Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[T]he stories [in Maggie the Mechanic], of course, suck you in, because they're absurd and funny and warm, and even though they're the kind of stories where it's not a question of whether the good guys will win, only when they will, they're well told and well plotted, and I was sad when they ended. Apparently they're meant to be the sci-fi version of magical realism, which is neat, but the dinosaurs and aliens and rocket ships were far less interesting than seeing the girls get drunk and run around, or even just try to decide what to wear. I guess Jaime came to the same conclusion, because it seems he started phasing out the sci-fi stuff shortly after the issues in this volume." – Oriana Leckert, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography

• Interview: Ain't It Cool News's Mark L. Miller (a.k.a. "Ambush Bug"), who says "I love me some Prison Pit. If you havn’t checked out this amazingly graphic comic book series, you don’t know what kick-ass really is yet," met up with Johnny Ryan at Comic-Con to talk about the series: "...I do have certain ideas that I want to hit, but I also like to be a little spontaneous too, so I’m never really sure what I’m going to come up with. Sometimes I’ll even have an idea and then when I get to the point of using the idea, I’m like 'this idea isn’t fucked up enough. I’ve got to fuck it up a bit more.' (laughs) 'I’ve got to increase the fucked uppedness about it.' So six books seems to be the goal, but depending on how I feel at that point I might continue."

• Commentary: The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon, following up on yesterday's news, contacted our own Kim Thompson for some additional details about the status of our new Pogo reprint series

Jason 2009 Exhibition Print – Signed
designed by Jacob Covey

16" x 22"  3-color silkscreen print
signed by the artist; ships rolled

The signed, limited-edition print for Jason's 2009 exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery features Athos, The Last Musketeer, on a lonely park bench, in artwork originally featured on the cover of The Comics Journal #294. Formerly available only at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, we are pleased to now offer limited quantities of this exquisite print via mail order!

Screenprinted in black, teal and metallic silver on heavyweight white paper.

Nuts
by Gahan Wilson

144-page black & white 8" x 8" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-454-2

Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

In this thematically and narratively linked series of one-page stories originally published in the National Lampoon’s “Funny Pages” section throughout the 1970s, the master of the macabre eschewed his usual ghouls, vampires, and end-of-the-world scenarios for a wry, pointed look at growing up normal in the real, yet endlessly weird world.

Watch as our stoic, hunting-cap-wearing protagonist (known only as “The Kid”) copes with illness, disappointment, strange old relatives, the disappointment of Christmas, life-threatening escapades, death, school, the awfulness of camp, and much more — all delineated in Wilson’s roly-poly, sensual, delicately hatched line.

“Nuts” was (partly) collected in a now long-out-of-print volume back in 1979. This new hardcover edition reprints every single “Nuts” story from the Lampoon, rescuing over two dozen pages from oblivion.

If you don’t remember what it was like being a child, this book will bring it all back… for good or for ill!

"Gahan Wilson’s Nuts is the best, most clear-eyed explanation of and memoir about childhood I’ve ever read. Small, cramped, perfect drawings that show children as they are — explorers without a map or a book of instructions in the land of mad giants." —Neil Gaiman

Download and read a 13-page PDF excerpt (1.4 MB).

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

Today' Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Whether you want to take a stroll down mammary lane with grandpa or are searching for new pomo tattoo ideas, this omnibus look at the various gagsters that brought their pens and inks to the pages of Humorama's various digests from 1938 until the sexual revolution will give you a window into your sexual soul that you didn't know existed and will finally gives rest to the lie that sex was invented in the 60s.... Whether gag panels or slice of life renderings, this is a loving look back at all the dead trees that wound up hidden in the back of sock drawers of the greatest generation as some of the greatest fantasies of all time got them through several wars. Fun stuff in delightful overdrive." – Chris Spector, Midwest Record

• Review: "I love Santiago’s style and his depiction of Clemente’s childhood in Puerto Rico ... Santiago really captures the feeling of listening to a ball game on a hot summer day, and his story is rich and complex, if flawed. I’m glad I read [21]." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6

• Plug: "If you tend to think of Mickey Mouse as nothing more than a bland corporate spokesman, prepare to be both fascinated and delighted by the incredible comic strip adventures of the 30’s by Floyd Gottfredson, collected for the first time in Mickey Mouse: Race To Death Valley, the first volume of hopefully the entire run. Get it! Now!" – Ken Plume, FRED

• Plug: The Beat's Torsten Adair looks forward to Jack Jackson's American History: Los Tejanos & Lost Cause, coming early next year: "Remember all that fuss about R. Crumb’s Genesis? Jack Jackson was doing that sort of thing back in the 1990s. Doing it so well, that the Texas Historical Association  awarded him a lifetime fellowship. He produced one of the first underground comics in 1964, and co-founded Rip Off Press. He deserves more attention and recognition from comics fans and historians, and I hope this book does that."

