By the way, multiple belated hat tips to Robot 6, whose roundups of end-of-year links have been invaluable to the last few installments of Online Commentary & Diversions. On with the links:

• List: Publishers Weekly announced the results of their 2009 Comics Week Critic's Poll; among the top vote-getters are You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler ("I love this autobiographical family story as much for the way Tyler weaves between her own life and her father's, as for its painterly, illustrative panoramas of suburban neighborhoods and army scenes." – Sasha Watson) and Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman ("Milk and other liquids may come out your nose as you read one of the funniest comics ever put to paper. Kupperman's droll absurdism is matched by a stiff, woodcut-like art style that underplays the sometimes outre concepts. A comedy diamond." – Heidi MacDonald). Humbug by Harvey Kurtzman et al, Low Moon by Jason, Luba by Gilbert Hernandez, Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941, West Coast Blues Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi, and You Are There by Jacques Tardi and Jean-Claude Forest all received single votes in the poll

• List: At comiXology, Tucker Stone counts down his top 25 Best Comics of 2009, with Grotesque #3 by Sergio Ponchione at #23 ("...every once in a while, I get a reminder how vast the world of comics really is. Grotesque — European, unusual, brilliant — was one of those, an experimental passport to another universe"), Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga at #7 ("...Ganges captured the thing that all of us spend a lifetime doing — thinking — and turned it into something deserving of examination") and, in the top spot, Prison Pit: Book 1 by Johnny Ryan ("Aggro, obscene, hilarious, compulsive: Prison Pit. It wasn't just the greatest comic of the year, it was one of those comics that operated like the end result of a math equation, a definitive answer to the question of what comics are, and what they should be...")

• List: Johnny Bacardi's Personal Best of the Decade includes Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes

• Review: "Each [panel] almost vibrates with the frenetic, desperate energy of the characters as they try to pull off their cons. That energy explodes in the final pages, as the story comes to a dramatic but ambiguous conclusion. In the end, the work offers an homage to B-movies while standing out as a graphic novel. The Troublemakers will please long-term Hernandez fans. It also should serve as a good introduction to newcomers looking to jump into the Love and Rockets universe." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "...Giraffes [in My Hair], a collection of anecdotes from Bruce Paley's teens and twenties on America's countercultural fringe, is a breezy read. ... Swain's art rarely calls attention to or gets in the way of itself, and in that it meshes seamlessly with Paley's deadpan 'here's what happened' narrative style, his reluctance to overstate or oversell the import of the anecdote reminiscent of Harvey Pekar's." – Sean T. Collins

• Review: "...[The Comics Journal] has reached issue 300 and is celebrating with a fascinating collection of creator-chats as industry tyros and giants come together to interview, share, bitch and generally shoot the breeze about graphic narrative: a tactic that makes this the most compelling read of the year for anyone truly interested in what we all do and why." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review: "Fantagraphics Books continues its series devoted to chronologically packaging [Peanuts] and has not missed a step along the way. ... I’m pleased to inform that the latest edition, the twelfth in the series, is as lovingly curated as the first... [I]t is nice to know that one of the form’s greatest achievements is being held up as the accomplishment it really is." – Dw. Dunphy, Popdose

• Review: "It’s clear from editor/publisher Steffen P. Maarup’s survey [From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium] that, contradicting Horatio’s famous line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is nothing 'rotten' about the state of comics in Denmark today. If anything, it’s nurturing a number of major talents as well as sprouting exciting new shoots." – Paul Gravett (via Robot 6)

• Review: "[In Sam's Strip] Walker and Dumas clearly take pleasure in working in callbacks to classic comic strips... [and] many of the metatextual gags are funny and fun. ... Dumas’s drawings of classic comic-strip characters are excellent... The result is a frustrating, compelling curiosity: the soul of an underground comic trapped in the mortal coil of a Hi and Lois." – Shaenon Garrity, The Comics Journal

• Plugs: At Comics Alliance, Douglas Wolk's recommended comics of the week include The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez ("It's crazy, vivid, grindhouse-y stuff") and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw ("intriguing")

• Plugs: The Gosh! Comics Blog also highlights The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez and The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw among the week's noteworthy releases

• Plug: Rob Orange of Seduced by the New features Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams

• Plug: Illustrator Joanna Barnum spotlights Nell Brinkley as an inspiration

• Plug: Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy takes note of the upcoming Kim Deitch book The Search for Smilin' Ed

• Analysis: Robert Boyd examines Popeye's propensity for cross-dressing, with evidence from Popeye Vol. 4 (via Jeet Heer)

• Coming Attractions: Wayno, whose work appears in the forthcoming Newave: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, talks about the book and the (announcement!) upcoming exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

• Events: Star Clipper is sponsoring a screening of Ghost World at Schlafly Bottleworks in St. Louis tonight — oh jeez, in like half an hour! — and copies of the graphic novel and other Clowes books will be on sale

• Things to see: Follow your nose to a new Kevin Huizenga-drawn Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip

• Things to see: Finished pages from Robert Goodin's 19-page story "The Spritual Crisis of Carl Jung"

The latest limited-edition fine art print offering from Drew Friedman is this handsome portrait of groundbreaking radio comedians Bob Elliott (right) and Ray Goulding. Click here to order and to learn more about the duo. There's also a link to download an MP3 of one of their shows — highly recommended!

(Note that this will also be included in Drew's forthcoming book of celebrity portraits, Too Soon? And Drew read my mind and confirms that Bob's son Chris owns one of these prints already.)

