• Review: 50 Words or Less on Love and Rockets: New Stories #1

• Review: Newsarama on Jimbo's Inferno by Gary Panter: "Great designs and scratchy, kinetic action fill every single panel... Jimbo's Inferno is a truly beautiful comic book."

• Preview: OK Erok posts a few panels from our preview of Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5 by Michael Kupperman (not out yet, despite what they say)

• Bookmark: Shelf Life: 25 Years of Love & Rockets, Marc Sobel's column closely examining every issue of Love and Rockets Vol. 1, has moved from the currently-defunct Sequart site to its own blog; the most recent entry focuses on Love and Rockets X

Stussy just released a series of T shirts that Peter Bagge designed for them, which can be seen here along with a video interview with a very bearded Bagge man. 

Bagge has also been doing a monthly comic strip for DISCOVER Magazine. Each strip features a famous (or not so famous) scientist of yore behaving in the quirky, asperger-y ways that scientists are renowned for (Bagge has uploaded a sample strip in the "pics" section of his MySpace page for you to marvel at here.)

Meanwhile, a book collection of Bagge's REASON Magazine work (accurately titled Everyone is Stupid Except for Me) will be coming soon from Fantagraphics, and he's more than halfway done with a GN for DC/Vertigo. Could be a banner 2009 for Mr. Bagge!

Isn't this nice? I think it's foolproof.

Hobo Crane! "Jes' gettin' some joe 'fore hoppin' th' freight." 

Heartthrob's Neil Gaiman (televised) and "Ditko Doyen" Blake Bell.

Action shot of zak Sally as he snears (jealously) at my latest find.

NO!

• Review of the Year: Brick Weekly holds forth on The Wolverton Bible: "If you think that God was the greatest contributor to the Bible then you are wrong. In fact, when compared to the creative feats of legendary cartoonist Basil Wolverton, God’s work seems trite and superficial at best. So, throw out all of your old Bibles because you don’t need them any more..." And it goes on from there...

• Reviews: The San Antonio Current says "The Wolverton Bible collects everything [Basil Wolverton] did for the [Worldwide Church of God], presenting illustrations in chronological Biblical order — from Adam springing up from earth á la Spider-Man’s nemesis the Sandman all the way through the Old Testament and then hopping to the fantasy-friendly Book of Revelation, where eyeless corpses run rampant and jet planes tumble helplessly from the sky"; furthermore, "Humbug could be a comics blockbuster... it fills gaps in some cartoonists’ CVs and entertains like hell while doing it."

• Reviews: Andrew Wheeler rounds up some recent books: of The Lagoon by Lilli Carré he says "Carré has an expressive style reminiscent of Richard Sala -- and her stories are in the same literary territory as Sala's as well, so the gloomy blacks and busy cross-hatching add to the ominous, overwhelming feeling... there's real spookiness in these pages -- and she's telling a story in ways (particularly trying to evoke sounds and scents through a comics page) that I've rarely seen"; and of Jessica Farm Vol. 1 by Josh Simmons, Wheeler says "Josh Simmons might just be the Gutzon Borglum of comics. Simmons's... plan... is crazy, and I admire it for that."

• Reviews: Read About Comics reads The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962 and states "Now that I've finally hit the 1960s strips... I can't help but feel that I've entered the real Golden Age of Peanuts... I can’t wait to dive into the next volume."

• Interview: ComicBookMovie.com chats with Stan Sakai about the success of Usagi Yojimbo

• Things to see: Jim Blanchard's awesome portrait of Marty Feldman

• Things to see (and buy): The Paul Hornschemeier show print previously Flogged here is now up for pre-order

Now available for preview and pre-order: Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5, the latest 32-page slice of insane comedy genius (or is it genius comedic insanity?) from Michael Kupperman. This comic is scheduled to be in stock in late March/early April and in stores approximately 4 weeks later.

View a photo & video slideshow preview embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended). And visit the product details page for a downloadable, 4-page PDF excerpt starring Twain & Einstein!

L to R: Gilbert Hernandez, Natalia Hernandez & Jaime Hernandez.

Fuck hyperbole. Just fuck it. It doesn't exist when it comes to Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez. Is there any doubt, ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER, that they are two of the greatest cartoonists? I dare you.

The exquisite and lovely Jean Schulz signs copies of The Complete Peanuts. I've been left astounded, the handful of times I've had the good fortune to chat with Jean Schulz at Comic-Con. She radiates calm just by saying "Hello," and that's saying something considering the din and cacophony of Comic-Con.

At his booth, Jordan Crane "takes a call." Look at all that beauitful stuff!

Sammy The Mouse author zak Sally studies his phone. I'm not sure which day it was, but after the show we went to this burrito place for eats. I was in line to order and about every 30 seconds or so I'd hear some form of befuddlement or rage coming from our table and I'd look over to see zak laughing and cursing at his phone like a crazy person. So I took a picture.

There is no reason for a cup to be this large... I have certain dietary restrictions when I'm at Comic-Con... I must eat burritos every night and I insist on drinking pop from a bucket! Free refills!

• Review: For Robot 6, Chris Mautner waxes rhapsodic about Humbug: "It's very easy with a book of this nature to engage in wild hyperbole... And yet, how else to talk about a project of this nature, a large collection of work featuring some of the most stellar cartoonists of their day, originally edited by one of the most important and influential humorists (and I really don't think this is hyperbole here - I'd put him up there with Richard Pryor in terms of significance) of the 20th century?... Something should be said about the packaging and restoration work, which is nothing short of astounding... I think it’s pretty safe to say that this collection will be on my top ten/best books of 2009 list at the end of the year. Really, how could it not? Apparently I like it more than breathing."

• List: From GQ, another one of those ubiquitous "what to read after Watchmen" lists, this one with The Girl from HOPPERS by Jaime Hernandez ("Hoppers... makes Gotham and Metropolis seem as bland as Scranton"), Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco ("Graphic in every sense of the term... it’s the best argument around for comics as a journalistic medium"), and Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw ("honest, meditative"), as well as work by Jessica Abel and Charles Burns

• Opinion: Zak Sally posts his take on the Watchmen movie

• Things to see: Stills from a short film adaptation of a Paul Hornschemeier story

Congrats to Ray Fenwick, whose Hall of Best Knowledge is a finalist for the 2009 Pigskin Peters Award for "avant-garde comics and other non-traditional works," part of the Doug Wright Awards, Canada's top comics honors. Winners will be announced at TCAF on May 9.