• Plug: "Fantagraphics has posted a first look at Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7. It's out in November and I can hardly contain myself." – Caleb Goellner, Comics Alliance

• Lore: A new installment of Kim Deitch's epic memoir-in-music "Mad About Music: My Life in Records" at TCJ.com

• Plug: Richard Bruton of The Forbidden Planet International blog previews Love and Rockets: New Stories #4, saying "Will it be brilliant? Probably," and noting "the expectation for New Stories #4 is huge."

• Plugs: The guest contributor to the latest "What Are You Reading?" column at Robot 6 is... me

Prince Valiant chronicler (and fine cartoonist in his own right) Brian Kane presented Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai with this fantastic fan-art mashup of Val and Usagi at the Baltimore Comic Con this past weekend and forwarded it along to us, and now he's given us permission to share it with you! (Click the image for a slightly larger version.)

Inspired by this artwork, we had the idea to offer free standard domestic shipping on orders that include at least one Usagi book and at least one Prince Valiant book for the rest of the week! This offer is not available for online orders, so call 1-800-657-1100 to take advantage. (Offer applies only to in-stock Usagi and Valiant books and expires at 5PM Pacific time on Friday August 26, 2011.)

PREVIEWSworld is offering up yet another 5-page preview of one of our books due in comic shops this week — this time it's Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising 1870s-1940s. In addition to Dr. Seuss (above) you'll see Buster Brown, Amos 'n' Andy, Winsor McCay and more.

Our good friend Mark Evanier, who's been providing invaluable editorial assistance on our forthcoming Walt Kelly Pogo collections, has posted a very informative must-read update on his blog. Long story short: Volume 1 has gone to the printer and is going to be awesome. But read Mark's entire post for many more details and a much more eloquent description of the book!

(And since we know you'll ask: no, these books will not be released in slipcased pairs à la The Complete Peanuts. They're big enough on their own!)

Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010
by Michael Kupperman

160-page two-color 6" x 8.25" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-491-7

Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

"Here Mister Kupperman," he said, thrusting a manuscript into my hands. "Publish this, and let the world read of my adventures."

My name is Mark Twain, and I write these words to you in the good old days of August 2010. "What's that," you say? "Didn't you die a hundred years ago, you old coot?"... The truth is I never died, but the same old rumors got exaggerated and then a bunch of other stuff happened, so people forgot I was still alive.

And with that preface, the celebrated man of letters — thought to be dead for a hundred years but actually surviving due to a wizard's spell — returns with a sequel to his best-selling autobiography, aided and abetted by humorist and cartoonist Michael Kupperman. From WWI to the Great Depression, WWII to Woodstock, and through the present, Twain details his careers as an ad man, astronaut, hypnotist, Yeti hunter, porn star, drifter, grifter and more, rubbing shoulders and having never-before-told adventures with many major figures of the 20th Century.

Michael Kupperman describes the book further:

"A mix of illustrated writing and comics, this volume follows Twain as he navigates the Twentieth Century and makes his way into the Twenty-First. His adventures are tense, scary, sexy, mischievous, and sometimes embarrassing. Twain spills the dirt on his secret love affairs with Marilyn Monroe and Mame Eisenhower, tells about his spying and private detective work, and dishes about his involvement in film, TV and advertising. The time he took LSD, the day he tried to hypnotize a donut clerk. Where he first met Einstein and how they travelled through time together. How to build your own raft and the life of a hobo. And who really killed JFK…? All this and much, much more."

Download and read a 21-page PDF excerpt (3.2 MB) with the Table of Contents, Foreword, Preface and 5 whole chapters!

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

Michael Kupperman reads Chapter 16, "Ant I Am Telling You," on the War Rocket Ajax Podcast (on YouTube):

When it rains ink, it pours! Fan Ben Dawson shared his Jaime Hernandez Love and Rockets tattoo with us on Twitter, saying "a pretty poor photo but you get the idea." I like how it works with the rest of the sleeve. Thanks Ben!

More tattoo fun for you today, via Facebook:

Melissa Crosslin Powers shared this beautiful Drinky Crow-in-space design inked by Dennis Del Prete at Providence Tattoo on our wall...

...and on the Tattoosday blog, via the Love and Rockets Facebook page, comes this Jaime Hernandez panel inked on "Steve" by En'vie Ink in the East Village of NYC.