Preview: Comics as Art

In case you haven't heard, Tom Spurgeon's got a new book coming out this summer about the history of Fantagraphics. As perhaps the single most influential publisher in "pushing comix forward," Fantagraphics has worked tirelessly to bring alternative comics to mainstream attention, and is largely (though not solely) responsible for the current renaissance of literate cartooning. The book, cheekily titled Comics as Art: We Told You So, tells the history of the company through a series of interviews with everyone involved in any way with the publisher, including creators, family members and friends. It also features many never before seen documents, early fanzines, sketches, photographs, and other comics ephemera. In short, it looks outstanding, and the first 12 pages are available here. So, as Tom would say...Go, Read!