I am reeling with jealousy at everyone who lives in Orange County right now, because this Thursday you have a chance to see Jaime Hernandez speak (for FREE!) at the Fullerton Public Library.

It's part of the "Gustavo's Awesome Lecture Series!" spearheaded by the awesome-indeed journalist Gustavo Arellano. Arellano is perhaps best known for his syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!" which appears in the OC Weekly.  He's even the recipient of the "Colbert Bump." And he was nice enough to chat with Fantagraphics about Jaime's work!

How did you first discover "Love & Rockets" and Jaime Hernandez?

I discovered Love & Rockets and Jaime's work like all Mexican nerds—in high school. My best friend was into graphic novels and comics, and one day, I noticed a section of his bookcase that had the only Hispanic surname in the bunch—"Hernandez." It was a collection of Love & Rockets—can't remember which one, but I began reading and haven't stopped since.

Which character do you relate the most to and why?

Maggie, of course. She reminds me of many of the Chicanas I've known—someone who was cute-as-fuck in her youth, but turned beautiful as she aged and grew bigger. Maggie might not be living the life she envisioned as a young punker working the prosolar circuit—might even feel sad at her status in life—but she nevertheless remains optimistic, and feels life will become better.

Do you have a particular favorite book or storyline of Jaime's?

Death of Speedy, for sure. I didn't grow up in an environment like Hoppers, but I knew many who did. The whole story arc, between defending turf and love and mistaken identity and pride, could've easily been told in a stereotypical fashion, as it almost always does. But Jaime's take is beyond humanistic—it's Joyceian in its dexterity of emotions and conflict.

Seriously, can you imagine how engaging this event is going to be? Well, if you live in the area, you don't have to imagine! The Fullerton Public Library is located at 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, CA (714) 738-6333. Jaime and Gustavo will begin their discussion at 6:30 p.m., so don't be late!

This series is sponsored by the Cal State Fullerton Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies, the Fullerton Public Library, and the Hibbleton Gallery. 

Get ready for some chat roulette with Ellen Forney, without all the penises! (Unless you wanna ask her about Lust, that is...)

Walmart (!!!) and the Free Library of Philadelphia host the first ever "One Book, One Philadelphia" online book chat today at 11:00 am PST/2:00 pm EST.  Just log on here and chat live with Ellen!

(Um, and since it's c0-hosted by Walmart, maybe keep it clean...)

Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition
by Joe Sacco

272-page black & white 7.75" x 10.25" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-396-5

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

First released in 2000, Safe Area Gorazde confirmed Sacco as one of the pre-eminent journalists of his time, and earned him a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Now for its 10th anniversary, Fantagraphics is releasing an expanded hardcover edition which, much like 2007’s Palestine: The Special Edition, supplements the original work with page after page of special features, listed below.

In the wake of his acclaimed Palestine, Joe Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war; Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water.

Features of this special deluxe edition include:

• A lengthy illustrated essay by Joe Sacco on how the project came together.

• A side-by-side comparison of Sacco's reference photos and the final comics panels drawn from them.

• A "Where Are they Now?" update on Gorazde's most colorful characters.

• A long interview with Sacco on Safe Area Gorazde from The Comics Journal.

• Plus of course the complete Safe Area Gorazde including Christopher Hitchens's introduction from the first edition.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 21-page PDF excerpt (5.6 MB).

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

Praise for the original edition:

2001 Eisner Award WINNER: Best Graphic Album - New

"Of the myriad of books that have appeared about Bosnia, few have told the truth more bravely than Sacco's. He is an immense talent." – The New York Times Book Review

"Harrowing and bleakly humorous, Sacco's account of life during the Balkan conflict is a timeless portrait of ordinary people caught in desperate circumstances. It's also a work of genius in an unlikely genre: journalism in comic book form." – Utne Reader

"Sacco's detailed, personal reporting captures his subject matter more convincingly than photographs or Christiane Amanpour." – Time

"Graphic in every sense of the term, Sacco’s account of everyday life in a city under siege puts one of the twentieth century’s least understood catastrophes in perspective; it’s the best argument around for comics as a journalistic medium." – GQ

