Sweet merciful Jebus do we have an ever-lovin' load of books coming out in the next couple of months -- about a dozen of 'em, if all goes according to plan. The advance copies have been pouring into our office and we've got lots of preview photos and videos to share with you. We'll present one book a day here on Flog but if you're impatient you can head over to our Flickr page and gorge yourself on the first 5 sets right now, with many more to come shortly.

Today we're presenting The Wolverton Bible, which features hundreds of amazing illustrations of the Old Testament and Revelations by MAD pioneer Basil Wolverton. Click here if the embedded slideshow doesn't appear above or to open it larger in a new window.

Unlovable Vol. 1
By Esther Pearl Watson

Loosely based on a teenager’s diary from the 1980s found in a gas-station bathroom, Unlovable details the sometimes ordinary, sometimes humiliating, often poignant and frequently hilarious exploits of underdog Tammy Pierce. This remarkably touching and funny graphic novel tells the first-person account of Tammy’s sophomore year in 1985, from the first day of school to winter break. Her hopes, dreams, agonies and defeats are brought to vivid, comedic life by Watson’s lovingly grotesque drawings, filled with all the eighties essentials — too much mascara, leg warmers with heels and huge hair — as well as timeless teen concerns like acne, dandruff, and the opposite sex (or same sex, in some cases).

In the epic saga that is Unlovable, Tammy finds herself dealing with: tampons, teasing, crushes, The Smiths, tube socks, facial hair, lice, celibacy, fantasy dream proms, gym showers, skid marks, a secret admirer, prank calls, backstabbers, winter ball, barfing, narcs, breakdancing, hot wheels, glamour shots, roller coasters, Halloween costumes, boogers, boys, boy crazy feelings, biker babes, and even some butt cracks. Tammy’s life isn’t pretty, but it is endlessly charming and hilarious.

Originally (and still) serialized in Bust magazine, Unlovable includes over 100 new pages created just for this edition, which is handsomely packaged in a unique hot pink hardcover format with sparkly blue glitter that would make Tammy proud.

416-page two-color 5.75" x 5.75" hardcover • $22.99
Add to Cart • Read More...

We need to make room for all the great books we have coming in 2009! We've just put 30 semi-recent books on sale at least 33% off in our new Clearance Sale section. And that's just for starters — we'll be adding dozens more items in the weeks and months to come!

We've also reorganized our sale items into three new categories: the aforementioned Clearance Sale; Closeout Deals, where we're blowing out our last remaining copies of dozens of items at up to 75% off; and Dents & Dings, with great deals on lightly-damaged merchandise.

These sales are ongoing, but shop early for the best selection, and keep checking back for all the latest additions to every section. Your wallet gets a break, you get great comics, and we get more room in our warehouse — everybody wins!

And don't forget, Our Valentine's Day gift sale is still going on through Feb. 14, with savings of at least 15% on a selection of holiday-appropriate (or -inappropriate) titles!

The comics blogosphere does not rest for Super Bowl weekend:

• List: Brick Weekly has 4 "Top 10 Comics of 2008" lists on which Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw and The Portable Frank by Jim Woodring appear multiple times

• List: The Comics Reporter asked readers to "Name Five Favorite Single-Issue Alternative/Independent Comic Books" and lots of folks chose Fantagraphics stuff

• Review: Fictions looks at Maggie the Mechanic by Jaime Hernandez

• Review: Rob Clough says Where Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes is "a stunning retrospective that seems remarkably fresh today"

• Blurb: USA Today Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson names Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable the "Best thing I read" last week; she's also reading the current issue of The Comics Journal

• Analysis: At Blog Flume, Ken Parille examines Schulz's use of varied settings in some early Peanuts strips

• Interview: Watch this episode of Canapé, from NYC cable channel CUNY, for a segment on David B. 's recent stop in NYC

• Interview: Robot 6 talks to Lilli Carré about The Lagoon

• Interview: Newsarama talks to our latest Mome signing, Noah Van Sciver

• Events: Sacha Peet is excited for Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable art show and book signing at our storefront this Saturday, and so should you be

• Things to see: At Liberation.fr, here's what appears to be a promotional video for a French edition of Eightball by Daniel Clowes

• Things to see: Another new story page from Tim Lane

• Things to see: More "Doodle Dump" and rock sketches from Tom Kaczynski

Tomorrow, February 3rd, Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carré will get to use the lobby at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art as a studio for 8 hours, from 11am till 7pm! They will have a multi-plane animation stand set up, and will be doing stop-motion animation for a new film as well as working on other things. They will also have a bunch of drawings and animation artifacts to look at. If you are in Chicago, stop on by!

