Courtesy of The Comics Journal contributor Gavin Lees comes this video of Jim Woodring's slideshow presentation of Weathercraft at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on May 22, 2010. Below, some still photos of the event. Jim signs copies of the book:

Jim presents the slideshow to a rapt audience:

Ellen Forney gets a boost to watch the slideshow (photo by Janice Headley):

Back to the signing table:

Jim's Moëbius-strip comic on display:

The new Anthologies shelf at Fantagraphics Bookstore, holding Mome, Weirdo, Kramer's Ergot, and many many more:

We recently noticed that our book You Call This Art?!! A Greg Irons Retrospective by Patrick Rosenkranz is currently going for at least $70 on Amazon. The book is very nearly out of print, but we still have the last handful of copies available for the cover price of $29.95! Irons was a psychedelic poster artist, underground cartoonist, book illustrator, and an emerging tattoo art virtuoso. This retrospective book spans his groundbreaking career, including obscure material and never-before-seen private work. Makes a great Father's Day gift! Why pay more? Click here to order.

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS STORY COLLECTION

SEATTLE, WA, JUNE 9, 2010 --- Since its debut, Significant Objects, the bold online inquiry into the relationship between narrative and the value of everyday objects, has been the subject of speculation by everyone from NPR to litbloggers to The New York Times' Freakonomics crew. Some theorized about the project's hypothesis, others about its methods and results.

Some just wanted to know: Will there be a book?

This last question can now be answered: Yes!

A collection of one hundred Significant Objects stories, seductively illustrated by top artists, will be published in 2011 by Fantagraphics Books.

This represents the most pleasing plot twist yet to the story of a very unlikely project that began as an experiment, turned into an experimental literary magazine secretly published on eBay, and currently raises money for youth tutoring nonprofits.

Founded by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, SignificantObjects.com appeared out of nowhere last summer, and has published an extraordinary series of 200 stories and counting - by William Gibson, Curtis Sittenfeld, Sheila Heti, Colson Whitehead, Nicholson Baker, Meg Cabot, Lydia Millet, Jonathan Lethem, and other talented writers - about ordinary stuff like novelty items, discarded souvenirs, and tasteless kitchenware picked up cheap at thrift stores and yard sales. The goal: To see if commissioning great stories about these insignificant things would increase their value - as measured in actual eBay auctions.

Significant Objects and its contributing writers sold piles of flea-market flotsam for thousands of dollars and, as The Economist's More Intelligent Life blog put it, "proved Walker and Glenn's theory that stories add immeasurable value to objects."

Of course, Significant Objects was never just about the marketplace. Most importantly, it was about writers "finding magic in unexpected things," as NPR's All Things Considered put it. The project has published first-rate fictions by best-selling novelists and pathbreaking up-and-comers, by literary stars and experimentalists, writers for The Daily Show and other TV programs, innovative improv comics, cartoonists, journalists, and writers of young-adult fiction, mysteries, thrillers, sci fi and much more.

The experiment, in short, was a smash hit. With enthusiastic reader/buyers from Texas to Alaska, from New York to California, and everywhere in between, Significant Objects decided to funnel auction proceeds from its second and third volumes of stories to the tutoring programs 826 National and Girls Write Now.

Does the project point the way towards a new business model for literary publishing? Are we 21st-century skeptics in thrall to talismans and totems? Once the auction sales figures have been correlated with, say, narrative exposition strategy, will Significant Objects reveal the key to the relationship between narrative and value?

All of these questions and more will be addressed (and some answered) by the Significant Objects book, which will not only feature one hundred moving, absurd, surprising, and always entertaining stories from the project's three volumes. Thanks to Fantagraphics, it will also feature new illustrations by artists from the worlds of comics, skate graphics, rock posters, children's books, and the commercial and gallery arts.
The Significant Objects book will change the way you look at things, forever.

