On his Jackie No-Name blog Tim Lane shares his true-crime cover illustration for the next (I think) issue of the St. Louis newsweekly the Riverfront Times, along with his Wally Wood inspiration AND the good news that there will also be a third issue of his self-published comic book series Happy Hour in America!

Thanks to the anonymous employee at the Barnes & Noble in Glendale (CA?) who put together this excellent Destroy All Movies!!! display. Pic by DAM editor Zack Carlson.

Gage Academy of Art, gracious host of the debut performance of Jim Woodring's giant dip pen, presents this snazzy short video of the event produced by Don Porter.

In other Jim news, he just dropped by the office to drop off the last 20 pages of Congress of the Animals. The story is now complete — all that's left is the cover and endpaper illustrations. Days like this always send an electric thrill through our office!

Esther Pearl Watson's painting The Denny's Parking Lot is now available as a limited-edition archival print in a variety of sizes from 20x200. These go fast so get it while you can!

Mome Vol. 21 - Winter 2011
by various artists; edited by Eric Reynolds

112-page full-color 7" x 9" softcover • $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-394-1

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

Our acclaimed art-comics anthology forges into its 6th year with another diverse and wonderful volume full of returning favorites and a few surprises.

On the cover, a detail from Sara Edward-Corbett's haunting, Gorey-esque tale of nocturnally animate objects. Also in this issue: Steven "Ribs" Weissman's freewheeling, sometimes-satirical, sometimes-deeply-weird webcomic "Barack Hussein Obama" (starring the President of the United States and his associates) makes its print debut; Sergio Ponchione provides another full-color prequel story to his acclaimed series Grotesque (translated from its appearance in Italy's Linus magazine); Josh Simmons is back with more "White Rhinoceros" and one of his unparalleled standalone horror stories; Nate Neal takes us back to the world of his graphic novel The Sanctuary; and we welcome Nick Thorburn, cartoonist and frontman of the acclaimed indie bands Unicorns and Islands.

All this plus: a one-pager from Dash Shaw; a blackly comic fable from Jon Adams; a typically trenchant strip from Tom Kaczynski; new chapters of T. Edward Bak's "Wild Man," Derek Van Gieson's "Devil Doll," and Kurt Wolfgang's "Nothing Eve" serials; a dreamlike tale from Lilli Carré; and more autobiographical vignettes by Nicolas Mahler.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 15-page PDF excerpt (2.4 MB) with pages from every contributor.

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

• Heads on poles by John Hankiewicz at his Clip Joint blog and Lilli Carré at her Kettle of Fish blog for an eponymous exhibit at Western Exhibitions in Chicago

• Josh Simmons has several new portfolio sites on the web: illustrations, storyboards, commissions (as above), and a store where you can buy some of his older comics

And more Things to See from the past week:

• A glimpse of Frank Santoro's New Values art show at his Cold Heat Comics blog

• Artwork by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• Vintage Jim Flora illustrations, sketches & artwork at the Jim Flora blog

• More artwork from Mark Kalesniko's forthcoming graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• Pages finished and in progress from Noah Van Sciver

• Cuteness from Laura Park

• A poster illustration at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog

• Extremely creepy photos from Renee French

• Reince Priebus by Steve Brodner

• Daily drawings and animation production artwork from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Hans Rickheit gives you a reminder to spay or neuter yourself

• New images from Joe Kimball (be fast, sometimes they don't stay up)

Ellen Forney returns to her old hometown of Philadelphia next month at the invitation of the Philadelphia Public Library as part of their featuring the Forney-illustrated book by Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as part of their citywide reading program. She'll be giving a talk and workshops at a few locations — see her blog for the schedule and details.

At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason shares some rough sketches for the cover art of his next book of short stories, Athos in America, coming late this year. I really like the one where he's sitting on the girder. Jason's posted a lot of great stuff over the past week, including some rare vintage strips and illustrations, like this one of A-ha from a 1988 Norwegian music magazine:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At Seen, Sam Humphries names Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 The Best Comic of 2010: "While it’s astonishing to see Los Bros Hernandez deliver some of their greatest work at this stage in their careers, at the same time, it should be no surprise at all. They’ve been killing it for nearly 30 years. [...] Both brothers are digging deep into the psyche and hearts of the human condition. The results are powerfully moving."

