A Visit to Fantagraphics in Seattle
A few months ago I took a much-needed vacation. The first I’ve actually taken since moving to Santa Fe in 2008. My girlfriend’s brother invited us to his home in Seattle WA. For the week he took us to many cool places. We got to see the waterfront, the city’s booming downtown, and art galleries. On our second to last day there, he offered to take us to a comic shop his friend used to work at. Knowing that I’m a comic fan & aspiring comic artist. To my surprise, the comic shop was The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.
Fantagraphics is the world’s most notable independent comic publishing company, best know for titles like Ghost World, Love & Rockets, and the works of R. Crumb. I’m more of a fan of superhero/sci-fi comics, but I have read these comics too. I completely believe that comics are a legitimate form of art and literature. This has been Fantagraphic’s belief too since it started publishing in the late 1970s.
Is was very cool to browse the bookstore and see all the cool underground-type comics. The bookstore isn’t your typical comic shop. They were no back issues, mostly selves of paperbacks. All Fantagraphics titles too. I saw a lot of titles I’d never really heard of, but all were very interesting. It’s great to see the underground/independent comic scene doing so well in Seattle. In this new world of the internet and instant downloads finding a comic shop full of art, people and music is always an awesome site to see.
I’m very thankful that I got to opportunity to visit this really cool comic shop/gallery. Even though I didn’t buy any comics there. I do have a huge respect and appreciation for Fantagraphics and the comics they produce. (Check out the cool Super Heroes painting) I did find a great deal on sketch paper; a small booklet for 3 dollars and an 11×17 pad for 7 bucks. After leaving I was very inspired to start working on my own personal comic project.
This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.
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