Tag Archives: fantagraphics books

The Comics Journal Returns to Print this January

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Fantagraphics Books has announced the return of the award winning, internationally acclaimed The Comics Journal as an in-print magazine. Starting in 1976 as a monthly periodical and evolving into a massive book-sized format in 2013,The Comics Journal will resume at issue #303 as a more accessible magazine with a twice yearly publication schedule. The Comics Journal #303 will be released in January of 2019.

The Comics Journal was co-created over four decades ago by Gary Groth, holding the medium to high critical standards as well as presenting in-depth and thought-provoking interviews and editorials. In January, the magazine will carry on that honored tradition with two new managing editors: RJ Casey and Kristy Valenti.

Issue #303 features Gary Groth in discussion with the satirist and children’s book author Tomi Ungerer. “I’m looking forward to getting back in the saddle, a saddle I have missed, and conducting interviews with cartoonists, from young whippersnappers to vital legends, says Editor-In-Chief Gary Groth. “My long interview with Tomi Ungerer in this issue is a dream come true.”

This issue covers the “new mainstream” in American comics and how the marketplace and perception of the medium has drastically shifted since the “graphic novel boom” of the early 2000s and massive hits like Persepolis, Fun Home, and Smile. It also includes sketchbook pages from French-born cartoonist Antoine Cossé, an introduction to Alex Gard’s homoerotic gag cartoons out of the U.S. Navy by Mannie Murphy, Your Black Friend cartoonist Ben Passmore’s examination of the role art and comics have in gentrification, a reconsideration of the comics canon by Eisner Award-winner Dr. Sheena C. Howard, and much more.

TCJ.com, the magazine’s online counterpart, will continue updating every day with completely separate content and managed by editors Tim Hoddler and Tucker Stone.

The Comics Journal #303 is slated to release in bookstores, comic shops, and online in January 2019. The Comics Journal #304 is set to release in June 2019.

Review: Total Jazz

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The first actual time I heard anything resembling jazz was Chuck Mangione. As a kid growing up in the early 1980s I had parents who still listened to music from the 1970s, especially disco music. Another genre my parents got into was popular music and for one bright instance in the 1970s Mangione’s “Feels So Good,” was a crossover hit. I can still remember hearing that beautiful trumpet play and it always takes me back to my childhood. That’s why when King Of The Hill had him appear as himself on several epsiodes, with “Luanne’s Saga” being the most memorable, it definitely brought a smile to my face.

Of course, since Chuck Mangione came out with that hit many artists before him and after him have crossed over to popular culture. As one of jazz purist uncle has said to me many times, “that is not jazz,” as many artists like Mangione, George Benson, Kenny G, and Al Jarreau, have made it on to the popular music charts. As I grow older and listen to all genres of music I have realized the true beauty of the music. It’s tenuousness, just like hip hop. It defies convention. In Blutch’s Total Jazz the auteur seeks to give the pedestrian music fan a rudimentary examination of music by itself but also jazz culture covering the many subgenres, the artists, and even the fans.

In “the Melody of Words” a young Apache princess listens to for her lover’s intentions through his action, one that makes her his bride. In  the Sound,” a musician looking to find a sound of his own ends up emulating one of his favorite jazz players. In “The Muse,” a young woman becomes the inspiration for four different musicians over the course of her life. In “Study on the Prejudice of classic comics to Jazz,” the vignette shows how comics have portrayed jazz music under unflattering light. In “She Shot Lee Morgan,” an artist’s death makes another artist appreciate the woman by his side.In “the Life of an Artist 2,” an artist whose idol is Sonny Rollins imbues himself into his idol’s work routine gaining fans all his own. In “MDD III,” Blutch charts the life of Miles Davis through his evolving personal style. In the last of the vignettes I will highlight “Diary of a Consumer,” the meager availability of jazz music in stores has reduced significantly, where now fans have look to the internet for their latest music fix.

Overall, an outstanding collection of visual essays that seeks to explore all facets of jazz music and what actually makes up jazz culture.The stories by Blutch are relatable, funny, and true. The art by Blutch shows skills that adjust to each unique story. Altogether, an essential book to add to your collection if you love jazz, but especially if you like music and the culture that surrounds it.

