Great history and assessment, Paul. As you note, Fantagraphics publishes collected volumes of comic art no true library should be without -- but also put out the super-successful unique pop culture phenomenon Hip-Hop Family Tree, and wonderfully bizarre original books like the European reissue King Of The Flies (Volume Three due soon), and Couch Tag, the beautiful anthology of mini-comics by Jesse Reklaw. (Later this year, Listen, Whitey! author Pat Thomas will have a biography of Jerry Rubin out from them as well.) Mind-blowing stuff, all of it, comics or cultural documentation. Thanks so much for the reminder!

I've been a comics fan my whole life and have passed that bananas house twice a day for nearly 8 years. I had no idea it was Fantagraphics.

tabletop joe: Yeah, it blends in with the rest of Lake City. I had an interview there, about a million years ago (well, actually in the late 90's) and I made the mistake of dressing up, as if it was a REAL interview...boy, they all looked at me like I was a member of the Young Republicans or something. And that sucked because I was/am a really cool person who hates dressing in suits...damn, it would have been cool to work there!