Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview (Audio): Tony Millionaire was awakened by host Tom Waters to appear on his Big Words I Know by Heart podcast

• Commentary: "...I have to pay homage to Richard Sala’s incredible and overlooked book, The Hidden. Sure we reviewed it here on the site, but I only just read it, and it’s really quite incredible. Sala’s kind of a pro himself, turning out at least a book a year (much like another visionary, Gilbert Hernandez), and this twist on Frankenstein reads, not unlike that gothic romance, as an allegory for artistic ambition gone wrong, or, maybe because I’m currently reading Simon Reynolds’ Retromania, like a tale of collector psychosis." – Dan Nadel, The Comics Journal

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Gustavo Guimaraes of Brazilian culture & entertainment site Ambrosia names "The best comics published in the U.S. in 2011 - Alternative and classic," including Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (all quotes translated from Portuguese)...

"The world created by Woodring is unique, beautiful and scary. His stories can be incomprehensible at times, but always intriguing and charming."

...The Hidden by Richard Sala...

"Sala's characters look like something out of old horror and mystery movies, and his plots possess a rare levity for narratives of the genre. The colorful art makes the his twisted drawings even more attractive."

...The Armed Garden and Other Stories by David B....

"In The Armed Garden, David B. creates fantastical worlds inhabited by historical characters, mythical and magical. Beautiful art and storylines full of imagination."

...Pogo Vol. 1 by Walt Kelly...

"Walt Kelly was a complete artist, his drawings were graceful, his stories were simple and fun while at the same time provoking the reader with hints of metalanguage and political content. His writing was faceted with the sensibility of a great satirist."

...Popeye Vol. 5 by E.C. Segar...

"Popeye is a revolutionary character and Segar was one of the geniuses who transformed the primitive graphic narratives into the modern comic strip with his insane humor."

...Prince Valiant Vol. 4 by Hal Foster...

"A masterpiece of old adventure comics continues today thanks largely to Foster's fantastic realistic art. Landscapes and epic battles are played to perfection by the author, turning the limited space of each panel into a window to a world where historical characters live with mythological beings. Careful printing in oversize hardcover as well as meticulous reproduction of the beautiful original colors make this collection from Fantagraphics a model for classic comics publishing."

...and Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks:

"Even if you already have all of Carl Barks' comics of you will want to buy this book. It is the first time that these comics are being reissued with the original colors, digitally restored. This deluxe edition, with hard covers and high-quality paper, includes articles on all the comics collected in the volume."

• Review: "To say that it has been worth the wait is wild understatement. Pogo Through the Wild Blue Wonder is beautifully produced — no surprise to anyone familiar with the work of Fantagraphics Books in Seattle — and a joy to read. It comes as a genuine gift to anyone who loved Pogo and, it is to be hoped, as an introduction for younger readers to what many people believe was the best comic strip ever drawn in this country." – Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

• Review: "Wilson's genuine bravery, as this strip makes clear, is not that he set himself up as a rival to Charles Schulz but rather the directness with which Nuts confronts genuinely painful and baffling topics like sickness, mental illness, and death. When dealing with master artists, any ranking becomes absurd because each creator is memorable by the individual mark he or she leaves. So let’s leave Peanuts comparisons aside and say that Nuts is one of the major American comic strips and we’re lucky to have the complete run in this handsome, compact volume." – Jeet Heer, The Comics Journal

• Review: "Jacques Tardi’s interpretation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s book [Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot] is an intense and shocking thriller.... Dark, brutal and uterly compelling, classic thriller fans should lap this up. Put a few hours aside before picking it up though, because you won’t want to put it down and it’s a feast worth savouring." – Grovel

• Review: "I gave Roy Crane’s Captain Easy, Solder Of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Volume 1 1933-1935 a good thumbing many, many times before picking it up. The artwork was too simple, the stories silly. One day in my local comic shop with nothing new to read I picked it up. What I failed to comprehend as I stood in the comic shop flipping pages in this book is that Crane chose the elements of his strip carefully, especially those I dismissed it for. Simple character design, bright colours, fictional locations and action with a sense of humour. After finishing the volume I applaud his choices." – Scott VanderPloeg, Comic Book Daily

• Review (Audio): On the Manga Out Loud podcast, hosts Johanna Draper Carlson and Ed Sizemore discuss Wandering Son Vol. 2 by Shimura Takako

• Interview (Audio): The Comics Journal presents a recording of the Jack Davis interview conducted by Gary Groth and Drew Friedman at last month's Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival (posted here after a slight delay due to technical audio issues)

• Interview: Culture Brats has "Seven Questions in Heaven" with Esther Pearl Watson: "Even though now I have a huge collection of mini-comics, I try not to look at other comic artists as influences. They draw too nice, or have their thing down. Comic storytelling styles can be as individual as fingerprints. We spend years creating our own narrative language. Instead I look at naive drawing and self-taught artists to de-skill."

• Conflict of Interest: Our own Larry Reid names Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 one of his favorite comics of 2011 in a guest column at Graphic Eye: "The conclusion of Jaime’s poignant 'Love Bunglers' story alone made this book essential reading in 2011. Almost unfathomably, Love & Rockets keeps getting better with age."

