.
The Northwest Film Forum, Seattle's non-profit cinematheque with two screens located on Capitol Hill, along with a little help from their friends at Fantagraphics Books, is presenting a trio of film adaptations of classic comic strips. These family-friendly versions of DICK TRACY, ANNIE, and POPEYE are sure to win the hearts of new young viewers. These films will be a treat for parents too; they revisit the peculiar results of the unlikely directoral assignments for John Houston, (ANNIE), Robert Altman (POPEYE) and Warren Beatty (DICK TRACY).
Also, all attendees of the series will receive a 20% off coupon to the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, where you can purchase collections of the original strips these films were based on!
POPEYE: MARCH 1 - 2, Saturday-Sunday at 1:30, 4pm
(Robert Altman, USA, 1980, 35mm, 113 min)
ANNIE: APRIL 5 - 6, Saturday-Sunday at 1:30, 4pm
SING-A-LONG WITH THE MOVIE SUNDAY AT 4PM! Sheet music will be given out!
(John Huston, USA, 1982, 35mm, 127 min)
DICK TRACY: MAY 3 - 4, Saturday and Sunday at 2, 4pm
(Warren Beatty, 1990, 35mm, 105 min)
All screenings will be held at:
Northwest Film Forum 1515 - 12th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 329-2629
Crumbling Paper is an online archive of scanned Sunday tearsheets from the Golden Age of American comic strips that I hadn't seen before. I haven't had a chance to peruse too carefully yet, but the archive listed here makes me want to.
I don't link to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive site nearly as often as I could -- they seem to post absolutely stunning historical work on a daily basis and I highly recommend adding the site to your RSS feed. Today they added some classic comics from Virgil "Vip" Partch's greatest collection of cartoons, The Wild, Wild Women. You can never go wrong with some VIP. Why hasn't anyone (okay, us) done a VIP coffee table book yet?!
If you like what you see at the ASIFA site, you might consider supporting it.
Our own Kristy Valenti has written a great profile of comic strip historian/archivist Bill Blackbeard (contributor to many of our classic strip reprint books, not the least of which is Krazy & Ignatz), part one of which can be read at the Comixology website.
Via Spurge come some record-breaking auction results: Charles Schulz's original art for the Sunday, April 10, 1955 Peanuts strip recently sold for $113,525, and Robert Crumb's original cover of Mr. Natural #1 sold in the same auction for $101,575, the first time either artist has cleared 6 figures.
For about 0.025% of its sale price, that same Schulz strip can be had, along with 730 others, in The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956. Just saying.
The 2013 Fantagraphics Ultimate Catalog of Comics is available now! Contact us to get your free copy, or download the PDF version (9 MB).
Preview upcoming releases in the Fantagraphics Spring/Summer 2013 Distributors Catalog. Read it here or download the PDF (26.8 MB). Note that all contents are subject to change.
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