Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons
By Gahan Wilson

OVER ONE THOUSAND CARTOONS SPANNING 50 YEARS OF A LEGENDARY CAREER

Fifty-one, to be exact, but let’s not quibble. Gahan Wilson is among the most popular, widely-read, and beloved cartoonists in the history of the medium, whose career spans the 2nd half of the 20th century, and all of the 21st. His work has been seen by millions — no, hundreds of millions — in the pages of Playboy, The New Yorker, Punch, The National Lampoon, and many other magazines; there is no telling, really, how many readers he has corrupted or comforted. He is revered for his playfully sinister take on childhood, adulthood, men, women, and monsters. His brand of humor makes you laugh until you cry. And it’s about time that a collection of his cartoons was published that did justice to his vast body of work.

When Gahan Wilson walked into Hugh Hefner’s office in 1957, he sat down as Hefner was on the phone, gently rejecting a submission to his new gentlemen’s magazine: “I think it’s very well-written and I liked it very much,” Hefner reportedly said, “but it’s anti-sin. And I’m afraid we’re pro-sin.” Wilson knew, at that moment, that he had found a kindred spirit and a potential home for his cartoons. And indeed he had; Wilson appeared in every issue of Playboy from the December 1957 issue to today. It has been one of the most fruitful, successful, and long-lived relationships between a contributor and a magazine, ever.

Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons features not only every cartoon Wilson drew for Playboy, but all his prose fiction that has appeared in that magazine as well, from his first story in the June, 1962 issue, “Horror Trio,” to such classics as “Dracula Country” (September 1978). It also includes the text-and-art features he drew for Playboy, such as his look at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, his take on our country’s “pathology of violence,” and his appreciation of “transplant surgery.”

Wilson’s notoriously black sense of comedy is on display throughout the book, leaving no sacred cow unturned (an image curiously absent in the book), ridiculing everything from state sponsored executions to the sober precincts of the nouveau rich, from teenage dating to police line-ups, with scalding and hilarious satirical jabs. Although Wilson is known as an artist who relishes the creepy side of modern life, this three-volume set truly demonstrates the depth and breadth of his range — from illustrating private angst we never knew we had (when you eat a steak, just whom are you eating?) to the ironic and deadpan take on horrifying public issues (ecological disaster, nuclear destruction anyone?).

Gahan Wilson has been peeling back the troubling layers of modern life with his incongruously playful and unnerving cartoons, assailing our deepest fears and our most inane follies. This three-volume set is a testament to one of the funniest — and wickedly disturbing — cartoonists alive.

942-page full-color 8" x 10" three-volume hardcover set with slipcase • $125.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-298-2
Bonus signed silkscreen print included with the first 50 orders!
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Limited Collectors Edition with signed letterpress print and box set of facsimile holiday cards • $175.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-334-7
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We've got Cyber Monday fever! Today only (Monday, Nov. 30, 2009), all of our currently-available and pre-orderable 2009 releases (with a few exceptions) are marked down 30%! That's a fantastic deal on over 75 items, including but not limited to: deluxe box sets like Humbug and Gahan Wilson; gorgeous, oversized, impressive-under-the-tree volumes of classic newspaper strips Popeye, Prince Valiant, and The Brinkley Girls; no less than 4 books from the Hernandez brothers (including the big Luba and Locas II omnibuses); new & reprinted stuff from mainstays Peter Bagge, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, R. Crumb, Tony Millionaire, Richard Sala, C. Tyler and Robert Williams; classics from Boody Rogers, Steve Ditko, Fletcher Hanks, Basil Wolverton, and the various artists of Blazing Combat and Supermen; two by the great Jacques Tardi; new comics from cutting-edge faves Al Columbia, Jordan Crane, Paul Hornschemeier, Kevin Huizenga, Jason, Miss Lasko-Gross, Michael Kupperman, Anders Nilsen, John Pham, Johnny Ryan, Dash Shaw, and Esther Pearl Watson; amazing art books like Portable Grindhouse and Rock Candy; Monte Schulz's novel This Side of Jordan; fully half a dozen issues of The Comics Journal; even some of our already-crazy-cheap Mome multi-packs — and much much more! Holy smokes, what a year it's been... and now's your best chance to get caught up and spread the love of comics with beautiful gifts for all your friends and family!

(Sale begins RIGHT NOW — midnight, Monday Nov. 30 — and ends exactly 24 hours later. Don't delay!)

