Fantagraphics Books gets new logo, shorter name

The long-time independent comic publisher Fantagraphics Books is going through a big name - in both its name, and its logo. The company is ditching the word 'Books' from its name, and going from a typeset logo to this logomark.

"While publisher Gary Groth is proud to be 'Fantagraphics Books,' that full name is a little dusty sounding and limiting—it feels like the fanboy origins we come from but belies our status as pioneering curators of the comics medium," Fantagraphics' art director Jacob Covey tells Print.

"The new logo owns this weird, unwieldy word 'Fantagraphics' (sans 'Books') and leaves the door open to whatever else Fantagraphics may become in the ever-changing multimedia world, free of preconceptions. Single, strong words carry a power that doesn't need to be qualified."

Covey calls this logomark 'the Legacy Torch.'

"We are the torchbearers of art and literary comics, the guiding light through vapid commercialism, and we want to own that so others can look at our books, see the flaming nib and know this is a book that's been labored over from inception through production," Covey says. "The mark is a signifier of pure craft, plus it's something a next-generation cartoonist might actually want tattooed on the inside of their eyelids to stay motivated."

No word yet on if any cartoonists have gone forward with that tattoo.

Founded in 1976, Fantagraphics grew to become one of the primary independent comic book publishers in North America. It is the home of the Hernandez Brothers' long-running series Love & Rockets, and also published the works of Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Jessica Abel, and Joe Sacco. In addition to that, it is also the publisher of the comics journalism outlet The Comics Journal.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)