Periodic clips & strips (normal posting schedule returns next week, probably) — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• On the Rosebud Archives blog, a rare Peanuts promotional flyer (Rosebud Archives at Fantagraphics)

• A video from Dash Shaw... some kind of teaser or something? Even if it's just a joke, it's pretty funny

• T. Edward Bak, Lilli Carré and John Hankiewicz (top to bottom) all have pieces in Pony Club Gallery's current print show The Great Outdoors (available for purchase here)

• This is one part of a three-piece screenprint by Eleanor Davis for a print show at GRNY

• A painting (background?) and collage by Frank Santoro

• From Kevin Huizenga: Burier vs. Exer at Fight or Run

"The doleful sirens are beginning to wail over on the ziggarat. Feeding time."

• Another short story from Gary Panter

• Drew Weing's Set to Sea, pages 106 & 107

• A whole bunch of watercolor portrait sketches by Marco Corona

• This week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane introduces a new character

• Mid-1950s magazine and record cover details by Jim Flora

• New Johnny Ryan art for sale on Comic Art Collective's recent additions page

• New bird sketches by Debbie Drechsler here, here and here

• "Girl in Orange Stripes" by Mark Kalesniko

• From Noah Van Sciver, a "homeless comic" and some old Blammo pages

• From Josh Simmons & Co., numerous Quackers and Randy Gander updates

• From Renee French: bird, dog, iPhone sketch (?), worm, woolyman, bird

• From Steve Brodner, birthday greetings to Calvin Coolidge & George W. Bush, plus Yankee Stadium sketches

• A few more things to consider from Anders Nilsen

• Page 31 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary; also, this is NSFW

• Robert Goodin draws the Fantastic Four — more please!

• A bunch of new drawings by Derek Van Gieson

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

Come down and hang out with the enchanting Dame Darcy this Saturday, July 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. To celebrate the publication of her new MEAT CAKE anthology there will be an exhibition of her exquisite artwork, a musical performance, book signing, fortune telling, and doubtless a few surprises.

If you’re new to Dame Darcy’s singular neo-Victorian aesthetic you’re in for a treat. Longtime fans will enjoy an opportunity to experience her diverse talents in the intimate atmosphere of Fantagraphics colorful showroom, located at 1201 S. Vale Street at Airport Way S. just minutes from downtown Seattle. Phone 206.658.0110.

This event coincides with the lively Georgetown Art Attack featuring art, music and more at locations throughout the historic neighborhood. Don’t miss the vintage Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. Yee haw! See you all soon.

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Exploration, thankfully, is precisely what Weathercraft is all about. Woodring’s latest graphic novel is a deep exploration of Unifactor, through looking glasses, behind tears in the world’s fabric, under sea and into space, this time all experienced through the beady eyes of Frank’s principle antagonist, Manhog." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Interview: At Newsarama, Michael C. Lorah discusses Weathercraft with Jim Woodring: "This is Manhog’s book. He’s a more interesting character than Frank in a lot of ways. He’s deep, whereas Frank is bottomless."

• Review: "Fantagraphics has done the world the great service of reprinting Basil Wolverton's Culture Corner... [T]hese strips will delight any Wolverton fan with their characteristic doggerel, gratuitous violence, and slapstick humor that pokes fun at the American self-improvement genre. ... [T]he Fantagraphics edition is well worth the price: it's a handsomely bound item, augmented with the sketches and a nice essay by Wolverton's son." – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

• Review: "Foster’s humorous, quick-moving stories charge relentlessly forward. ... Whether Val is plotting a way to upend a larger force or enjoying good times with old friends, Foster’s twist-laden narrative comes across with a casual warmth, as if telling of merry adventures around a campfire. Similarly, Foster’s detailed renderings enforce the earthy grounding of Prince Valiant and his cohorts. ... The artistry, the witty and creative plot twists, and the evocative and charming characters all make for a truly timeless, and utterly enjoyable adventure comic strip experience. Any reader who appreciates the innocent high adventure of yore needs to get on board with Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant." - Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Interview: Mark L. Miller of Ain't It Cool News discusses Werewolves of Montpellier with Jason: "The opening concept, the guy who dresses up as a werewolf and then is chased by real werewolves, I had in my mind a long time. I thought it was a fun, silly concept. But something was missing. It was only when I got the idea to mix it with an Audrey Hepburn movie that the story really took off."

• Interview in the future: Matt Thorn wants to know what you'd like him to ask Moto Hagio at her spotlight panel at Comic-Con 

• Plug: The Urban Outfitters Blog features Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso, saying "marvel at Kelso's visual and narrative smarts."

• Scene: Juxtapoz has more photos from the Dave Cooper exhibit opening at Jonathan LeVine Gallery

Follow The White Rhinoceros for all things pertaining to the eponymous Mome serial (beginning in Vol. 19) from Josh Simmons and his collaborators.

Look what arrived on our doorstep today: advance copies of The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978! This new volume will be debuting at Comic-Con and should hit stores in August.

Vol. 19 of Mome isn't even out yet and we're already wrapping up work on the landmark 20th volume, due in October. Beginning with this issue the anthology sports a new design by Fantagraphics Art Director Adam Grano. The cover star is Fuzz from Ted Stearn's current ongoing Fuzz & Pluck serial "The Moolah Tree."

A set of photos from the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con at the Comic-Convention Memories blog has been making the rounds. Of particluar interest at the end of this batch: photos of Charles M. Schulz on stage talking and sketching, joined by Peanuts animation director Bill Melendez. Oh, to have been in that audience!

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "This graphic memoir chronicles the author’s struggle with the aging of her father and stepmother. The subject matter isn’t pretty. Still, [Special Exits] is intriguing, well-written and thought-provoking."  – Nick Smith, ICv2

• Reviews: The new episode of Easy Rider, the radio show for "rock, punk rock, country, power pop, garage and comics" from Radio PFM out of Arras in northern France, features Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane, and Hate Annual #8 by Peter Bagge among their Comics of the Week

• Review: "You have to be a real expert in Jason-character physiognomy to even be able to tell that the lonely expat main character in Werewolves of Montpellier is sometimes wearing a werewolf mask. After all, the guy's an anthropomorphized dog at the best of times. In the end, that ends up being the gag. You're not some uniquely unlovable monster, you're just a guy with problems, like anyone else..." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Peanuts comic strip. I grew up on the old paperback collections and it was always a great day when my mom bought me a new one. Now, thanks to Fantagraphics, the entire run of Peanuts is available to fans in their beautiful, year-by-year collections of Charles Schulz’ masterful and hilarious comic strip. This collection puts us into the years of 1975 - 1976 and includes all of the daily and Sunday strips for the period. ... Thank you Fantagraphics! Grade A" – Tim Janson, Mania

• Review: "The most recent issue is probably the strongest [Hate] Annual to date, 36 pages of concentrated hilarity, including the longest Buddy Bradley story in quite some time. Just as impressive are his one-page strips about scientists from Discover Magazine..." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Analysis: "For the first time, this hapless figure, this half-man, half-animal is a picture of heroism and nobility, his metamorphosis achieved not through cosmic dances or tops but by cruelties inflicted on him by that creature of many masks and tricks, Whim. Earlier in Weathercraft , an infernal creature plucked from the pig-man’s gullet sanctions enlightenment. He who once resembled the demons surrounding the decapitated Ravana becomes whole and fully clothed, now cognizant of his true nature." – Ng Suat Tong, The Hooded Utilitarian

• Interview: From last Friday, Chris Mautner's revealing conversation with Tim Hensley at Robot 6: "Sometimes it's infuriating to read about a bunch of attractive saccharine pupils in the suburbs. Maybe [Archie] could add a brain damaged character. Maybe Moose, but more likely he never learned to read — have they already done that? Somewhere off-panel there's a convalescent hospital with all the rejects in it. But I wasn't attempting a Dark Knight makeover where everyone has stubble and never prevaricates."

• Scene: Arrested Motion reports from the opening of Dave Cooper's Mangle exhibit at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, with copious photos

Our weekly visit with the stubbly girl and the PotUS:

Here's something I don't think very often: I wish the world were more like this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

Periodic clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Set to Sea pages 104 and 105 from Drew Weing

• It's your all-new weekly installment of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• Lots of Kevin Huizenga updates: a new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip, Fight or Run's Chopper at rest; and minicomic sketchbooks at New Construction (not to mention a peek at his new D&Q book)

• A heartbreaking "I, Anonymous " from Steven Weissman

• Sketches of sculptures by Aristide Maillol by John Hankiewicz

• A scene with power lines by Frank Santoro

• New crafts (including this vampire wedding cake topper) and photos from Portugal in Dame Darcy's latest blog update

"THEN, OUTA NOWHERE… Grunt. Shriek. Bash. Crash. Ook. Ook!"

• A new short short story from Gary Panter

• A luscious new story page and this week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• A 1967 Mexican cityscape by Jim Flora

• Debbie Drechsler sketches squirrels

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — I can just hear the funky theme song

• Noah Van Sciver is waiting on tenterhooks to hear if the story this page is from has been accepted for Mome (sorry Noah, I got no scoop)

• Quackers silliness here and here and Randy Gander raunchiness here and here from Josh Simmons & cohort

• From Renee French: photo, platform, tire swing, hair rock

• Steve Brodner's tribute to Sen. Robert Byrd

• Something new from a work in progress, an article for Il Post, and a video about the Mafia by Gipi

• Nate Neal, payin' the bills

• Two illustrations by Marco Corona for Internazionale

• Two new installments of Truth Serum by Jon Adams