Holy Moses, look at this magnificent Eleanor Davis-illustrated layout of spring-themed poems from yesterday's New York Times.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Stephen DeStefano is nominated for the 2011 Eisner Awards for his artwork on this book [Lucky in Love Book 1] and understandably so. [...] His style on this book works so well, the feel and mood of the 1940's is dutifully established. The exaggeration in his cartoony style on this book especially with the characters is both hilarious and beautiful. From the linework, to the panel and page design, DeStefano just did an amazing job. Simply beautiful work here. The kind of work that leaves you lingering over every little line or design." – P.D. Houston, Renderwrx Productions

• Plug: "After I read and loved Footnotes in Gaza, I had to get [Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition], right? It looks pretty flippin’ awesome, plus for this edition, there’s a lot of frontmatter by Sacco in which he discusses the circumstances in Bosnia in the early 1990s." – Greg Burgas, Comic Book Resources

• Plugs: "It’s an embarrassment of riches from the fine folks at Fantagraphics as they deliver not one, but two fantastic comic collections for aficionados to dive into. Not only do we get the 15th volume of The Complete Peanuts covering the years 1979-1980 and featuring an intro from Al Roker, but we also get the 5th volume of EC Segar’s Popeye, Wha’s A Jeep, which introduces us to the magical Jeep. Both volumes? Brilliant." – Ken Plume, FRED Entertainment

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

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Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

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And elsewhere:

Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit:

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell:

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate):

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

As we recently posted, Stan Sakai was honored with the 2011 Cultural Ambassador Award by the Japanese American National Museum last Saturday. Stan sent along these additional photos of him receiving the award trophy at the ceremony and the fancy award certificate. Hip hip hooray!

Writer David Abrams has a weekly "Friday Freebie" book giveaway on his blog The Quivering Pen, and this week he's offering up a "Fantagraphics Threebie" of Unlovable Vol. 1, Castle Waiting Vol. 2, and Special Exits! All you have to do is tell him which of our 2011 releases you're most looking forward to by next Thursday, April 28, and you'll be entered into the drawing. See here for all the details.

The wonderful Cathy Malkasian visited the California College of the Arts yesterday to discuss comics, animation, and the artist's life with students in the Spring Graphic Novel Workshop taught by instructors Matt Silady and Justin Hall, pictured above with Cathy. Matt sent us these photos and reports "It was a great talk and Cathy was kind enough to stay after class to sketch and sign for all the students." Lucky kids! Thanks Matt!

The final cover art for our forthcoming second (or third, depending on how you count the initial 2-volume box set) volume of Bill Mauldin's Willie & Joe, fresh from Art Director Jacob Covey. It'll be a clothbound, unjacketed hardcover to match the hardcover edition of the previous collection Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, which is being reissued in a new single-volume softcover edition simultaneous with this new volume this July.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Even though Peanuts's peak was sometime back in the sixties these books are still coming out and you know what? They're still good. I keep waiting for a sharp decline in quality to hit but I'm still enjoying seeing Snoopy blissfully living out his fantasies, Charlie Brown being unable to ever be happy, Lucy being a jerk, etc. [...] This book suddenly made me want to go back in time very, very hard. I want to live in Peanuts so bad. Fuck my life. Someone help get me out of this life." – Nick Gazin, Vice

• Review: "Jordan Crane has a sweet skinny line and can draw like no one else. He can draw complicated scenes and it's clear that he never uses a ruler. There's something very friendly and reassuring about his drawing style. Jordan Crane is without a doubt one of the best guys in the alt comix game right now and my only criticism of him is that I wish he turned out more work. Jordan's making the comics that everyone else is trying to make but unlike them, he's succeeding at it." – Nick Gazin, Vice

 

• Coming Attractions: Library Journal's Martha Cornog spotlights a couple of our August 2011 releases. First, Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette: "The fantasy grime of Manchette's noir thrillers may not equal the true-life grime of World War I, but both make pretty darn gripping reading when Tardi gets through with them. It Was the War of the Trenches made numerous 2010 best-of lists, including those of Booklist and Library Journal. Manchette and Tardi's previous collaboration on West Coast Blues didn't do badly either, being nominated for two Eisners. With Sniper, a pro killer wants to nail one last job before retiring to marry his childhood sweetheart. But of course it's no cupcake gig." Second, Cruisin' with the Hound: The Life and Times of Fred Tooté by Spain Rodgriguez: "Here we have tales of the wild 1950s in muscular black and white, some memoir and some just tales, from take-no-prisoners Zap Comix veteran Rodriguez. [...] Expect this one to be adults-only: motorcycles, raunch, and rock 'n' roll and described as the unsentimental and hilarious 'anti-Happy Days.'"

• Commentary: On his blog, our manga editor/translator Matt Thorn weighs in on the damaging legacy left behind by TokyoPop

• Analysis: "Hey, Wait... presents a varied collection of strategies which help express emptiness and lack of meaning; the metaphorical use of silences and visual minimalism are two of these, and will become frequent in the author’s repertory in the following books. Meaninglessness, though, can also be expressed by adopting an aesthetics of visual excess (since both lack and overload can be equally menacing to the production of meaning). In this specific page, this is done at a typographical level." – Greice Schneider, The Comics Grid

• Blood & Thunder: "Why do you continue to publish Maakies? Is it intended to disgust people?" – Kevin Rutkowski, in a Letter to the Editor of The Austin Chronicle

Life with Mr. Dangerous from Paul Hornschemeier on Vimeo.

Paul Hornschemeier's Mome serial "Life with Mr. Dangerous" comes to simulated life in this spiffy animated trailer made for the collected edition coming next month from Random House/Villard. Paul has some brief notes about it on his Forlorn Funnies blog. Mark your calendars: Paul's coast-to-coast book tour brings him to Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on June 18!

Love and Rockets über-collector Thomas Rehhoff wanted to get in on the fun of sharing superhero sketches by Xaime & Beto and sent along a link to this fantastic vintage collaborative piece from his collection, with Luba as the Bat and Maggie as Robin. Check out Thomas's whole collection of L&R originals and feel the jealousy!