It's that time again -- time to head on over tonight to Luca Lounge [ 222 Avenue B, NYC ] for the monthly series The Crime Stoppers Club, a celebration of comedy, comics and film, with your hosts Michael Kupperman and Kate Beaton!

Here's a video sneak peek from Kupperman himself, which will hopefully still be online if it hasn't been yanked for copyright violations:

This month, they'll be joined by Matt Koff, Lisa Hanawalt, Dyna Moe, Geoff Lapid, Anthony Wilson, and Sam Henderson!  Here's a sneak peek from Sam of one of the ten or so short strips he'll be reading:

The fun starts at 7:00 PM, so don't delay!  And don't forget to follow the The Crime Stoppers Club right here on Facebook to keep up with all their monthly events!

Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975
by Pat Thomas

204-page full-color 10" x 10" hardcover • $39.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-507-5

Ships in: February 2012 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Noted music producer and scholar Pat Thomas spent five years in Oakland, CA researching Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. While befriending members of the Black Panther Party, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Elaine Brown, The Lumpen and many others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective.

Listen, Whitey! also chronicles the forgotten history of Motown Records. From 1970 to 1973, Motown’s Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, released politically charged albums by Stokely Carmichael, Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes, Bill Cosby & Ossie Davis, and many others, all represented.

Also explored are the musical connections between Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Graham Nash, the Partridge Family (!?!) and the Black Power movement. Obscure recordings produced by SNCC, Ron Karenga’s US, the Tribe and other African-American sociopolitical organizations of the late 1960s and early ’70s are examined along with the Isley Brothers, Nina Simone, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Clifford Thornton, Watts Prophets, Last Poets, Gene McDaniels, Roland Kirk, Horace Silver, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, Stanley Crouch, and others that spoke out against oppression.

Other sections focus on Black Consciousness poetry (from the likes of Jayne Cortez, wife of Ornette Coleman), inspired religious recordings that infused god and Black Nationalism, obscure regional and privately pressed Black Power 7-inch soul singles from across America. 90,000 words of text are accompanied by over 250 large sized, full-color reproductions of album covers and 45 rpm singles — most of which readers will have never seen before.

Download and read a 15-page PDF excerpt (1.7 MB) with the Table of Contents, Introduction and complete Chapter 1.

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

A wonderful endorsement for Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #7 from the lovely and very funny Robert Popper, creator of the BBC series Look Around You (along with Peter Serafinowicz, for whose self-titled comedy sketch show Kupperman wrote) which aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Friday Night Dinner which aired on BBC America and of whom I'm a fan so shut up it's exciting (and we didn't even have to accost him at Comic-Con this time)!

Hey look, photos I took at Tony Millionaire's "Portraits" art show & book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery a couple weeks ago! It's always a blast when Tony's in town and we had a fantastic crowd for the event — thanks to everybody who came out! The show continues for a couple more weeks so get on down to see it.

Everybody who got their copy of 500 Portraits signed got a quickie portrait of themselves in it as well, with Tony barking instructions at the subjects ("DON'T SMILE!") — there's Tony working on one above. Below, Tony adds facial hair to his portrait of John Hodgman, as per Hodgman's promise to do the same for anyone who brings him a copy of the book:

Larry Reid introduces his masterful smash-hit short film "Everybody Loves Drinky Crow" as some DOOK DOOK DOOKing goes on:

A still from said film... drink, Drinky, drink!:

Surprise! Charles Burns was in town and made a guest appearance! Here he's chatting with Lynn Emmert & Eric Reynolds:

Fantagraphics' own Ian Burns gets in on the action and gets Tony's addition to his Animal sketchbook — you can see the finished product and a few more snaps from the evening on the blog of our own Stephanie Hayes:

A view of the exhibit — get a closer look at the artwork and see more photos from the evening on our Flickr page!

