Daily clips & strips — hit the links for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• This limited-edition print by Sergio Ponchione is available at festivals (I think — the autotranslation is a little sketchy) from Coconino Press. Sergio also reveals that Grotesque #4 is in the can (and coming this summer from Fantagraphics); the complete Italian run of Grotesque will be available in a slipcased set with additional materials, and the slipcase will be available separately (hopefully U.S. fans will be able to order it from overseas); and the full-color Grotesque stories from Linus magazine will appear in future volumes of Mome (hey, that was my suggestion)!

• More progress on Steven Weissman's ghosts-in-progress

• Go-Getters is a new lithograph from John Hankiewicz

• Dame Darcy provides illustrations for The Penalty of Hope, a book of poetry by Vincent D. Dominion — more info

• The new installment of Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

• Soon to be on the Covered blog? Our own Eric Reynolds gives his take on a Jesse Marsh Tarzan cover, in color and black & white

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Knowing full well that I had to be at work at 9:00 the next morning, I nonetheless stayed up past 2:00 with Castle Waiting. And when I got to that last page, bleary-eyed and struggling to stay awake, all I wanted was more. I wanted the story to keep going. ... The stories are captivating and exciting and surprisingly deep. She is never heavy-handed about it, but Medley explores some weighty topics, including domestic violence, religious conversion, and sacrifice. ... I laughed frequently as I read the book, and cried once — not because I was sad, but because I was moved by the story." – Jessica Zellers, Blogging for a Good Book (Williamsburg Public Library)

• Review: "...Hotwire Comics #3... is big in page size, big in color, big in imagination... [M]y favorite work in the entire anthology, 'Keen on a Clown,' [is] Rick Altergott’s straight-faced satire of romance comics of long ago... The final page — and especially the final panel — is a killer." – Rod Lott, Bookgasm

• Plug: "I love Hate, particularly the increasingly oddball Buddy Bradley stories that come once a year with these annuals. ... Every comics fan should have the vast majority of whatever Peter Bagge has in print, and these volumes would be a great value for a cartoonist only 2/3 as talented." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

• Plugs: Love & Maggie has the rundown on all the latest releases from the Hernandez Brothers

• Profile: "I get tired of hearing about Mozart. Yeah, he’s a genius and he started composing music when he was 5-years-old. I get it, fine, blah, blah, blah. You know who else is brilliant? Harold 'Hal' Foster, the critically-acclaimed creator-writer-artist on Prince Valiant. He created his most famous and enduring work when he was 45-years-old." – Tom Mason, Comix 411

This Saturday evening, April 10, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery features music by our resident warehouse composers Martin Bland, Tom Price and friends in the dissonant Zinjanthropus, joined by the audio assault of Ajax in Ardent Vein. Don’t miss your chance to view the stunning artwork of Gilbert Hernandez from his new book HIGH SOFT LISP.

Outside, our annual Spring Cleaning Sidewalk Sale will be accompanied by the sounds of more than 20 eccentric marching bands from across the country. Lots of books up to 50% off cover price with music provided by the cacophonous Honk Fest West, featuring free performances at several locations throughout the historic industrial arts quarter. If that’s not enough excitement, the Georgetown Art Attack features a diverse array of visual and performing arts at dozens of spots in close proximity to the bookstore.

To accommodate all this activity, S. Vale Street will be closed to traffic for the evening. But plenty of free parking is available along Airport Way and elsewhere.

We’re open every day at 1201 S. Vale St, just minutes south of downtown Seattle. Phone 206.658.0110. See you this weekend.

Arriving in comic shops today, the long-awaited new issue of Peter Bagge's comic book series!

Newsarama's J. Caleb Mozzocco says it's "Thirty-two pages of Peter Bagge for $5" — fair enough. At Comics Comics Joe McCulloch counts Peter among the "cartoonists I like to see making comic books" and lauds the presentation of "a genuine 32-page Fantagraphics comic book." Obviously the blogoscentia think the comic fairly speaks for itself. We think you'll like the glossy cardstock cover, the 20 pages of Buddy & Lisa in luscious full color, the scientist bio strips, the "behind the scenes" take on Reefer Madness and the proverbial "much more." All to be found on the racks of your local comic book shop! Annoy them with your "Bagge & board" jokes! C'mon, it's fun!

