Mark Newgarden, co-author with Paul Karasik of our forthcoming edition of How to Read Nancy, has put out a call for assistance (which I have swiped wholesale from Comics Comics but jeez, we're publishing the book after all):

There are a small handful of specific images that we are still seeking quality scans of.

We are searching for hard copies (or high rez scans 350 dpi or higher) of the following:

FRITZI RITZ  1/2/33

NANCY 6/ 29/ 55

DEBBIE (AKA LITTLE DEBBIE) by Cecil Jensen 6/ 27/ 55

THE 1942 NANCY TERRYTOONS MOVIE POSTER

We are also looking for additional photographs of Ernie Bushmiller; preferably in his studio (and/or related memorabilia). Please let us know what you have in your vaults!

Of course all contributions will be fully acknowledged in the book and all lenders will receive a gratis copy—and a hearty handclasp!

Anyone who can be of assistance, please contact Mark at mark (at) laffpix (dot) com.

Thanks to all the artists, attendees, and MoCCA staff & volunteers for helping make the 2010 MoCCA Art Festival our most successful ever! We sold out of numerous titles, some within hours (and to the chagrin of our artists who ran out of books to sign — sorry!), and had mobs of fans turn out for our signings.

I took a load of photos; some highlights are below, followed by an embedded slideshow with lots more shots (which you can also view full screen) and a mosaic of thumbnails to browse. You can also browse the full set of photos with captions on our Flickr page.

Our setup at opening time, dwarfed by the cavernous interior of the Armory.

Mome dudes Derek Van Gieson, Nate Neal, editor Eric Reynolds, and Jon Vermilyea.

Jaime Hernandez with a long line of fans.

Eric observes as Jaime & Adrian Tomine share a laugh; that's Todd Hignite, author of The Art of Jaime Hernandez, in the tan jacket.

Charles Burns & Jaime Hernandez.

Eric looks on in admiration as living legends Arnold Roth, Al Jaffee & Gahan Wilson sign and greet fans.

Hotwire editor Glenn Head and Squirrel Machine auteur Hans Rickheit.

We were all knocked out by this guy's Fantomah tattoo!

Kim Deitch & Paul Karasik.

Esther Pearl Watson, Miss Lasko-Gross & Sara Edward-Corbett form a trio of triple-named women.

Dash Shaw, Michael Kupperman & Charles Burns.

The End!

Bonus: We spotted Enid preparing to clobber a pair of amorous pandas in our mural-filled hotel.

Don't miss the action this Saturday, April 17 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. Two brilliant cartoonists — Peter Bagge and James Sturm — celebrate the publication of 3 new books. 

James Sturm returns to Seattle where he co-founded alternative weekly The Stranger in the early 90s. He went on to co-found the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont and continues his career as a cartoonist. He'll give a brief slide presentation on his early days at The Stranger and sign copies of MARKET DAY, his first full graphic novel in a decade. 

Saturday, April 17 is also national Record Store Day at neighboring Georgetown Records. Created 3 years ago by our good pal Eric at Criminal Records in Atlanta, Record Store Day draws attention to the cultural value of these essential enterprises. Not to mention lots of great swag. Support your local record store.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale at Airport Way S., mere minutes from downtown Seattle. We're open every day 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

Tim Lane is a special guest at this weekend's Denver ComicFest, where you'll also be able to catch the likes of Noah Van Sciver and John Porcellino. Looks like a fun time!

Daily clips & strips — click on for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• At What Things Do, the first half of "The Ghoul Man," from Jaime Hernandez's 2002 mini-comic Death Tales No. 1

• Jim Woodring's Alaska diary

• Hey, John Kerschbaum has a new weekly strip, The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour, over at ACT-I-VATE — I'll try to remember to link to it each week (c'mon Dino, get an RSS feed)

• Noah Van Sciver illustrates another concert review for the Denver Westword

• It's a new New Character Parade strip by Johnny Ryan

• Three pages from John Hankiewicz's sketchbook

• There's a lot of stunning new work on Eleanor Davis's website (hat tip: Spurge)