• List: "[It Was the War of the Trenches] burns with a sense of outrage at the meaningless slaughter and sheer injustice of the events of almost a century ago. A century ago, perhaps, but we should never, ever forget and works like Trenches serve both as a fascinating piece of comics work and also an accessible reminder of history that has now all but passed from living memory and relies on books, film and other media to remind us." – Joe Gordon, "Best of the Year," The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

• Plug: "It Was the War of the Trenches  by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics) – Tardi is, simply put, one of the most important and influential French comic artists of the last 30 years. This welcome translation of his harrowing and haunting first World War narrative is as good a place as any to start." – John Byrne, The Irish Times (via Robot 6)

• Review: "Several artists have the ability to capture some physical element of a city or a time; Tardi summons all of that with a fealty to detail and a consistency that eventually yields a more rounded, complete experience. Go all in, and by [The Extraordinary Adventures of Adéle Blanc-Sec Vol. 1]'s final 20 pages one can feel the air hit people in the face when they stumble out of doors, sense the temperature, smell the panoply of city-borne scents. ...[B]oth stories reprinted here with Kim Thompson's droll translation positively whip at the notion of competence in higher places, the rationality of power, that anyone rich ever pays for anything, and the law-driven society generally, all until the skin shows, raw and bleeding. It's a gas... I could personally read 10,000 pages of this material, stopping to stare at the prettier parts, returning to such a book over an entire summer. [...] It's a rare work that makes you like it and wish others would, too, that's for sure." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

• Review: "...Castle Waiting has been one of the most joyous comics discoveries for me of the last couple years. ...[D]espite this volume clocking in at 375 pages I read the whole thing in one sitting…and enjoyed every freaking second of it. I laughed repeatedly and more often than not was caught just smiling like an idiot as I read about these beautifully crafted characters and their completely boring but somehow also completely fascinating lives.  It doesn’t hurt that Medley is truly an incredible illustrator." – Kelly Thompson, Comic Book Resources

• Review: "I frequently gasped, out loud, at the beauty of this goddamn thing. [...] Most of [the stories in A Drunken Dream] remind me of Jaime Hernandez, of all people, in that the force of the narrative is toward the protagonists coming to terms — with the damage done by a cruel mother, with the inspiration that arose unexpectedly from a childhood tragedy, with the sudden loss of a friendship through a shared mistake in judgment, with the death of a hated rival, with a necessary but traumatic decision, with the death of a parent. Or not! [...] Each story’s big narrative and emotional moments seem to swell within and explode out of these textures and lines, like they’ve actualized the potential energy there all along. [...] Reads like a dream, looks like a dream." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "The back cover of Unexplored Worlds loudly proclaims, 'This is where Steve Ditko became Steve Ditko.' Indeed, in this second chronological volume of the Steve Ditko Archives, collecting 39 stories from 1956-57, we see the influential American cartoonist come into his voice. ...[I]t's fascinating to witness Ditko grow as a storyteller, to see the first hints of the layouts and compositions that would make his 1960s work on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange set the standard for decades to come." – Claude LaLumiere, The Montreal Gazette

• Review: "I think what ultimately struck me the most about The Littlest Pirate King (which B. adapted from a story by Pierre Mac Orlan) was how it weaves back and forth between innocent and grim. ...[I]t’s a gorgeous book. Even at its most nightmarish, there’s always something to admire within The Littlest Pirate King." – Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

• Review: "[Rip M.D.] ...will delight monster-fans of all ages and signals a welcome return to upbeat and clever kids’ fiction. ...[T]his spectacular, spooktacular romp is a fabulously punchy, action-packed, wickedly funny treat for kids of all ages that will leave every reader voraciously hungry for more." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Coming Attractions: More Carl Barks reaction from Richard Cowdry at The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log (who also comments briefly on our latest Pogo update)

Longtime Bagge fans will remember the Buddy Bradley Lookalike Contest from the pages of Hate. This image comes from artist Brian Clarke, a.k.a. Les Toil, who remarks on the Peter Bagge Facebook fan page, "Man, if Peter was responsible for the casting of a real-life Bradleys sitcom, I hope he'd consider this kid for the part."