Clips & strips from the last few days — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Michael Kupperman's cover art for the book Why Not a Spider Monkey Jesus? by A.G. Pasquella

• Gilbert Hernandez fanzine art from 1981 as unearthed by Frank Santoro at Comics Comics

• ComicsAlliance presents selections from the 1991 Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special

• From Jim Woodring, Frank, Fran and the skullfruit

• Leon explores the mystery of Poffo's Hat in this Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga

• Another 1975 flashback from Bob Fingerman

• This week's "I, Anonymous" and one two three four Post-It Show previews from Steven Weissman

• New artwork for sale, Portugal tour diary and more in Dame Darcy 's latest blog update

• On the Jim Flora Art Blog, a circa 1940 woodcut depicting fishing in New Orleans (guess those days are over, thanks BP) and a commemoration of Pete Jolly's birthday

• Recent nature sketches by Debbie Drechsler: Narrowleaf onion, ground squirrels, a blue-bellied lizard, and Ithuriel's spear

• Four new screenprints by Lilli Carré — these and other products of her residency at Spudnik Press will be on display this Thursday, June 10, 2010, 6-7:30pm: more info here

• Several recent sketches by Mark Kalesniko

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

• I believe this is last week's Maakies by Tony Millionaire

• Sergio Ponchione contributed this illustrated recipe to an anarchist cookbook, it seems (and also drew Linda Lovelace)

• Speaking of illustrated recipes, here's one from Laura Park

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — another classic

• From Josh Simmons & co., the latest Quackers & Randy Gander hijinks 

• From Renee French, this thing, this guy, this thing, this photo, this thing, and this guy

• Steve Brodner takes on the Gulf oil disaster in this segment from PBS's Need to Know, with commentary and two more disaster-related sketches on his blog

• Anders Nilsen posts photos of his recent "button installation" for Ogilvy & Mather's lobby, along with time-lapse video of its creation

• Page 27 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary

• Derek Van Gieson presents "The Cycle of Love"

• From Ray Fenwick, a comics illustration for an article in the Globe and Mail

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Library Journal's Martha Cornog names You'll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler as one of "12 Graphic Novels for Father's Day": "A newly single parent trying to understand her middle-aged self, Carol Tyler sets out to find the real human being and the real soldier behind her World War II veteran dad's familiar and taciturn persona. Her colorful, historically detailed art re-creates the wartime period expressively, and this first in a trilogy inspires curiosity and empathy for those who serve but don't talk about it much. Everything is connected, and the past is never just the past."

• Review: "Jack Cole... was undeniably a master of his craft, with deft, lovely lines and a witty sensibility. This new book, Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole, from Fantagraphics focuses mostly on the titillating and gracefully naughty one-panel comics done for the Humorama publishing concern. ... This is the best sort of cheesecake. The historical text piece puts these works and the career of Mr. Cole into context, and creates a fascinating, entertaining, and timeless volume. ...I'm betting you'll read it again and again. Author rating: 9/10" – Jeremy Nisen, Under the Radar

• Review: "Jack Cole is known for creating Plastic Man, the superhero whose limbs can stretch. But the artist also drew cartoons capable of making readers’ other parts stretch, and the proof is in the prurient pudding of Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole, newly available in paperback from Fantagraphics Books. The 100 pages’ worth of cartoons of comely, curvy cuties come culled from low-rent men’s digest magazines of the 1940s and 1950s — now-forgotten rags with happy-go-lucky names like Romp, Joker and Laugh Riot. But Cole’s contributions are visually indelible." – Rod Lott, Bookgasm

• Review: "With Woodring’s skill, I never found myself confused [by Weathercraft], at least, more than you’re supposed to be. I’ve never read a statement by Woodring saying this, but I always got the impression he wanted you to work for the meaning behind his stories. Even if it’s not the case, I highly enjoy the process. In one graphic novel, I got what I think may have been a love story, a treatise on spiritual enlightenment and sometimes just a whole lot of fun." – Joe Keatinge, Neon Monster

• Analysis: "[Weathercraft], which centres on the evolutionary and spiritual journey of Manhog, is breathtakingly original, and looking at it just brings home to me how timid many of us in this business are. ... These works, Weathercraft and Rupert [the Bear], should be poles apart, and yet they have much in common; both are brilliant ideas, both are brilliantly drawn, both 'exist' in fully imagined worlds, worlds familiar enough to be like the world we know, but different enough from the world we know for magic to happen. It may be a fanciful notion on my part, but I can see much more craft in these two magical comic creations than chaotic meanderings, and I'm relieved." – Rod McKie

• Review: "And as with other works like Shadowland and Boulevard of Broken Dreams, it’s nearly impossible not to be sucked in [by The Search for Smilin' Ed], as Deitch digs deeper and deeper into his own seedy universe. It’s also impossible not to pull the old volumes off the shelf for another exploratory re-read. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to discover even more sprawling themes amongst the seemingly dissonant puzzle pieces, the pursuit of which will be a downright blast." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

JIM WOODRING'S WEATHERCRAFT TOUR

  Jim Woodring's WEATHERCRAFT tour kicks into high-gear this week with two events in the California Bay Area on Wednesday and Thursday.