• It's the latest installment of Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• Easily Mused presents "Sleezball," a 1982 goodie by Peter Bagge (via Steven Thompson)

• This appears to be the beginning of a new strip by Kevin Huizenga

• Hans Rickheit's Ectiopiary, page 19

• Perhaps you picked up a copy of Derek Van Gieson's rough-draft version of Whiskey is the Key Says Me at MoCCA — he's still working on expanding it, as evidenced by this brand new page

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

• Have a look at Andrice Arp's pieces from the last Post-It show at GR2

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Adam McGovern of ComicCritique.Com declares Miss Lasko-Gross to be Writer/Artist of the Year ("Vividly imaginative in tricky layouts, intricate patterns and hallucinatory neverlands yet starkly perceptive of everyday details and personality, immune to art-star mythology while stockpiling stuff of legend, Lasko-Gross is capable of anything — but can’t help doing right") and her A Mess of Everything the #3 Graphic Novel of the Year ("Lasko-Gross creates the least wholesome and most healthy youth memoirs you’re likely to read. Tales of adolescent insight, creativity, trauma and folly for those who like to learn their lessons with minds of their own"); Gilbert Shelton's "Last Gig in Shnagrlig" from Mome Vols. 13-15 to be Strip of the Year ("With a style that seems strung from spider-webs, popping veins, worried brow-wrinkles and tangled vines and an eye for absurd posturing, both undiminished by five decades and whatever art-supplies he’s been sniffing, Shelton’s dystopian vaudeville is a vision you can never predict of species-wide misbehavior which remains, alas, just like you remembered it"); and Lilli Carré's "The Carnival" from Mome Vol. 14 to be Short Story of the Year ("A bittersweet, tragicfunny story of the luminous, enchanting worlds just beyond the outskirts of nowhere")

• Review: "I spent most of this week reading the new, paperback edition of Blazing Combat ... [T]he artistry on display is so mind-boggling, particularly in the case of Crandall, Heath and Severin, that it seems churlish of me to not recommend this book simply because of a few overly and obviously ironic twists. The creators clearly had a real love for this kind of material, so much so that [I] wish things had tipped slightly in their favor a bit more, and that the market had made at least a little more room for war comics when as the silver age gave way to the bronze." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review: "...I love the art, with great layouts, nice thick lines, and coloring that's somehow both rich and muted. Even when I don't like the characters or find their actions believable I still love the way everything looks. And the elliptical structure was a smart choice because it adds at least a little bit of mystery; instead of just reading to see what happens next you keep going to better understand what's already happened. I don't know if the stories were published individually anywhere, but Hallorave is basically the first book of King of the Flies, with two more on the way. I'm interested to see how closely they intersect with each other." – Garrett Martin, Shazhmmm...

• Review: "Based on a crime novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, West Coast Blues is an existential comic by master cartoonist Jacques Tardi. It's colorless crime as only the French can do it, with despicable characters waxing philosophical on film and high-risk sex even while on the run from clumsy assassins. ... Plenty of crime stories revolve around the bizarre preoccupations of its characters and just as many are centered around the plight of the common man thrust into extraordinary circumstances. But Tardi really brings it home, offering a messed up story about messed up people who do some truly messed up things. While only 80 pages, it's a robust read. ... As compelling as this short yarn is in terms of the writing, the real draw here is Tardi. ... His style is comparable to Herge's, if not quite as clean. His characters are expressive and his architecture's pretty damn impressive. ... Big ups to Fantagraphics and editor/translator Kim Thompson for assembling a really lovely English language edition of this book." – Paul Montgomery, iFanboy

• Commentary: "You would think I'd have more to say about teaching 'Human Diastrophism,' one of my favorite comics in the classroom, but this was my fourth pass at the story and most of the classroom surprises have been played out. The greatest remaining challenge is just the problem of extracting one storyline from Gilbert Hernandez's long-running Palomar setting and fitting it into a single week of class discussion." – Marc Singer, I Am NOT the Beastmaster

• Interview: In this video, Vito Delsante talks to Jaime Hernandez at Jaime's appearance at Jim Hanley's Universe in NYC last Friday, April 9 (via ¡Journalista!)

