Another great day at the office yesterday as Jim Woodring stopped by to drop off this stack of original pages for his 2010 graphic novel Weathercraft. It's the middle third, plus a little more -- Jim has a little over 20 pages to go. Unanimous reaction among Fanta staff: awed speechlessness.

Presenting a unique art book collecting the work of the Pop Surrealism movement's brightest rising star. Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra intersperses the young Dutch artist's stunning work with photos and ephemera demonstrating her process and influences. This book is now available for pre-order in our online shop following its hit debut at Comic-Con last month. Get a taste by downloading our 15-page PDF preview. This book will be in stock and shipping in a week or two, and in stores approximately 4 weeks later (subject to change).

Bring on the Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: Sean T. Collins's series of interviews with Marvel Strange Tales MAX contributors at Marvel.com continues with Peter Bagge: "The Hulk story's about both the Hulk and Bruce Banner trying to cope with their many issues via the use of modern pharmacology, in the form of head pills, Viagra, et cetera. Needless to say, wackiness ensues."

• Interview: And another one from Sean at Marvel.com, this time with Jason: "With the Spider-Man story I pretty much followed the Stan Lee formula of him being a super hero but a screw-up as a private person."

• Interview: In the second part of his talk with Brian Heater at The Daily Cross Hatch, Seth discusses his involvement and design for The Complete Peanuts series: "The design evolves slightly for each decade, but it’s all about subtle change. For example, the end papers change each decade. The color scheme changes each decade, but it’s a very subtle shift."

• List: 1979 Semi-Finalist's "100 Best Comic Book Covers" includes Eightball #23 at #72, Love and Rockets #31 at #39, Love and Rockets #23 at #32, Love and Rockets #5 at #30, Black Hole #2 at #28, Acme Novelty Library #1 at #13, Love and Rockets #1 at #7, and Black Hole #4 at #4

• Review: "Fantagraphics' recent release Abstract Comics, while nicely designed and filled with some fantastic artwork (kudos to editor Andrei Molotiu and the Fantagraphics team), brings up an interesting argument...: at what point do you stop calling something comics and start calling it... well, something else?... I'm not sure there is an answer, but it's an interesting debate. Check out this book and come to your own conclusions." - Paul DeBenedetto, Wednesday's Child

• Review: Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux examines The Comics Journal #298, calling the Trevor Von Eeden interview "scandalous and provocative," saying R.C. Harvey's "Comicopia" column is "both thoughtful and insightful, the kind of exceptional writing that would normally earn a magazine about comic books an Eisner Award," and overall grading the issue an A-

• Plug: The Star Clipper Blog spotlights Locas II , which they say "is just as classic as the legendary first series."

• Plug: "I can't recommend Johnny [Ryan]'s comics highly enough. They go places no one else would dare and, like all great art, show you something you've always known but never have seen before." - Benjamin Marra

• Things to see: On the Covered blog, Noah Van Sciver takes on Power Pack #23

Jeez, poor Bob Levin can't catch a break: we've screwed up his byline in The Comics Journal twice in a row.

Next month Jim Blanchard marches into Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle with a solo exhibit of his Pop Cult portraits. More info at Jim's blog. Marty Feldman, baby!

A fresh batch of Online Commentary & Diversion:

• Profile: Andrei Molotiu talks to Artforum about abstract comics and Abstract Comics

• Interview: Sean T. Collins's series of interviews with Marvel Strange Tales MAX contributors at Marvel.com continues with Johnny Ryan. The imagination reels: "Well, there was one joke, now that I think of it, with Galactus that had to be altered a little bit. I don't know if I should reveal the joke—it might ruin the experience. But it was this little detail for that joke that I initially put there, and they were like, 'Eh, can you change that a bit?'"

• Review: "...Tales Designed to Thrizzle... is not all tradition; it's largely a satire, a satire of a pulp fiction oeuvre that didn't take itself that seriously to begin with. Kupperman's humor — a mix of genre, non-sequitur and nonsense — is a kind of laughter in the void, wonderfully lucid and slightly sickening... That Kupperman so masterfully plays to and upsets expectation makes Thrizzle that much funnier and finer. With stunts such as a Twain & Einstein crime-fighting partnership, Kupperman is all goofball, all the time. But Kupperman's line, even in shaping locomotive-sized garden snails, is weighty. And the weight of five years of Thrizzle, is, well, as formidable as a locomotive-sized garden snail." - John Reed, Art in America

• Review: "The story [in Delphine] surrounded me and carried me away to a very real world. It's a cartooned, exaggerated world, but a real world nonetheless... The layouts are impeccable: very clear and superbly paced... I noticed that the story GREW in my mind when I took breaks from reading, allowing me to immerse myself in the story like a dream." - Frank Santoro, Comics Comics

• Review: "...Fletcher Hanks [was] one of the greatest comic book talents you’ve never heard of. Working in the earliest years of comics (1939-1941) Hanks’ contributions walked on the darker side of comic books in a way that managed to take on a timeless quality... In this collection is the work that makes Hanks so incredibly special to the world of comic books. The physiognomics of his evildoers, the strange retributions they suffer at the hands of the heroes, is all really powerful stuff... You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! is an incredible testament to what comic books were once capable of... If you want to understand the essence of comic books in their purest form then pick up You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! and learn." - Iann Robinson, Crave Online

• Plug: "The pieces in The Bradleys are broadly satirical and funny, marked by Bagge’s rubbery art style and a sarcastic tone that should appeal immediately to anyone with a prior awareness of The Simpsons or Looney Tunes. They’re also good stories, full of sharp observations about the impossible expectations that govern the dynamics of a nuclear family, as well as the way a good used Yardbirds record can make a crappy day better." - Noel Murray, The A.V. Club "Recommended First Comics"

• Plug: "All my exploration of the Moon/Ba axis came out of reading their pretty great Comics Journal interview in [#298]. I love it when an interview is so well-done that it convinces me to sample writers and artists whose work I haven't read before." - Alan David Doane, Comic Book Galaxy

• Plug: Scott Beale of Laughing Squid hypes our forthcoming Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons

• Plug: Meathaus spotlights Michael Kupperman

• Plugs: The Comics Reporter's massive roundup of notable Fall 2009 books includes a bunch of our stuff

• Plug: David P. Welsh, apropos of this Comics Reporter "Five for Friday" feature, asserts that Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar "suggest[s] a [Broadway] musical that would write itself."

• Plug: Tom Spurgeon is funny

• Preview: Parka Blogs presents our preview pages from Abstract Comics: The Anthology

• Things to see: Where is where the Wild Things are? At the video arcade, of course

Kupperman cover! The Comics Reporter has the scoop on the Charles Burns-selected contents. Can't argue too much with that lineup.

Saturday August 15: Dash Shaw, Austin English & Lisa Hanawalt in discussion at Union Pool in Brooklyn as part of the Conversational Comics series.

Comics Savant David Lasky documented the opening of the Comics Savants exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this past Saturday; click here for more photos. Thanks David!

Megan Kelso & Russ Battaglia:

Jim Blanchard & Jason T. Miles: