The Online Commentary & Diversions never end:

• Review: "The Alack Sinner stories are an accomplished example of crime fiction in comics, but that's not all they are."  - Robert Stanley Martin, Pol Culture

• List: "I would recommend the Love and Rockets series by Jaime Hernandez. I liked seeing the progression and development of the series (it was started in the 80s). The art is fantastic and H.O.P.P.E.R.S. stands as a complete world unto itself." - Jillian Tamaki, on CBC Radio's Canada Reads: The Book Club "Top 10 Graphic Novels"

• List: "Ghost World by Daniel Clowes [is p]robably one of the most haunting comics about the quiet frustrations of teenage life I've ever read."- Mariko Tamaki, on CBC Radio's Canada Reads: The Book Club "Top 10 Graphic Novels" (same link as above)

• Interview: The Portland Mercury has a brief Q&A with Jason. Sample quote: "Everybody likes zombies, I guess."

• Profile: Elaine Raines of the Arizona Daily Star recounts a 1963 visit to the newspaper paid by Bill Mauldin

• History: Irwin Chusid notes that yesterday was the 66th anniversary of the opening of Jim Flora's first NYC gallery exhibit

• Feature: For Largehearted Boy, Paul Hornschemeier details his musical playlist for Mother, Come Home and discusses the graphic novel's creation. Sample quote: "But stories you need to tell have weird claws. They make their way back up to the front of your skull, or wherever it is in there that gets the most attention."

I'll probably repeat this sentiment in the future but I have to say that the upcoming Gahan Wilson collection is a bit of a dark horse for me. I was never exposed to much Wilson work before beginning on this project and every day I'm floored by it. Gahan Wilson's work is easily some of the most consistently funny work I can imagine. If your bent is at all towards macabre humor this is one you want to start saving up for.

And, hey, it's a great gift for new parents too!

I think we're all caught up on our Online Commentary & Diversions now:

• Review: "It's impossible not to love Jason's hapless cartoon characters; they're dog-faced descendants of Charlie Chaplin in that way, usually placed into situations far beyond their control or understanding... The five stories that make up Low Moon, Jason's newest collection of comics, hark back to the classic golden age of film... Each story reverberates with the little eccentricities that Jason has built a career on (instead of gunfights, the cowboys in the title story battle over long games of chess). Remarkably, none of them seem over-the-top or manipulative." - Paul Constant, The Stranger

• Review: "From Jordan Crane and Fantagraphics, Uptight #3. One of the best covers of the year and the last time, I suspect, that the guys in the crowd will read 'Back soon' and not feel that chill at the back of the neck." - Steve Duin, The Oregonian

• Review: Jog's extensive MoCCA wrapup includes a good look at our second Fletcher Hanks book You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!

• Review: "Sublife weaves a tighter, more focused narrative with intelligently ornate Chris Ware inspired design..." - Raina Lee, Lunch

• Review: "The current issue of the Comics Journal (#297) has a wonderful in-depth interview with cartoonist Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey, as well as a stable of other strips including Hi and Lois, Sam and Silo, and Boner's Ark that's a fun read." - Randy Reynaldo, WCG Comics

• Plug: Inkwell Bookstore's "Cover Art Cavalcade: Charming Cheesecake" recommends the Hernandez Brothers and our collections of vintage pin-up cartoons

• Commentary: Looking at our recent spate of Special Edition releases at examiner.com, Spencer Ellsworth says "the notes, interviews and annotations give a look into some of the most innovative of the new generation of movers and shakers in the current comics renaissance."

• List: Industry news & analysis site ICv2 ranks sales of The Complete Peanuts at #3 on the list of "Top 10 Humor Properties Q1 2009"

• List: The Comics Reporter reports that at BEA a panel of librarians chose a list of "Hot Fall Graphic Novels," including our forthcoming titles Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 and West Coast Blues by Manchette & Tardi

• Preview: Parka Blogs presents images from The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

• Preview: The Casual Optimist notices the forthcoming The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora

• Events: More MoCCA buzz from Sean T. Collins; Brian Heater at The Daily Cross Hatch (with photos); and Book By Its Cover with a pic of our table 

• Things to see: Richard Sala illustrates his process with the cover of Peculia

• Things to see: A portrait of Bully by Lilli Carre

• Things to see: Lemmy Kilmister gives Jim Blanchard's portrait of him a "10"

In the world of Homage Blogs there is a LOT of hit and miss but this one honoring Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" seems to be bursting at the seams with an earnestness that in itself is wonderful to see. 

