Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Invest in our spring season and be a part the company that has published the best cartoonists in the history of the world.

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS IS ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT. CONTINUE OUR LEGACY BY HELPING TO FINANCE OUR SPRING-SUMMER SEASON, AND BE A PART OF THE COMPANY THAT HAS PUBLISHED MORE GREAT CARTOONISTS THAN ANY PUBLISHER IN THE HISTORY OF COMICS.

2013 has been a particularly hard year for all of us at Fantagraphics Books. Earlier in the year, one of our founding partners, Kim Thompson, was diagnosed with lung cancer and died four and a half months later, on June 19. Because Kim was such an active part of our company, his death has had repercussions — emotionally, of course, but financially as well. Kim edited our European graphic novel line and as a result of his illness, 13 of his books scheduled for the Spring-Summer season had to be cancelled or postponed, representing the loss of nearly a third of that season. Our fixed costs stayed the same —because they’re fixed— but the income 13 books would’ve generated was lost, disrupting our cash flow, and leaving us in a tight spot. Many, if not most of them, will be re-scheduled (Jacques Tardi’s Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell is scheduled for July 2014, for example) but in the meantime, we’ve suffered a severe shortfall that will impede our ability to produce next season’s books. That’s why we’re asking our faithful readers and new converts alike to help us recoup — and help finance our next season’s books. The money you contribute will go toward production, design, marketing, and printing our books.

OUR NEXT SEASON: April-August 2014

Our Spring-Summer season comprises 39 books by a stellar line-up of cartoonists. We’re biased, but we think it’s possibly our best ever. There are a number of books from names familiar to longtime Fantagraphics readers — do Peter Bagge, Dan Clowes, Joe Sacco, Drew Friedman, Michgael Kupperman, Jim Woodring, Don Rosa, Tony Millionaire, or Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez ring a bell? —not to mention any number of other names that could anchor a comics Hall of Fame: Charles Schulz, Steve Ditko, Simon & Kirby, Hal Foster, Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, L.B. Cole, Jacques Tardi, Joihn Severin, S. Clay Wilson, Wally Wood, and more. We also have one of our strongest seasons of original graphic novels ever, including new greaphic novels from Olivier Schrauwen, Simon Hanselmann, Esther Pearl Watson, Conor Stechschulte, Carol Swain, Lane Milburn, Eleanor Davis, and Ed Piskor.

From The Complete witzend to The Complete Eightball, Buddy Bradley to Megg & Mogg, and Don Rosa’s ducks to S. Clay Wilson’s pirates, not to mention new Peanuts, Disney, EC and Love and Rockets books, our 2014 lineup truly features The World’s Greatest Cartoonists.

And that's merely one publishing season of five months; we publish a virtual pantheon of cartoonists every season. This isn’t about a single cartoonist or book, but a critical mass of work by a group of utterly amazing intergenerational cartoonists. Help us keep this flag flying.

Pledge $60 or more

2 backers Limited (28 left of 30)

USAGI YOJIMBO PRINT: A numbered Usagi Yojimbo print signed by Stan Sakai

Estimated delivery: Jan 2014
Add $8 USD to ship outside the US

Mayhem wrote:Assuming it's something new, time to pledge

Gaffey wrote:It now says 28 left.

Usagi Goya (posted to Fantagraphics Books Inc.) wrote:
November 9, 2013 at 3:12am
Any chance of learning more about the signed and numbered Usagi Yojimbo print being offered through the Kickstarter fund drive?

Usagi Goya wrote:
Yesterday at 3:36am
Just curious because when I asked Stan Sakai about it a few days ago, he said

Stan Sakai wrote:"I don't know anything about this. They never asked me about a print, so I assume it's a previous signed print from way back. - Stan"

Fantagraphics Books Inc. wrote:
48 minutes ago
Yes, it's an old print that we found a stash of. It's B&W, the size of a standard comic book (it fits quite nicely inserted in the UY Special Edition box set). We'll post an image soon.