Free Bonus: This book is available with an exclusive signed bookplate (pictured above) at no extra charge! See product description for details.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Anyone who ever got into fantasy role-playing games during their early adolescence no doubt remembers how those early forays into heroic adventuring could be fraught with profane characters, ludicrous moments during breaks from the quest at hand, and the strange, often puerile creations of a hormonally charged dungeon master. All of those elements fuel the entertaining world that Daly drops readers into with [Dungeon Quest Book 2]... There are encounters with monsters, violent battles, magical items to be gathered, eerie dungeons, and so on, but we are also treated to a hilarious bit where the characters get zooted on weed and cocaine while spouting drug-appropriate dialogue. With a visual style that’s a gene-splicing of Charles Burns’s Lynchian creepiness with an 'underground' sensibility, this quirky work is every bit as entertaining as it sounds, spouting anarchic humor in every direction." – Publishers Weekly

• Interview: The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon talks to Alexander Theroux about the new edition of his book The Strange Case of Edward Gorey: "Gary [Groth] asked me to expand on the paperback. I didn't know I was going to add to that. I originally typed that manuscript. I got the paperback on-line, and started to see where I would expand it. That's why it's occasionally repetitious. If there was a paragraph on what Gorey collected, I would build on that for the hardcover. So we never really foresaw that it was going to be a much longer book. But once I got the bit between my teeth in looking at him, I had remembered a lot of things and interviewed a lot of people... it just builds. Since the hardcover has come out, I had about 20 new thoughts about him. Recollections, new things, that come every day."

• Interview: At Words Without Borders, the Amazon-supported Online Magazine for International Literature, Dot Lin talks to our own beloved Co-Publisher Kim Thompson about our line of Franco-Belgian all-ages comics: "I don't know how they'll be greeted by American audiences, but I'm in a position now where I can force them down people's throats. The fact that I seem to have succeeded with Tardi where everyone else failed has made me a bit cocky, I'm afraid."

• Interview: The Comics Journal presents the second part of Ian Burns's Q&A with Shaun Partridge, writer of the Josh Simmons-drawn Mome serial "The White Rhinoceros": "Me and Josh, we always know something is good when we feel we didn’t do it. When I do a painting, if I look at the painting and go, 'That’s a cool painting! Oh! I did that! How weird.' That’s when I know it’s good and that’s why I think we know The White Rhino is really good. I’m connected to it in a way. I am. I wrote it; Josh is illustrating it. But we stand back from it and we’re like, 'Wow, this is really far out and fun.' And we just laugh."

Here's your first look at the final cover art for The Raven by Lou Reed and Lorenzo Mattotti, coming this Summer. Book design by Fantagraphics art director Jacob Covey. Find out more about the book here.

AUGH! CORRECTION: This book was designed by Grammy-nominated designer Jesse LeDoux! Thanks Jesse! Sorry Jesse!

Daily OCD Extra: At Publishers Weekly, John Seven writes about Wilfred Santiago's new graphic biography 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente and talks to Santiago about the creation of the book: "'I tried to look from the outside,' said Santiago. 'I wanted to tell the story as if you asked me about somebody that I knew and I just started rambling and telling you about him. I wanted the book to have that free flow to it.' In doing so, it gave Santiago a chance to look back at his culture and realize that the distance between it and life on mainland American provided some clarity about the culture in Puerto Rico and how it shaped Clemente." Our own Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds also provides commentary. Read the whole thing here.

Is that the sound of a snowball fight in Hell? Daniel Clowes? Official website? What do you mean it's been up since December? What is happening?!

Seattle's own alternative comics pioneers Fantagraphics are bringing their award-winning wares to the 9th Annual Emerald City Comic-Con, March 4th - 6th, 2011 at the Washington State Convention Center. Tickets for the Emerald City Comic-Con are available at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown.

Visit our table at space #808 and check out new titles, such as Twilight of the Assholes: Cartoons & Essays 2005-2009, FUC_ __U, _SS __LE: Blecky Yuckerella Vol. 4, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, King of the Flies Vol. 2: The Origin of the World, Stigmata, Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2, Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition, Special Exits, Little Maakies on the Prairie, Prince Valiant Vol. 3 and Popeye Vol. 5.

