A brief yet interesting installment of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Profile: "I loved comic books and, if you read enough of them, they’d give you a sort of caffeine high." - Jules Feiffer, in a lengthy conversation with NYC Graphic's Christopher Irving

• Profile: Norway.com puts together the scoop on native son Jason and Low Moon

• Things to see: Dylan Horrocks presents his story from Dirty Stories Vol. 2 online for your reading enjoyment (NSFW)

• Things to read: A great essay by Tim Kreider for The New York Times "Happy Days" blog

• Staff: New vispoems and essay from our own Nico Vassilakis

True to their name, Previews is serving up a 6-page preview of Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me by Peter Bagge - eat it up!

Written by Jessica Lona, Gavin L., and Brittany Kusa.

After a long hard day of drinking tea in the underground Fantagraphics comics library, tapping away at our keyboards transcribing conversations between famous cartoonists, we interns needed to unwind. How better to do this than by drinking booze and testing our knowledge of geeky things?

We (Brittany, Gavin, Jessica, and our fearless leader, Kristy) tromped downtown to a lovely little pub to attend the Geeks Who Drink trivia night. It was tough to settle on a team name, not for lack of ideas, but because there are so many juicy possible namesakes in the Eros catalog. After hemming and hawing between such titles as "Yuppies, Rednecks, and Lesbian Bitches from Mars" and "The Milk Mamas," we decided to go with "Anal Intruders from Uranus."

Our college educations paid for themselves in helping to identify cross-dressing Australians, heavy metal xylophone music, cereal mascots and Indiana Jones' favorite hiding place. Although, how we ever confused Little Miss Sunshine with Trucker Fags in Denial is still a mystery.

The Anal Intruders from Uranus wound up in 4th place. But, geekily enough, Kristy left with inspiration for a story based on the names of the 1st and 2nd place teams, Werewolf Quinceañera and Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. Tell me who the real winner is there.

Which EROS title should we name our team after next?

• Hentaipalooza
• Housewives at Play
• Venus with a Hot Crotch

Pictured: Brittany Kusa and Gavin L.

Zombie-modded Wendy by Jessica Lona

It's no secret we love a good Stooge (viz. our publication of The Six 3-Stooges biocomic, now out of print), so we're pleased to spread the word about Drew Friedman's new limited edition art print, The Three Stooges with Vernon Dent (Dent was a character actor who often played the Stooges' nemesis). A loving tribute from a true aficionado.

The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 (Vol. 12)
By Charles M. Schulz

TENNIS, ANYONE? BILLIE JEAN KING SERVES UP AN INTRODUCTION... AND WE CELEBRATE WOODSTOCK!

The 12th volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty’s friend Marcie (including a riotous, rarely seen sequence in which Marcie’s costume-making and hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP), so it seems only right that this volume’s introduction should be served up by Schulz’s longtime friend, tennis champion Billie Jean King.

This volume also picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year, as the mysterious “Poochie” shows up in the flesh; Linus and Lucy’s new kid brother “Rerun” makes his first appearance, is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team (where, thanks to his tiny strike zone, he wins a game), and embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom’s bike; and, in one of Peanuts’ oddest recurring storylines, the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking, or at least thinking, back at her!

The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 also includes one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences, in which Charlie Brown’s baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head, Charlie Brown goes to camp as “Mister Sack” and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he’s suddenly well liked and successful.

NOTE: BECAUSE OF OUR CONTRACT WITH THE LICENSOR THESE ITEMS CANNOT BE SOLD OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA. IF YOU RESIDE ANYWHERE OTHER THAN THE U.S. OR CANADA PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO ORDER THEM FROM OUR WEBSITE; YOUR ORDER WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set

A boxed set of the eleventh and twelfth volumes of The Complete Peanuts, designed by the award-winning graphic novelist, Seth. Shipping shrinkwrapped, with volumes 1971-1972 and 1973-1974 packed in a sturdy custom box designed especially for this set, it's the perfect gift book item. (For more information on the contents of each volume, see the individual product listings linked above.)

two 344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcovers in a custom slipcase • $49.99
Add to Cart • More Info

The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Slipcase

Even if you purchased the fifth pair of volumes of The Complete Peanuts (1971-1972 and 1973-1974) separately rather than in the two-volume set, you can still have this handsome, durable two-volume slipcase designed by Complete Peanuts series designer Seth. This item is exclusively available directly from Fantagraphics. (Books not included.)

8.75" x 7.125" x 3" slipcase • $4.99
Add to Cart • More Info

He endures...

Happy Bastille Day, France. Voici les Online Commentary et Diversions:

• Review: "[Michael] Kupperman has been laffing it up for years via cartoons in the New Yorker and animation on Saturday Night Live, but his smart, droll, absurdist humor is best displayed in this compendium of the first four issues of [Tales Designed to Thrizzle]. Kupperman's wit and imagination is only heightened by the stiff, self-conscious woodcut style he often uses for art... The humor never lags in a book that is destined to be a comedy classic and is truly one of the funniest books in years." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

• Review: "...[T]he pieces collected in awesomely-named Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me... are wonderfully entertaining and often fall-on-the-floor funny, even when you find yourself at odds with [Peter] Bagge’s viewpoint... While his focus may have changed, his work remains as delightful as it did in the alt-comix heyday. Stupid just confirms what many of us already knew: he’s still one of the funniest cartoonists in America today." - Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Interview: Design website FaceOut Books asks curator/designer Jacob Covey about the Beasts! books. Sample quote: "I think a successful cover design has to distill the essence of a book and not necessarily depict a literal synopsis of the contents. This is a common principle in fiction prose books but is much less commonly applied to something like an art book."

From Desert Island in Brooklyn, the following announcement:

The hits just keep on coming! We just completed this high-quality screenprint of Hanks's Fantomah in anticipation of the NYC book-launch for You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! Don't miss this event. Paul Karasik and Dan Nadel will be on hand to discuss the Hanks legacy and field questions, and the book looks amazing.

that's 7 -9 pm
Thursday July 23rd
at Desert Island
540 Metropolitan Ave

Preorder a print here:

http://tinyurl.com/fantomah

Two of the biggest icons of 1990s Seattle: Peter Bagge and Ken Griffey, Jr. (along with the lovely Joanne Bagge) at a recent Mariners game at Safeco Field. All that's missing from this picture is Kurt Cobain and J.P. Patches.

From Marvel's forthcoming Strange Tales. Figures Tony would pick the alcoholic superhero.