Comics As Art: We Told You So (Fantagraphics)

by Tom Spurgeon & Jacob Covey
Comics As Art: We Told You So tells of Fantagraphics Books' key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored, and fading expression of Americana the way insiders share the saga with one another: in anecdotal form, in the words of the people who lived it and saw it happen. Comics historian and critic Tom Spurgeon and designer Jacob Covey assemble an all-star cast of industry figures, critics, cartoonists, art objects, curios, and groundbreaking publications to bring you a detailed account of Fantagraphics' first thirty years. It's the story of fans who looked at the objects of their affection and demanded something more. It's a saga of scratched-together office spaces, mounting debts, public feuds, lawsuits, acrimony, office pranks, and last-minute fundraisers. More than a corporate history or a fond look back, Comics As Art: We Told You So makes the case for Fantagraphics Books' position near the heart of the modern reclamation of the comics art form.