(Thanks to Janice for help with this post, including the headline!)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: On the Inkstuds radio programme's "Best of 2011 with the Cartoonists" episode, Aaron Costain, Dustin Harbin and John Martz discuss their favorite comics of 2011 with host Robin McConnell, including:

Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette
Approximate Continuum Comics by Lewis Trondheim
Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson
Prison Pit Book 3 by Johnny Ryan
Mome Vol. 22

• List: Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 was the second-highest vote-getter in Forbidden Planet International's "2011 FPI Master List" survey of "various comic types" to determine the best-loved comics of the year

• Review (Audio): Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is a topic of discussion with host Mark Frauenfelder and guests Ruben Bolling and Dean Putney on this week's Boing Boing "Gweek" podcast

• Review: "You know who’s great? Lewis Trondheim, the incredibly prolific French cartoonist. Evidence comes in... Approximate Continuum Comics, an English translation of a six-part series Trondheim published in the 1990s concerning his struggles in the comics industry, desire for success and acclaim and just general angst, anxiety and feelings of self-doubt. It sounds all terribly self-involved to the point of tedium, but Trondheim is simply too skilled a storyteller to allow his own ego to override the quality of his work. Approximate is filled with wonderful visual inventions, like an early daydream about dealing with obnoxious passangers on the subway. More to the point, Trondheim’s self-effacing sense of humor is so charming and revealing that the book never becomes too solipsistic or insufferable." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review (Audio): Extra Sequential Podcast hosts Kris Bather and Mladen Luketin examine Young Romance: "Legendary creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby effectively created the romance comics genre which was surprisingly dominant during the 1940s and 50s. We look at Fantagraphics’ entertaining new collection of some of their work."

• Review: "Paul Nelson's life narrative is too good and too tragic.... The painful thing about reading this book [Everything Is an Afterthought], beautifully written and edited by Kevin Avery, is a lot of people are going to identify with Nelson's love for culture and what it means to him/us/them.... A very sad book. But the interviews with his fellow critics and friends (most love him to bits) [are] quite moving and a tribute to those who write to expose how 'their' feelings are attached to the shine or the mirror-like image of pop culture." – Book Soup Blog

• Analysis: Comic Book Resources' Greg Burgas examines a 1957 Steve Ditko page as reprinted in Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2

We love it when folks share their fan tattoos and it's even better when it's someone from one of our favorite comic shops: Julie from Secret Headquarters in L.A. just got this one based on a Jason illustration. Go buy some comics and ask to see it in person!

Tuesday, January 24th

•  New York City, NY: The mighty Michael Kupperman hosts another installment of his monthly comedy series The Crime Stoppers Club, co-hosted with Kate Beaton, and this month, featuring Matt Koff, Lisa Hanawalt, Dyna Moe, Geoff Lapid, Anthony Wilson, and Sam Henderson! The fun starts at 7:00 PM at Luca Lounge. And stay tuned to the FLOG for some video sneak peeks tomorrow!

Saturday, January 28th

•  Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics is proud to co-sponsor the 2012 Graphic Novel Panel, held by the Seattle Graphics Arts Guild, featuring panelists Megan Kelso, Matthew Southworth, Brandon Jerwa, Emi Lenox, and Chuck Messinger. The panel is from 1:00-4:00 PM at the Seattle Design Center, and the after-party will be held at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery from 4:30-6:00 PM. (more info)

• Los Angeles, CA: Giant Robot kicks off the exhibit Year of the Dragon, featuring work from Andrice Arp, Renee French, and Steven Weissman, among many others! The opening reception is from 6:30 to 10:00 PM at GR2, and the exhibit runs until February 15th.

Our weekly strips from Mahler & Weissman — Kupperman is on a secret mission and has to miss this week — plus links to other strips from around the web:

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Black Classroom by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

Angelman by Nicolas Mahler (view at original size):

And elsewhere:

The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE:

Forming by Jesse Moynihan:

Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 updates this week):

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell :

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider:

Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim:

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

What's in the Backpack by Victor Kerlow:

Tomorrow is the first kick-off event for the 12 Beers of the Apocalypse brought to you by the Elysian Brewing Co. and Fantagraphics Books, featuring the art of Charles Burns! It's the debut of the first brew in the series, Nibiru Yerba Maté Tripel, with a cask-tapping, survival demo, and a piñata of Planet Nibiru to smash. It all takes place tomorrow, 4-7 PM at Elysian's Capitol Hill brewpub at 1221 E. Pike St. in Seattle!

It just wouldn't be Comic-Con without the Hernandez Brothers, and CCI has confirmed today that all 3 of the comics-creating bros., Gilbert, Jaime and Mario, will be special guests of the 2012 convention in July. This, of course, will be just one stop on their epic Love and Rockets 30th anniversary tour — stay tuned for lots more details and announcements!