The Toronto Comics Art Festival has announced the first batch of special guests for the 2012 fest, and we're excited to reveal that we'll be hosting the following global guests on May 5th and 6th:

Jason: You asked for him, you got him!  Jason was, hands-down, the most asked-about artist at TCAF 2011. See? Don't say we don't ever listen to you, Toronto. He will be signing his latest, Athos in America, along with many, many other books.

Gabriella Giandelli: We are absolutely delighted to be hosting Gabriella, all the way from Italy! This is a rare treat to meet this wonderful artist, and we'll be debuting the collection of her Ignatz comic Interiorae!

Olivier Schrauwen: And making his North American comic convention debut (we're pretty sure), it's Olivier Schrauwen! He'll be signing copies of The Man Who Grew His Beard, among other things.

And stay tuned to the FLOG as we announce which artists from this continent will also be joining us at the Fantagraphics table for TimBits! See you at TCAF!

Get ready to listen up on Thursday, March 1st as editor Pat Thomas gives a special presentation for Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975!

Join us at the historic Washington Hall [153 14th Avenue, Seattle] for a slideshow on this powerful and politically-charged period of music, starting at 7:00 PM.

Tickets are $10 at the door, or you can purchase tickets in advance for $8 general public / $5 students at Brown Paper Tickets.

This wonderful event is presented by Seattle's Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas, and co-presented with Elliott Bay Book Company and co-sponsored by Hollow Earth Radio’s Central Sounds. We could not be more thrilled to be working with such great Seattle institutions of culture!

Everyone -- er, everything -- will wanna follow you home when you're wearing this snazzy t-shirt designed by our own Jim Woodring!

Jim designed these t-shirts just for our friends at the website Boing Boing! This exclusive design is screened in scarlet ink on a jet black t-shirt, for a "tigers' breath in a cave" effect, as Jim describes it. Follow this link to get one sent to your home!

It's gonna be amazing! Join editor Blake Bell and our friends at The Beguiling on Wednesday, February 29th for the launch party of Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives Vol. 1!  Be one of the first people to get your hands on this long-awaited book, and get a special bookplate, signed by Blake himself!

Blake will also present a slideshow, titled "Bill Everett and Steve Ditko: Before the Sub-Mariner and Spider-Man" -- featuring a sneak peek at Blake's other upcoming collection, Mysterious Traveler: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 3, out in the Spring.

The event starts at 7:00 PM at The Central [ 603 Markham Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada], a restuarant/bar located next door to The Beguiling.