Apologies for the late late Online Commentary & Diversions update:

• List: Comic Book Resources continues listing their Top 100 Comics of 2009, with Pim & Francie by Al Columbia at #33 ("A totally creepy homage to the ink blot stylings of the early animation era, the book works as part horror comic, part abstract tour de force, part satire and all face melter, cementing Columbia's place as one of the most unique and mysterious voices in comics." – Kiel Phegley) and Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga at #20 ("a brilliant, insightful comic with inventive layouts and dead-on emotion" – John Parkin)

• List: Don MacPherson of Eye on Comics names the short list for the 2009 Glass Eye Awards for Best Original Graphic Novel: "Gilbert Hernandez’s The Troublemakers was no doubt a delight for fans of the Love and Rockets writer/artist, but as an only casual reader of his work, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The quirky combination of slice-of-life elements and a crime drama worked incredibly well, and while The Troublemakers boasts a connection to the world of L&R, one needn’t be aware of it or versed in those other comics to appreciate this graphic novel."

• Review: "[Hal] Foster’s classic tales of knightly derring-do are a beloved part of the newspaper comics section. It’s difficult to laud Foster too excessively; he was one of the undisputed masters of the craft. A new effort to reprint the Valiant epic in sequential order is off to a roaring start with Prince Valiant, Vol. 1: 1937-1938, a handsome oversize volume reprinting the first two years’ worth of the Arthurian saga’s Sunday strips. Despite its creation in the late 1930s..., the comic strip’s otherworldly setting and taut characterization keep this an evergreen favorite for readers of all ages, an American epic born of a tale of European romance." – Aaron Ragan-Fore, Eugene Weekly

• Review: "This incredible boxed set of three gorgeous hardcovers celebrates one of art's funniest and most disturbing cartoonists. ... Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons is the most comprehensive and attractive Wilson book ever produced." – Rick Klaw, The SF Site: Nexus Graphica

• Plug: Jason Pettigrew, editor-in-chief of Alternative Press magazine, lists our forthcoming Joost Swarte collection as one of the 5 things he's most looking forward to in 2010 — except that the book is now on tap for 2011 and the title has changed from Modern Swarte to Is That All There Is?

• Things to see: A new strip and sketchy stuff from Kevin Huizenga

We're kicking off 2010 right with the following books scheduled to arrive at comics shops across the nation this week:

The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez — Newsarama says "Girls! Guns! Gilbert Hernandez!" Jog says "Oh shit, here's how you start 2010 off right." Robot 6 says "it's very hard to imagine this not being fantastic." It's the second of the "Fritz filmography" series of standalone graphic novels. Pulpy goodness!

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw — by some accounts this was at some shops a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't on the official list until now. The companion to the breathlessly-received IFC.com animated shorts, with Shaw's wildly inventive Mome short stories and more, all in a cleverly designed hardcover. Jog says "Definitely flip through this one; Shaw's fleshy, emotive, color-seared approach isn't quite like anyone else's." Robot 6 says "This is really stellar work overall and just underscores why Shaw is one of the more notable new cartoonists."

As always, we recommend poring over our previews, reviews and other info at the links above and touching base with your local shop to confirm availability.

No sooner did I post the Newsarama interview with Kim Deitch than I came across this profile by Graphic NYC's Christopher Irving: "When I’m starting to think of a good idea, I visualize myself walking into a comic book store, and I ask myself the question ‘What are you not seeing here that would absolutely knock your socks off, in terms of a book? You don’t expect that question is going to be answered right away, but by asking that question, it starts the wheels turning. After a while your subconscious mind starts to feed out little clues towards what that might be. That’s when I start to get rolling." (Photo by Seth Kushner.)

Newsarama's Michael Lorah talks to Kim Deitch about his newest book, The Search for Smilin' Ed, coming this Spring: "I am definitely expanding (and redrawing a little here and there). I am adding 15 new pages at the end and there will be plenty of other new art visuals as well. The most ambitious new thing will be a double fold out of The Kim Deitch Universe. This will be a gigantic panoramic picture featuring one hundred of my characters past and present." There's a 3-page preview, too!

This great Drew Friedman portrait of Hizzoner Michael Bloomberg might have been cut from tomorrow's NY Observer (full story on Drew's blog) but it will live on in Too Soon?, our collection of Drew's celebrity portraits coming this Summer. 

Now available for preview and pre-order: Almost Silent, the new hardcover compilation of Jason's Meow, Baby!, Tell Me Something, You Can't Get There from Here and The Living and the Dead, most of which is heretofore out of print. Humor, monsters, mystery, doomed romance, and zombies, all in various combinations. Download an exclusive 27-page PDF excerpt right here (840 KB — that's 6 pages from each section, plus spacer pages). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship later this month and in stores roughly the same time (subject to change).

View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

Now available for preview and pre-order: the newest collection of "Yikes!" strips and stories from Steven Weissman, Chocolate Cheeks. You've thrilled to the serialized pages from this book on our website over the last couple of years; now it can be yours to own. The gang meets icky new characters like Crustache & Lumpy Noodle and faces their scariest adventure yet in the chilling 51-page story "Blue Jay." Download an exclusive 10-page PDF excerpt right here (5.1 MB). This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship later this month and in stores roughly the same time (subject to change).

View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

"Jay Lynch Hand-Drawn Sketch Card in Every Box!" I like this, yes I do. (Via Jay Lynch at The Beat)