Story: Blutch Art: Blutch
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Review: The Bloody Cardinal

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As far back as I can remember popular culture has always been obsessed with murder mysteries. This is the exact reason Sherlock Holmes has been such a pivotal figure in law enforcement even though he is completely fictional. This obsession also is why the world has been somewhat fascinated with Jack the Ripper.  AS this murder mystery has been the subject of several books, tv shows, comics and movies.

Even the world-renowned crime author, Patricia Cornwell, did her own research into the subject which she turned into a true crime book. This very fascination explains a lot about humans and our obsessions with people who explore the darker recesses of the mind. Al Capone and John Dillinger are considered legendary and why these subjects continue to be explored. This obsession spills over into comics as Richard Sala explores a similar fictional figure in The Bloody Cardinal.

In the opening pages, we meet a young lady, Clara Clarette, who is looking for a rare book, but something about the book shop and the mysterious details that booksellers give her, leaves her suspicious. This leads to her being killed by knife, which introduces us to Inspector Coronet and Doctor Sun, who is investigating her murder and Bill Beaker, the “Bloody Cardinal” would be his number one suspect, if he wasn’t dead himself. We also meet Trini Toledo, who was the last person Clara spoke to. By book’s end, we find out who was possibly using Beaker’s identity but as all good mysteries do, it ends with a twist that no one saw coming.

Overall, an excellent book which proves Sala is one the premiere crime noir writers of our time. The story by Sala is frightening, unnerving, and suspense filled. The art by Sala is entrancing. Altogether, a spooky thriller which will have readers second guessing their instincts about who the killer is until the end.

Story: Richard Sala Art: Richard Sala
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Fantagraphics Presents: The Disney Masters Series!

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Fantagraphics has announced the launch of a new series, Disney Masters, which highlights acclaimed artists from around the world working in the grand Walt Disney tradition. Many of these stories are new to American readers and appear here for the first time in English. New artwork, new adventures, and new laughs!

Featured creators will include:

Romano Scarpa, one of the most famous Italian creators of Disney comics, builds on the rich Disney tradition of comedy and drama.


Disney Masters Vol. 1 Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Delta Dimension
$29.99 – Hardcover – 208 pages – Full Color – 7.5″  x 10.25″ – ISBN 978-1-68396-096-6
Release Date: 5/15/18

Luciano Bottaro, one of the most beloved Italian cartoonists, spins wild, thrilling, proto-psychedelic epics that surprise and delight.

Disney Masters Vol. 2 Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Uncle Scrooge’s Money Rocket
$29.99 – Hardcover – 192 pages – Full Color – 7.5″  x 10.25″ – ISBN 978-1-68396-109-3
Release Date: 6/5/18

Paul Murry, an American, carried Floyd Gottfredson’s swashbuckling, crime-fighting Mickey Mouse from comic strips into comic books, crafting stories of suspense, danger, and fun.


Disney Masters Vol. 3 Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Case of the Vanishing Bandit
$29.99 – Hardcover – 184 pages – Full Color – 7.5″  x 10.25″ – ISBN 978-1-68396-113-0
Release Date: 7/15/18

Daan Jippes, who lives in the Netherlands, is famous worldwide for his adventures of Donald Duck drawn in the tradition of Carl Barks. Freddy Milton, from Denmark, is also famous in Europe, and is highly acclaimed for his Donald Duck stories.


Disney Masters Vol. 4 Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Great Survival Test
$29.99 – Hardcover – 192 pages – Full Color – 7.5″  x 10.25″ – ISBN 978-1-68396-111-6
Release Date: 8/15/18

Review: Unreal City

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There is something about watching and/or reading anthologies which tell a common theme. This is why Love Actually is still one of the most talked about movies almost 20 years after it came out. There was someone everyone can identify with in each character. The one character in the movie which I most identified with, and this was due to my general shyness, is Mark, Andrew Lincoln’s character.

Now, I know most people know Lincoln, from his character in the Walking Dead, but the way he depicted how painful being shy is, cut right through me. Most of these movies, that depicted a general them usually are considered universal, that is also why Garry Marshall’s movies feels so honest. As they usually showed a city is filled with people just like you even when you think you are all alone. So, when I heard D.J. Bryant’s Unreal City, I knew I was in for a treat.

