It's your Friday nite funnies!

Listen up! Blecky's got an important announcement in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan...

We begin the R. Kelly-inspired (not really) sequence in this week's installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 51-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures....

And in our current 5-day chunk of Martin Kellerman's  Rocky, be sure to catch the last 2 pages of the "Intermission" story, and then we return to the daily strips. "Rocky all grown up"? Really?

Brooklyn's lovely Vivian Girls dropped by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery before their show at Neumo's on Thursday to stock up on road reading material by Ivan Brunetti, Paul Hornschemeier, and Esther Pearl Watson. (Unlovable, they're not!) Highlights of their current tour included a spot at the Coachella Music Festival where the band reported Sir Paul's marathon midnight serenade set him back thousands for violating local noise curfews. We're guessing he can afford it.

See you all tomorrow for Free Comic Book Day and next Saturday, May 9 for Tony Millionaire's Drinky Crow show!

May 1, 2009 - SEATTLE, WA. The wildly inventive and often irreverent Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack continues on Saturday, May 9 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. This monthly event has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most entertaining and spontaneous cultural outings in the region. The public is again invited to experience this remarkably creative community of artists working in visual, applied and performing arts.

Among the many highlights of the May 9 installment: A lively PBR P(art)y at Smarty Pants featuring art, food, libations, and music by DJ Russ; Tony Millionaire's "Drinky Crow Show" and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery; David Tupper's "When Sailors Sleep" painting exhibition at Georgetown Tile Works; A diverse art exhibition at Rung Studios curated by Ryan Allred and Richelle Polnik; [Blank] Canvas fundraiser to benefit Art With a Heart, where teams of Seattle-area architects and designers create collaborative paintings during the afternoon which will be auctioned that evening at a cocktail party in the Original Rainier Brewery and General Office building at 6010 Airport Way S.; Rob Johnson's reclaimed weapons sculptures at Calamity Jane's; A free concert by Michael Vermillion at the 9 Lb. Hammer; Kamala Dolphin Kingsley at Melinda Hannigan studios in the Equinox complex; exotic shopping, diverse dining, and raucous socializing at dozens of locations in close proximity throughout the historic neighborhood.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack is a production of the Georgetown Merchants' Association. For more information contact GMA chair Kathy Nyland or Art Attack coordinator Larry Reid or visit: www.georgetownartattack.com.

New month, new name! It's your Online Commentary and Diversions for today:

• Review: "If the censors had delved beneath the perceived bias, they would have discovered some of the finest war stories and illustration in the medium's history... The dynamic art leaps off the pages throughout... Without leaning on glory and sensationalism, Blazing Combat focused on heroism, sacrifice, and dignity." - Rick Klaw, The SF Site: "Nexus Graphica"

• Review: "...[T]he third Popeye volume 'Let's You and Him Fight!' presents a winning complete reprint of Segar's Popeye strips... an excellent oversized presentation of strips perfect for in-depth graphic novel or comics collection in general, and for Popeye fans in particular." - ComicList/Midwest Book Review

• Interview/Audio: "Miss Lasko-Gross’s autobio series from Fantagraphics are some of my fav autobio comics I have read in a while. Escape from 'Special' and A Mess of Everything are both excellent books and well worth checking out. It's not often that you come across such honest work." - Inkstuds, leading into their audio chat with Miss Lasko-Gross

• Event/Audio: An older link I don't think I've seen before - Warped Reality reports from a lecture and seminar given by Jaime Hernandez at Brown University in 2007, with an MP3 of the lecture for download (via Journalista)

• Things to see: Drew Friedman makes a rare foray into the animal kingdom - guess which animal?

This Sunday in Chicago, go see Anders Nilsen's exhibit at Home Gallery, listen to him talk about it a bit, and maybe have a pastry. More info at Anders's blog.

Get an exclusive look at 5 more pages from Peter Bagge's Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me over at ICv2!

Plus, to help spread the word about all things Bagge, we've started up an official Peter Bagge page on Facebook -- go become a fan and you'll get all the latest news & notes from Peter right in your update feed. It's a little sparse to start off, but we and Peter will continue to add stuff, and Facebook members can contribute fan photos and videos too. Neato mosquito!