...Timing's not bad to help out the movie either but Mr. Sendak deserves riches, so let's eat it up.

If you're into such things, director Spike Jonze started a blog ostensibly focused on the film but it seems rambling to me.

If you weren't able to peruse our advance preview copy of Abstract Comics at the MoCCA festival, now you can check out an extensive photo preview posted by editor Andrei Molotiu over at the Abstract Comics blog.

All 30 copies of Luba: Collectors Edition are spoken for. The Gilbert Hernandez sketch above is in copy #2/30, owned by Ty Buttars, a.k.a. Twitter user grendel33, who shared this snapshot on Twitpic. If you've received your copy, we'd love to see your sketch too -- post it somewhere on the web and let us know in a comment here!

The regular edition of Luba is, of course, still available.

Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1
By Michael Kupperman

Fans and comedy cognoscenti alike, basking devotedly in the glow of Tales Designed to Thrizzle, have made it the smash hit humor comic of the decade. And now the first four issues of Michael Kupperman’s revered series are finally collected into one deluxe hardcover. Even better, Kupperman has taken the original two-color printing and made the entire book full color! These tales are more thrizzling than ever!

What are tales designed to thrizzle? Tales designed to thrizzle are about evil girls and their owls. They are about Jesus’ half-brother Pagus, the Mysterious Avenger, Dick Crazy, scary snakes, delicious bacon, Private Eye Johnny Silhouette, the Silver Knight, Murder She Didn’t Write, the Mannister, the Space Patrol, portraits where the eyes move, Pablo Picasso, sex blimps (and their logical inverse, sex holes), the hot boy band Boybank, soccer joust, Underpants-On-His-Head Man, Hercules the Public Domain Superhero, Cousin Granpa, Mister Bossman, Mark Twain, the silent robot Citobor and, of course, the Thirties.

The stories in Tales Designed to Thrizzle made their debut in 2009 on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim program as Snake ’N’ Bacon. The show, a mix of live-action, puppetry and animation, stars David Rakoff (This American Life), Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live), Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords), James Urbaniak (The Venture Brothers), and Dan Bakkedahl (The Daily Show), and is produced by Kupperman, Robert Smigel (SNL, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), Scott Jacobson (The Daily Show) and Rich Bloomquist (The Daily Show).

160-page full-color 7.5" x 10" hardcover • $24.99
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Low Moon
By Jason

The acclaimed graphic novelist Jason returns with his most eagerly awaited book yet, thanks to the inclusion of the title story, the world’s first (and likely last) chess western, originally serialized in 2008 in the New York Times Sunday Magazine “Funny Pages” section.

This 216-page hardcover book features five yarns — all brand new with the exception of the aforementioned “Low Moon,” which is collected into book form for the first time.

The new stories lead off with “Emily Says Hello,” a typically deadpan Jason tale of murder, revenge and sexual domination. Then, the wordless “&” tells two tales at once: one about a skinny guy trying to steal enough money to save his ill mother, and the other about a fat guy murderously trying to woo his true love. The reason we follow these two parallel stories becomes obvious only on the very last page, in Jason’s inimitable genre-mashing style.

“Early Film Noir” can best be described as The Postman Always Rings Twice meets Groundhog Day. But starring cavemen. And finally, “You Are Here” features alien kidnappings, space travel, and the pain and confusion of family ties, culminating in an enigmatic finale that rivals Jason’s greatest twists.

Funny, poignant, and wry, Low Moon shows one of the world’s most acclaimed graphic novelists at the absolute peak of his powers.

216-page full-color 6.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $24.99
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The Comics Journal #298
Edited by Mike Dean & Kristy Valenti; Gary Groth, Executive Editor

In this issue: Brazilian twins Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon on The Umbrella Academy and breaking into U.S. comics; Perry Bible Fellowship's Nicholas Gurewitch talks about love; brutally honest Thriller artist Trevor Von Eeden on his professional and romantic struggles; Percy Crosby's Skippy rediscovered; Jiro Taniguchi's A Distant Neighborhood previewed; a cartoon interview of Peter Bagge by Noah Van Sciver; and much more!

208-page color/b&w 7.5" x 9.5" squarebound softcover magazine • $11.99
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