Gary Groth

Peanuts is beloved by countless readers worldwide for its iconic characters -- such as Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Lucy van Pelt -- gentle humor, and emotional resonance. The artist behind Peanuts shares the same name recognition, but among critics and historians, he is far more than a celebrity -- he wrote and drew every strip in the newspaper comic's 50 years himself, and it reflects the moral, aesthetic, and intellectual foundations of Schulz's worldview and art. Fantagraphics is proud to present four extensive conversations with Schulz, conducted by film critic Leonard Maltin, novelist Laurie Colwin, Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, and comics historian Rick Marschall.

100 years ago the world was embroiled in a destructive conflict that proved to be a defining event in modern history. The First World War opened the door to a new age, filled with stories of tragedy, horror, and loss. Even those who survived came to be known as the "Lost Generation." Jus ad bellum is about a British soldier in World War One who undergoes a crisis of faith amidst the horrors he experiences on the Western Front.

Surrounded by the ornate, retro, proto-splatter horror graphics of Jack Davis and Graham Ingels and the slick, futuristic sci-fi stylings of Wally Wood and Al Williamson, EC Comics superstar Johnny Craig stood out in the 1950s with his elegant, crisp, contemporary graphic style. And nowhere did this style work more beautifully than in the dozens of superb crime and horror comics he wrote and drew for EC, mostly for the two comics he also edited, Crime SuspenStories and The Vault of Horror. (Craig was the only EC artist to habitually write his own material for the entire length of EC's run.) Featuring murderous husbands and wives, executioners, thieving surgeons, vengeful sword-swallowers, time bombs, private dicks, vampires, werewolves, and ghouls, the 23 stories in this book comprise a perfect encapsulation of the very best and darkest kind of noir and horror writing, stunningly executed (in more than one sense of the word) by one of the great cartoonists of his (or any) era. And all in seven or eight pages per story Fall Guy For Murder And Other Stories is once again, as are the other EC Comic Library releases, supplemented with several fascinating essays and informative historical notes on the stories.

Since Fantagraphics first release in this series focused on Donald Duck, it is only right that the second focus on Carl Barks s other great protagonist, and his greatest creation: The miserly, excessively wealthy Scrooge McDuck, whose giant money bin, lucky dime, and constant wrangles with his nemeses the Beagle Boys are well-known to, and beloved by, young and old. This volume starts off with Only a Poor Old Man, the defining Scrooge yarn (in fact his first big starring story) in which Scrooge s plan to hide his money in a lake goes terribly wrong. Two other long-form classics in this volume include Tralla La La (also known as the bottlecap story, in which Scrooge s intrusion has terrible consequences for a money-less eden) and Back to the Klondike (Barks disciple Don Rosa s favorite story, a crucial addition to Scrooge s early history, and famous for a censored bar brawl that was restored in later editions). Each of these three stories is famous enough to have its own lengthy Wikipedia page. Also in this volume are the full-length The Secret of Atlantis, and over two dozen more shorter stories and one-page gags. Newly recolored in a version that combines the warm, friendly, slightly muted feeling of the beloved classic original comic books with state-of-the-art crispness and reproduction quality, the stories are joined by another volume s worth of extensive Liner Notes, featuring fascinating behind-the-panels essays about the creation of the stories and analyses of their content from a world s worth of Disney and Barks experts.

Ya still think it pays to fight dirty? No bad guys can beat Walt Disney s classic Mickey; no other modest mouse has seen more two-fisted action or outrageous comedy And now our big-eared hero is back with more edge-of-your-seat adventures: traveling from Umbrellastan to Texas and duking it out with villains like Dr. Vulter, Pegleg Pete, and malicious miser Eli Squinch Floyd Gottfredson, artist and writer of Mickey Mouse, turned the strip into a 100-proof cocktail of thrills, comedy, warmth, and cynicism. In this volume, you ll saddle up for Gottfredson s two most famous Wild West epics: a Race for Riches amid rockslides and rustlers, then a dead-shot showdown with the brutal Bat Bandit Back home in Mouseton, the mayhem continues when Mickey, Donald, and Goofy run a crime-fighting newspaper and face trouble with mobsters and speeding black sedans Lovingly restored from Disney s proof sheets, High Noon at Inferno Gulch also includes more than 50 pages of rootin -tootin supplementary features You ll enjoy rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and vivid commentary by a pistol-packin posse of seasoned Disney scholars. Walt Disney often said that his studio s success all started with a Mouse. Now it s time to rediscover the wild, unforgettable personality behind the icon

Oh, for gosh sakes Floyd Gottfredson s classic 1930s Mickey Mouse is back for another round of thrills, chills, and epic quests taking him from the depths of teeming jungles to the halls of spooky Blaggard Castle. Mickey s classic Disney bad guys are here, too, with arch-enemy Pegleg Pete joined for this book by the mysterious Bill Shakespeare and hypnosis-happy Professors Ecks, Doublex, and Triplex Floyd Gottfredson, artist of Mickey Mouse from 1930-1975, made it the most popular cartoon-based comic of its time. Unafraid to tackle social satire and grown-up action-adventure, Gottfredson produced a Mouse for all ages. Today as Disney's Epic Mickey video game brings Mickey s gutsy side to a new medium. Fantagraphics Mickey Mouse series shows just how long Mickey has been a hero In this book you ll relive Mickey s fight with pirates on desolate Treasure Island; his quest with Goofy to catch ruthless counterfeiters; and his battles to save windy Horace Horsecollar from mad scientists, a robbery frame-up and himself Lovingly restored from Disney s original negatives and proof sheets, Mickey Mouse: Trapped on Treasure Island also includes more than 50 pages of fascinating supplementary features. You ll enjoy rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and vivid commentary by a full team of seasoned Disney scholars. Walt Disney often said that his studio s success all started with a mouse and today Mickey is among the world s most recognizable icons in the world. Now it s time to rediscover the wild, unforgettable personality behind the icon: Floyd Gottfredson s Mickey Mouse.

Mome Winter 2009 Volume 13