As seen in our art department on November 19, 2010 — as mentioned, a banner day for originals here. View bigger here, and see here for a previous batch of original pages from the book. Congress of the Animals, the new "Frank" graphic novel from Jim Woodring, is due in Spring 2011.

As seen on my desk on November 19, 2010, which was a good day for original art here — stay tuned for the next post. View bigger here. Love from the Shadows, the new "Fritz filmography" graphic novel from Gilbert Hernandez, is due in early Spring 2011.

Let's just ignore the fact that these are over a month old, OK?

Zack Carlson & Bryan Connolly's first stop on the Seattle leg of their book tour for Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film was at the venerable Scarecrow Video on Friday, November 12, 2010, where pizza and many magical moments were shared in front of the War section:

Bryan, left; Zack, right.

The celebration continued the next day at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery:

Zack.

Bryan.

Book designer/art director Jacob Covey personalizing books with rub-on type.

Scarecrow's Marc Palm, hair dyed for the occasion, sinks his teeth into the book.

See lots more photos in our Flickr set.

So Josh Blair and J.B. Sapienza started a blog called Rejected by Covered, which is what it says on the tin: artwork which Robert Goodin has turned down for his now-famous Covered blog. Funnily enough, the first entry on Rejected by Covered is by Rob himself.

Below, a new piece by Rob deemed worthy for Covered (and also for his holiday postcard — thanks Rob!).

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago's New Chicago Comics exhibit (mentioned previously), which features  Jeffrey Brown, Lilli Carré, Paul Hornschemeier, and Anders Nilsen, opens to the public on January 8 with a special fancy-pants preview on Friday January 7, 6-10 PM. Advance tickets to the preview event are available here. See what Paul has to say about it here.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions from NPR, Techland–TIME.com, HTMLGIANT, Woot!, and elsewhere:

• List: At Techland–TIME.com, Douglas Wolk names his top 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2010:

#6: Weathercraft: "The first standalone Frank book from Jim Woodring is as gloriously mind-expanding as anything he's drawn. It's a wordless Hieronymous Bosch-via-Chuck Jones parable about cartoon animals in a cruel, psychedelic landscape, in which the wicked Manhog attains enlightenment, then sacrifices it again."

#5: Artichoke Tales: "Megan Kelso's magnum opus is technically a fantasy — her characters live in an imaginary country, riven by a civil war between foragers and canners, and have artichoke leaves instead of hair on their heads. It's also a set of meditations on the way cultures establish their identities through stories, and how both political violence and personal connections can damage or repair those identities."

#3: You'll Never Know, Book 2: Collateral Damage: "The second volume of C. Tyler's trilogy of family stories that crystallized around the revelation of her father's experiences in World War II turns personal tragedy into universal art. Everyone's stories deepen; everything is more complicated and sadder than it seems at first. And Tyler's incredible sense of design and color makes even her quietest images linger."

• List: Comics Alliance also ranks Weathercraft on their Top 10 Best Comics of 2010. Jason Michelitch writes: "Woodring is a cartoonist of frightening power, and Weathercraft is him performing at full strength, a high note sustained for every panel on 100 pages. His work is of a caliber where it's hard to know what to say about it, so struck dumb are you by the immensity of the rendering and storytelling skill on the page. [...] There is no other comic this year that so successfully creates such a viscerally compelling and hermetically individual fictional world, or which displays such a thorough mastery of visual storytelling, provoking complex thoughts and feelings with simple, beautiful strokes. Weathercraft is essential."

• List: Oh mercy, it's The Daily Cross Hatch's epic and essential end-of-year top-five survey The Best Damn Comics of 2010 Chosen by the Artists. Below, in order of appearance, the books chosen, who chose them and how/if they ranked them; click over for any commentary:

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso: Ellen Abramowitz (MoCCA Executive Director), #3; Darryl Ayo Brathwaite (Little Garden Comics), unranked;

Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason: Joe Decie (What I Drew), "Best European book"

Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 by the Hernandez Bros: Andrew Farago, (Cartoon Art Museum Curator), unranked

The Search For Smilin' Ed by Kim Deitch: Josh Frankel (Zip Comics), unranked; Brian Heater (The Daily Cross Hatch), #3

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio: Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic), unranked

Castle Waiting: Volume 2 by Linda Medley: Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic), unranked

