[The Comics Journal intern Brittany Matter put together this series of discussion questions about Monte Schulz's novel The Last Rose of Summer for use in book clubs. As this is intended for those who have read the book and contains spoilers, the questions can be found behind the jump. Monte Schulz appears tomorrow, June 2, 2011, at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco to discuss his work and that of his late father, Charles M. Schulz. – Ed.]

Synopsis:

The second book in Monte Schulz’ Jazz Age trilogy (the first, This Side of Jordan, was released in 2009; the last, The Big Town, will be released in 2012), The Last Rose of Summer examines the relationships among three women under the same roof in late 1920s Bellemont, East Texas: Maude, Marie and Rachel. Marie and her two small children, Cissie and Henry, are sent by her husband Harry to live with his mother Maude while he is on business elsewhere. Marie observes her sister-in-law Rachel’s tempestuous love life while trying to abide by Maude’s house rules, keep track of her children and provide for her family. When a boy is found dead in the river, Marie worries that his killer may still be lurking in the shadows. As a Northerner, she is also disturbed by the town’s overt racism, especially that of her in-laws. Meanwhile, she resists the advances of her boss, Jimmy Delahaye.

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A crew from MTV Geek was at the 2011 MoCCA festival filming creator interviews, and now they're up! Dig these fun chats with...

Peter Bagge (part 1 embedded here; click thru for parts 2-4):

Leslie Stein (part 1 embedded here; click thru for part 2):

Gahan Wilson (part 1 embedded here; click thru for part 2):

Bonus! Here's Charles Burns talking about X'ed Out (part 1 embedded here; click thru for parts 2-4):

Iconoclastic cartoonist Jim Woodring will be touring the Northwest in June behind the release of his latest masterpiece, Congress of the Animals. Woodring will appear in Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle to sign books and illuminate the allusions in his second full-length graphic novel.

In Congress of the Animals we are treated to the pitiful spectacle of Woodring's signature protagonist Frank losing his house, taking a factory job, falling in with bad company, fleeing the results of sabotage, escaping in an amusement park ride, surviving a catastrophe at sea, traveling across hostile terrain toward a massive temple seemingly built in his image, being treated roughly by gut-faced men and intervening in an age-old battle in a meadow slathered in black and yellow blood. We trust the artist's book tour will be more sedate.

Woodring's journey begins at midnight on Saturday, June 5 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. Woodring will demonstrate his giant pen, discuss his work, and sign books as part of the unorthodox "Nightshift" festival of art. The tour continues on Friday, June 10 with a book signing at the illustrious Powell's City of Books in Portland, OR at 7:30 PM. Woodring returns to Seattle on Saturday, June 11 where he will appear at 1:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery as part of the amazing Georgetown Carnival. Washingtonians and British Columbians alike will not want to miss Jim's signing at Village Books in Bellingham, WA on Wednesday, June 29. He concludes the Northwest leg of his tour with a signing at Elliott Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill in Seattle on Thursday, June 30 at 7:00 PM.

Don't miss an opportunity to meet America's most visionary cartoonist. Look for more public appearances by this remarkable artist as the summer progresses.

The new Diamond Previews catalog is out today and in it you'll find our usual 2-page spread with our releases scheduled to arrive in your local comic shop in August 2011 (give or take — some release dates have changed since the issue went to press). We're pleased to offer additional and updated information about these upcoming releases here on our website, to help shops and customers alike make more informed ordering decisions. (And we'll continue and hopefully improve this feature every month!)

You'll find hotly-anticipated titles like the next Love and Rockets, Oil & Water (both "Certified Cool"!), the new Ganges, Kupperman's Twain book, our long-awaited Toth book, new editions of The Frank Book, and a new classic pin-up collection. See them all here!

Back from the U.S. holiday with Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Publishers Weekly's Laurel Maury reports that The Armed Garden and Other Stories by David B. was named one of the "Hot Fall Graphic Novels For Libraries 2011" by a panel of experts at BEA last weekend, with Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 by Floyd Gottfredson, Wandering Son Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako, Nuts by Gahan Wilson and Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring all receiving Honorable Mentions

• Review: "Jacques Tardi is pretty awesome, y’all. But then, you already knew that.... This sucker [The Arctic Marauder] is from 1974. Sadly, it looks more avant-garde and progressive than a lot of comics that are released today....  The entire book is an absolutely gorgeous piece of artwork." – Greg Burgas, Comic Book Resources

• Review: Connor Ratliff gives some preliminary impressions of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race To Death Valley: "But if a book full of weird and sometimes offensive but energetic and gradually getting-much-better Mickey Mouse adventure strips from the 1930s sounds like your cup of tea, it probably is."

• Review: "Joe Daly tells stories about slackers with an obvious love and a clear eye; he's attuned to the oddball notions and unlikely turns that their lives take, and crafts stories about quirky people that don't turn into catalogs of quirks themselves.... Dungeon Quest is a goofy, silly series, and it's not for readers who need their comics-format violence to be deadly serious and full of clenched teeth. But for those of us who have grown out of that limited conception of comics yet still want energetic adventure stories that know how silly they are, it's just the thing." – Andrew Wheeler, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

• Review: Oliver Nöding of German site Filmgazette calls Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film "intelligent, pointed and funny... characterized also by a fresh perspective" and "an absolute gem, inspired in its three-color design" among other nice but harder-to-translate things

• Plug: "...I’ve recently read Fantagraphics’ gorgeous new printing of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which absolutely blew me away. I’m always impressed by people like Jacques Tardi, who can build these deep, rich worlds out of really loose, simple linework. It’s definitely not a skill I have. The book also has pterodactyls menacing early-1900′s Paris, so it’s pretty much required that I love it." – Aaron Alexovich, guest Robot 6 "What Are You Reading?" contributor

• Plug: Robot 6's J.K. Parkin shares the news about Michael Kupperman's Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, saying "It sounds like a lot of fun."

• Profile: The Chicago Tribune's Christopher Borrelli catches up with Ivan Brunetti: "At 25, he started Schizo, a comic so caustic — and offensive and frantic, but with the thick black palate of classic newspaper strips — friends routinely asked if he would be arrested. It partly detailed his life as a copy editor at a local university press, and the homicidal daydreams that came to him while on the job. He declined to say at which press. 'It wasn't to shock,' he says. 'It was an unguarded look at how I felt, and I was probably losing my mind.'" (Via Spurge.)

• Commentary: Mike Sterling finds a topical strip in the latest volume of The Complete Peanuts which is still relevant today (and probably will be for the foreseeable future)

• Product Placement: Tom Devlin points out an odd cameo by a couple of our books on MTV's reality show Sixteen and Pregnant