In “Echoes to Eternity”, a woman in an unhappy marriage, feels as if she is being dragged down by the world, that is until she finds a place that feels all too familiar, but she has no recollection of.In”Evelyn Dayton-Holt”, a woman continusously tortures her husband, until she realizes the monster she has become. In” Emordana”, a theater goer becomes engrossed in a play to where becomes part of it in the weirdest way.” In the “Yellowknife Perspective”, a man gets trapped in a museum where a time loop exists, which leads him to question whether his girlfriend is a figment of his imagination. In “Objet D’Art”, a man’s infatuation becomes his undoing until he meets the love of his life.

Overall, a creepy, gripping and entertaining set of stories, that will either divide or unite readers, as these stories are not for kids. The stories by D.J. Bryant is uneasy, riddled with black humor and ones the reader will soon not forget. The art by D.J. Bryant reminds me of Daniel Clowes work, but with a panache all his own. Altogether, a book and an artist to watch out for.

Story: D.J. Bryant Art: D.J. Bryant
Story: 10 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.4R ecommendation: Buy

Review: How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels

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I remember the first time I saw a comic strip, it was on the back of the newspaper my Dad was reading when I was 5. I wanted to know more, I wanted to understand what they were talking about. This lead to my Dad taking me and my sister to picking up our first comic books when I was 7. This lead to me want to read, comic strips, first, then comic book s and eventually everything I was inquisitive about.

Yet the comic strip is the building block from whence I came, and how thousands of kids around the world came to want to read. As true as those may have been when I was growing up, it no longer is as true now. Now the world, could care less for reading comic strips in newspapers, as everything you can find digitally. In Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden’s How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels, it reminds well-worn readers and novices how one should enjoy sequential art.

We are introduced to Ernie Bushmiller, the creator of Nancy, as we get to find out how he started drawing comic strips. As fascinating as the history of the strip is, the creation of many nuances of the comics were created at the same time. We get to find out not only the details of how comics are made, but also the business side of it. By book’s end, the reader is more informed of both the process and the business and ultimately the creators who make them.

Overall, an excellent and painstaking investigated book that will give the reader a better understanding of the comics Industry.  The research by Karasik and Newgarden, show their love for the medium. The writing, never lulls, which is miracle for a research book. Altogether, even if you never read Nancy, you will love this book.

Story: Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik
Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Review: House of Women

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One of the best movies I saw last year was The Beguiled, a remake of a Clint Eastwood movie, that subverted expectations at every turn. I remember watching the original movie, all those years ago, and thinking, how is this situation, supposed to be romantic, as Clint Eastwood’s character was a predator. Sofia Coppola, ad a similar thought, and reversed the perspective on the characters. The new movie, which is not only different but an actual thriller.

In this movie, Colin Farrell, plays Clint Eastwood’s character of Corporal McBurney, a charismatic Union soldier who seeks shelter, in an all-girls school. He goes about, trying to seduce each woman, but ends up suffering for his attempts. The movie, was not only better than the original film, but was timely and brought up themes that movies and books about the era had to brought up before. Those same themes of gender and power are explored in Sophie Goldstein’s House of Women.

We first meet, Sarai, Rhivka, Aphra and Kizzy, all emissaries, from the Empire, who has embarked on a mission to “civilize “an unknown planet, called Mopu. As they go about colonizing, increasingly they find, they are not who they expected, and they are not welcome, as the shadow of the last mission looms large over them and what happened those crew members. Soon, the mysterious humanoid stranger, Jael Dean, and the ecosystem that is the life blood of the planet, both overwhelm the women. By book’s end, the mission encounters some casualties but for those who survived, they not look at life the same way again.

Overall, a powerhouse graphic novel that I wished I knew about sooner as it is will not leave you soon after you read it. The story by Sophie Goldstein successfully combines science fiction, thriller, and horror, into a richly woven tapestry. The art by Goldstein is elegant, off putting, and vibrant. Altogether, a science fiction tale that draws you in with an interesting but familiar premise and then subverts all your expectations in the most glorious way.

Story: Sophie Goldstein Art: Sophie Goldstein
Story: 10 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.7 Recommendation:Buy

The End of the Fucking World, Reprinted!

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Before The End of the Fucking World was a genre-bending, international smash hit on Netflix and Channel 4, it was the 2013 critically-acclaimed graphic novel by Charles Forsman, published (without the asterisks) by Fantagraphics Books! Re-released this past fall in a new hardcover edition, the book flew off the shelves within 24 hours of the hit series’ debut on Netflix last Friday. As a result, an ambitious third printing of The End of the Fucking World has been expedited and will hit stores in early February.