Museum of Contemporary Art

220 East Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60611

While there, check out Carré's new graphic novel, The Lagoon, at the MCA Store.

"In my opinion, Walt Kelly had only two peers in the pantheon department, Winsor McKay and George Herriman." - Garry Trudeau

Walt Kelly's Pogo
Original Strips 1948-1972

Friday, February 6, 5-8pm
Exhibition reception in conjunction with White River Junction's First Friday

CCS is proud to exhibit work by one of the greatest cartoonists of the 20th century. With Pogo, Walt Kelly (1913-1973) combined unparalleled brushwork, honed from years as a Disney animator, with superb storytelling acted out by an endearing cast of characters. Borrowing from various dialectical sources and his own fertile imagination, Kelly invented a unique and charming backwoods-patois to fit his cartoon swampland. Although Pogo stands on its own as a superbly-realized cartoon strip for the ages, it was perhaps Kelly's interjection of political and social satire into the work that was its greatest pioneering accomplishment - such commentary was simply not done in the genre of dailies in Kelly's time.

Many thanks to Garry Trudeau for his generous support for this exhibition and to The Herb Block Foundation.

The Center for Cartoon Studies
94 South Main Street, White River Junction, Vermont

PITTSBURGH -- The ToonSeum, Pittsburgh's museum of cartoon art, presents Zippy's Pittsburgh and More: The Art of Bill Griffith, February 7 through March 31, 2009.

Zippy's Pittsburgh and More is an exhibit of Griffith's original comic art, with several strips featuring Pittsburgh landmarks as settings. "Our location at the Children's Museum has a certain surreal quality that lends itself well to Zippy," said ToonSeum Executive Director, Joe Wos. "Giant inflatable ice cream dinosaurs, twenty-foot cranes made of old gas station signs, and of course a museum of cartoon art, all seem to fit quite well in Zippy's world!" The artist agrees, saying "For me, Zippy is funniest when his craziness bumps up against the ‘real world', which is why I put him in diners and have him talking to Bob's Big Boy. It doesn't get much more real than Pittsburgh, PA - it's Zippy Country!"

Zippy the Pinhead, one of the unlikeliest daily comic strips in the history of newspapers, initially appeared in underground comix in the early 1970s, and was first published as a daily strip in the San Francisco Examiner in 1985. The following year, King Features picked up the strip for worldwide syndication. Zippy's creator Bill Griffith describes the character as the "wise fool," who "knows nothing at all and everything at once." His twisted response to all forms of high and low culture forces us to take a fresh look at words and images that permeate our consciousness daily.

Bill Griffith will appear for a special book signing at Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland, on Saturday, February 21, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. The book signing is sponsored by Phantom of the Attic and Copacetic Comics.

The ToonSeum is Pittsburgh's museum of cartoon art, currently housed within the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (10 Children's Way, on the North Side). Entry to the ToonSeum is free with paid admission to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (Adults- $10, Children under 18 and Seniors - $9, Children under 2- Free). Museum hours are Monday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information, please visit www.toonseum.com or call (412)325-1060

Pittsburgh City Paper is the media sponsor for Zippy's Pittsburgh and More.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents
An Evening With Jules Feiffer
Tuesday, February 03, 2009

BUY TICKETS HERE. 

Comics and the Jewish American Dream

Length: 1 hr 30 mins
Intermission: None
Seating: General Admission
You choose your seats when you get to the theater.

Comic books were invented by American Jews in the 1930's and 1940's. Did this come about, as some maintain, because anti-Semitism kept Jewish artists, writers and entrepreneurs out of more "reputable" areas of publishing? And did comics in any way reflect the Jewish background of its original exponents?

In this series JULES FEIFFER joins moderator Danny Fingeroth to discuss his career and reflect on how his work has been influenced by his Jewish heritage.