Daily clips & strips -- hit the links for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• What-Took-Them-So-Long Dept: This Jaime Hernandez illustration accompanies a short story by Junot Diaz in the March 22 New Yorker (via The Comics Reporter)

• Gabrielle Bell's "Manifestation" gets even nuttier in part 3

• Another layout rough from Mark Kalesniko's Mail Order Bride

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "The... leaps in chronology and POV can be jarring for those not familiar with Hernandez's episodic style..., but [High Soft Lisp's] offbeat humor and manic sexual energy make the adjustment more than worthwhile. Fritz's hypersexuality, bizarre fetishes, rampant vanity, and burgeoning alcoholism provide many of the volume's finest comic moments, but the ample sex on view is rarely sexy. Rather, the characters' libidinous pursuits are tied into an affecting strain of loneliness and regret that pervades even the most outlandish panels. Add to that Hernandez's characteristically thick, expressive line and character design that owes an acknowledged debt to Archie comics, and the result is a charmingly incongruous, occasionally titillating collision of poignancy and pulp." – Publishers Weekly

• Interview: Publishers Weekly manga editor Kai Ming Cha talks to our new manga editor, Matt Thorn, about our new manga line and manga publishing in general: "I love manga, but I know the sales in the first years of the century were fueled to a large extent by fad and the whole 'Cool Japan' thing. Fads are nothing to build a real industry on. Just look at the comics bubble of the late eighties and early nineties. People have told me I'm jumping on the bandwagon too late. On the contrary, I think the time is ripe to build a new, reliable market that doesn't depend on trends."

 • Commentary: Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics also discusses the "new manga publisher on the block"

• Interview: At The Daily Cross Hatch, the second half of Brian Heater's conversation with Newave! editor Michael Dowers touches on webcomics, Factsheet Five, the Seattle Star, and the joy of getting envelopes with $150 cash in the mail

This weekend (April 10-11), Mike Baehr, Janice Headley, Gary Groth and myself head out to the Big Apple for the annual MoCCA Arts Festival. I haven't been to MoCCA in a few years, so I'm especially looking forward to the trip. We have a slew of signings all weekend long as well as a remarkably potent lineup of new books debuting at the show, including: 

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso
Best American Comics Criticism, edited by Ben Schwartz
Billy Hazenuts and the Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire
Captain Easy Vol. 1 by Roy Crane
Dungeon Quest by Joe Daly
Culture Corner by Basil Wolverton
Blazing Combat s/c by Archie Goodwin & Co.
Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918 by Geo. Herriman
The Search for Smilin' Ed by Kim Deitch
Tales Designed to Thrizzle #6 by Michael Kupperman
Wally Gropius by Tim Hensley
Weathercraft by Jim Woodring
Temperance by Cathy Malkasian

And here's our signing schedule for the show (click for a larger, easier-to-read version):

Looking forward to seeing many of you there! 

Sorry you had to wait all weekend for our weekly online strips!

That's one grumpy-looking cat in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson...

...but that horse doesn't look as grumpy as you might expect in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and now Steven Weissman says he wants to give B.C. a run for its money with this week's one-day-too-late Barack Hussein Obama strip.

Daily clips & strips -- click through for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Via the Family blog, Gary Panter draws a chalk mural (YouTube link)

 A bunch of g-g-g-ghosts in development by Steven Weissman

• Sketchbook page by John Hankiewicz

• Some kind of stuff in progress by Frank Santoro

• An old Fantagraphics issue of Usagi Yojimbo gets the Covered treatment by Carla Rodgrigues

• Steve Lafler's 1980s Fantagraphics series Dog Boy is being serialized at CO2 Comics

• Google translates the title of this Marco Corona story excerpt as "Merits of Satan" (very NSFW)

• Johnny Ryan presents a bit of Prison Pit fan art by Markus Toivonen

• Double whoa from Renee French

• Make way for Josh Simmons & Wendy Chin's Quackers

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary page 18, plus another unpublished Cochlea & Eustachia strip