Today's Online Commentary & Diversions — now up to date!

• Review: "The Locas grow up. Collecting material from Love and Rockets‘ second volume (previously found in Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass), the latest in Fantagraphics’ perfectly executed series of L&R digests [Esperanza] finds Maggie, Hopey, Izzy, and Ray D. coming to terms with no longer being the life of the party and the heart of their scene — at least not without exhausting effort.... But if there’s one thing Jaime’s Locas stories in general, and this volume in particular, tell us, it’s that sometimes you have to be a grown-up for a long time before you grow up. It’s worth the work, and the wait." – Sean T. Collins, The Comics Journal

• Review: "In the pages of Palestine, Sacco relates his experiences in the first person, with breathtaking honesty and haunting detail. With a narrative style that’s a little bit stream of consciousness, and a lot of oral tradition, he depicts not only his own experiences, but those of the many Palestinians he meets in his travels.... A comic book, no matter how poignant and groundbreaking, is not going to resolve a decades old stalemate. What Palestine does do is shed some light on a near forgotten people, lost behind the name of a broken nation." – Mike Re, Asbury Park Press

• Review: "Where have you gone Ernie Bushmiller, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. All kidding aside, you sure as shootin' can bet Nancy is happy, and so am I that the crucial years of this strip (or at least the dailies) are FINALLY being reprinted, and in chronological order to boot, by the fine folk at Fantagraphics. ...Nancy continues to deliver on the fun puns 'n great art for us real-life comic strip fans while all of that extraneous junk that's been hitting the comic pages o'er the past few decades does little but mirror the rest of the contents of yer modern day newspaper industry that deserves to die a quick and inglorious death! ...[A] project like this is but one that really brings out that never-suppressed slobbo suburban kid feeling in me, and with more books to look forward to all I can say is...what the hell do we need Gary Trudeau for anyway?" – Chris Stigliano, Blog to Comm (via The Comics Journal)

• Reviews: Would you like to know what Jason thinks of Nancy Is Happy and the Krazy & Ignatz books? You may find out on his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Plug: "Panther power has a way of roaring back to life when you least expect it: Years ago, Mushroom drummer and music archivist Pat Thomas told me he was working on an epic multimedia compilation on the Black Panthers. Now, hot on the heels of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, comes Thomas' equally inspired lyrical documents of the Oakland-bred group: a hefty Fantagraphics tome, Listen, Whitey!... and a CD of spoken word, music and comedy." – Kimberly Chun, San Francisco Chronicle

• Feature: The April issue of Clash magazine includes a feature on Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 in which they call the book a "fascinating, insightful and sometimes shocking tome"; you can read en excerpt (which includes a portion of an excerpt from the book) on their website

• Interview (Audio): Jim Woodring and our own Larry Reid were guests on Weekday with host Steve Scher on KUOW (Seattle's NPR news station) last Friday, March 30, to preview the Northwest comix panel at Emerald City Comicon; you can stream or download the show here

• Commentary: McSweeney's has a terrific essay about Snoopy by guest columnist Robb Fritz that's a must-read for all Peanuts fans

Jack Kirby is among the most influential American artists of the last century, but a substantial body of Kirby’s work has been largely overlooked until recently. In the post-war years, with the popularity of superhero comic books fading, Kirby teamed with writer Joe Simon to create the new genre of romance comics. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrates these forgotten works with “Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics.” The interpretive exhibition opens on Saturday, April 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM with a discussion by Michel Gagné, author of a recent collection of the same title from Fantagraphics Books.

At the end of World War II, with soldiers returning from long deployments, romance was in the air. The superhero comics that served to instill a sense of patriotic heroism leading up to the global conflict had lost their appeal. Simon and Kirby seized on these emerging sensibilities to create one of the most popular comic book series of all time. Unlike previous comic book genres, the work appealed largely to women readers. The stories and imagery reflected mid-century American society while discretely challenging the conventional morality of the era. Kirby’s work from this period was mimicked by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and others, and is emblematic of post-war American aesthetics.

Curator Michel Gagné will discuss his delicate restoration process at the opening reception on Saturday, April 14. An exhibition will display enlarged examples of Simon and Kirby’s romance comics and examine the creative process of these American masters. Gagné has worked as an animator and cartoonist for Pixar, Disney, DC Comics and the Cartoon Network. He won the 2011 Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game and the 2012 BAFTA GAME Award for Best Debut Game for his independent creation Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) just minutes from downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00. Phone 206.658.0110. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community.

YOUNG ROMANCE: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics
Curated by Michel Gagné

Opening reception and curator discussion Saturday, April 14, 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Exhibition continues through May 9, 2012.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S)
Seattle, WA 98108   206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sunday until 5:00 PM

Oh, this is so delightful I can barely stand it! A young reader of 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago sent this illustrated thank-you note to Wilfred's partner & editor Sanlida Cheng, who shares it via the 21 Facebook page.

At HiLobrow, Significant Objects co-editor Joshua Glenn gives you your first glimpses of the interiors of the book, presenting three two-page spreads as designed by good ol' Jacob Covey and giving a few more details about the book along the way. The excitement is building!

Editor/curator Pat Thomas is on tour with Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, and it could not be more perfect that his next stop is at Hollywood's Amoeba Records! 

