No, not Monkees... monkeys! Michael Kupperman tweeted:

New Yorkers! This should be fun: http://tinyurl.com/ykmssp9 I'll be reading my brand new "Jungle Princess" story...

What it is: a monkey-themed installment of the live comedy-variety show "Kevin Geeks Out" at 92YTribeca in NYC and it's tonight! More info here.

Lookit (& clickit):

• Part 6 of Steven Weissman's "This Already Happened" at What Things Do

• Mike Loveland takes an interesting approach to Jason's Pocket Full of Rain on the Covered blog

• Buongiorno, Marco Corona

• The Perils of Overexuberance, a mid-1990s painting by Jim Flora

Shorty Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: Paul Hornschemeier reports on his blog: "I sat down with Brandon Wetherbee of the You, Me, Them, Everybody podcast to skip across topics such as mystery novels, crayons, Curt Swan, Robert Crumb, District 9, sock garters, Pixar, syndicated cartoons, Spider-Man, touring with bands, and facial moisturizer. A good time was had by all in a tiny room."

• Profile: Portuguese blog Mania dos Quadradinhos looks at the Fantagraphics work of Roger Langridge (autotranslation)

Mark Kalesniko has started a new art blog where so far he's been posting watercolor sketches of stylish girls such as this. Hopefully we'll be seeing glimpses of his new Fantagraphics graphic novel Freeway (scheduled for Summer 2010 release), and of course we'll point you toward future updates in our "Things to see" posts.

Apropos of the release of Almost Silent, we've created a Facebook page for Jason for fans to follow along with the latest updates about his books. For now the page will be focused primarily on Jason's U.S. releases, though we'd be more than happy to have his European publishers involved as well (if any of them are reading this). Join on up!

And don't forget about our Facebook pages for Peter Bagge, the Hernandez Bros., Ted Stearn's Fuzz & Pluck, and, of course, Fantagraphics.

Mome Vol. 18 - Spring 2010
by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds

128-page color/b&w 7" x 9" softcover • $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-303-3

Ships in: March 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award nominee returns for its fifth year. With this issue, the series has now featured over 2000 pages of comics in its four and half years of existence (2109, to be exact), which may be a record for an English-language alternative comics anthology. This issue's cover is by Nate Neal, who delivers "The Neurotic Nexus of Creation," a 15-page explication of the creative process. MOME 18 also includes the first new comic in several years by Dave Cooper, as well as the MOME debuts of Tim Lane, Ivan Brun, Joe Daly, and Jon Adams. Also returning are MOME stalwarts Lilli Carré, Ben Jones, Frank Santoro, Jon Vermilyea, Nicolas Mahler, Ted Stearn, Renée French, Conor O'Keefe, Derek Van Gieson, and T. Edward Bak.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (5.9 MB) with a page from every artist in the issue.

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

Oh my lord! Thanks Derek!

Your daily dose of eyeball kicks:

• Holy smokes, this Dave Cooper painting, titled February, is part of the group show The Devil Made Me Do It curated by Industrial Squid at WWA Gallery in Culver City

• I like the composition of this drawing of Helvella lacunosa in a cemetary by Debbie Drechsler

• Some Pim & Francie fan art by YouTube user Danny2113182

• Artwork by Sergio Ponchione is used in the stage set for the performance for which this video is the trailer; Sergio's blog post also includes a small newspaper spot illustration he did

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot

• A teaser panel and outtake page from the last chapter of Derek Van Gieson's Mome story "Devil Doll," plus a sketchbook page (not shown here)

Let's see what Online Commentary & Diversions are in store for us today:

• Review: "The Troublemakers is something of a titular understatement. These guys aren’t trouble, they’re a disaster waiting to happen. ... It’s an exquisite story. With the characters locked in a tussle of greed and deceit, Hernandez makes his writing craft look effortless. The script is low-key and natural, the characters three-dimensional and interesting." – Grovel

• Review: "...[T]here seemed to be something dangerous, something man was not meant to trifle with, something unnatural, in concentrating all that uncut hilarity in one place [in Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1]... At its basal level, Kupperman’s sense of humor starts with a susceptible contemporary sensibility driven into survival mode by the open floodgates of mass culture, a modern consciousness threatened by amusement and diversion. The strategic response is one of aggressive accretion, grasping at straws and flotsam and winding up with some very odd however buoyant accumulations." – Rich Kreiner, "Yearlong Best of the Year," The Comics Journal

• Review: "[The] Unclothed Man [in the 35th Century A.D.] is an interesting, if quirky, collection of the work of a cartoonist who is still getting stronger and more confident." – Andrew Wheeler, ComicMix

• Plug: The Gosh! Comics Blog says Chocolate Cheeks is "Steve Weissman at his most disgusting and delightful."

• Events: Jessica Abel gives a talk at Marshall University in Huntington, WV on Thursday, Feb. 25 — bring your old Artbabes

• Pirates: Ben Catmull warns that Monster Parade has been reprinted without permission in Croatia

WHOA.

Joe Alterio of the blog Indirect Collaboration (associated with the South by Southwest Interactive Panel) talks with Charles Burns and Gary Panter about their ongoing collaborative jam comics (like Pixie Meat, above). A sample:

Is there something about collaborative art that isn't there with solo art? Is it useful, or just a parlor game?

GP: The Jack Kirby unimind.

CB: Collaboration for me is about letting go of all my control and forcing myself to explore a different perspective. Although we share similar interests, Gary constantly comes up with ideas and images I could never possibly imagine -- that's when it gets good.

(via Hermenautic Circle)