In the history of plagiarism, this pretty much takes the cake of egregiousness. An art book that lifted all of its contents off the internet and includes it on a CD (original internet file names intact, no less). That fact coupled with the title "Colorful Illustrations" makes this appear to be a clip art book, with the impression that all the art is copyright free, which it isn't. It's made by hard-working artists who didn't even know about the book.

It is a Hong Kong publisher and if you've ever made art, you may be in the book.

I first learned of it from artist Mike Egan whose work was lifted (although appears to have at least (and curiously) been credited in the book). A lot of interviews in the book were lifted from the Little Chimp Society and they have more info on the book HERE.

...Of course, all of this raises every question you can possibly have about the relevance of copyright in the digital era of a global society but in any case: PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.

Me 'n' my bitches, by Josh Simmons. 

Al "Mad Fold-In" Jaffee will be on Craig Yoe's Arf book panel at the New York Comic Con Sunday Room IE03 at 3:00!

FANTAGRAPHICS NEW YORK COMICON SIGNING SCHEDULE:

FRIDAY:

3 - 5PM: DASH SHAW (The Bottomless Belly Button, Mome)

 7PM: PAUL KARASIK & MARK NEWGARDEN at Desert Island Comics in Brooklyn 

SATURDAY:

11AM - 1PM: CRAIG YOE (Arf!)

1 - 3PM: PAUL KARASIK (I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!)

1 - 3PM: MICHAEL KUPPERMAN (Tales Designed to Thrizzle)

3 - 5PM: MISS LASKO-GROSS (Escape from "Special")

3 - 5PM: DASH SHAW (The Bottomless Belly Button, Mome)

SUNDAY:

11AM - 1PM: LEAH HAYES (Funeral of the Heart)

11AM - 1PM: DASH SHAW (The Bottomless Belly Button, Mome)

1 - 2:30PM: KIM DEITCH (Shadowland, The Stuff of Dreams)

1 - 3PM: GLENN HEAD (Hotwire Comix)

1 - 3PM: CRAIG YOE (Arf!)

3PM: Arf books panel featuring CRAIG YOE, AL JAFFEE, DAVID COWLES and GLENN HEAD, Room IE03

3 - 4PM: LEAH HAYES (Funeral of the Heart)

3 - 5PM: MISS LASKO- GROSS (Escape from "Special")

4 - 5PM: KIM DEITCH (Shadowland, The Stuff of Dreams) 

Whoops. only 10 minutes left to post my sketchbook pic of the day. Courtesy the horribly underrated Francesca Ghermandi.

This week's free preview is a downloadable 25-page excerpt — the entire first chapter — from the upcoming expanded and revised softcover edition of Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975, the definitive history of the era by Patrick Rosenkranz. These previews are exclusive to registered Fantagraphics.com users, so sign up and/or sign in to view.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery Curator Larry Reid just taped an interview scheduled to air tomorrow (Thursday) at 2:00 PM on KUOW (94.9 FM) in Seattle, in anticipation of this event tomorrow night at the Frye Museum:

Jessica Farm Vol. 1
By Josh Simmons

Hot on the heels of his first graphic novel, House, Josh Simmons' Jessica Farm fuses serialized adventure, fantasy and psychological horror and stamps it with his signature macabre sensibility in his atmospheric new graphic novel. Like a Lynchian take on Alice in Wonderland, Jessica Farm opens with an exterior of what could be any Midwestern farmhouse: once inside, we track our titular heroine as she bounds out of bed on Christmas and goes about her morning routine, eventually breakfasting with her grandparents. The banality of the situation is subverted by a ratcheting sense of dread, however, as we discover that Jessica's increasingly nightmarish house is filled with creatures around every corner: some whimsical, some sexual, some despairing and some malevolent. Jessica Farm is an ambitious experiment in world-building: as conceived by Simmons, this book is the first volume of a life-spanning comics project in which he drew one page every month for the past seven years, starting in January 2000 — and will continue this project for 50 years in total, making up the story as he goes and releasing 96-page increments every 8 years until he amasses a 600-page body of work.

96-page black & white 7" x 8.75" softcover • $14.99
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Mineshaft #21
By various artists

Front cover hand lettered and designed by Robert Crumb, plus five wonderful pages of sketchbook drawings inside! Back cover by Christoph Mueller, "My Angel of Sin"! The life of famous Beat underground poet, Diane Di Prima, drawn and written by Mary Fleener (with guest Harvey Pekar)! Poetry by Diane Di Prima! "Pat & Corky" fiction by J.R. Helton, Zippy the Pinhead and how Bill Griffith got his start! New artwork by Christoph Mueller (with guest Joe Coleman) and William Crook, Jr.! Jay Lynch & Ed Piskor's story about Lynch and Crumb going to visit Chester Gould! "In Praise of Goth Beauticians" by Andrei Codrescu and illustrated by Aaron Lange! Plus the long awaited next chapter to the Green Star by editor Everett Rand, also Frank Stack, Bruce Simon, Aaron Lange, letters from around the globe and more!!

48-page black & white 5.5" x 8.5" comics magazine • $6.95
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The Comics Journal #289
Gary Groth, Executive Editor

In this issue of The Comics Journal:

• In a mammoth interview, Marvel Zombies writer Robert Kirkman discusses everything from starting out as the publisher of Battle Pope to his work with Image and Marvel Comics. Plus: Kirkman-related essays by Michael Dean and Simon Abrams, and zombies, zombies, zombies!
• The Arrival author Shaun Tan talks about the Australian comics scene, children’s books and the breakaway success of his immigrant-themed latest work.
• Our comics section this issue features 100 consecutive strips from Ed Wheelan’s classic Minute Movies, plus a history of the strip by Jared Gardner.
• Bob Levin looks at the life and work of Hustler Magazine’s most notorious cartoonist, “Chester the Molester” creator Dwaine Tinsley.
• Historian R.C. Harvey recounts the history of the first daily comic strip, Mutt and Jeff, and its creator Bud Fisher.
• Paul Kirchner remembers the late Charlton cartoonist Wayne Howard.
• Alan David Doane offers a critique of the modern comics shop.

As always, we’ve got teasers from the new issue on the TCJ.com website, including extracts of our Robert Kirkman and Shaun Tan interviews, plus Michael Dean’s Marvel Zombies essay in its entirety! Boasting absolutely no zombie-variant covers whatsoever, The Comics Journal #289 will enlighten, entertain and irritate comics connoisseurs in all the ways you’ve come to know and love.

200-page color/b&w squarebound 7.5" x 9.5" magazine • $11.95
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