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Popeye Vol. 4: "Plunder Island"
By E.C. Segar

With this fourth volume of our beloved series, Segar’s Popeye reaches one of its highest peaks in “Plunder Island,” the glorious, epic-length Sunday-continuity adventure that ran for eight months and pitted the intrepid sailorman against the malevolent Sea Hag and her terrifying, grotesque sidekick the Goon — helped, and sometimes hindered by, the easily corruptible J. Wellington Wimpy. “Plunder Island” is presented here for the first time in its complete, full-color, uncut glory!

Meanwhile, in the “dailies” section of Popeye Volume 4, Popeye visits “Poodleburg” and gets involved in a quest for both “Romance and Riches.” Other stories include “Unifruit” (featuring the return of King Blozo), the western epic “Black Valley” (with the unforgettable sight of Popeye in drag), “The Pool of Youth” (featuring the return of the Sea Hag... and her sister!); and the beginning of the extended six-month-long yarn “Popeye’s Ark”!

Comics historian Richard Marschall rounds off this volume with a long article on Segar’s storytelling skills and narrative strategies, focusing in particular on the “Plunder Island” sequence. Rediscover an American treasure in this handsomely designed series to be enjoyed by comic fans of all ages.

168-page color/b&w 10.5" x 14.75" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-169-5

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November 25, 2009 - SEATTLE, WA. The third anniversary celebration for Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, December 12, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, promises to be an unforgettable affair. The event features appearances by an international cadre of compelling cartoonists and artists as well as the world premiere of PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE with editor Jacques Boyreau. An entertaining panel discussion will be held the following Sunday afternoon, December 13.

PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE: The Lost Art of the VHS Box collects colorful cover art from a selection of vintage exploitation genre films. Cleverly packaged in a VHS slipcase, this anthology celebrates the film format that changed pop culture forever. On opening night Portland-based editor and B movie aficionado Jacques Boyreau will unveil a monumental site-specific "Portable Grindhouse" mural designed by Candice Schroeder. Boyreau commissioned Schroeder to create an equally impressive mural for his "SuperTrash" movie memorabilia exhibition currently on display at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

December 12 also marks the third anniversary of Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. To celebrate the occasion, Fantagraphics Books has assembled an amazing group of cartoonists to socialize and sign books. Among the stellar line-up of guests: Femke Hiemstra (ROCK CANDY) from Amsterdam, Paul Hornschemeier (ALL & SUNDRY) and Jay Ryan (BEASTS!) from Chicago, Portland's Dame Darcy (MEAT CAKE), and Seattle's own Peter Bagge (HATE), Jim Woodring (FRANK), Scott Musgrove (THE LATE FAUNA OF EARLY NORTH AMERICA), and Jim Blanchard (TRUCKER FAGS IN DENIAL.) Musical entertainment will be provided by Bagge's pop combo CAN YOU IMAGINE? featuring Steve Fisk and an opening set by the enchanting DAME DARCY.

On Sunday, December 13 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery presents a panel discussion focusing on PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE. Five distinguished experts in the field will screen short clips from their favorite exploitation film and discuss its influence on their work, as well as the broader social implications of the genre.

Panelists include artist Lisa Petrucci (KICKASS KUTIES ) of Something Weird, cartoonist Marc Palm of Scarecrow Video, Seattle Times pop culture critic Mark Rahner with film critic and curator Robert Horton, co-writers of horror comic ROTTEN. The panel is moderated by PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE editor Jacques Boyreau and will be followed by a book signing and reception. Admission is free as always.

LISTING INFORMATION

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
Third Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, December 12, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Featuring

PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE Book Launch Party
Featuring Editor Jacques Boyreau

Music by

CAN YOU IMAGINE? featuring Steve Fisk
And DAME DARCY

Starring:

From Chicago Paul Hornschemeier (ALL & SUNDRY) & Jay Ryan (BEASTS!)
From Amsterdam Femke Hiemstra (ROCK CANDY)
From Portland Dame Darcy (MEAT CAKE)
Seattle's own Peter Bagge (HATE), Jim Blanchard, Jim Woodring (FRANK) and more!

