No Online Commentary & Diversions tomorrow if I can help it: I'm taking the day off!

• Awards: Congratulations to Mome contributor Eleanor Davis for being nominated for this year's Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer award (given out at the Eisner Awards ceremony at Comic Con International) for her excellent Toon Books release Stinky!

• Review: "The biggest surprise might be how good these stories are, even if they failed to take off in the way that, say, Superman did... [T]he Notes section at the end, written by editor Greg Sadowski, ...is truly fantastic... His studious efforts are worth the price of the book alone... These stories deserved another look and more attention. Sadowski has done an admirable job of making Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936–1941 not only reverent, but exciting and fun as well." - John Hogan, Graphic Novel Reporter

• Review: "I might say [Michael] Kupperman is one of the greatest satirists of our time, if I could figure out what he's satirizing. The basic facts: this collect[ion] of... Tales Designed to Thrizzle... featur[es] dozens of short pieces done on a chaotic array of subjects in so many styles much of it comes across as found art, and almost all of it's hilarious. Any attempt to summarize things like 'Mentally Ill Gangster Comics' or 'Crime Is Pushing the Limits' would miss the point completely. Except to say this is media culture put through the grinder. Top-notch." - Steven Grant, Comic Book Resources

• Interview: Ladies and gentlemen, the Inkstuds interview with Bob Fingerman

• Good news: The Comics Reporter reports that Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga, Ted May & Dan Zettwoch will be returning to the pages of the weekly Riverfront Times

• Things to see (and buy): New Jim Flora print

Today's hot batch of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...[T]he furtive griminess that Jason wrings from his stock character designs is impressive to behold... [Y]ou'll enjoy any number of his typical moments of storytelling grace..." - otherwise Tom Spurgeon is unfortunately somewhat sparing in praise for Jason's Low Moon at The Comics Reporter

• Review: "Miss [Lasko-Gross]' previous book, Escape from 'Special,' launched her fearless plan to produce an autobiographical trilogy. [A] Mess [of Everything] tackles the high-school years, which involve mean girls, mean boys and plenty of awkward social situations. Each anecdote is super-short with cringeworthy dialogue that you'll identify with and will remind you of how fortunate you are to have lived through that rough period." - Whitney Matheson, "Three Graphic Novels You Should Read Immediately," USA Today Pop Candy

• Review: "I’ve read some crazy comix, and while he won’t scare you under the sheets like S. Clay Wilson, [John] Kerschbaum can be as raw as R. Crumb, Peter Bagge, and [Johnny] Ryan, who may be his closest comix cousins... No fan of adult funny animal comics (like Fritz the Cat) will want to miss Petey & Pussy... Petey & Pussy is some funny shit." - Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin

• Interview: The Pull List podcast talks to Bob Fingerman about his latest releases, including Connective Tissue

• Plug: Jeet Heer gives a nice shout-out to Humbug ("amazing") in this interview on the topic of "Cartoon Conservativism" (worth reading in its own right) with Inside Higher Ed

• Plug: "I’m really looking forward to [You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man by C. Tyler]: a graphic memoir and family drama exploring the person we try to present to the world, and reality." - Corey Blake

• Plug: "Fantagraphics is shortly to publish a new edition of Prince Valiant, Hal Foster's legendary, Golden Age comic strip of knights, swashbuckling, romance and chivalry... Foster's artwork is amazing. Foster was an exceptional talent in an era of exceptional talents."  - OK Erok

• Plug: "The fifth issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle is in and it's even weirder than the last one. See aliens give a bloke sexy lady legs! Twain plus Einstein plus enraged badger! Hobo fashion! If you've not read any of Michael Kupperman's stuff before now's yer chance..." - Gosh! Comics

• Analysis: The following academic journal article contains discussion of Daniel Clowes and especially the Hernandez Brothers: "Artif[r]acture: Virulent Pictures, Graphic Narrative, and the Ideology of the Visual." Mosaic: Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 28.4 (December 1995): 79-109 by William A. Nericcio (link courtesy the author, via Facebook)

• Events: This Portland art show at Guapo Comics & Coffee features Andrice Arp and lots more local talent

• Things to see: Conan O'Brien by Drew Friedman, for the NY Observer. Freckles, liver spots; tomato, tomahto

• Things to see: Hairy Green Eyeball presents a Vaughn Bodé "Cheech Wizard" story

Because paraphrasing takes time, here's the scoop ripped straight from Paul's blog, where you should go to see the print in higher-res:

Raising awareness one high five at a time: featuring the mouthless, deity-esque Huge Suit with Mister Hidden (who will join Huge Suit in the pages of the upcoming All and Sundry collection [which just went to the printer - Ed.]).

I'll be signing this print (and books) when I'm at Brooklyn's own Desert Island on June 5th, prior to joining the throngs of cartoon and comics enthusiasts at MoCCA. Desert Island has the print available for pre-order and has limited it to an edition of forty, so have at it.

Boing Boing reports that a fairly substantial collection of original art from Humbug is now up for auction. It's well worth checking out just for the images, even if you're not Uncle or Aunt Moneybags.

Of course, you can see more original Humbug art in our Flickr sets here and here.

(Thanks to Paul Hornschemeier for the tip.)

The ever-tech-savvy Strand Bookstore has posted video of last night's event with Miss Lasko-Gross and Gabrielle Bell. Just click the link in the embedded player below; if some time has passed and the link isn't on the main screen, click the "Highlights" tab and scroll for it there -- or just head over to the Strand website to watch.

