...in 1999. Ah, the nineties. (Via Bob Fingerman on Facebook.)

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web including a new video strip by Steve Brodner (and our apologies for the tardiness):

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

G'n'R in "Jews Your Illusion" by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

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And elsewhere:

Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Dan Zettwoch, Ted May & Kevin Huizenga:

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell:

"The most disturbing Maakies yet," says Tony Millionaire (it's up there with the outhouse spider bite one, that's for sure):

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

Smashing Crayons by Steve Brodner at SlateV (premiere episode!)

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

At his blog, Blake Bell reveals that Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 will soon be available in a Spanish-language edition from Diabolo Ediciones, and provides this glimpse of one of the translated pages.

(Post title explained for non-New Pornographers fans, if any.)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Profile: At the ABC News website, the AP's Matt Moore talks to Robert Crumb during his recent visit to New York City for his Society of Illustrators exhibit opening: "'It was never intended for that purpose, so it's always odd to see it on a wall, or under glass; it was intended for printing and books. It wasn't made as a wall hanging piece,' Crumb said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'For me, the printed copy is the magic moment. When I see it in print — that was the whole purpose of it.'" (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

• Interview: At Previews, a must-read chat with Gary Groth about our classic strip reprints: "The only criterion is that it’s great cartooning. We wouldn’t waste our time devoting this much time and energy to anything less. Our mission has been to publish the best cartooning — not only in comic strips, but in every 'branch' of the cartooning art — that we can."

• Interview: At Robot 6, Chris Mautner talks to Wilfred Santiago about 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente: "I was trying not to make it … biographies to me  have a static feel to them. I was trying to avoid [that] and I feel like cartooning helps you in expressing the story and what you’re trying to convey thtorugh the story. It was difficult too because I wanted it to be cartoony and realistic at the same time. I wanted it to be fun. What’s important was that it was exciting; that it could almost speak. That you could read the book in a very sort of sharp-paced way but you could also take the time and read through it at your leisure."

• Interview: Matthew Baker of Vanderbilt University's Nashville Review has an epic chat with Anders Nilsen: "Really I feel like comics is just the most useful category to drop me into. I don’t feel like I’m wedded to comics as a medium. I draw, and I usually sort of tell stories, but I do make standalone drawings and paintings, and I do make stuff that is probably closer to poetry than comics. I’ve made books before that aren’t really comics — just a series of pictures, or diagrams, or whatever."

• Review: "Stunning and evocative and rendered in a cacophony of swirling miasmic lines, this fearsome modern parable is a fierce interrogation of faith and destiny which asks uncompromising and uncomfortable questions about the price of Grace and the value of belief. [...] Emotive, shocking and utterly compelling, Stigmata is a grotesque and beautiful metaphysical rollercoaster with existential angst and blind faith gripping each other’s philosophical throats and squeezing really hard. No rational reader or mature comics fan can afford to miss this dark shining delight." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review: "This book beautifully captures the phantasmagoric flow of images that occurs in dreams. Mattotti's art is incredible. There are panels that are so intricate that I wonder how he had the time to draw so many of them. At 32 mostly wordless pages it's a very short book, but the imagery, like the panels of a child throwing a toy at a giant, or the panels showing a huge black bird carrying off a rabbit in a rainstorm, will stay with you long after you finish reading. If you like the intense, emotional, sometimes dreamlike artwork Mattotti did for Stigmata, you will love Chimera." – Jon Anderson, The Beguiling

[Editor/Marketeer's Note: You can get Chimera for half price when you order Stigmata!]

• Plug: CBR's Comics Should Be Good presents Steve Ditko's earliest (by creation date) published story, with a nice shout-out to our Blake Bell Ditko books

Here comes another all-star issue of the always-awesome Smoke Signal from Desert Island! This one's a split issue with the Finnish comics newspaper Kuti so there's sure to be some great stuff to discover by the Finns. Above, the cover by Lilli Carré (the flip cover is by Aapo Rapi); inside you'll find stories and strips by Sami Aho, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Lilli, Michael DeForge, Roope Eronen, Glynnis Fawkes, Nathan Gelgud, Sam Henderson, Keith Jones, Paul Karasik, Ina Kallis, Tim Lane, Jarno Latva-Nikkola, Blaise Larmee, Mikko Luostarinen, David Mazzucchelli, Jesse McManus, Tommi Musturi, Jyrki Nissinen, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Ville Pirinen, Aapo Rapi, Ron Regé Jr., Anna Sailamaa, Kari Sihvohnen, Avi Spivak, Leslie Stein, Janne Tervamäki, Petteri Tikkanen, Jari Vaara, Amanda Vähämäki, and Mikko Väyrynen.

As always, it will be available for free at Desert Island in Brooklyn (and probably at the MoCCA Fest and presumably somewhere in Finland?) — elsewhere you can order a copy for a measly 3 bucks here.

Citrus C.B. hangs out with Crow, Tom Servo & Boba Fett in this photo from the offices of W.W. Norton as posted on their Tumblr blog. We love our distributors.

Ghost World’s Rebecca & Enid as Scooby Doo’s Daphne & Velma, a "mush-up" by Beasts! artist Mr. Ed. Also don't miss his Wilson-as-House. (Hat-tip to Jacob!)

(Psst... the Ghost World softcover is part of our April Ship of Fools Weekend Sale!)

Steven Brower will be at the Spring 2011 WildPig Con in Somerset NJ this Sunday, April 3, to sign his books including From Shadow to Light: The Life and Art of Mort Meskin — don't miss it if you're in the area!

We're bailing out our warehouse! We have a lot of brand new books coming in over the next couple of months (like, a LOT) and our warehouse manager has put together a nice big list of primo books for us to clear out to make room. From all-time classics to recent favorites to hidden gems, we've got nearly 100 titles on sale for at least 30% off from now through the end of the day Sunday (April 3)! (Sale prices not valid at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.) There's too many to list here — go check it out and shop shop shop!