Simon Pegg's Eightball t-shirt is not the only Dan Clowes easter egg in the film Paul (released last weekend in the U.S.) — we're not allowed to reveal the other one but it's hard to miss if you're paying attention. There's also an easter egg-within-the-easter egg which is pretty hilarious if you manage to spot it, though we're not sure if it's visible on screen.

Drew Weing announced yesterday that his debut graphic novel Set to Sea was named runner-up for the inaugural Lynd Ward Prize, a new award sponsored by the Penn State University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, presented to the "best graphic novel, fiction or non-fiction, published in the previous calendar year by a living U.S. citizen or resident." We'd been waiting for the official PR to make our announcement, but since Heidi MacDonald has broken the news over at The Beat, anchors aweigh (as it were). Congratulations Drew!

UPDATED: The official announcement has now been posted online:

The prize jury also awarded an honor book prize to Drew Weing for Set to Sea, published by Fantagraphics. In this book, small in size but large in vision, the art of storytelling through pure visual image is at its height. Described by jurors as "a small wonder of visual narrative, the book's superbly executed single-panel pages combine iconic cartooning and realistic detail to deliver a quietly moving story that unfolds primarily through image. It epitomizes the whole notion of the graphic novel set forth by Lynd Ward — the illustrations are brilliant and the balance between word and image is spot on. The book encapsulates the power of comics to combine an aesthetic experience with a lovely story with strength and beauty that lies with its simplicity and subtlety." Weing will accept his honor prize at an event co-sponsored by Penn State and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council at 6 pm on May 23 in Foster Auditorium on the Penn State University Park Campus.

The Utne Reader presents a gallery of illustrations by Joe Sacco that draw parallels between economically depressed urban America and the war-torn regions Sacco has visited.

How is it that I'd never before heard this adorable song about Ted Stearn's Fuzz & Pluck by Swedish band The Pohjolas before? HOW??? It appears on their 2005 album I Cracked My Head on a Rock. Delightful!

We recently found a whole box of Unseen Peanuts, our 2007 Free Comic Book Day offering, on a forgotten shelf here in our office, so we sent 'em down to our shipping facility and while supplies last we'll be including one FREE copy with almost every order we receive (except, ironically, for single Complete Peanuts orders, since we have custom shipping boxes for those that the comic won't fit in). Sellers on eBay are currently offering copies for anywhere from $5.99 to $24.20, so nuts to them!

If you missed it the first time around, it's a quality 32-page package with dozens of strips from the 1950s-1960s that were never reprinted until we started up our Complete Peanuts series lo those several years ago, with illuminating and amusing commentary by our own Kim Thompson. Scoresville!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Interview (Audio): Inkstuds host Robin McConnell chats with contributing Mome cartoonist Aidan Koch

• Analysis: At The Comics Grid, an essay titled "Ghost World[s] and Non-Places" by Tony Venezia: "By mapping Augé’s notion of non-places onto the grids of Ghost World we can get an idea of how such supermodern environments are represented via a medium particularly well suited to figuring spatial representations." (Via Spurge.)

• Analysis: Lisa Pollifroni offers a (spoiler-filled) feminist reading of Gilbert Hernandez's Human Diastrophism: "I believe what Hernandez is trying to get at with Luba is the ways in which a woman can feel when they are seen as mainly a sexual object. Luba wasn’t born a Female Chauvinist Pig, she was taught to be one by the way she is treated due to the fact that yes, she does have large breasts, and yes, she is pretty. Instead of trying to get people to see beyond those attributes, she plays up to them, and that is what makes her, in this story at least, a Female Chauvinist Pig."

If you're a member of the press, retailer or other comics industry person who needs a digital file of one of our logos for any reason (such as the above emblem by Daniel Clowes), we've just uploaded a selection of them to a Flickr set for you to grab and use. (If you need vector files, you'll still have to contact us.) And don't forget to check out all of our other digital assets on our Resources for Press and Retailers page!

Our Free Comic Book Day offering for this year is a 32-page doozy featuring strips from Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley by Floyd Gottfredson! There's also some bonus material included like an intro by series co-editor David Gerstein, an essay by certified Disney Legend Floyd Norman, and the cutest photo of Gottfredson with Carl Barks you ever did see. Check out a 5-page preview at the FCBD website! FCBD is on Saturday, May 7 this year.

