FLOG! Entries - May 2011

Things to See: Prison Pit, Filmation-style

mike

Our homeboy Marc Palm created this Filmation-style Prison Pit fan art, which Johnny Ryan posted over at his blog, where you can find out the inarguable reasoning behind Marc's color choices.

Oslo Comics Expo happened

mike

Like the Patterson-Gimlin film, here is your blurry evidence of the Fantagraphics panel at this past weekend's Oslo Comics Expo, showing (left to right) Dash Shaw, Dave Cooper and Kim Thompson, uploaded by Twitter user @Iselin_Evensen. (Not pictured: fellow panelists Tony Millionaire and Jason.) You can tell from the refreshments on the table there (presumably served from the festival's on-site bar, The Drinky Crow) that this was a European festival. We're hoping to wangle a show report and some photos out of Kim for Flog, and we're keeping our eye on the OCX site for more photos & media, so stay tuned.

Joyce Farmer's Special Exits wins National Cartoonists Society award

mike

Congratulations to Joyce Farmer , whose graphic memoir Special Exits has received the prestigious 2010 NCS Division Award for Graphic Novels! The winners in all the divisions were announced at the 65th Annual NCS Reuben Awards banquet last night in Boston, MA.

Special Exits is also nominated for a 2011 Eisner Award in the category of Best Reality-Based Work.

Weekend Webcomics for 5/27/11: Kupperman, Weissman & more

mike

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

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Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

And elsewhere:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit:

Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim:

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate):

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Daily OCD: 5/27/11

mike

Online Commentary & Diversions returns after a rare link-free day yesterday:

• Review: "I’ve read many gentle, nostalgic manga about school and growing up, and in many ways Wandering Son is not so different from the best of them... On another level, the very fact that it can be so quiet and casual and natural, and say all the things that it says, makes it a deeply impressive work. What Wandering Son says, above all, is that the kids are alright. Maybe they don’t believe it themselves right now. But they’ll make it through." – Shaenon Garrity, The Comics Journal

• Feature: One of our most frequently asked questions from fans is where to start with Jason. He has so many great books you can't really go wrong with any of them, but Robot 6's Chris Mautner offers some solid recommendations in his latest "Comics College" guide.

• Investigation: Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources gets to the bottom of a burning question: Did Jim Woodring design Rubik the Amazing Cube?

Things to See/Bid On: original Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan page, for charity

mike

Peggy Burns said it first and best:

"Talk about a rare opportunity! It seems that Mr. Ware has graciously donated a piece of original artwork from the acclaimed Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, to benefit the Intercultural Montessori Language School in Oak Park, Illinois. And not only that, Chris will sign and personalize it to the lucky winning bidder. The ebay auction is going on for nine days and right now it is already at $809."

Up to $1,525 now!

Enid Coleslaw saves

mike

For Salon's "Saved by Pop Culture" series of personal essays, Salon editor Adele Melander-Dayton writes "How Ghost World Made Me Brave":

"[Enid] might be miserable, sometimes, but she's still capable of seeing the world on her own terms, marveling at the strangeness of what she sees. Still, most of Enid's responses to being young and in pain are not 'healthy.' She doesn't throw herself with manic dedication into stage-managing the high school production of South Pacific, volunteer for wilderness trail maintenance, take up knitting, or see a shrink, all things I tried during my senior year in efforts to distract myself. But Enid did teach me that it's OK to live with a little darkness. I didn't feel like being nice, or pretending that everything was cool, and neither did Enid."

Read the rest here.

As Lisa Simpson said, "I really identified with the girls in Ghost World. They made me feel like I wasn't so alone."

SKID ROAD TO FLOATING WORLD

jmiles

A curated selection of Seattle’s finest contemporary drawing.
Remarkably, artists were selected by the unjaundiced eye and not chosen because of their reputation in either the fine art or cartoon art world, ahem.
Artwork was chosen by proximity, spiritual connection and contribution to the Northwest Tradition as pioneered by the likes of Morris Graves, Mark Toby, Peter Bagge and Jim Woodring.
Remarkably (yes, again), the artwork featured in SKID ROAD TO FLOATING WORLD is a mixed miasma of drone drawing, figure drawing, pattern cartooning, metamorphic automatism, cartography, illustration, totem drawing and good ole rain soaked mysticism. We will also have advance copies of Jim Woodring’s new graphic novel, CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS, available for sale. We will also have advance copies of Jim Woodring’s new graphic novel, CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS, available for sale.

