Publishing the magazine 'The Comics Journal', Fantagraphics Books has been a leading proponent of comics as a legitimate form of art and literature since 1976.
Fantagraphics rapidly achieved a reputation as an advocacy publisher that specialized in seeking out and publishing the kind of innovative work that traditional comics corporations who dealt almost exclusively in super-heroes and fantasy either didn’t know existed or wouldn’t touch: serious, dramatic, historical, journalistic, political, and satirical work by a new generation of alternative cartoonists as well as many artists who gained prominence as part of the seminal underground comix movement of the '60s. Fantagraphics has since gained an international reputation for its literate and audacious editorial standards and its exacting production values.
Many notable cartoonists publish their work through Fantagraphics, including Rob Crumb, Gary Panter, Jaime and Gilberto Hernandez, Jessica Abel, Peter Bagge, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Roberta Gregory, Joe Sacco, and Chris Ware.
Fantagraphics also has an Eros imprint which publishes erotica titles.
Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson passed away on the 19 of june 2013. Throughout his career at Fantagraphics, Thompson was active in every aspect of the company, selecting books, working closely with authors, guiding books through the editorial and production process.
"Kim leaves an enormous legacy behind him. Not just all the European graphic novels that would never have been published here if not or his devotion, knowledge, and skills, but for all the American cartoonists he edited, ranging from Stan Sakai to Joe Sacco to Chris Ware, and his too infrequent critical writing about the medium. His love and devotion to comics was unmatched. I can't truly convey how crushing this is for all of us who've known and loved and worked with him over the years." Gary Groth, co founder of Fantagraphics.
Animation and Film Adaptations:
Ghost World
American Splendor
Fritz The Cat
Prison Pit
Visions of Frank
Nudnik
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