Due to circumstances beyond our control we are late in presenting our weekly batch of new online strips:

Revisiting the baby theme in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson...

...ancient mysteries in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and Steven Weissman calls this week's Barack Hussein Obama strip "Shut Up Island."

For your viewing and clicking pleasure:

• What better way to start things off than with a full dozen sketchbook pages by Jim Woodring? Put down some plastic to collect your melted brain

• This is just one of three adorable self-portraits by Tim Hensley

• More wackiness from Derek Van Gieson

It's been a while since we've had a one-item Online Commentary & Diversions post:

• Review: On Twitter, Avoid the Future is posting daily capsule reviews of every story in Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s.  The latest three: "'The Book of Falling' visually expresses the joy & ambiguity of falling objects. Favourite so far! ... 'Night Beat'- The low-down on a city's least important events. Really fun; excellent use of the format. ... 'Nart' #1- Thought-bubble pierced with dagger: Gags framed by truely appealing thick-line 'toon style."

Michael Kupperman and, apparently, 10 of Paul Hornschemeier (plus our pal Jeffrey Brown), are part of a big event for Marvel's Strange Tales anthology at Challengers Comics & Chicago Comics on Saturday, March 6. This is a rare Chicago appearance for Kupperman, so don't miss it! More details here.

I'm supposed to tell you to buy stuff direct from us but I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't let you know about these:

$3.90!

$1.68!!

$1.52!!

And as previously noted, Petey & Pussy is still $3.52. These deals end suddenly with no warning, so don't hesitate. (Thanks to Jacob for catching what I missed the first time.)

If I may speak to you in hushed tones for a moment: OK, so obviously we prefer it if you order our stuff direct from us, and if you order John Kerschbaum's Eisner-nominated Petey & Pussy you can still get one of the last few incredible free bonus packs with all 3 issues of The Wiggly Reader, a poster, and a signed bookplate. However, if you're strapped for cash, and we totally understand if you are, you can get the book for the price of a single issue of a comic book on Amazon right now.

They're real and they're spectacular:

These are our first advance copies of the softcover edition of Tim Lane's Abandoned Cars (both covers!) and our new Basil Wolverton book The Culture Corner, both coming in April. We'll have better pics for you coming soon.

An all black-and-white installment.

• A new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond from Kevin Huizenga

• How about a nice bunch of recent con sketches by Stan Sakai? (They're mostly Usagi, but this one's for you, Jacob. Via The Comics Reporter)

• Miner's lettuce is a great name for a plant — sketch by Debbie Drechsler

• This piece by Kevin Nowlan appeared in this 1982 issue of The Comics Journal

• This looks like one heck of a loopy story by Derek Van Gieson

A light batch of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Plug: "New in this week from Fantagraphics is Almost Silent, a collection of four earlier original graphic novels by the brilliant Jason. Regulars will know we love Jason’s work and if you’ve been meaning to read some and somehow never quite got round to grabbing the earlier works then this lovely little hardback is the perfect introduction (and it even looks pretty on your shelf)." – The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

• Interview: At Super I.T.C.H., Beth Davies-Stofka, who says "Fantagraphics’ The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons from 1913-1940 is seductive and spell-binding, a siren call of exploding color and really, really pretty girls," talks to the editor of the book, Trina Robbins, who says "If you see Nell out of context, all you see is beautiful art, but the writing that goes with it is necessary in order to really understand what she was doing."

• Trivia: Drinky Crow's drink of choice, revealed!

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(not final cover)

I think I stumbled across the missing link between the new softcover edition of Tim Lane's Abandoned Cars (coming next month) and Blake Bell's Fire & Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics (coming this Summer).