• Interview: "'Digital vs. paper? That’s a totally bogus debate,' [Peter] Bagge told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. 'There will always be both. Whichever one you want, you got it!'" Well that solves that!

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Mome Vol. 18 - Spring 2010
by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds

128-page color/b&w 7" x 9" softcover • $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-303-3

Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award nominee returns for its fifth year. With this issue, the series has now featured over 2000 pages of comics in its four and half years of existence (2109, to be exact), which may be a record for an English-language alternative comics anthology. This issue's cover is by Nate Neal, who delivers "The Neurotic Nexus of Creation," a 15-page explication of the creative process. MOME 18 also includes the first new comic in several years by Dave Cooper, as well as the MOME debuts of Tim Lane, Ivan Brun, Joe Daly, and Jon Adams. Also returning are MOME stalwarts Lilli Carré, Ben Jones, Frank Santoro, Jon Vermilyea, Nicolas Mahler, Ted Stearn, Renée French, Conor O'Keefe, Derek Van Gieson, and T. Edward Bak.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (5.9 MB) with a page from every artist in the issue.

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

The Culture Corner
by Basil Wolverton

160-page full-color 9" x 6.75" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-308-8

Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Did you ever wonder how to stop brooding if your ears are protruding? Or how to indulge yourself and snore without being a bore? Or for the masochists among you, how to sit on a tack? Or for the narcissists, how to contemplate the back of your pate? Or something as simple as how to get out of bed gracefully? Or something a bit more challenging like how to boot a fly off your snoot? Or, if you’re the violent type, what’s the best way to kick someone in the teeth? Or, for those striving for greater refinement, how to be particular and is perpendicular?

If these conundrums have perplexed and mystified you, the remedy is at hand: cartooning genius Basil Wolverton’s "Culture Corner," an indispensable guide to demystifying life’s most worrisome and disconcerting social quandaries. With his fictional host, Croucher K. Conk, Q.O.C (Queer Old Coot), Wolverton would posit the problem and offer a uniquely Wolvertonian solution over seven or eight panels, each one a miniature masterpiece of scandalous visual humor.

Wolverton’s feature "Culture Corner" originally appeared every month in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics (featuring the adventures of Captain Marvel) from 1945 to 1952. Each episode would tackle a different subject from the practical to the pixilated — "How to cross a busy street" to "How to tweak a beak." Fantagraphics’ collection of the complete strips is the first time the little known feature has been reprinted since its original publication over 60 years ago! Revered by aficionados, it contains some of Wolverton’s most outrageous drawing and his trademarked lexicon of wacky wordplay.

The Fantagraphics edition also contains Wolverton’s original pencil versions of each strip, which have been carefully preserved over the years, and demonstrate a looser, more spontaneous interpretation of the finished strips.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 13-page PDF excerpt (15.9 MB).

Daily clips & strips, catching up from MoCCA weekend (again, more catch-up tomorrow) — click through for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Unless there's some kind of Glenn Ganges/Leon Beyond crossover in the works I kind of think Kevin Huizenga might have posted this drawing on the wrong blog by mistake

• Steven Weissman 's working on some more Stincker ideas

• See Ellen Forney's latest artwork, a collaborative installation with Jake Fennell titled Love Note, at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival opening April 30; Ellen has more info and an interview at her blog

• Prison Pit fan art seems to be becoming a thing. Johnny Ryan posted another piece, this time by Cliff Chiang — it's a cross-company crossover!