Readers of last Sunday's edition of the Boston Globe were treated to Jane Roy Brown's travel guide to Massachusetts roadside attractions that have been featured by Bill Griffith in Zippy the Pinhead strips! You can read the article online but it lacks the illustrations, so we've posted images of the pages (provided by Bill) above. Thanks Bill!

Due to our hectic release schedule and the geographic vagaries of distribution, our comic shop arrivals are a bit of a jumble lately. Our first two titles here may have been available at some shops last week — see last week's post for additional blurbs — and are on the official shipping list for this week; the titles listed thereafter are not on the list yet but may ship to some shops this week. We apologize for any confusion and as always entreat you to contact your local shop to confirm availability. (Ordering in advance is always a good idea, too.) Previews and more info about each book, as always, at the links below:

The Arctic Marauder
by Jacques Tardi

64-page black & white 9" x 11.75" hardcover • $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-435-1

"One of the most interesting looking releases of the week, this is Fantagraphics’ representation of Adele Blanc-Sec creator Jacques Tardi’s 1972 Jules Verne-esque, Edwardian era 'icepunk' adventure." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"Another gorgeous book, this time from Fantagraphics' continued and sustained exploration into Jacques Tardi's album-making career." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"I found myself enjoying Tardi’s Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec earlier this year, and Chris [Mautner]’s review has tipped me in favor of picking up this latest translation of his work." – Graeme McMillan, Robot 6

"This blog is steadily turning into one comic shop employee quietly humping the leg of Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics but they are excelling themselves lately, and their line of Jacques Tardi translations is one of their greatest efforts to date. Le Démon Des Glaces or The Arctic Marauder is a 1972 satirical, Jules Verne-esque steampunk tale about a ship in the Arctic Ocean discovering an abandoned vessel. [...] Expect mad scientists, monsters from the deep, futuristic machinery in an 1899 futuristic way, and the most purple of purple prose." – Gosh! Comics

"This is a gorgeous, simply breath-taking example of Tardi's early work. This retro-sci-fi tale involves the mystery of a ship stuck on top of an iceberg. How'd it get there? The answer involves monsters of the deep, mysterious futuristic machines and mad scientists." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy

Dungeon Quest, Book 2
by Joe Daly

136-page black & white 6" x 8.25" softcover • $12.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-436-8

"Joe Daly's wildly odd series of archly-told adventure comics continues. What a great initial run of books we've seen from South Africa's Daly, and this one may feature his most potent cartooning yet." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"Dungeon Quest Volume 2 by Joe Daly is out, giving you another installment of nerdy stories inspired by role-playing games..." – Gosh! Comics

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente
by Wilfred Santiago

200-page two-color 6.25" x 8" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-56097-892-3

"I’m not much of a sports fan, but there was a lot more to Clemente than baseball, and Wilfred Santiago’s biography has a real richness to it, bringing in Clemente’s background and upbringing and wrapping it all together in deceptively simple, almost primitive looking art." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6

The Complete Peanuts 1979-1980 (Vol. 15)
by Charles M. Schulz

Introduction by Al Roker; designed by Seth

344-page black & white 8.5" x 7" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-438-2

"How dark could Peanuts get during the Peanut President's administration? 'Very, very dark,' Al Roker writes the introduction to this volume. Have I mentioned how much I love the indexes to the Fantagraphics editions? It's useful to know that a Zamboni appears twice in this volume." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance

R.I.P.: Best of 1985-2004
by Thomas Ott

192-page black & white 6.25" x 10" hardcover • $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-417-7

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST RESERVOIR: If you didn’t locate Jacques Tardi’s The Arctic Marauder or Joe Daly’s Dungeon Quest Vol. 2 last week, they’re both probably still worth looking at. Supposedly some stores are getting Wilfred Santiago’s Roberto Clemente book (21: The Story of Roberto Clemente) too, along with a best-of Thomas Ott collection (R.I.P.: Best of 1985-2004) and the ’79-’80 Peanuts book. Build a wall." – Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal