Joe Sacco returned to his birth country of Malta to report on immigration & globalization in "The Unwanted," a 12-page story running at The Guardian. (Hat tip to ¡Journalista!)

Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit: Book 2 hasn't even debuted yet (we'll have it at Comic-Con this week) but Johnny's already sent us the cover art for Book 3, coming in 2011. I'm getting tinnitus just looking at it!

• Robert Goodin presents an outtake page from his story "The Spiritual Crisis of Carl Jung" in Mome Vol. 19

• Gary Panter announces a new Jimbo minicomic

• Jim Woodring presents two Frank favorites, Frank in Frizland and Manhog's Holiday, now in full painted color

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

• From Kevin Huizenga, a new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond, new Fight or Run action, and more process at New Construction 

• From Steven Weissman, this week's "I, Anonymous" and from his sketchbook chopper trike & portait of D. Clowes etc.

• From John Hankiewicz, four versions of two figures

• Drew Weing's Set to Sea pages 110 & 111

• The latest installment of Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• Debbie Drechsler draws hawks and other birds at the cemetery ("Cemetery Hawks" — there's your new band name)

• Noah Van Sciver has a plan

• Laura Park & friends "enjoy" summer together

• Josh Simmons gets Woodring-esque with the Haunted Quacker; plus shark attack Quacker (with Wendy Chin), Ecstatic Quacker, Big Time Quacker 

• From Renee French: big worm, running man, fly baby, bulb neck, little kid, cutaway hair rock

• Steve Brodner remembers Gerald Ford

• Page 33 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary; also, he reveals his drawing process

• Tom Kaczynski draws the Lightning Bolt show

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

• Joe Kimball posts a couple more concert posters

• Things to Hear Dept: Stream 5 new songs by Derek Van Gieson's band Ebersole Versus Carberry on their MySpace page

A previously unpublished 1970 Jim Flora painting, G3 in Tampico, is now available as a limited-edition print from Jim Flora Fine Art. Read the restoration notes here.

It's still the weekend, right?

Another volley in the battle of the sexes in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[T]he newer crop of contributors [in Mome Vols. 17, 18 & 19 is] a rough and tumble bunch who are bringing some fierce and hard-edged work to the table. ...[T]he balance is definitely in favor of the strong stuff, because it is strong stuff — well drawn in a variety of styles, and potentially troubling without cloaking itself in shopworn tropes. ... Once again, you're getting your bang for your buck." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "And when you’re drawn into the world [of It Was the War of the Trenches] it’s hard not to rhapsodize about the drawing itself – Tardi’s gaze may be level, but his lines are sure and lush. His gentle contour line drawings are almost delicate, but then he fills them with a gray tone, or attaches them to nearly psychedelic intestines. It’s art that comes over you and stays with you – nicely offsetting an otherwise icy stare. ...Tardi seems a master, and this work a rare and intensely humane book." – Dan Nadel, Comics Comics

• Review: "Sequence by sequence and page by page, the re-readability of [Jason's] stories and scenes consistently offer more densely fulfilling reads than any three or four new $4 books... This particular story [Werewolves of Montpellier] ends in a graceful, yet awkwardly suspenseful and open-ended manner, but as with Jason books I’ve encountered before, this landing contributes to the matter-of-fact delivery he often employs in making you feel like you’re witnessing a story sliced out of a larger saga." – Brian Warmoth

• Review: "Those inclined to look for meaning could make a good case for this... as a story about people assuming false identities through a mix of circumstance and personal choice, but what Jason’s comics literally mean matters less than the pleasure of their deadpan humor and unexpected twists: His work has been building a whole habitat of crooks, monsters, and adventurers, just so he can explore their minor personal problems. Werewolves of Montpelier establishes yet another inviting corner of Jasonworld. [Grade] B+" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "...[T]he first 11 issues of [Dame Darcy's] sporadically released pamphlet Meat Cake — collected by Fantagraphics in a new trade-paperback edition — comprise some of the best alt-comics of the past 20 years. ...Darcy’s scratchy, fine-lined, loosely intricate artwork owes a slight debt to Edward Gorey, Victorian illustration, and the more demented wing of the E.C. roster (particularly Graham Ingels), but the dreamy vision and gleefully morbid sensibility are all her. Overall, Meat Cake’s dalliance with folklore, horror, camp, and transcendent bits of autobiography pack more of a poetic punch than the title is generally given credit for… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Newave! is an astonishing collection of minicomics from the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s... This book puts the lie to the notion that underground cartooning was fallow during this period; indeed, all it did was really go underground. ... Newave! gains momentum as it proceeds, an impressive feat for a 900-page anthology. ... The back half of Newave! features nary a dud. ... In an era when some cartoonists are learning how to create minicomics as part of a formal art education, Newave! should be a crucial text." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Review: "Out since last Halloween, this handsome collection of early 1980s exploitation VHS box art [Portable Grindhouse] is shaped like one of those old oversized clamshell cases. The all-color book collects the front and backs of many memorable cassette releases of that bygone era and will send you back to the days prowling dusty mom-and-pop video stores for you schlock fix. ... You won’t learn anything about the movies, but who needs that when the rest of the book is such a nostalgic gas?" – Tony Timpone, Fangoria

[Read more...]

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "In Weathercraft, his first foray into graphic-novel territory, Seattle denizen Jim Woodring employs his repertory troupe of ambiguous, liminal characters — Frank, Manhog, Pupshaw, and Pushpaw — to tell the kind of Pilgrim's Progress tale that David Lynch might have conjured up if he were a cartoonist. ... Impermanence, the conundrum of physical senses that guide and ensnare at the same time, the challenge of a rational response to an irrational universe — all this and more await the returning fan or the open-minded acolyte in Woodring's best work yet. And for an artist of his caliber, that's saying something." – Damian Van Denburgh, Critical Mob

• Review: "Loaded with hipster irony, profanity and long digressive conversations, it’s a loving tribute to half-repudiated childhood pleasures. ... At times, Dungeon Quest captures the anything-goes wanderlust of Calvin & Hobbes — if Calvin’s fantasies were real, set in rundown Los Angeles neighborhoods and loaded with swearing." – Jason Thompson, The Comics Journal

• Review: "The relationship stuff all rings true, and when it gets weird at the end, it doesn’t seem random and arbitrary, and that’s a difficult trick to pull off. ... I found Werewolves [of Montpellier] to be a delightful read; no profound life lessons were learned, but Jason’s storytelling is first-rate and life lessons are overrated anyway." – Johnny Bacardi, Popdose

• Reviewer: On his blog, Jason reviews the film Léon Morin, prêtre

• Review: "Deep within the barroom psychosis, Lane looks into the abyss and thinks about spitting into it. The drive that leads to destruction can also be a powerful and satisfying personal experience. While each story in Abandoned Cars ties together in a thick knot of dread, the best story sees Lane go on a blatantly autobiographical adventure, and head out for an adventure by jumping on trains." – Bob Temuka, The Tearoom of Despair

• Plugs: Library Journal's latest Graphic Novels Prepub Alert spotlights our November releases How to Read Nancy by Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden, Safe Area Gorazde: The Special Edition by Joe Sacco, and Unlovable: The Complete Collection by Esther Pearl Watson

Johnny Ryan takes you to the Planet of the ALFs on the cover of this week's Portland Mercury.

Here's a handy-dandy guide to our Comic-Con 2010 author apprearances and panels which you can download (PDF format), print out and bring with you! You can also pick one up at our booth (#1718 — jot that down on your printout) but this way you can come prepared!