UPDATE: Regrettably, this event is canceled for now.

Join Esther Pearl Watson at Skylight Books in Los Angeles this Wednesday at 7:30 PM for a signing and what is sure to be a hilarious and delightful discussion with "an awesome slideshow of inspiration, sketches and behind-the-scenes craziness" for Unlovable Vols. 1 & 2. More info here.

Squeaking in under the wire yet again...

Without the title on there I'd have thought that Alex Ross was doing Prison Pit fanfic.

This is huge — EVERY issue of The Comics Journal is now on sale! All available issues through #287 are HALF OFF and #288-300 are 1/3 OFF! Plus, all Comics Journal Library books and Comics Journal Special Editions are also HALF OFF!

In preparation for the sale we scoured our warehouse and discovered two classic old issues from deep in the past which were previously thought out of print: The landmark #38 from 1978, named a Top Ten Issue of TCJ by Love & Maggie and a personal favorite of Kim Thompson's, features coverage of DC Comics' cover-price increase, Gary Groth's historic interview with Gil Kane, reviews of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Allegro Non Troppo, the first ever "Blood and Thunder" letters column, and much more! And the jam-packed #139 from 1990 includes Peter Bagge interviewing Aline Kominsky-Crumb, part 2 of an Alan Moore interview, Jim Woodring's post-mortem on Weirdo, reporting on the Florida retailer obscenity bust, a Lloyd Dangle sketchbook and more. That's just a tiny sample of the kinds of great features that await you in the pages of this award-winning, critically-lauded magazine.

This sale lasts for a VERY limited time and who knows when we'll repeat it (it's been over 3 years since our last TCJ sale) so don't hesitate to load up on the world's best magazine about comics! It's all over at the end of the day next Friday, May 14, 2010.

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• A new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beond strip by Kevin Huizenga

• From Steven Weissman, this week's "I, Anonymous" and the piece that gives the Butter and Blood art show at GR2 its name

• At last, those misty color backgrounds that Frank Santoro's been posting make sense

• A midday visit to the lake by Debbie Drechsler

• Two new illustrations by Sergio Ponchione, including... the world's first Muslim online sex shop? (completely SFW)

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop

• Don't miss Bunny Quacker, Josh Simmons's counterpart to his Quacker Bunny above, at his & Wendy Chin's Quackers blog — he's just as grumpy

• A montage of new Frank drawings by Jim Woodring... is that our first glimpse of Frank's female counterpart that Jim's mentioned? Also, Jim would like to see you at TCAF

• More glimpses and test images for Derek Van Gieson's Mome story "Devil Doll"

• Jon Vermilyea shows off the printed cover and pages of his new Pizza Time zine

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Is your brain drained? Is your soul cold? Does your ticker need a snicker?  Then arrange your face with a grin in place. Read The Culture Corner by Basil Wolverton. Fantagraphics has just published this comprehensive collection of a rare and genuinely silly strip by a great cartoonist. ... The collection will crack you up, especially if you enjoy goofy phrases. Wolverton was a master of the craft.... It’s a must-have for any fan of cartooning." – Beth Davies-Stofka, Super I.T.C.H.

• Review: "If someone tries to tell you Fletcher Hanks was a genius, don’t believe them. If someone tries to tell you Fletcher Hanks was an important figure in the development of superhero comics, don’t believe them. But if someone tries to tell you Fletcher Hanks was one strange, f-ed up bastard who created some of the weirdest, creepiest, and (entirely by accident) most revealing comics of the Golden Era, that you can take to the bank." – Steve Hockensmith (author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Comic Book Galaxy

• Plugs: The Gosh! Comics Blog spotlights Mome Vol. 18 and the softcover editions of Abandoned Cars and Blazing Combat among the week's new arrivals at their shop

• Interview: Blog de Cómics surveys Johnny Ryan for his favorite comics, movies, food, etc.

Anders Nilsen is part of a group art show at Home Gallery in Chicago, opening this Saturday May 8, 2010 at 6 PM, with a closing brunch on Sunday May 30, 2010, at noon. More info and show previews here.

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Stephen DeStefano announces that his graphic novel Lucky in Love (coming this Summer from Fantagraphics) is in the can and reveals these character designs for the sequel, already in progress

• The Esther Pearl Watson 's Unlovable Fan Page on Facebook presents a classic Tammy strip as it first appeared in Bust magazine

• Steven Weissman continues to tease his pieces in the Butter and Blood art show at GR2 with "Wah! Wah! I Wanna"

• Nut shot! It's this week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• This week's Truth Serum by Jon Adams

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Guide: At Time's Techland blog, Douglas Wolk tells you "Where to Start with Love and Rockets": "Fantagraphics actually has a guide to navigating the various overlapping reprints of the three Love and Rockets series (and assorted associated projects) to date, since everything's been repackaged and reformatted so many times. That's useful if you want to read everything in chronological order – but I'd actually suggest that you don't."

• Review: "The solid blacks and blocky grotesquerie of The Lagoon strongly recall Charles Burns’ Black Hole, a story in which adulthood is equated with monstrosity. In The Lagoon, too, sexual maturity and horror are linked. But that link is mediated by a third term — a metaphor, a song." – Noah Berlatsky, The Hooded Utilitarian (reprinted from the Chicago Reader)

• Review: "The mind of Tony Millionaire is a funny, wacky and kinda disturbing place, but man do I love it! ... Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird is an incredible book for all ages. There is nothing else like it being published today and I think that is why it’s so special! In a time when comic fans are counting every penny and scrutinizing every purchase, rest assured this book is worth every penny." – Secret Identity

Due to arrive in comic shops this week (read on for more info and new-release commentary from the comics blogs):

Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918: Love in a Kestle or Love in a Hut
by George Herriman

160-page black & white/color 9" x 12" softcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-316-3

Comics Comics' Joe McCulloch describes it thusly: "This is a new Fantagraphics softcover collecting the earliest Krazy Kat Sunday pages, thus looping this most venerable Golden Age of Reprints project around to material Eclipse covered one year at a time back in the late ’80s (the Fanta effort began with 1925, where Eclipse left off). I think this one should include three of the ’80s volumes, thus topping out at 160 pages, with the original supplements preserved, but also updated annotations and a new Chris Ware design." Douglas Wolk at Comics Alliance: "In which Fantagraphics' splendid Krazy Kat Sunday strip reprint program loops back around to the beginning of the series' run, previously reprinted by Eclipse/Turtle Island about twenty years ago. This edition also features a brief portfolio of some of the appearances of a little black cat in George Herriman's pre-Krazy comic strips, and a few other curiosities from the early days of the strip." Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter: "Still the greatest comic. The design on this is like it's the ninja issue of the series." Cyriaque Lamar of io9 takes note: "the classic cat-and-mouse series gets the paperback treatment."

Our customary PDF excerpt and video/photo slideshow is available at the link above. Your local shop can confirm availability.