• In a similar-ish vein, Paul Hornschemeier uses the announcement of Strange Tales 2 from Marvel as an excuse to post these glum-looking hero-types

• Also from Paul, this Tina Fey/Liz Lemon illustration for the WSJ (plus the original blue-line/inks)

• Debbie Drechsler has been sketching all kinds of local fauna, including grebes, a turtle, a hummingbird, a woodpecker and an angry squirrel

• The conclusion of Gabrielle Bell's "Manifestation" and, as a bonus, the cover of her fictional adaptation of The S.C.U.M. Manifesto from the story at The Hypothetical Library

• "Blond Girl in a Black Dress" by Mark Kalesniko

• This is a highlight of the last few days' artblogging from Renee French; the Lego alleyway is another

Online Commentary & Diversions — catching up from MoCCA weekend, with more catch-up tomorrow:

• Award: Congratulations to David Sandlin for receiving a 2010-2011 fellowship from the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. "The fellowship lasts from September to May. Each fellow gets an office in the library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, full access to the library’s research collections, and a stipend, which last year was $60,000," reports Kate Taylor of The New York Times. Not too shabby!

• Review: "Few people alive today are old enough to remember World War I, and as it recedes into the past, the 'war to end all wars' becomes more abstract. But French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's graphic novel, It Was The War of the Trenches..., brings the Great War to life in all its mud- and blood-soaked misery. Without a trace of sentimentality, Tardi's richly detailed and grimly rendered vignettes depict the horror, illness, cruel manipulations, and stupidity of this giant black spot in human history." – Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing

• Review: "Long-lost astronauts, homicidal bloggers, baseball legends and wayward skaters all find a home in John Pham’s captivating comic series Sublife. With only two issues on the street, Sublife has already established an achingly familiar universe in all of its disparate ongoing narratives. Deftly juggling the melancholy of Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve with some Cormac McCarthy-inspired apocalyptic action and plenty of skillfully subdued deadpan humor, Pham proves himself a master of multifarious emotions and artist stylings." – We Love You So

• Review: "While I enjoyed Sakai's artwork in the first volume, this second trade collection is even stronger. ... I'm so glad I'm finally sitting down and reading this series, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. Usagi Yojimbo is a great addition to the canon of samurai stories, and is definitely highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of wandering ronin or just good storytelling." – Rob McMonigal, Panel Patter

• Review: "Culture Corner remains a curiosity in comic book history, rarely remembered, rarely seen, but Basil Wolverton’s status as an important figure in humor cartooning is unimpeachable. Thus, anybody wanting to understand the development of the medium and the evolution of comedy cartooning should pick up Culture Corner to see how Wolverton began the road to comic book legend. Most of the strips have never been seen by today’s readers, and the sheer number of unpublished penciled sketches makes this book a true rarity and a must-have." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Review: "I can honestly say that the further we dive into the murky depths of Newave!, the better it gets. Hot on the heels of all the anarchic fun of the first thirty mini comics, come ten more that show, in various ways, a little extra sophistication in content or execution." – Avoid the Future continues their mini-reviews of the contents of Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s; this is from part 4, and I think we may have missed linking to part 2 and part 3

• Plugs: Rick Klaw, a.k.a. The Geek Curmudgeon, on It Was the War of the Trenches: "Considering this book's reputation and the fact that the previous two Tardi reprints from Fantagraphics both made their way into my top five books of 2009 listing, I'm eager to read this one"; Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s: "An impressive collection with an abundance of Texas contributors!"; and King of the Flies Vol. 1: Hallorave: "I'll admit to ignorance regarding this graphic novel and its creators. But with an intriguing story description, beautiful art, and Fantagraphics' extraordinary track record of offering quality works, I'm looking forward to diving into this one."

• Plug: At IdeaFixa, Claudio Yuge says that reading Love and Rockets "was one of the best things I ever did in life and I recommend it for anyone who likes comics and graphic arts in general." (translated from Portuguese)

• Commentary: Comic Book Galaxy's Christopher Allen & Alan David Doane comment on this year's Eisner nominees, of which we have several; there's too much for me to quote from here

• Interview: Comic Book Resources' Shaun Manning talks to Jim Woodring about Weathercraft: "In a lot of ways, Manhog is the most interesting character in the Unifactor. He has the most potential for change and the widest range of dramatic possibilities. Besides, it's fun to put him in awful circumstances and watch him suffer. There's something about a big fat guy screaming in terror that's just naturally funny. Oliver Hardy got a lot of mileage out of that formula."

• Interview: The Inkstuds radio programme talks with Mome contributor (and, now, kids-comics superstar) Eleanor Davis