At each event, Jim will entertain audiences a fantastic slide show and discussion of the hidden meanings behind every mysterious idea and totem in WEATHERCRAFT. And in Brooklyn, on June 18, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to view all of the original artwork from the book, as well as many preliminary pieces that went into making it.

06/09/10 | 7:30PM • Berkeley CA •  PEGASUS & PENDRAGON BOOKSTORE

06/10/10 | 7:30PM • San Francisco CA • THE BOOKSMITH

06/17/10 | 6PM • New York NY • FORBIDDEN PLANET

06/18/10 | 6PM • Brooklyn NY • SCOTT EDER GALLERY

06/19/10 | 7PM • Brooklyn NY • DESERT ISLAND COMICS

06/25/10 | 7:30PM • Portland OR • POWELL'S CITY OF BOOKS

ABOUT WEATHERCRAFT: After 30 years of making acclaimed comic books, Jim Woodring has created his first-ever, long-form original graphic novel. WEATHERCRAFT sends Jim's sloth-like character, Manhog, on a psychedelic quest for enlightenment. Woodring's transformative imagination lures the reader in and makes that person part of a looping story in which actions speak and words don't exist. Wooodring's fluid panels and detailed linework makes this journey though the "Unifactor" universe one that rewards with exquisite new discoveries upon every reading.

WEATHERCRAFT: Black-and-white, 104 pages, 7" by 9.75" • ISBN: 978-1-60699-340-8 • $19.99 US

This is a somewhat cheesy post, but hey, I'm desperate. I'm selling 300 Gasoline Alley Sunday newspaper tearsheets by Frank King from 1935-1950 on eBay and you should bid on them! I'm also selling a copy of COMIX 2000 from L'Association and a Crumb portfolio. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Catching up with Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Over the last few decades, Jim Wood­ring has been drawing a series of wordless, blissfully cruel slapstick fables, set in a world of grotesque entities and psychedelic minarets: half unshakable nightmare, half Chuck Jones cartoon filtered through the Bhagavad Gita. Weathercraft... flows so smoothly and delightfully from each image to the next that it’s easy to ignore that it has its own idea of sense, which may not jibe with anybody else’s." – Douglas Wolk, The New York Times

• Review: "For those who find the work involving enough, Weathercraft will resonate with them on some emotional level — there's moments that unnerve, moments that touch — and while it is an immersive experience, the comic, especially in its hardcover form, operates most like a testimony of events. It's a comic, through and through, but it hews closer to a religious tome than it does a Love & Rockets installment." – Tucker Stone, comiXology

• Review: "It’s better to experience Woodring’s work than to try and understand it. Weathercraft focuses on Frank’s frequent nemesis Manhog — a representative of humanity at its morally weakest — as he goes through multiple stages of degradation on his way to almost achieving a higher consciousness. The humanoid mongrel Frank hangs around the edges of the story with his loyal pets, but Weathercraft is mainly about how Manhog — and by extension the reader — sees how sick, freaky, and beautiful the world can be… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Megan Kelso is best known for elegant, small-scale comics... with a historical or memoiristic bent. So it’s surprising and wonderful that Artichoke Tales, her first novel-length work, is the sort of world-­building fantasy story that comes with a family tree and a map on its endpapers. ... Kelso’s ligne claire artwork is consistently sweet and airy, depicting blobby, dot-eyed characters whose body language says as much as their words. The approach provides a likable surface for a story with much darker and stickier depths, about a land whose cultural heritage is rotting away in the aftermath of a civil war." – Douglas Wolk, The New York Times

• Review: "South African comic book writer/artist Joe Daly’s Dungeon Quest: Book One takes a hilariously askew look at the madness of fantasy quest games. ...[R]eaders with a high tolerance for absurdity and a healthy sense of humor about the subject matter will probably love what's on offer here." – Matt Staggs, Suvudu

• Review: "Watching [Wally] and his equally gangly, geometric cohorts stretch and sprint and smash their way across Hensley's brighly colored backgrounds and block-lettered sound effects is like reading your favorite poem — or even... Wally Gropius itself — as translated into a language with a totally different alphabet. ... And wonder of wonders, the book finds its own way to be really funny amid all these highfalutin hijinks..." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "[Wally Gropius] has quickly become one of my favorite graphic novels. ... The comic is too odd to be described as 'commentary.' It seems far more synthetic than parodic: it blends recognizable influences into something truly new... The plot of Wally Gropius has been described as surreal or random, but it’s coherent and far more complex than I first thought... The book is an encyclopedia of cartoony facial expressions and bodily gestures, and should be studied at the CCS as such. WG radiates a real sense of joy, of 'cartooning unfettered.' ... Hensley is one of the best, and most idiosyncratic, writers of text in comics." – Ken Parille, Blog Flume

• Review: "[Daniel] Clowes isn’t as zany as he used to be, so there’s a void to be filled here, and Wally Gropius does that ably: The hardcover collects Hensley’s Gropius stories from the anthology series Mome (with a little extra material thrown in), and his immaculate, vaguely ’50s style owes as much to Mort Walker, Archie Comics, and other vintage teen-humor strips as it does to Clowes. ... [Grade] B" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "...Captain Easy follows a mysterious agent-for-hire as he travels exotic lands, battling bad guys. ...Crane’s art is stunning, combining simple cartoony figures with richly detailed backgrounds in clever, colorful layouts. It isn’t even necessary to read the dialogue or captions to follow the action; just scan Crane’s dynamic lines, which make every panel look like a unique work of pop art… [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "I was pretty excited when I found out that Fantagraphics was publishing an anthology of The Best American Comics Criticism. ... Editor Ben Schwartz did a great job selecting pieces that comprise a vibrant narrative of the industry. From graphic novels with literary aspirations to comics about capes, the breadth of content in here is really fantastic. ... But of all the essays in the book, only one is written by a woman. That’s a big let down." – Erin Polgreen, Attackerman

• Plug: "Drew Friedman is the master American caricaturist of our time. Not only are his portraits of the famous so realistic, they induce double takes, but he also captures truths about personality and draws out (pun intended) the funny in everyone." – Michael Simmons, LA Weekly

• Plug: G4 drops a nice mention of "the ongoing and lovingly assembled Complete Peanuts series" in their review of the Snoopy Flying Ace game for Xbox 360

• Interview: Comics Comics' Nicole Rudick sat Al Columbia down for his most candid and revealing interview ever: "So, yeah, I can still draw Pim and Francie. They’re a lot of fun to draw. Almost too much fun. You start to get intoxicated working on them. It’s like, 'This is too much fun. This shouldn’t be allowed. This shouldn’t be legal.' I always put it aside because it just gets me too . . . they’re very intense and fun and maybe fun upsets me."

• Interview: David-Wasting-Paper subjects Jeremy Eaton to his Cartoonist Survey

• Profile: Taylor Dungjen of University of Cincinnati student newspaper The News Record profiles U of C faculty member C. Tyler: "You might say Tyler is a proud American. You might even call her a patriot. She says she is a liberal hippie chick who supports American troops."

• Scene: Flickr user Essrog posts a photo and brief report from Kim Deitch 's recent appearance at Desert Island in Brooklyn

• Roundtable: The Comics Journal presents parts two and three of their roundtable discussion on comics translation featuring our own multilingualist Kim Thompson

Via The Comics Journal:

On May 27, 2010, editor Ben Schwartz and contributors R. Fiore (The Comics Journal, tcj.com), Brian Doherty (Reason), Sammy Harkham (Kramers Ergot) and Joe Matt (Spent) discussed the book The Best American Comics Criticism. This recording is courtesy of Skylight Books.

Back from a short vacation with this week's strips, normally posted on Fridays:

Blecky is traumatized in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...