• Commentary: Robot 6 finds out what Zak Sally has been reading lately

I haven't seen a copy of the new issue of Juxtapoz yet but I can't wait to check it out to read the feature interview with the wonderful Esther Pearl Watson!

Leslie Stein gives you an illustrated and photo-documented glimpse into her life all this week for the latest Cartoonist's Diary feature at TCJ.com. Her self-portrait in the style of Sam Henderson is worth the price of admission alone.

[Follow our Tumblr blog for lots more Things to See every day.]

Here's an exciting discovery: the original art for an extra-long Peanuts strip that was done by Charles M. Schulz for the July 22, 1958 issue of Look Magazine and apparently never reprinted since then. The artwork is being offered for sale next month by Heritage Auctions — thanks to Rodrigo Baeza of Comics Commentary for the tip.

[Follow our Tumblr blog for lots more Things to See every day.]

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Nick Gazin reluctantly does a Top Ten Comics of 2011 for VICE, including...

#3 Popeye Vol. 5: Wha's A Jeep by E.C. Segar
#4 Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks

...with "All of Fantagraphics' reprint books especially Pogo, Peanuts, and Prince Valiant" in the "Also Good" category

• List: Chris Mautner's list of "12 Comics to Look Forward to in 2012" at Robot 6 includes our first volume of Crockett Johnson's Barnaby: "Johnson’s wonderful, vastly underrated comic strip about a little boy and his underperforming fairy godfather is finally, finally being collected. Can’t wait."

• Commentary: At VICE, Bob Nickas looks at Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery ("With it, one of the most thoughtful, soulful, and articulate writers on music in the 60s and 70s has been revived") and uses it as a springboard to examine the respective careers and legacies of Nelson and Patti Smith

Our weekly strips from Kupperman, Mahler & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

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

Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (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:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Forming by Jesse Moynihan:

Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 updates this week, concluding serialization of his unpublished 1979 strip Downtown and returning to mew material):

Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim (scroll down at the link for two additional new updates):

What's in the Backpack by Victor Kerlow:

Hot on the heels of Nancy... heeeere's Franklin!

We love Danish comics (so much so that we co-published an anthology of them, From Wonderland with Love, with Danish publisher Aben Maler, and our Scandinavian comics anthology Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now is coming soon), so we're especially pleased to learn that the Danish Comics Council and comics website Nummer 9 have announced the nominees for the 2012 Ping Prisen (Prisen = Prize) and that they include:

"Nostalgia" by Johan F. Krarup, from Kolor Klimax: Nordic Comics Now: Best Danish Comic

Mellem dyrene (Congress of the Animals) by Jim Woodring: Best International Comic in Danish

Speedy Ortiz dør (The Death of Speedy) by Jaime Hernandez: Best International Comic in Danish

We're also pleased to see Eisner-nominated From Wonderland with Love contributor Nikoline Werdelin nominated for Best Danish Comic for "Homo Metropolis."

UPDATE: For English-speakers, Matthias Wivel provides some background on the awards at The Metabunker.

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship to our mail-order customers:

Action! Mystery! Thrills! Comic Book Covers of the Golden Age 1933-45
by various artists; edited by Greg Sadowski

208-page full-color 8" x 10.5" softcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-494-8

See Previews / Order Now

Order this book and receive this FBI•MINI comic shown at left as a FREE bonus! Click here for details. Limit one per customer while supplies last.

When we contemplate a memorable old comic book, the first thing that comes to mind is its cover, and that was no accident. Publishers realized fairly quickly that if they spent a little extra to hire a good cover artist, they could fill the insides with mediocrity and still make a sizable profit — that all it took was a striking cover to entice thousands of kids to fork over their dimes.

Even today, covers drive the collectors’ market. Apart from number-one issues and first appearances, the strength of a comic book’s cover is the first consideration in determining its value. Indeed, it is now common practice to entomb the book between slabs of sealed plastic — with only the cover visible — as if the interior pages’ sole purpose was to provide a place to secure the staples.

In order to locate the best possible examples, collectors from around the world have been enlisted to share their rare and valuable comic books. The scores of cover artists represented include Carl Barks, Charles Biro, Dick Briefer, L.B. Cole, Jack Cole, Reed Crandall, Will Eisner, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Walt Kelly, Jack Kirby, Mac Raboy, and Alex Schomburg. Every comic book genre will be explored, from superhero to detective to Western to funny animal.

Majestic, iconic, chaotic, or downright weird, a classic comic book cover has an undeniable appeal, and Action! Mystery! Thrills! celebrates in spades this unique cultural icon. The covers are printed full-sized on glossy paper to most faithfully replicate the originals, and arranged chronologically to give the reader a sense of the sweeping trends and stylistic developments throughout the medium’s first decade, as inexorable waves of dazzling imagery battled monthly for newsstand attention. This long-overdue collection also includes extensive historical commentary by editor/designer Greg Sadowski (Four Color Fear, Supermen!).