LISTING INFORMATION:

WHO: Skid Road art collective, artists in attendance TBDWHAT: Art exhibit & book release for Jim Woodring’s CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALSWHEN: Thursday, June 2nd, 6-10pmWHERE: FLOATING WORLD COMICS 20 NW 5th Ave #101Portland, OR 97209(503)241-0227
Artwork on display until June 30th.
Participating Artists:
Ajax Wood StormBlair WilsonCM RuizEroyn FranklinJason T. MilesJesse Paul MillerJim WoodringKelly FrohMartine WorkmanMax ClotfelterScott DavisStacy RozichStefan GruberTim Miller
Curated by Jason T. Miles

First Look: final cover for Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 by Michael Kupperman

mike

Here's your first look at the final cover art for Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 by Michael Kupperman, which we just sent off to the printer for a September release! (We may need to adjust the color of the cloth binding in the image once we see printed samples, but it should be pretty close.) Earlier today our own Eric Reynolds tweeted: "A funnier book you will not read this year. I think the old coot would approve."

Back cover too? Sure, why not:

Now in stock: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 by Floyd Gottfredson

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1: Race to Death Valley
by Floyd Gottfredson

288-page black & white/color 10.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-441-2

See Previews / Order Now

Today's America knows Mickey Mouse as a gentle do-gooder. But in his 1930s heyday, Mickey rose to fame as an epic hero — a bold, adventurous scrapper battling mobsters, kidnappers, and spies! And Mickey’s greatest feats of derring-do took place in his daily comic strip, crafted by one of history's greatest cartoonists — Floyd Gottfredson.

For 25 years, Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse was a trendsetting adventure serial that led where other adventure comics would follow. But famed as Gottfredson's life's work is, it has never been comprehensively collected in English... until now!

Dive into this book and see Mickey’s race to a gold mine with Pegleg Pete; Mickey’s life on the lam after being framed for bank robbery; even Mickey’s fight with a huge heavyweight champ. You wouldn't expect to find a mouse in the middle of such chilling thrills and spills. But he's always there!

Enjoy Mickey Mouse in unmatched quality — remastered straight from Disney proof sheets and prized private collections. You'll also explore more than 50 pages of fascinating supplementary features — from rare behind-the-scenes art to tributes by Warren Spector (Disney Epic Mickey) and Disney Legends award recipient Floyd Norman.

Mickey Mouse is among the world's most recognizable icons. But do you know the wild, unforgettable personality behind the icon? Start reading... you might be wearing mouse ears before you're through.

Now in stock: Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Congress of the Animals
by Jim Woodring

104-page black & white 7.25" x 9.75" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-437-5

See Previews / Order Now

Readers of the “Frank” stories know that the Unifactor is in control of everything that happens to the characters that abide there, and that however extreme the experiences they undergo may be, in the end nothing really changes. That goes treble for Frank himself, who is kept in a state of total ineducability by the unseen forces of that haunted realm. And so the question arises: what would happen if Frank were to leave the Unifactor?

That question is answered in Congress of the Animals, Jim Woodring's much-anticipated second full-length graphic novel following 2010's universally acclaimed Weathercraft, and first starring his signature character Frank. In this gripping saga an act of casual rudeness sets into motion a chain of events which propels Frank into a world where he is on his own at last; and like so many who leave home, Frank finds himself contending with realities of which he had no previous inkling.

In Congress of the Animals we are treated to the pitiful spectacle of Frank losing his house, taking a factory job, falling in with bad company, fleeing the results of sabotage, escaping the Unifactor in an amusement park ride, surviving a catastrophe at sea, traveling across hostile terrain toward a massive temple seemingly built in his image, being treated roughly by gut-faced men and intervening in an age-old battle in a meadow slathered in black and yellow blood. And when he finally knocks on opportunity's door he finds... he finds...

Suffice to say he finds what most of us would like to find. Can he bring it back with him? Will the Unifactor accept him as he has become? Are his sins forgiven? Is love real? Is this the end of Frank as we know him?