Special guests include:

Peter Bagge, the funniest cartoonist of his generation. Bagge is probably best known for the 1990s comic book series Hate, which followed the exploits of the slacker ne'er-do-well Buddy Bradley. Bagge will be signing copies of the latest Hate Annual #8, and additional works, such as Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me and Other Astute Observations, on Saturday, March 5th from 10:00 am to Noon.

Jacques Boyreau, editor and cultural historian of the book Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box, a celebration of some of the most louche, decadent, minimo-pervo artwork to ever grace a VHS box. Boyreau will be signing, and showing footage from Portable Grindhouse films, at our table on Friday, March 4th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Megan Kelso, Ignatz Award-winning artist who has returned to Seattle after a period in New York, where she published a weekly comic strip in The New York Times magazine. Kelso will be signing copies of her acclaimed novel Artichoke Tales, and other titles, on Sunday, March 6th from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

Fantagraphics & Top Shelf Presents: Con Artists, the Emerald City Comic-Con After-Party

Fantagraphics Books Inc. teams up with fellow indie-comic publishers Top Shelf Productions for an Emerald City Comic-Con after-party on Saturday, March 5th at the Jewel Box Theater at the Rendezvous.

Performers include:
Can You Imagine?: featuring Peter Bagge, and legendary local producer/musician Steve Fisk
The Rheas: fronted by Eric Reynolds, Associate Publisher at Fantagraphics
Matthew Southworth: frontman for The Capillaries, and co-creator of the comic Stumptown

DJ'ing between sets will be DJ Janice, aka Janice Headley, Events Coordinator/Publicist for Fantagraphics (and Programming Assistant at Seattle radio station KEXP).

Con Artists: Emerald City Comic-Con Afterparty
Sponsored by Fantagraphics Books & Top Shelf Productions
Saturday, March 5th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Jewel Box Theater at The Rendezvous
2322 2nd Avenue in Belltown
Admission $5 (General Public)
FREE with Emerald City Comic-Con badge
21 and over with ID

Emerald City Comic-Con
March 4th - 6th, 2011
Washington State Convention Center
http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/
Friday: 2:00pm - 8:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday: 10:00am - 5:00pm

• http://www.fantagraphics.com
• http://www.fantagraphics.com/peterbagge
• http://www.fantagraphics.com/megankelso
• http://www.fantagraphics.com/portablegrindhouse

We're pleased to report that You'll Never Know Book 2: Collateral Damage by C. Tyler and Weathercraft by Jim Woodring are finalists in a diverse field of nominees for the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Graphic Novels category. Congratulations to Carol and Jim! (Also to Dash Shaw, nominated for his Pantheon book Bodyworld.) Winners will be announced on April 29; see here for the complete list of finalists in all categories.

• This strip by Stan Sakai showing himself interviewing his creation Usagi Yojimbo is so damn cute I'm sharing it even though it was posted on the blog of our rival publisher Dark Horse. Heck, rival schmival, buy Usagi no matter who puts it out! It's Usagi!

• Happy Presidents Day from our own Jason T. Miles

• A glimpse at her story in Mome Vol. 21 from Lilli Carré

• Pick up the new issue of Bitch magazine for a one page comic about Lucy Parsons by Laura Park

• A mess of collaborative drawings by Andrice Arp and friends

• At Covered, it's Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius done Action Comics #1-style by Jeffrey Meyer

And more Things to See from the past week:

• A new illustration from Matthias Lehmann at his Bloc-Notes blog

• Strips, illustrations and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• Landscapes in airbrush and pen from Frank Santoro

• Recent timely sketches & illustrations by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• More artwork from Mark Kalesniko's new graphic novel Freeway at his blog — dang a lot of work went into that book

• A page from a Kevin Huizenga "Focus" book at his New Construction blog

• Noah Van Sciver has a Bad Dream and translates a ghost story to video

• New sketches & strips by Laura Park

• The latest from Renee French

• The final batch of sketches from the "21" sketchbook at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog

• Sketches, portraits, & updates from Steve Brodner

• Gipi still illustrates for Internazionale

• A nattily dressed forlorn monstrosity and a portrait of collaborator Shaun Partridge by Josh Simmons

• Daily drawings from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Recent sketches by Tom Kaczynski at his Transatlantis blog