Gary Groth passed this along to me to share with you: Davd Collier appears in this promotional video for Canadian singer-songwriter Luke Doucet's new album Steel City Trawler, which includes "an original comic book interpretation of lyrics from the new songs, Hamilton’s geography and history, as well as Luke’s own life, past and present" by Collier. Samples of the work can be seen in the video and on Doucet's website.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions will spill over into tomorrow because I have to take off to see John Porcellino & Noah Van Sciver...

• Review: "Oh, the things men do to torture themselves. [Catalog No. 439:] Burlesque Paraphernalia and Side Degree Specialties and Costumes is an amazing flashback to a time before the Internet, television, radio, movies and pretty much every other form of entertainment. [...] This book is chock full of some of the funniest and most sadistic devices ever dreamed up by the human mind. It’s almost as if the guy from the Saw movies had wanted to get laughs instead of frights — and fans of current outrage cinema may be happily startled to find something actually called 'The Human Centipede' in its pages." – Siobhan Greene, Fangoria

• Review: "Peppermint Patty is the cover girl for the latest volume of Charles Schulz’ classic [The Complete Peanuts], a fitting designation for an era that saw her emerge as one of the three most important characters of the strip. [...] It’s amazing that nearly thirty years into the strip, Schulz was still trying new things and finding new inspiration from old characters." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Review: "It's an odd little notion, the idea that you've lived a better, fuller life for having killed people. That's probably a somewhat unfair aspect of Drew Weing's good-natured, lushly drawn storybook (that's the term the comic practically demands I use) Set to Sea — a tale of a big lummox of a poet whose lackluster verses about life on the open sea are given new verve when he's shanghai'd into service on an actual ship — for me to seize on. After all, Weing's bigfooted style and inviting rather than intimidating illustrative chops place him squarely in the adventure-comics tradition of Carl Barks and Jeff Smith." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "Freed from the burden of making a 'serious' work, Anderson delves into some grim and gritty pulp material, and you can feel his relish and delight coming off the page. [Sand & Fury: A Scream Queen Adventure] basically deals with the story of a murdered woman who comes back from the dead as a banshee and eventually seeks revenge against her killer, who in turn may be a supernatural demon himself. It sounds like a Jim Balent comic, but Anderson creates a lovely noir atmosphere here, full of blood, sex and other nasty goings-on that never once becomes camp. It’s a nice, effective little horror comic." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Plug: The Venture Bros. co-creator Jackson Publick writes: "Venture alumnus, super-pal and yiddish-loving Italian-American Stephen DeStefano premiered his new graphic novel, Lucky in Love at the San Diego Comic Con, and I was fortunate enough to snag a copy. Now it's your turn. Go buy one."

• Interview: Graphic NYC 's Christopher Irving talks to Michael Kupperman. Irving on Tales Designed to Thrizzle: "Toss comic book art from the '40s and '50s into a blender with the dirty brand of humor that runs rampant in underground comics, and give it the pacing and spontaneity of skit comedy, and you get Kupperman’s distinctive Tales Designed to Thrizzle. Kupperman’s slick art has the polish and stiffness of old advertising art, creating a posed disconnect that adds a layer of absurdism to his offbeat stories." Sample Kupperman quote: "What I’m doing is more along the lines of sketch comedy. I grew up with Monty Python and SCTV, and those shows had a profound influence on me, through the writing and tone. My comic is humor for childish adults. I think I’m actually going to start putting that on the cover. It’s stuff that makes me laugh and part of my working method is to make stuff that will make others laugh as well."

• Profile: "One hundred-plus years after the newspaper comic strip was born in San Francisco, a reader might well ask: Who was the greatest comic artist of all time? Some scholars say the question was settled in 1924 by New York arts critic Gilbert Seldes, whose book on the American cultural scene, The 7 Lively Arts, devoted an entire chapter to a reclusive cartoonist in the Hollywood Hills named George Herriman and his avant-garde comic strip, Krazy Kat." – Anthony Mostrom, The Los Angeles Times (via The Comics Reporter)

• Profile: Katharine Zarrella of Interview magazine talks to Robert Pollard about his collage art and current exhibit thereof in New York City: "A handful of ex-bandmates are on Pollard's guest list, but what do they think of his artwork? 'It seems a lot of them dig it. I think secretly, and sometimes openly, my peers respect the insanity.'"

• Profile: "One of the most serious gaps that this blog has not yet filled is as follows: having been scandalously silent of the great art of Drew Friedman, one of the most popular and recognizable contemporary American illustrators, a genius capable of combining, with previously unpublished results, a technique of hyper-realistic depiction with the strong sense of the grotesque that characterizes the creative temperament." – Lucca Boschi, Il Sole 24 Ore (translated from Italian)

• Events: At AOL's TV Squad, Aaron Broverman recaps Blake Bell's presentation "Steve Ditko & Bill Everett: Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Daredevil & Beyond" at Fan Expo in Toronto, "a panel I expect will be one of the hidden gems of the weekend"

Jim Woodring posts on his blog:

"Page 36 of the forthcoming CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS; lamisters Frank and Quacky tour the terminal play zone."