Exclusive Savings: Order Congress of the Animals together with Weathercraft and save 20% off the combined cover price!

Now in stock: Celluloid by Dave McKean

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Celluloid
by Dave McKean

282-page full-color 7" x 9.25" hardcover • $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-440-5

See Previews / Order Now

A woman arrives at an apartment, but her partner can’t get away from work. She is disappointed and settles in for a night alone, but finds a film projector with a reel of film loaded. The film is scratched and blurry, but she can make out a couple making love. When the film burns out, a door is revealed which leads to a misty town square... and a series of fantastical sexual encounters.

But the plot doesn’t really matter. Celluloid is a rare instance (especially among Anglo-Saxons) of a top-flight cartoonist working within erotic — even pornographic, to embrace the word — parameters, with the intent of creating a genuine work of art.

As the artist says: “There are so many comics about violence. I’m not entertained or amused by violence, and I’d rather not have it in my life. Sex, on the other hand, is something the vast majority of us enjoy, yet it rarely seems to be the subject of comics. Pornography is usually bland, repetitive and ugly, and, at most, ‘does the job.’ I always wanted to make a book that is pornographic, but is also, I hope, beautiful, and mysterious, and engages the mind.”

Bringing to bear the astonishing range of illustrative and storytelling skills that have served him so well on his collaborations with Neil Gaiman and such solo projects as the (recently re-released) epic graphic novel Cages, Dave McKean forges into new territory with this unique work of erotica.

Fantagraphics Acquires Peellaert's The Adventures of Jodelle and Pravda

jacq

From The Adventures of Jodelle — click to enlarge

THE ADVENTURES OF JODELLE
Written by: Pierre Bartier; Drawn by: Guy Peellaert
Hardcover • Full-Color
Release: May 2012

PRAVDA
Written by: Pascal Thomas; Drawn by: Guy Peellaert
Hardcover • Full-Color
Release: November 2012

FANTAGRAPHICS ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO TWO LEGENDARY BELGIAN CLASSICS: PEELLAERT'S THE ADVENTURES OF JODELLE AND PRAVDA

Fantagraphics Books has signed a deal to release two groundbreaking graphic novels from cult Belgian artist Guy Peellaert (1934-2008): The Adventures of Jodelle (1966) and Pravda (1967). The remastered editions will be produced in collaboration with the late artist's estate, which will contribute previously unseen material for extensive archival supplements.

Both albums were originally released in France by Eric Losfeld, the controversial publisher who passionately defied censorship in the lead-up to the cultural revolution of 1968; along with Jean-Claude Forest's Barbarella, Peellaert's Jodelle and Pravda were among the earliest of European adult-oriented graphic novels.

The Adventures of Jodelle, whose voluptuous title heroine was modeled after French teen idol Sylvie Vartan, is a satirical spy story set in a Space Age Roman-Empire fantasy world. Its then-revolutionary clashing of high and low culture references, borrowing as much from Renaissance painting as from a fetishized American consumer culture, marked the advent of the Pop movement within the nascent "9th art" of comic books, not yet dignified as "graphic novels" but already a source of great influence in avant-garde artistic circles. Visually, Jodelle was a major aesthetic shock. According to New York magazine, its "lusciously designed, flat color patterns and dizzy forced perspective reminiscent of Matisse and Japanese prints set a new record in comic-strip sophistication."

Released a year later and first serialized in the French counter-culture bible Hara-Kiri, Pravda follows the surreal travels of an all-female motorcycle gang across a mythical American landscape, led by a mesmerizing cold-blooded heroine whose hyper-sexualized elastic anatomy was this time inspired by quintessential Gallic chanteuse Françoise Hardy. Pravda's eye-popping graphics pushed the psychedelic edge of Jodelle to dazzling new heights, further liberating the story from narrative conventions to focus the reader's attention on the stunning composition and glaring acid colors of the strips, with each frame functioning as a stand-alone cinematic picture.

