Stocking up with Fantagraphics

June 8, 1:23 PMSeattle Comic Books ExaminerSpencer Ellsworth

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Fantagraphics press is going big with its current line of releases--big and heavy.

The Seattle comics publisher is promoting a dizzying array of slipcased hardcover special editions, including reprints of some of their most beloved publications alongside some classic comics anthologies. In doing so, Fantagraphics echoes the trends of the other, bigger publishers, such as DC's release of "Absolute Editions" for their acclaimed Watchmen and Sandman series.

But Fantagraphics' work is both better known and more obscure--from their gorgeous "Complete Peanuts" series of slipcased hardcover Schultz to their highly acclaimed indie line. Among the latter are Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, a Salingerian critique of modern life through the eyes of jaundiced teenagers, which now includes the script of the 2001 film adaptation and annotations by the author. Or there's Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque epic Love and Rockets, including the award-winning Palomar storyline, collected in one giant collection of seven paperbacks and finally the award-winning comics journalism of Joe Sacco in Palestine, which now comes accompanied by notes, sketches, photographs and additional interviews.

It seems somewhat of an odd movie for the little indie champion Fantagraphics. But given the way artists like Sacco and Love and Rockets authors the Hernandez brothers have been transforming comics from the outside in, the notes, interviews and annotations give a look into  some of the most innovative of the new generation of movers and shakers in the current comics renaissance.

For More Info: Fantagraphics Books