Sunday, December 13, 4:00 to 6:00 PM

PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE PANEL & BOOK SIGNING

Screening and panel discussion on vintage exploitation video with

Lisa Petrucci (KICKASS KUTIES) Something Weird Video.
Mark Rahner (ROTTEN) Seattle Times pop culture critic
Robert Horton KUOW film critic and Frye Art Museum film curator
Marc Palm (AKA Swellzombie) Scarecrow Video
Moderated by PORTABLE GRINDHOUSE editor Jacques Boyreau

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM
www.fantagraphics.com

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship, AND scheduled to arrive in comic shops this week:

Ganges #3
By Kevin Huizenga

In the third issue of Kevin Huizenga's Eisner Award nominated comic, Glenn Ganges still can't fall asleep. In "Mind and Body" Glenn tries lying still, but his mind — The Wanderer — keeps thwarting his plans! In "Getting Things Done" he gives up trying to get to sleep and tries to get some things done... until the cops show up! All executed in Huizenga's strikingly crisp, lovely two-color "clear line" style, and presented in our deluxe oversized Ignatz format.

32-page duotone 8.5" x 11" saddle-stitched softcover with jacket • $7.95
(Part of the Ignatz Series)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-338-5
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SEATTLE, WA, NOV. 20, 2009 ---  Fantagraphics Books is proud to announce the acquisition of What Is All This?, a 900-page collection of previously uncollected short fiction by two-time National Book Award Nominee (1991, 1995) Stephen Dixon. The collection will be published in May, 2010 and mark the third entry in Fantagraphics burgeoning line of literary fiction, following Alexander Theroux's Laura Warholic (2007) and Monte Schulz's This Side of Jordan (2009). Along with Theroux, Dixon is the second National Book Award nominated-author to publish new fiction through Fantagraphics.

Dixon is one of the most acclaimed authors of short stories in the history of American letters. He has published previously through acclaimed independent literary presses like McSweeney's and Melville House, as well as corporate houses like Henry Holt. His work, characterized by mordant humor and a frank attention to human sexuality, has earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Academy Institute of Arts and Letters Prize for Fiction, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Fantagraphics Books is proud to present his latest volume of short stories, a massive collection of vintage Dixon, eschewing the modernism and quasi-autobiography of his I-trilogy and instead treating readers to a pared-down, crystalline style more reminiscent of Hemingway.

"This is our third book of prose fiction -after Alex Theroux's Laura Warholic and Monte Schulz's This Side of Jordan- and readers may notice that the common denominator among these books is that language itself serves as the animating literary force," says acquiring editor and Fantagraphics co-publisher Gary Groth. "Dixon's finely chiseled sentences cut to the quick of people's lives. None of these stories have been collected in any book; they have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals over almost 40 years and Dixon has entirely rewritten all of them. Dixon admirers will be cheered to learn that these stories comprise a wholly original work."

Centrally concerning himself with the American condition, Dixon explores in What Is All This? obsessions of body image, the increasingly polarized political landscape, sex -in all its incarnations- and the gloriously pointless minutiae of modern life, from bus rides to tying shoelaces. Using the canvas of his native New York (with one significant exception that affords Dixon the opportunity to create a furiously political fable) he astutely captures the edgy madness that infects the city through the neuroses of his narrators with a style that owes as much to Neo-Reaist cinema as it does to modern literature. What Is All This? will be published in hardcover, designed by Fantagraphics award-winning Art Director Jacob Covey. "Stephen Dixon is one of the few writers who completely challenged, then changed how I think about writing and reading," says Covey. "He was the first writer I recognized as making Art that was as viscerally relevant as painting or music. Designing a book for someone who was so formative to me is one of the rarest and most intimidating opportunities I can imagine."

Stephen Dixon was born in 1936 in New York City. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1958 and is a former faculty member of Johns Hopkins University. In his early 20s, he worked as a journalist in radio, interviewing such monumental figures as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Nikita Khrushchev. His witty, keenly observed narratives and sharply hewn prose have appeared in every major market magazine from Harper's to Playboy and have earned him two National Book Award nominations -for his novels Frog and Interstate. He still hammers out his fiction on a vintage typewriter.

Fantagraphics Books has been the world's leading publisher of comics and graphic novels since 1976, with titles by Robert Crumb, Charles M. Schulz, Joe Sacco, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and many others. In 2007, the company launched its prose division, beginning with novels by Alexander Theroux (Laura Warholic) and Jules Feiffer (a reissue of the noted artist's 1963 novel, Harry, the Rat with Women).