That guy's name is Quacky? Awesome! The book's due next Spring.

For quite some time we've had the 1987 first hardcover edition of Love and Rockets Book 3 (Las Mujeres Perdidas, as it was known for subsequent editions), available to order from our warehouse. Apparently all this time we've been displaying the wrong cover art, which is a shame — that's the actual cover above (and back cover below) and holy cow, look at that gorgeous coloring by Eric Vincent. This edition also features a spiffy endpaper pattern featuring your favorite L&R characters, plus a color section reproducing the covers of the original issues! This really is a handsome package thanks to then-Art Director Doug Erb, and a true vintage L&R collectible — and it can be yours for the insane discounted price of just $12.50! Order today!

This weekend is Seattle's BUMBERSHOOT festival ("bumbershoot" is old-timey for "umbrella" -- get it? it rains a lot here!), one of the biggest cultural events of the year in the great Pacific Northwest, and Fantagraphics will have a presence at the show in a few different ways, most notably a massive art exhibit curated by our own Larry Reid. Here's the skinny on all FBI goings-on: 

NORTHWEST COMIX: A 30-YEAR SURVEY OF SEATTLE ALTERNATIVE CARTOONISTS
Curated by Larry Reid in Association with Fantagraphics Books

Venue: Northwest Rooms

Open free to the public September 4-6 with admission to Bumbershoot 2010

This retrospective examines the Northwest's legacy as the birthplace of alternative comics (aka comix). Beginning with the work of Lynda Barry circa 1980, and running through today, the emphasis is on the role of comix in Seattle's youth movement of the '90s that went on to influence global popular culture. Curated by Larry Reid in conjunction with Fantagraphics Books, this exhibit features original artwork on display together with demonstrations by Friends of the Nib and Bureau of Drawers, as well as screenings of Hooked on Comix. Artists include Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Peter Bagge, Jim Woodring, Ellen Forney, Patrick Moriarity, Mark Zingarelli, Roberta Gregory, Megan Kelso, Jim Blanchard, David Lasky, Justin Hampton, Ted Jouflas, and others.

AN EVENING WITH TONY MILLIONAIRE

Venue: Leo K. Theatre

Monday, September 6, 2010 • 5:30 pm- 6:30 pm

Tony Millionaire is the multiple award-winning creator of the self-syndicated comic strip, Maakies, which appears in weekly newspapers across the country. Maakies has been adapted to the small screen in 1998 for Saturday Night Live and in 2008 as The Drinky Crow Show for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Moderated by Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics Books.

LISTEN WHITEY: A HISTORY OF BLACK POWER RECORDINGS
Hosted by Pat Thomas

Venue: Words & Ideas Stage

Saturday September 4, 2010 • 3:45PM - 4:45PM

Pat Thomas' forthcoming Fantagraphics book, Listen Whitey: The Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, chronicles his huge collection of rare and out-of-print Black Power poetry, speeches, interviews, jazz, soul, rock, and pop recordings. He will be speaking about this exhaustive collection and providing unique insight into the historical movement, while playing tons of music and recordings.

Also, if you live in Seattle, you might want to get in on this contest asap to win a few thousand dollars worth of killer swag, including a bunch of Fantagraphics books!

Nice to see Pearl Jam posed in front of our conjoined neighbor Georgetown Records for this publicity photo for their new album — it'd be even nicer if the photographer had gotten the boys to shuffle over 20 feet to get a shot in front of our window too... (Thanks to our pal Kurt Schlosser for forwarding the image.)

Underwood is a new literary audio zine which presents short stories in a 12" vinyl format, a beautiful idea made even more beautiful by Jordan Crane's gatefold artwork for the current edition. Scans and info from Hard Format, link via our own Jacob Covey.

At his blog, Drew Friedman wishes Robert Crumb a happy 67th birthday with a selection of his favorite Crumb work and his cover illustration for The Life & Times of R. Crumb. Happy birthday Bob, and congratulations for picking up the Harvey Award for Best Artist over the weekend.

Kim Deitch will be keynote speaker at Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation , a conference presented by the Comparative Literature Program at Purdue University in Indiana this Friday, September 3 at 4:30 PM, with a signing to follow. Kim says "I'll have some original art for sale — if you are in the neighborhood, stop by!"

This would be hard to believe if there weren't the photos to prove it:

"Behind the scenes of the second promotional short film for the graphic novel The Sanctuary — filmed on location on the 63rd floor of the Empire State Building!"

Nate Neal, you nut!