The End of the Fucking World is an eight episode series that premiered on Channel 4 and All 4 in the United Kingdom in October of 2017 and on Netflix internationally on January 5th, 2018. The show stars Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther as Alyssa and James, two teenagers whose predilections for nihilism spiral into horrific and humorous mayhem.

Originally self-published by Forsman in mini-comic form, The End of the Fucking World was collected and published as a softcover graphic novel by Fantagraphics in 2013. It was re-released in hardcover in late 2017 in anticipation of its small screen debut.

Pre-order your copy of The End of the Fucking World today from your local bookstore, comic shop, or directly.

Review: Night Business

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There is something so satisfying about watching a revenge movie. Watching a protagonist, who has been wronged, taking justice in their own hands. This is the wish fulfillment of the everyman and why everybody cheers when the main character finally fulfills their measure of vengeance. This is why the audience for these movies still exist, which is why the trailer for upcoming Bruce Willis remake of Death Wish, has movie fans anticipating its release.

Throughout the years, there have been some really good revenge movies including the aforementioned Charles Bronson classic. One of the few revenge movies, that I have only watched once, as it is one of those films, you cannot un-see but still is excellent, is Pedro Almodovar’s brutal The Skin I Live In, as it still gives me the creeps thinking about that twist. My favorite all-time favorite revenge film, is John Woo’s The Killer, which had Chow Yun Fat, who plays a police officer who wages a one-man war against the Triad after they kill his partner. This same vein of revenge, retribution and get back, fills the pages of Benjamin Marra’s ultraviolent Night Business.

In the opening pages, we meet Jazzie, a young stripper, who is loved by everyone she meets, until a masked man, stabs her to death. The reader soon finds out he is a serial killer and the only person who can stop him, is Johnny Timothy, a friend of Jazzie and an entrepreneur, who seeks revenge, and wants to stop the killer before more dancers are murdered. We follow Johnny as he gets closer, but are constantly deterred by pimps, killers, a cult, and a gang but is helped by a mysterious bikini clad biker. By book’s end, what started out as a mission of vengeance becomes an opening of a bloody Pandora’s box.

Overall, a neon laced tale of sex, money and murder over a pulsating beat but doesn’t forsake a great story for nostalgia. The story by Marra is action packed, melodramatic and at times, cheesy, in the best way. The art by Marra reminds me of Michel Fiffe, but also has a glow all its own, and the way the art accompanies the story, it completes the experience as a fast 80s action movie. Altogether, an excellent revenge story that will have you looking for your VHS copy of Raw Deal.

Story: Benjamin Marra Art: Benjamin Marra
Story: 10 Art: 9.2 Overall: 9.6 Recommendation: Buy

Review: Zegas

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The most interesting thing about growing up with siblings, is no one knows you better. They know what gets under your skin, what aggravates you and what makes you happy. When you are children, you tend to push each other buttons and more than a few times, get each other in trouble. As you get older, some of those same feelings remain but most mature.

Out of all my relationships, my relationship with my sister, is probably one of the closest I have in my life. This is true for most of my family and some of my friends, as that bond is like nothing else. That’s why when I used to watch Super Friends, growing up, and I saw the Wonder Twins, it always felt like that was me and her. That same bond is what I felt throughout, when I read Zegas, about a pair of adult siblings living together.

In the first story, “Birthday,” we meet Boston and Emily Zegas, as the readers get a front seat to just complicated their relationship is, where they both love each other but can get on each other’s nerves. In one of the more esoteric stories, “Cactus,” Emily accidentally steps on a cactus plant Boston is growing, which leads to an otherworldly effect happening to the plant. In “Plum,” Boston gets an adverse food allergy, and must use alternative means to get rid of it. By book’s end, each story highlights a master at work, as Fiffe, as the way he weaves narratives, is what makes his work since, so superior to his contemporaries.

Overall, an interesting set of stories, which show how cinematic the creator’s view of the character is. The stories by Michel Fiffe are humorous, uncanny, and stirring. The art by Fiffe differs from story to story, although he uses mostly the same characters, he changes his perception based on the story. Altogether, a gritty collection, which challenges the set boundaries of visual storytelling   and proves that some of the best stories are told outside of the box.

Story: Michel Fiffe Art: Michel Fiffe
Story: 8.8 Art: 8.6 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

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