Uptight #4 by Jordan Crane: Nathan Gelgud (Simon's Soup), unranked; J.T. Yost (Birdcage Bottom Books), "Top 5 mini-comics"

Locas II by Jaime Hernandez: Tom Hart (Hutch Owen), unranked

Prison Pit Book 2 by Johnny Ryan: Eric Haven (Tales to Demolish), unranked

Dungeon Quest: Volume One by Joe Daly: Eric Haven (Tales to Demolish), unranked

Weathercraft by Jim Woodring: Brian Heater (The Daily Cross Hatch), #4; Gabby Schulz/Ken Dahl (Monsters), #4

• List: At Four Colours and the Truth, Tim Reinert names Drew Weing's Set to Sea one of his Favourite Comics of 2010: Best Original Graphic Novels: "A unique adventure story that skirts the line between high concept art book and ribald adventure tale quite well. Weing’s patient pacing, and unerring knack for maximizing panel space make him an interesting talent to watch out for."

• List: At Attentiondeficitdisorderly, Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason is one of Sean T. Collins's Comics of the Year of the Day: "...to quote an Album of the Year of the Day, everybody knows he’s a motherfuckin’ monster."

• List: At The SF Site: Nexus Graphica, Mark London Williams and Rick Klaw each count down their Ten Best Comics of 2010 in tandem, in two parts covering #10-6 and #5-1 (with additional commentary from Mark at Guys Lit Wire):

#8: (Rick) Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s  

#3: (Rick) It Was The War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi

#1: (Mark) High Soft Lisp by Gilbert Hernandez

• List: On Twitter, artist/designer Mark Burrier counts down his "top 5 favorite comic releases of 2010," with Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 at #4 and It Was The War of the Trenches at #3

• List: At Comikaze, Mauricio Matamores names Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 one of Los Mejores Cómics de 2010: "Published by Fantagraphics, this title presented top-notch storytelling by the Hernándezes and perfection with Xaime, specifically." (Translated from Spanish.)

• List: Also at Comikaze, Santiago Fernández names Yo maté a Adolf Hitler (I Killed Adolf Hitler) one of Los Mejores Cómics de 2010: "This [Norwegian] author seems to tell his story of time travel, Nazis and romance as though he were a 10 year old child, proof that this is a fun story even though it really is rather complex, complete with a message that provides sweetness. Great gift for the girlfriend." (Translated from Spanish.)

• Interview (Audio): Mark Herz of Connecticut NPR affilliate WSHU visits with Bill Griffith in his studio to talk all things Zippy

• Interview: Jason Toon of Woot! talks to Zack Carlson & Bryan Connolly about Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film: "We can't stop even now. It's become a depressing compulsion. We can't enjoy a movie the way you would. Actually, it went beyond watching movies. We got so immersed in what we were doing, when we'd take a break to go get a pizza and see a kid riding by on a skateboard with blue hair, we'd try to pause reality."

• Plug: At HTMLGIANT, Kyle Minor calls us "heroes of literature" for publishing Stephen Dixon's What Is All This? Uncollected Stories, and for our publishing history in general... shucks!

A segment featuring Zak Sally will run on Twin Cities Public Television's new weekly arts series, MN Original, premiering on Thursday, December 30 at 7:30 PM (with a full schedule of repeats following). Viewers in Minnesota can tune in to Channel 2, and the segment will also be available online — we'll be sure to post it when it is.

Tim Kreider signs and reads from his new book Twilight of the Assholes: Cartoons & Essays 2005-2009 at the Strand Bookstore in New York City on February 17, 2011 at 7 PM. "In a slideshow, talk and Q&A, he'll wax nostalgic about the endearing atrocities and deadly foibles of the Bush administration and have a fond chuckle over the deadpan haplessness of Obama and the fascist antics of the tea party." Mark your calendars now and get a bit more info here; we'll be certain to have more info and updates as the date draws closer.

This Disco Snoopy Colorforms set was recently spotted in the wild by our own Matt Silvie. It conveniently coincides with the era we're currently reprinting in The Complete Peanuts!

Zak Sally has sent out word: The Kim Deitch Files print portfolio is now available to order from Zak's La Mano 21 press in both regular and deluxe editions. Featuring Kim's pencil studies for his story pages as well as previously unseen artwork, hand-assembled in hand-printed packaging, it's another beautiful, lovingly produced item in the La Mano catalog. We had the privilege of debuting the set for the West Coast at the 4th anniversary party for Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, where copies are still available.