Crap, what a time to be broke. I wish I could help. I always had a crush on La Hopey.

Neil Gaiman in his blog mentions that he will replace the Gary Groth, (head of Fantagraphics) phone call reward for 500$ spent with a phone call from him if you wish.

I've been meaning to pick up a copy of "From Hell" for a while now, and to get those Hate Annuals. Guess it's time.

I want a phone call from FRANK.

I sent out this messsage on a bookdealer mailing list, and I'll repeat it here, as unpopular as it may be:

Sorry, but I really don't see Fantagraphics Books as an entity particularly in need of my charity.

While they do some good stuff, I find their cries of penury somewhat hard to believe when their companion Eros line of adult comics seems to publish in the neighborhood of some 100-300 presumably very profitable titles (forgive me if I haven't counted them all; a quick look shows 23 pages of bondage titles alone) on a regular basis. It seems that Mr. Groth has been subsidizing Fantagraphics from the profits of Eros for many years now. Sure, being stiffed by a distributor sucks; it's happened to plenty of SF small press publishers. But Mr. Groth would not be in these straits had be not subsidized an unprofitable line with a profitable one for years on end rather than moving to sounder financial footing. What we're being asked to do is not save a competent businessman hit by a harsh stroke of inexplicable bad luck, but someone who's unsound business practices have finally caught up with him. Let Mr. Groth crank out another dozen erotic graphic novel compilations if he needs the money so badly. I see no need for myself (or anyone else, really) to subsidize his taste in graphic novels he thinks people should be reading rather than those people are willing to buy.

I'd like to call people's attentions to 2 of the 'bargain books': International Bob and Love Is Not a 3-Dollar Fare, both by Terry LaBan -- these reprint some of the funniest comics of recent years, and they're really cheap.

Neil Gaiman mentions that he will replace the Gary Groth phone call with a phone call from him if you wish.

That was my initial thought, actually. Comic artists should offer up some time for phonecalls to support Fantagraphics supporters. Get Crumb working the phones!

Edited by author 05-30-2003 07:37 PM
_From Hell_ is not a Fantagraphics published title.

You should pick that up from your local comics retailer, who probably needs the money as much as Fantagraphics.

Badly run businesses should not be charity operations. I support their artists and they've put out some great stuff, but their own story makes them sound like self-confessed idiots. The story in the Seattle PI was really pathetic. They got carried away, made some very bad decisions, and they and their various artists will suffer for it. How did they last this long?

They're not asking for charity, they're asking for burst of sales to get them through some tough times.

If it weren't for on-the-edge businesses like Fantagraphics, the whole field would be poorer. It takes a business that takes chances to support brilliant weird-ass stuff. Otherwise it would be nothing by mutant adolescents in tights.

Well, sure, they've made some mistakes, but I'd rather see them stay in business than fold due to some bizarre sense of publisher Darwinism. "Only the well-run shall survive! Regardless of how good their books are!" How does the way they run their business at all detrimental to the quality of work that they've published? Do you think they'll be able to publish better work if they're out of business? What the hell?

They're a publisher of good stuff, even if Groth (and Thompson) are pricks. Love and Rockets alone means I had to try to help them out.

According to posts on The Comics Journal's message board, buying Fantagraphics books from them is better for them than buying the stuff that they distribute, but they're obviously not turning away any orders right now. I picked up Gary Panter's Cola Madnes, a bunch of issues of the new L&R series and The Nimrod, and a few issues of TCJ. All good stuff, worth buying regardless of if they're a well-run business.

--sean