Australian fan Phillip Marsden tweeted this picture to us, and... what the...??!! Yup, it's real. Somebody owes the Hernandez Bros. a cut of the profits, if you ask us.

(Artwork by David Chelsea)

We learned of this so last minute I don't even have time to write anything clever, so I'm just copy & pasting this info from the Gage Academy website:

Steele Gallery: Think Ink

METALHAUS returns to Seattle's Northwest Film Forum  for another night of Punk Pricks, Metal Maniacs, and New Wave Hookers. Don't even try to categorize this designer mess-up of VHS flotsam, hipster kitsch, and remastered live shows from seminal provocateurs like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Blondie, Roxy Music, P.I.L., The Clash, and, oh yeah, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, AC/DC. Special Guest Appearance by Killbot. METALHAUS is sponsored by Fantagraphics Books and Ninkasi Brewing Company. Curated by Jacques Boyreau , Darren Aboulafia, and Tim Colley.

To "quote" Benjamin Marra:

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Leslie Stein has just published a new issue  of her wonderful comic book series, EYE OF THE MAJESTIC CREATURE. The first four issues were recently collected by Fantagraphics , and this is her first new issue since that book came out. Here's a description from the Etsy listing: 

Eye of the Majestic Creature #5: "Sister Carrie"

Larrybear has moved back to New York after having lived in the countryside. She finds herself employed at a dress shop run by an absentee boss in the East Village, and living with her old friend Seashell in an infested Brooklyn apartment. Of course, Marshmallow and her anthropomorphic friends are there too, but being magical they are not allowed to leave the house. Not that this stops Marshmallow, who is becoming increasingly depressed and drinking way too much.

On a nice winter day, roaming around Manhattan, Larry finds herself drawn to the Visionary Arts Museum, and is amazed to find they are having a retrospective of Victorian Sand Counters. Inspired, Larry begins to count sand seriously, but in a world where this is largely a forgotten art form, where can it possibly take her?

Quotes throughout by Theodore Dreiser, from his fantastic 1900 book Sister Carrie.

48 pages, color cover and back cover, black and white insides, Newsprint

I love this series. Buy this now! 

Leslie will be making appearances in late Sept./early Oct. on the west coast, including APE, so stay tuned for more info.  

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 (Vol. 16)
by Charles M. Schulz

344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-471-9

See Previews / Order Now

With this volume, The Complete Peanuts ventures into the lesser-known 1980s, and Peanuts fans are sure to find plenty of surprises.

In Snoopy-family news, Spike is drafted into the Infantry (don’t worry, it’s only Snoopy’s imaginary World War I army), and a brand new brother, “Marbles” (with the spotty ears) takes his bow. We also see two major baseball-oriented stories, one in which Charlie Brown joins Peppermint Patty’s team, and another in which Charlie Brown and his team lose their baseball field.

In other stories, Peppermint Patty witnesses the “butterfly miracle,” Linus protests that he is not Sally’s “Sweet Babboo,” Sally (in an unrelated sequence) gets fat, the Van Pelts get into farming, and two of the most eccentric characters from later Peanuts years, the hyperaggressive Molly Volley and the whiny “Crybaby” Boobie, make a return engagement.

Charles Schulz’s Peanuts world will never grow old, and Fantagraphics’ complete reprinting of this masterpiece, now in its eighth year — still lovingly designed by world-class cartoonist Seth — has firmly established itself as one of the very finest archival comic-strip projects ever done.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (602 KB) containing all the strips from January, 1981!

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

The Complete Peanuts 1979-1982 Box Set
by Charles M. Schulz
designed by Seth

two 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcovers in a custom slipcase • $49.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-472-6

See Previews / Order Now

A boxed set of the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of The Complete Peanuts, designed by the award-winning graphic novelist, Seth. Shipping shrinkwrapped, with volumes 1979-1980 and 1981-1982 packed in a sturdy custom box designed especially for this set, it's the perfect gift book item. (For more information on the contents of each volume, see the individual product listings linked above.)

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

NOTE: BECAUSE OF OUR CONTRACT WITH THE LICENSOR THESE BOOKS CANNOT BE SOLD OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA. IF YOU RESIDE ANYWHERE OTHER THAN THE U.S., CANADA OR MEXICO PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO ORDER THEM FROM OUR WEBSITE; YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

PEANUTS ® & © Peanuts Worldwide

Gosh indeed!

It's big enough news that landmark London shop Gosh! Comics is moving into a new location for the first time in 25 years...

But the news gets even bigger because they'll be inaugurating the space with an exhibition and signing with noneother than Dave McKean!

The exhibit will feature paintings, sculptures, and drawings -- some of which have never been shown in public before, and some of which will even be for sale! McKean will be on hand to sign copies of his latest Fantagraphics book, Celluloid.

The opening gala is this Saturday, August 6th, and McKean will be signing from 2:00 - 4:00 PM.  If you're in the Soho area, pop by 1 Berwick Street and check out their new digs!

Posting the Donald Duck cover reminded me, we've had this up on the site for a few days but we never gave it a proper fanfare: the final cover art for Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 2: Trapped on Treasure Island by Floyd Gottfredson. Series design by Jacob Covey. Again, click the image for a better look. The slipcase for the Vol. 1 & 2 Box Set is looking pretty snazzy too — we should have an image of that to share soon!

You saw it in our BLAD, now here it is solo: the final cover image for Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks. Another triumph from our design maestro Jacob Covey! Click for an embiggened version.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: The Hooded Utilitarian, nearing the top of their results in their International Best Comics Poll, reveals George Herriman's Krazy Kat at #2, with a brief essay by Jeet Heer 

• Review: "...The Comics Journal #301... is crammed with fantastic content. The volume's texture, heft, and text make it the readers' equivalent of a dense slab of chocolate cake.... In short, Gary Groth and his editorial team have produced a stellar contribution to comics history and scholarship. It is a feast for comics aficionados and neophytes alike. " – Casey Burchby, SF Weekly

• Plug: The Forbidden Planet International blog shares our latest update on Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes with its readers, and then bums them out with news of the book's unavailability in the UK

• Plug: "I second Tom Spurgeon’s recommendation of Bill Mauldin’s Willie and Joe Back Home. I was amazed by how brutally frank the comics are, and how affecting. I actually prefer it to his WWII work — it’s even more impassioned, and the cartooning loosens enough to show off a really expressive, cutting line." – Dan Nadel, The Comics Journal

• Plug: "Alex Chun has a new volume available from Fantagraphics Books in his series which profiles the 'few dollars a drawing' gag writers who sold work to the Humorama line of digest publications during the 1950s and into the early 1970s. As I have been writing on the lesser known artists who contributed, with the scant information available...I eagerly await the book!" – Jim Linderman, Dull Tool Dim Bulb

• Interview (Audio): Patrick Rosenkranz discusses Vancouver-based underground comix artist Rand Holmes with Vancouver-based Inkstuds host Robin McConnell in advance of the Holmes exhibit and presentation this Saturday at Vancouver comic shop Lucky's. Vancouver!

• Analysis: At Entrecomics, Alberto Garcia examines the Steve Ditko influence/homages in some of Gilbert Hernandez's early work — even if you don't read Spanish, the images will have you going "ah-haaaa..."

• Lore: Kim Deitch's "Mad About Music: My Life in Records" column returns over at TCJ.com, with more on Elvis Presley and the early days of rock 'n' roll

A couple of blogs reminded us of the occasion. This strip can be found in this book.