[Embedded player removed because it was auto-playing a later live event. Please view the video at the link above.]

Update: The Strand also has signed editions of Miss's A Mess of Everything and Gabrielle's Cecil and Jordan in New York (D&Q) available for order.

Online Commentary & Diversions of the day:

• News: Publishers Weekly has the scoop on RIP, MD, a new series of youth-oriented graphic novels we plan to start publishing next year in collaboration with animation studio Lincoln Butterfield

• Review: "[Miss] Lasko-Gross... us[es] a dark and biting humor that both self-deprecates and pokes fun at alterna-teens along the way... The art pulls everything together wonderfully, ...and each section receives a beautiful splash page or panel with an embedded title to welcome you into the vignette... Though Fantagraphics has billed A Mess of Everything as the second part of a trilogy, it stands well alone for new readers of Lasko-Gross’ work, like myself, who want to skip straight to the unique uneasiness of the teen problems we carry through adulthood. [Grade] 8/10" - Zane Austin Grant, PopMatters

• Review: "This lovingly restored collection of Humbug's five [sic - it's eleven] issues is accompanied by essays, interviews and annotations, providing a glimpse into what Mad had wrought." - Richard Pachter, The Miami Herald

• Plug: "Over the past year or so, I've become a fan of Michael Kupperman's comic Tales Designed to Thrizzle." - League of Melbotis

• Plug: Socio-political blog Third Rate in the Tropics, prefacing a video examining the Israeli/Palestinian divide, says "One of the best works I've ever come across on the topic is Palestine, a graphic novel by Joe Sacco."

From Paul's blog, where there's more info:

Tomorrow night: if you're in the Chicago area come out for The Show 'n Tell Show, a rare chance for designers and artists to get together (in front of an audience) and talk about their processes, successes, and failures. I'll be one of those failures, mainly presenting an evolution of the dozens of stages a couple of my books (especially the covers) went through before reaching their final versions.

Here's a few days worth of buzz from Twitter... I don't know if I can make this a habit (and this might be borderline obnoxious), but we'll see:

BeaucoupKevin: Between you, me and the fencepost, if DC or Marvel reprinted their Golden Age material in the Fantagraphics' SUPERMEN! format, I'd not mind.

Triphibian: The Prince Valiant collection from Fantagraphics looks very, very sexy. http://www.fantagraphics.com/princevaliant

Omnivoracious: New Fantagraphics catalog in the mail (candy!). Most enticing: Al Columbia's first book (http://tinyurl.com/oku8ge), Comics Journal 300.

saratea: @valientthorr I'm still on my Little Lulu/Johnny Ryan/lotsa Fantagraphics/Top Shelf releases & I still pull out the occasional Thor #nojoke 

MrGranger: I agree. RT @leaveittokaren: Reading: The Complete Peanuts vol. 11 1971-72 from @fantagraphics The series is fantastic! 

brettwarnock: Wow!... Fantagraphics' Late 09 / Early 2010 schedule is crazy goodness. Hotwire # 3! Newave, prince Valiant, Ditko, Gahan Wilson, Tardi... 

jwoliner: HEY Fantagraphics is releasing a collection of @MKupperman's awesome "Tales Designed To Thrizzle"!! Preorder here: http://tinyurl.com/qjkjwc 

PaulTobin: Score! A friend just sent me the new Blazing Combat hc, and now the studio is absorbing its "full of awesome" flavor. 

michaelthorner: @PaulTobin I was raving about Blazing Combat just a couple of weeks ago. @fantagraphics did a wonderful restoration job. More #AlexToth ! 

And this bit of business:

BRIANMBENDIS: Dark pet avengers just got the greenlight 

JorgenBakken: @BRIANMBENDIS DP Avengers? From Fantagraphics, for sure. 

It's your Online Commentary & Diversions for the day:

• Review: "There is this old-fashioned comic feel that mixes so well with the overall theme and texture of this short. [In] Ganges #2... [Kevin] Huizenga's elegant neo-clear-line style brings a crispness and humor to these low-key slice-of-life stories, and the gray-blue duotone he has picked gives the art a new depth and complexity." - Hero Spy

• Plug: "I’m also trying Blazing Combat, the war comic collection from Fantagraphics. I don’t know much about the series, so this should expand my knowledge of a type of comic I’m not much familiar with." - Johanna Draper Carlson, Robot 6 "What Are You Reading?"

• Profile/Review: If it's Comics Should Be Good's "Comic Book Alphabet of Cool" and it's the letter K, it must be Michael Kupperman! Brian Cronin calls Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5 "one of his best issues yet!"

• Things to see: A nice big new batch of sketchbook comics & drawings from Anders Nilsen

• Things to see: Fan Steve Mandich posts his Tony Millionaire sketch & signature from our Bookstore event a couple of weeks ago (with a link to some photos)

• Things to see (and buy): A new Vice strip and art for sale from Johnny Ryan

• Things to see: 'Round the office

Somewhat belatedly, here are some photos from the Tony Millionaire exhibit opening and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery lo those 9 days ago. Click here for lots more, including images of all the artwork and a short video.

Uncle Gabby & Drinky Crow join Dan Pussey on the store window:

Outside, Jim Woodring and Ellen Forney have a chat:

The dapper Mr. Millionaire:

View of the exhibit:

Jam-packed with Maakies fans:

Dook dook dook!

Messrs. Bagge & Millionaire: