In their March 15 issue, Booklist announces their Top 10 Graphic Novels in Adult and Youth categories. We're honored that they've chosen the following books in the former category:

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio

It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi

And in the latter category:

Set to Sea by Drew Weing

The issue also includes the reviews excerpted below:

The Arctic Marauder by Jacques Tardi: "A strong Jules Verne flavor dominates the story’s stew of mystery farce and sci-fi adventure, from the ship named the Jules Vernez to the assortment of just-plausibly-outlandish vehicles and deep-sea mechanical apparatuses. But the real fun comes from marveling at it all in Tardi’s expansive, ice-blasted scratchboard tableaus that feature one breath-stealing scene after another, all the way through to the cheerfully villainous finale. A devious bit of far-fetched fun." – Ian Chipman

Freeway by Mark Kalesniko: "Kalesniko reprises his alter ego, Alex Kalienka, for his most ambitious and accomplished graphic novel yet. [...] Although Kalesniko’s formal storytelling devices, particularly his deft panel arrangements and intelligent compositions, are largely responsible for Freeway’s impressive effectiveness, it’s his distinctive and delicate drawing style that supplies the emotional component, best displayed in the economical character design and in the painstakingly researched, lovingly depicted scenes of a bygone Los Angeles." – Gordon Flagg (Starred Review)

Stigmata by Lorenzo Mattotti & Claudio Piersanti: "Obviously but never verbally a parable of Christian redemption, Piersanti’s story becomes extremely compelling in Mattotti’s hands. ...[H]is swirling realization of atmosphere, the protagonist’s states of mind, and human figures conjures the raw power and compassion of such great Italian neorealist films as Bicycle Thieves and La Strada." – Ray Olson

News comes via the Chicago Comics newsletter that the wonderful Ivan Brunetti will be making a rare public appearance at the Chicago Comics store on April 1st 5:00 - 7:00 PM to promote the new edition of his book Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice. Unless you're somehow debilitated, you'll certainly not want to miss that!

We're having a sale on books in our Art & Illustration category! Save at least 30% on art books, illustration collections, exhibit catalogs, sketchbooks, pin-ups and more. Featuring artists such as Nell Brinkley, Al Columbia, Dave Cooper, R. Crumb, Jim Flora, Drew Friedman, Femke Hiemstra, Paul Hornschemeier, Robert Williams, Barry Windsor-Smith, Basil Wolverton, and Jim Woodring; anthologies like Arf, Beasts!, and Blab!; and much much more spanning vintage classics and cutting-edge contemporary work — save on dozens of our best and most beautiful books! It runs 3 days only — March 7-9, 2011 — so don't miss out!

Ray Fenwick is documenting his residency at Struts Gallery in New Brunswick on a Tumblr blog he's dubbed Le Moat Juice. Follow along!

Here's this week's Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

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Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

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And elsewhere:

Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga:

Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit:

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate):

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview: Comic Book Resources' Alex Dueben talks to Carol Tyler about You'll Never Know: "I believe the damage leveled upon an entire generation of (primarily) men by WWII absolutely defined our Baby Boom generation. All that so called indulgence we've been accused of. Emotionally shut off children love hula-hoops! And drugs! Look at the bloody trail of bad relationships and general self-destructive behaviors we got into. Book I says, 'I hurt you to harm your children.' This is the legacy of war."

• Commentary: No list of "great non-superhero comic book fights" would be complete without including Popeye and Captain Easy, and Chris Mautner's at Robot 6 does

Fresh from art director Jacob Covey come these images of the upcoming paperback edition of Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin. This edition compiles the two-volume hardcover set into one massive tome. This and the follow-up volume, Willie & Joe: Back Home, are scheduled to be out in June.

We're open for business at Emerald City ComiCon! Our table is heaving under the weight of all these great books and comics so come on down to table 808 and buy buy buy! (Special thanks to super-volunteer Gavin Lees for unexpectedly showing up to help with setup!) We've got Portable Grindhouse editor Jacques Boyreau joining us at 4:00 to sign and talk trash cinema. See here for our whole weekend of ECCC events!

UPDATE: Jacques is running late and will arrive at 5:00!

UPDATE 2: Unfortunately Jacques got stuck in I-5 traffic and will miss his signing tonight but has rescheduled for tomorrow 2:00-4:00.

Justin Green (above) and Kim Deitch (below) have given us permission to sell their original artwork from last December's Medieval Thinkers exhibit at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on eBay. Bid on Justin's piece here and Kim's piece here, and see additional images here and here. Don't miss your chance to own these incredible pieces by two of underground comix' all-time greats!

The extremely funny Michael Kupperman is performing with the extremely funny Todd Barry (and a couple of other funny people with funny pseudonyms — here's one clue) at Hudson Valley Auctioneers in Beacon, NY on Saturday March 12! Tickets are only 5 bucks — cheap at 3x the price! Here's the event listing at the Beacon Citizen. Man oh man I want to see this so bad I can't even stand it. It's the chocolate and peanut butter of comedy!