Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "So I certainly hope you celebrated Free Comic Book Day this first Saturday in May by tripping down to your local comic book shop and picking up some free magazines. If so, you may have seen the names of a couple Mormon creators..., but the best entry in that field is undoubtedly the offering from Fantagraphics of a Mickey Mouse story by Floyd Gottfredson.... Fantagraphics, in case you don’t know, is the company that has set the remarkably high standard for reprinting classic comics." – Theric Jepson, A Motley Vision

• Review: The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log directs us to Dan Lester's comics-format review of the film adaptation of Jacques Tardi's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec at Electric Sheep

• Plug: At Chart Attack, read the transcript of Nardwuar's interview with Lil Wayne in which the rap superstar says of Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, "I collect these type of things so this is a good thing right here."

• Feature: Check in on day 3 of Joyce Farmer's "Cartoonist's Diary" at The Comics Journal

WHAT. I never heard about these Peanuts t-shirts from Jay-z's clothing line Rocawear until The Daily Cross Hatch posted that they're on sale. They're all pretty adorable but this Pig-Pen one is the best.

James Kochalka spotted a possible homage to Jim Woodring in a recent episode of the (awesome) Cartoon Network show Adventure Time, as what look like denizen's of Woodring's Unifactor appear in Adventure Time's Land of Ooo. Dang, I just saw Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward at TCAF, I could've asked him about it! (Via The Beat.)

London-based journalist Paul Slade writes in: "I've just posted an exclusive Hans Rickheit six-page comics story on my website. The story's scripted by me from a David Attenborough radio programme about bizarre and violent insect breeding strategies, and I commissioned Hans to draw it for me earlier this year. This is the first time it's appeared anywhere." That's an excellent marriage of artist and subject matter.

Seven inches of superhero splendor from Seattle band Ancient Warlocks will be available at the Charles Peterson exhibition reception and Peter Bagge signing this Saturday, May 14 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.

Says Warlock Darren Chase, "The Superwizard single features two songs inspired by the comic books of yesteryear. The title track is a rock n roll tribute to Fletcher Hanks' mighty hero of the early 1940's, The Super Wizard Stardust. Thrill to the heavy sounds of Superwizard as Ancient Warlocks take you on a mission to stop the fiends bent on wrecking civilization! This pressing is on black vinyl with silkscreen cover art. It's limited to 300 hand numbered copies in three different sleeve colors. Grab yours before the supervultures snatch 'em all up!"

Darren will be on hand to sign copies and I'm sure we can convince DJ Russ to give it a spin during the Taking Punk to the Masses bash on Saturday from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Catching up on our Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "...Fantagraphics Books’ new Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: “Race to Death Valley” contains all you need to know to revel in the very different, deeply pleasurable work of [Floyd] Gottfredson. Working with one of the most famous — and most anodyne — cartoon characters in the world, Gottfredson turned the grinning, goody-goody Mouse into a plucky, even reckless adventurer, his smile transformed from a people-pleasing smirk into a challenge to the world.... Gottfredson drew Mickey with a nosy snout and the bright eyes of an adrenalin junkie. The mouse’s diminutive size inspired Gottfredson to have the character attempt daredevil races, leaping stunts, and develop a flurry-fisted fighting style.... This beautiful volume gives the Great Rodent his humanity." – Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

• Review: "Fantagraphics does a very smart thing with [Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Vol. 1], packing it full of historical materials to set the story for the comic strip. Having David Gerstein edit it is, of course, the smartest thing they could have done.... Simply put, it's the most extensive collection of 'extras' I've ever seen in one of these comic strip reprint series to date.... Reproductions are as great as you could ever hope for from material that's 80 years old and originally printed in the inkiest of newspapers you could imagine.... It's a kick to see this more interesting version of Mickey running around, saying and doing politically incorrect things. It's amazing to see how much detail an artist could pack into a small series of panels like this. But, most of all, it's a whole lot of fun." – Augie De Blieck Jr., Comic Book Resources

• Review: "This is, first of all, superb material.... Way back when, [Mickey Mouse] had a continuity and some darn good stories, illustrated with dynamic and expressive art. It was everything you could have wanted a newspaper strip to be, including being quite funny at times...and even suspenseful. The book itself is perfect and by that I mean I can't think of a single way it could have been improved. The reproduction is sharp. The editorial material fills you in nicely about the history of the strip, plus there are articles that discuss its merits and significance. The volume itself is handsome and will look good on your shelf." – Mark Evanier

• Plug: "You can download 19 pages from Fantagraphics' upcoming Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley by Floyd Gottfredson now. I'm looking forward to this book, the first volume in a complete reprinting of Gottfredson's work on the Mouse." – Pop Culture Safari

• Plugs: Some great press mentions for our Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Free Comic Book Day comic, including the AP's Matt Moore and Whitney Matheson of USA Today Pop Candy, who says "This is sort of what FCBD is about, isn't it? Fantagraphics presents Floyd Gottfredson's amazing old Mickey strips from 1935 that are still entertaining today. Perfect for all ages..." The Wright Opinion's Brendan Wright says "The line work is beautiful and fluid, with plenty of panels that are funny to look at without reading the words. Thorough as always with this type of project, Fantagraphics has provided both an intro by David Gerstein an an appreciation of Gottfredson by classic Disney animator and official Disney Legend Floyd Norman."

