Fantagraphics

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Bimbo Agitprop captures the reality of growing up in West Texas in the early 21st century, through Satanic Panics, Y2K, a recession, abusive parents, shitty men, identity-centric politics, and woke/anti-woke pendulum swings. Reflective of the author’s era (born in the late 1990s) of hyperindividualist over-sharing of late 2010s internet, while being firmly grounded in the unfiltered, handmade, radically anti-establishment art of the 1960s underground comix, Raquelle Jac keeps her wounds fresh and open to both remember the past and protect herself in the future. At turns explicit, hilarious, profane, and defiant, Bimbo Agitprop is both an act of self-preservation and a call to arms. Jac boldly embraces frivolity, “bimboism,” comedy, memory, and storytelling to interrogate reality in the 2020s, ping-ponging among relationships, psychedelic trips, good sex, bad sex, romance, and trauma. Her dense, obsessive pages read like a manifesto, announcing the arrival of a remarkable new voice in comics.

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The Lost Marvels series again delves into the misty margins of Marvel’s past to shine a light on extraordinary work that has never or rarely been collected for modern readers. This is the first volume of a compendium of some of the legendary Gil Kane’s finest storytelling. Freed from the conventions of super-hero battles, Kane’s art is a revelation here, capturing in flamboyant, imaginative detail the classic settings and characters of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book tales (made even more vibrant by the great P. Craig Russell’s inking); the origin of Ka-Zar from Astonishing Tales; and episodes of Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars, an adaptation by Kane and Roy Thomas of the seminal 1905 SF/Fantasy novel. Plus, a genre-hopping gallery of 100 exciting covers by the artist who almost single-handedly defined the look of 1970s-era Marvel.

Creative Team

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Don Schlitten was working as a photographer and commercial artist in New York City when he co-founded Signal Records in 1955.  When Signal was folded into Prestige Records shortly thereafter, Bob Weinstock, head of Prestige, enlisted Don to produce music, photograph musicians, and design album covers. His name graces the album covers of over 400 records produced between the 1950s and 1980s, either as producer, photographer, or album designer, often all three.This book features over 100 photos, personally selected by Don Schlitten as his personal best, many unseen, others familiar as album covers but given new context in their original format. Featuring icons of jazz like Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, and Frank Sinatra, it also includes candid photos of such unsung giants of jazz as Booker Ervin, Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron, Don Patterson, Etta Jones, and Sonny Criss and more.The book includes a biographical essay written by jazz scribe Ted Panken with an introduction by the “Jazz Detective” himself, Zev Feldman. As an extra bonus, this book features an American Splendor comic strip that features Don educating Harvey Pekar, as well as a gallery of Don’s personal favorite top 30 album covers.

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South Korea, 1929. Arisa Jo, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is the most eligible bachelorette in all of Gyeongsung (the capital city). With her Western dresses, movie star hairstyle, and assertive attitude, she embodies bold “Modern” values. Meet her opposite, Jun Seomoon, a young man from the countryside deeply rooted in tradition. When Jun is charged by Arisa’s father to be her escort in the big city, these opposing forces create sparks. Through this unlikely connection, these teenagers open their eyes to new perspectives amidst the rapidly changing world they live in.

Creative Team

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After Japan lost the War, the country was thrown into devastation. No one felt this devastation as much as Japanese women, who, left with few paths to choose from, took low-wage jobs, fell into sex work, and wed American G.I.s. In their affecting graphic novel debut, Marina Lisa Komiya follows the lives of two Japanese women and the American soldiers they marry in this tumultuous time period. Best friends (and possibly more) before the War, Haru and Yoriko are separated in the evacuation of their town during the air raids. As they search for each other afterward, Haru gets by as a waitress, while Yoriko sells her body at a brothel. Their fortunes change when they each meet respectful American soldiers, who take their hand. Arthur, a Japanese American, grapples with the inner conflict of his dual identity, while Scott is at once fascinated by Japanese culture and wracked with guilt over the destruction American forces have wrought. Amidst the postwar desolation, love finds a way, in this powerful work of manga that explores sexuality, identity, and unlikely cross-cultural connection.

Creative Team

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Few comic book series can claim to have influenced a generation of cartoonists, comics fans, and comedians the way Joe Matt’s Peepshow did during its fourteen issues from 1992 to 2006. With an often alarming and always hilarious compulsion to confess, Matt found no aspect of his life that wasn’t more grist for the humor mill: his dysfunctional (and sometimes abusive) relationships, his Catholic repression, his horrible social skills, his addiction to pornography, his masturbation habits, etc. Yes, the character Joe Matt was usually an insufferable outsider, but in the hands of Joe Matt the writer/artist, his life was depicted with an eye and ear for human folly that rivalled R. Crumb, as well as an entertainer’s instinct and sense of comedic timing to rival Larry David, and it made Peepshow one of the most essential reads of its era. This book collects for the first time the entire original fourteen-issue series in one hardcover volume, as well as the posthumously-published fifteenth issue from 2024 (detailing Matt’s move to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue an ill-fated HBO adaptation of his work), each presented as painstakingly-restored facsimiles of the original issues. This definitive Joe Matt collection also includes other art and ephemera from the artist’s personal archives, including a hand-written introduction to a complete Peepshow collection that at the time was purely hypothetical and was only discovered after his death in 2023. Peepshow is rounded out with an insightful afterword by Diana Schutz, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame comics writer and editor, and longtime friend of Matt’s (and sister of Trish, Matt’s ex-girlfriend and key player in Peepshow’s cast).

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On its sixtieth anniversary, the strip looks back on Prince Valiant’s eventful life as many threads begin to come together in a climactic and fateful series of events that will change the face of Camelot. Dire times are ahead for Prince Valiant and his companions, as a three-way war erupts between Arthur’s British kingdom, the Picts, and the Jutes; Aleta, Maeve, and Ingrid are thrown into prison by Lord Hussa; Camelot falls to a barbarian army; and King Arthur makes a last stand. Plus: Galleries of the best images from Prince Valiant by its creator Hal Foster chosen by artist admirers and comic-strip experts. Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. Starring a daring and gallant young hero, the series features epic sword fights, elaborate scenes of pomp and pageantry, and breathless plotting that always leaves the reader wanting more. Fantagraphics’ deluxe editions, each collecting two years’ worth of Sunday strips, boast superbly restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster’s art.

Creative Team

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Jim Woodring has been drawing the otherworldly, allegorical adventures of his cartoon Everycreature, Frank, for three and a half decades. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form — both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank's travails and profoundly metaphysical at the same time. Not since George Herriman's Krazy Kat has the comics language been so exquisitely distilled into pure, revelatory aesthetic expression. With Quacky, Woodring adopts the format of 1930s Big Little Books to deliver a text story with illustrations, in which the typically nonplussed Frank’s reactions are told to us explicitly, through narration and his own thoughts. Frank is buffeted by generosity, anguished to see how loving friends perceive him, distraught by the process of aging and physical transformation in a beloved pet, delighted by nature and physical experiences shared with others, and ultimately sees a path toward radical acceptance in the face of trauma. Frank cast regulars Pupshaw, Pushpaw and Manhog are here, along with new entries to Frank’s world of the Unifactor. And, in a backup feature, we meet a cast of toontown pigs in a story that undercuts the kiddie book format: “Hoggy Goes Hogwild.” Cunningham, the clever pig who helps all his friends, and his confirmed fiancée, Porceline, are called on to assist local pal Hoggy – who turns out to have gone on a violent crime spree, presaging a possible psychotic break. Jim Woodring is back, and no two worlds wouldn’t be the same without him.

Creative Team

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For generations, Scrooge McDuck's biggest fans have studied and saved classic comics by Carl Barks and Don Rosa—striving to learn about Scrooge's past in Scotland and his canny, courageous Clan McDuck. Now, for the first time, Scrooge presents (and co-stars in!) adventures starring his epic ancestors, created by fan-favorite international comics talents! In "The Lost Months of Swamphole McDuck," Scrooge's most mysterious ancestor joins the outlaws of Sherwood Forest... as a hostage! In "The Double Life of Molly Mallard," Scrooge's theatre-girl grandma battles Glasgow's richest crook—then "Matey McDuck, Corsair" faces fiendish Flameheart Glomgold on the high seas! In "For King and Bonnie Scotland," Scrooge even learns how the knightly Sir Eider McDuck became Scotland's king until scandal brought him down... in less than a day. And more—much, much more!