This enormous store occupies an entire city block, and Pat will be guest DJ'ing! You'll be sure to hear some picks from the companion CD of the same title from Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records.  Stop by Amoeba on Thursday, April 5th at 7:00 PM to hear what else he might spin, and to get your copy of Listen, Whitey! signed by Pat!

Amoeba Records is located at 6400 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, CA. And click here to see all the stops on the Listen, Whitey! tour!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Every one of Giandelli’s surfaces -- walls, windows, bedspreads, books -- seems alive. Her colors almost wriggle. The darkness she draws is so black it’s wet. She approaches long corridors like David Lynch does in his films: not something you walk down, but something you’re swallowed by. Interiorae is engulfing.... In restored and essential color, this collected edition gives the mood the necessary space to simmer and boil -- just like poetry has the white of the page around it to slow you down and give it weight. Even before you notice the chapter titles are counting down to zero, you can feel that something about to happen. The men and women who live there can’t see it, but everything’s about to change.... In the end, Interiorae isn’t about either mundane, everyday reality or the vivid, symbolic realm of dreams. Its power’s in the precarious space between the two." – Martyn Pedler, Bookslut

• Review: "While Athos in America is as widely varied as the author's most recent collection, 2009's Low Moon, its stories employ less deadpan humor. In addition, this new volume presents some of Jason's most experimental comics yet.... One thing that hasn't changed is the ways in which Jason conjures up a kind of understated humor from his somber protagonists that serves to lighten up the serious situations they find themselves in. Athos in America may be darker and relatively more straight-faced than Jason's other work, but it shows that one of the more unique cartoonists today is continuing to evolve." – Phil Guie, CriticalMob

• Review: "The Big Town evokes a lost era through language and flamboyant characters reminiscent of Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, Ring Lardner, etc. Yet it’s also eerily relevant to our own time with its study of the role of business, crime, morality, and love in our lives." – Jack Eidt, Wilder Utopia

• Interview: The San Francisco Chronicle's Julian Guthrie talks to Pat Thomas about Listen Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975: "The image of the Panther became something even Hollywood playfully played with. You had Tom Wolfe's book Radical Chic, and you had folks like Leonard Bernstein hanging out with the Panthers. Everyone wanted to get close to the heat."

• Feature: Junglecity, a website for Japanese visitors and residents of Seattle, spotlights Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Scene: Paul Karasik has a report from his recent jaunt to DeKalb, IL — "The Museum at the University asked me to curate an exhibition that I had originally titled, 'Hey, Stoopid! Comix R Cool!', but which is now called, 'Graphic Novel Realism: Backstage at the Comics' (whatever that means!)." — with a video tour of the exhibit

Hans Rickheit has launched a new blog — or rather, his associate Christian Berntsen has — which is your new HQ for all things Hans, including notification of updates to his ongoing webcomics Ectopiary, Cochlea & Eustachia, and, now being serialized online, his debut 2001 self-published graphic novel Chloe. And of course there will be updates pertaining to the imminent release of Hans's new collection Folly: The Consequences of Indiscretion. Hans fans new and old, lock your computers to these coordinates.

Jaime Hernandez is nominated for Best Cartoonist in the 2012 Stumptown Comic Art Awards for his work in last year's issue of Love and Rockets — go, vote in all categories here! How you gonna beat "The Love Bunglers" and "Return for Me," huh? His competition in the category includes our good pal Stan Sakai, who is also deserving of every award he gets (including Best Letterer, which he's also nominated for). You just can't praise those guys enough. Award winners will be announced at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR on April 28.

We also direct your attention to the "Reader's Choice" category where you can write in your favorite comics that might not otherwise be nominated and remind you that we have loads of eligible candidates for that as well.

It's an official announcement: Dave Cooper has entered into a development deal with TELETOON and Radical Sheep Productions for The Bagel and Becky Show, an animated TV program based on Bagel's Lucky Hat, Dave's children's book under his nom de plume Hector Mumbly. Dave says "just keep in mind this is 'development' not 'going into production' yet. Please cross all your fingers and toes for me over the next several months!!" Congrats and good luck Dave!

In more Dave news, check out this badass silkscreen poster he did for a 2010 Mastodon gig, which you can now buy from him (and don't forget about his "weekly art offering" too):

Gary at APE 2007 // photo credit: Chris Diaz

Students at The Center for Cartoon Studies will have a chance to learn from the best, as our own Gary Groth is heading to White River Junction, Vermont for their annual Industry Day!

It kicks off tomorrow, Wednesday, April 4th, with a Pizza Party with Gary in the Colodny classroom! The party runs from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, and at 7:30 PM, Gary will regale the guests with "an evening of insight and wisdom," so say our friends at CCS. It's Gary and it's pizza -- that's a surefire recipe for a great night!

And then Thursday, April 5th marks Industry Day, a chance for students to have their portfolios looked at by the best in the business, while the publishers get a chance to see the future of the comics industry and know what talent to look out for. Gary will be joined by fellow industry professionals Judith Hansen, Annie Koyama, Heidi MacDonald, and Terry Nantier.

Industry Day is only open to students of The Center for Cartoon Studies, so I'm not even gonna bother giving you directions, 'cause you should know where your school is already!!! Get to class!!!