• Review: "For Isle of 100,000 Graves, the cartoonist Jason works with a writer, Fabien Vehlmann, for what is at least the first time in his strong North American publishing run. It's a fun collaboration over which to muse because it's hard to tell exactly what Vehlmann brings to the table. The writer has grasped onto Jason's use of deadpan humor and wistful character moments to an uncanny degree.... Because of this deliberate care in both building their personalities and working from them in terms of how they react to certain story moments, both leads come across as incredibly endearing. A story-ending plot twist almost gets lost in a by-that-point hilarious one-liner about the methods used in bringing it about." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

• Review: "Underground-influenced comics fall into certain patterns — idiosyncratic art, rambling tales of daily life, copious use of mood-altering substances — but [Leslie] Stein makes hers [Eye of the Majestic Creature] fresh with the addition of a talking guitar.... Stein’s style is very readable, with sparse linework and a lead character that resembles a more tripped-out Little Orphan Annie, with huge blank buttons for eyes. Stein’s settings and other characters show more detail, especially in the complex stippling, demonstrating her outward focus.... Her world is full, even if it’s one that’s a bit off-kilter..." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "Peter Bagge continues the saga of Lisa and Buddy Bradley and their son Harold in Hate Annual #9.... Peter Bagge has always made you care for these characters no matter what crazy problems they had. He has this rare gift of getting his readers to empathize with the drawings on the page and realizing them as real people.... Bagge shows us a very human side to the characters he creates and mirrors life in a sometimes painful way.... As we live our lives, we can look at these pages and see a little bit of ourselves in the drawn panels. This is what makes this series, and all previous ones, stand the test of time and remain a great read. Rating: 8.5" – The Comic Book Critic

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch continues serializing the transcript of Brian Heater's MoCCA panel conversation with Peter Bagge: "I started drawing Buddy in 1980, when he was a member of The Bradleys. He was always 10 years younger than me. He started out as an adolescent — not always exactly 10 years. That’s on purpose, because that 10 years gives me space. When you’re going through a crisis or a rough time, it’s not funny, but 10 years later, you can look at the whole situation more objectively and find the humor in it."

• Review: "[Joe Daly's] latest, award-winning, on-going project Dungeon Quest is a delightful combination of nerdy discipline and pharmaceutical excess... Happily marrying the sensibilities of post-grunge, teenaged waste-lads... with the meticulous and finicky obsessions of role-playing gamers and the raw thrill of primal myths, this captivating and wittily indulgent yarn is enchantingly rendered in solid, blocky friendly black and white and garnished with lashings of smart-ass attitude. Strength: vulgar. Intelligence: witty. Dexterity: compelling. Mana: absolutely. Status: unmissable." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Plug: Rehmat's World looks at Joe Sacco's Palestine

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch begins serializing another of Brian Heater's MoCCA panel conversations, this time with Gahan Wilson: "The people who do horror stories and grim stuff are remarkably sweet people.... It was very odd. Why are horror writers like this? And it suddenly occurred to me — of course, what horror writers are writing about is the vulnerability of themselves and their readers and everybody and how fragile everything is.... They’re experts at being scared. If they weren’t experts at being scared, they wouldn’t write about being scared and scare other people."

• Interview: If you read Japanese, enjoy excerpts from a conversation between Moto Hagio and her colleague Ryoko Yamagishi from Otome Continue Vol. 6 presented at Poco Poco

• Feature: All this week, the "Cartoonist's Diary" column at The Comics Journal is written by Joyce Farmer

• Feature: Eye of the Majestic Creature creator Leslie Stein is the guest contributor in the latest installment of "What Are You Reading?" at Robot 6. Among her picks: Yeah! by Peter Bagge & Gilbert Hernandez: "Gilbert’s illustrations are excellent and Bagge’s writing is funny, as per usual."

• Craft: Frank Santoro's new "Layout Workbook" at TCJ.com examines some Hal Foster Prince Valiant pages

Anime News Network reports that Moto Hagio (shown above at Comic-Con International last year) has received the 2011 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award from the Japan Cartoonists Association of manga creators as part of their 40th annual Japan Cartoonist Awards. The honor is in recognition of her entire body of work, praised in the announcement as "revolutionary" and "of high quality." Congratulations!

Join us in Georgetown this weekend for non-stop action. Friday is the boisterous Honk Fest West festival featuring dozens of eccentric marching bands from all over the country. Chaotic cacophony throughout the entire neighborhood. Note: South Vale Street will close Friday evening in front of Fantagraphics Bookstore for the festivities, but drop in for a sneak preview of Charles Peterson's Taking Punk to the Masses show and visit Martin, Tina and Russ while they transform Georgetown Records into a mom and pop punk rock emporium circa 1988 in preparation for the next night's blowout!

Saturday is the fabulous Georgetown Art Attack. Among all the amazing mayhem, don't miss the Charles Peterson exhibition and Peter Bagge signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore, followed by a concert with the Capillaries featuring cartoonist and musician Matthew Southworth, Bagge's Can You Imagine? with Steve Fisk, and Wormburner around the corner at Buddy & Jay's Scrap Metal Emporium.

Don't miss a minute - get a room! Stay and play all weekend at the friendly and affordable Georgetown Inn, located one block from the action. The historic Georgetown neighborhood is only 5 minutes south of downtown Seattle and 15 minutes north of Seattle Tacoma International Airport. 

Hey collectors! We just got a few returns of the previously sold-out Tales Designed to Thrizzle #1 by Michael Kupperman. If you need this issue, hop on it — there's not many of them and they won't last long.

Hey, we just found out that the "sometimes Y" Hernandez brother, Mario, is a special guest at the first annual Latino Comics Expo this weekend at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco! The first day is already over but Mario will be there for the full day tomorrow too, 11AM - 5PM, so it's not too late to meet an L&R OG! The museum also drops word of the Love and Rockets 30th Anniversary exhibit coming next year — stay tuned for further announcements about that!