From Pravda — click to enlarge

Pravda, with its themes of female empowerment and beauty emerging from chaos, became an instant sensation on the European underground scene, inspiring various tributes and appropriations from the worlds of film, literature, fashion, music, live arts, advertising or graphic design. Over the years, it has acquired a rarefied status as a unique and timeless piece of Pop Art defying categorization or trends, and has found itself exhibited in such unlikely "high culture" institutions as the Musée d'Orsay or the Centre Pompidou. An early admirer of Peellaert's radical vision — along with luminaries as diverse as Jean-Luc Godard (who optioned the film rights to Pravda) and Mick Jagger — Frederico Fellini praised Jodelle and Pravda as "the literature of intelligence, imagination and romanticism."

The Adventures of Jodelle was published in the United States in 1967 by Grove Press, whose legendary editor-in-chief Richard Seaver (the man credited with introducing Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs and Henry Miller to America) also provided the translation; Pravda has never been released in English, despite its lead character transcending the long out-of-print book where she originated to become a peculiar iconic figure, the maverick muse of a few "au courant" art and design aficionados from Paris to Tokyo.

Refusing to cash in on the phenomenal success of Jodelle and Pravda (he viewed the former as a one-time graphic "experiment" of which the latter marked the accomplishment) the reclusive Peellaert abruptly left cartoons behind after only two albums at the dawn of the 1970s to pursue an obsessive kind of image-making which painstakingly combined photography, airbrush painting and collage in the pre-computer age. His best-known achievement in America remains the seminal 1973 book Rock Dreams, a collection of portraits which resulted from this distinctive technique and was hailed as "the Sistine Chapel of the Seventies" by Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, eventually selling over a million copies worldwide, influencing a generation of photographers and earning its place in the pantheon of rock culture. Other well-known creations include the iconic artwork for David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album cover (1974) as well as The Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock ‘N' Roll the same year. Peellaert also created the indelible original poster for Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver (1978), the first of many commissions from renowned auteurs including Wim Wenders, Robert Altman, Stephen Frears, Alain Resnais and Robert Bresson.

As the original negatives and color separations for Jodelle and Pravda are long lost (interestingly, Peellaert never reclaimed the original ink-on-paper pages from Losfeld) Fantagraphics will be re-coloring both books digitally. "The original books were colored via hand-cut separations from Peellaert's detailed color indications," said Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson, who will be editing and translating the new editions. "Since the Losfeld editions were printed quite well and Peellaert's linework is thick and simple, we're going to be able to generate crisp black-and-white versions of the line art to start from which should duplicate the original ‘look' exactly. Although actually our edition of Pravda should be better than the original, which had some pretty erratic color registration."

The Adventures of Jodelle is scheduled for release in May 2012, and Pravda in November 2012, both in deluxe oversized hardcover editions. Each will feature an extensive original essay discussing the works and their historical context, accompanied by numerous archival illustrations and photographs.

"I am terrifically excited to bring these two landmark books to American audiences — especially Pravda, which has never been published in English," said Thompson. "They are some of the most graphically jaw-dropping comics ever put to paper. They remain both quintessentially 1960s in attitude and look, and utterly timeless."

From Pravda — click to enlarge

Comics Alliance previews Dave McKean's Celluloid

mike

Comics Alliance's Andy Khouri shares a bunch of gorgeous images from Dave McKean's Celluloid and offers some commentary and links related to the book:

"On sale soon from Fantagraphics, Celluloid is the story of a woman who, during a moment of sexual frustration, discovers a film projector and reel of film that depicts a couple having sex. In a twist familiar to fans of McKean's work with Neil Gaiman, this woman finds herself traveling from our world into a dreamlike realm of sexual fantasies that's presented in the artist's trademarked style(s). As the story progresses, so too does the form of McKean's artwork."

Censor bars ahoy!

Stan Sakai at the Phoenix Comicon This Weekend

janice

Meet Stan Sakai this weekend at the Phoenix Comicon 2011, kicking off Thursday, May 26th and running through Sunday, May 29th. He'll be there all weekend, signing at Booth #427!

You can also catch him on Friday, May 27th at 1:30 pm, in the panel "Nuts and Bolts of Comics Creation," where he'll talk about how to take a comic book concept from idea to reality, alongside some fellow pros in the industry.

And you can hear him again on Saturday, May 28th at 1:30 pm, in the panel "Rockstar Animals in the Comic Book World," as he discusses having animals as the lead character in a comic book!

It sounds like a great weekend to get your Usagi Yojimbo box sets and books signed! (And while you're at it, be sure to wish Sakai-san a "Happy Belated Birthday"! It was this past Wednesday!)

Attention Comix Shoppers!

mike

For your shopping pleasure, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery will be open Memorial Day weekend, Saturday 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sunday and Monday 11:30 to 5:00 PM. Check out Charles Peterson's Taking Punk to the Masses show and pick up some lit to enrich your long weekend.

Mark your calendars now for Saturday, June 11!

Jim Woodring signing Congress of the Animals at the festive Georgetown Carnival. Come see Larry and Bella defend their title in Hazard Factory's popular Power Tool Races. This year it's a Peter Bagge-inspired Monster Truck powered by a Black & Decker "Dragster" model belt sander. (I'm swear that's what it's called.) Art, music, circus acts, sideshows, carnival games, comix, cotton candy. What else is there?

Santiago Steals Home at Pittsburgh Signing

janice

Tons of thanks to Phantom of the Attic and to artist Wilfred Santiago for sharing these great pics on the Facebook fan page for 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente! It looks like it was an amazing signing last weekend in Pittsburgh, the very city where Clemente got his start with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

You can check out more pics from the event on the Fantagraphics Flickr, and you can also watch this great video capturing the signing, in case the embedded video doesn't play below.

Thanks so much again to our hosts at Phantom of the Attic!

And Chicago comics fans, you're up to bat as Wilfred Santiago will be signing this Saturday at Chicago Comics [3244 N. Clark Street] at 3:00 pm! Don't miss it!

The Comics Journal #301 - Previews, Pre-Order

mike

The Comics Journal #301
Edited by Mike Dean & Kristy Valenti; Gary Groth, Editor in Chief

640-page black & white/color 6.75" x 8.5" softcover • $30.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-291-3

Ships in: July 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

The Comics Journal has been, for almost 35 years, the standard bearer of critical inquiry, discrimination, debate, and serious discussion of comics as art, and the object of love and devotion among the comics cognescenti — and hate and scorn among the philistines, natch. We published our 300th issue in late 2009 and spent the ensuing year-plus re- conceptualizing the institution as an annual book-length “magazine” — over 600 pages long, chock full of the kinds of criticism, interviews, commentary, and history that has made it the most award-winning and critically lauded magazine in the history of comics.

This volume features a focus on R. Crumb’s most commercially successful project of his career, his comics adaptation of Genesis, including the most extensive interview he’s given on the subject as well as a long critical roundtable among six comics critics reviewing the book and debating each other over its merits; plus:

• An interview with Joe Sacco about his recent journalistic masterpiece, Footnotes in Gaza;

• A peek into the private sketchbooks of (and accompanying interviews with) Jim Woodring, Tim Hensley, and the novelist Stephen Dixon;

• A conversation between Mad Fold-Out creator Al Jaffee and Thrizzle auteur Michael Kupperman;

• A complete full-color reprinting of the 1950s "Gerald McBoing Boing" comic;

• The first significant biographical essay charting the turn-of-the-century cartoonist and illustrator John T. McCutcheon;

• A critical re-assessment of Dave Sim's Cerebus by Tim Kreider

and essays and reviews by R. Fiore, R.C. Harvey, Chris Lanier, Rob Clough, and others.

Over 600 pages long, this is a year's worth of The Comics Journal rolled into one extraordinary objet d'art. As a special treat, this volume is guest designed by internationally respected Criterion art director Eric Skillman. The Comics Journal #301 is no mere magazine but a gigantic compendium covering comics past and present that will shock and delight every truly curious comics reader.

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

One issue not enough? Get on board with a money-saving 3-issue subscription, which also gets you access to the online TCJ back-issue archives at TCJ.com!

Now in stock: Isle of 100,000 Graves and two Jason reprints

mike

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Isle of 100,000 Graves
by Jason and Fabien Vehlmann

56-page full-color 7.25" x 10.25" softcover • $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-442-9

See Previews / Order Now

Five years ago, little Gwenny’s father found, inside a bottle, a map with instructions on how to reach the mysterious Isle of 100,000 Graves and its legendary treasures — and then he vanished. Now Gwenny, having stumbled across another bottle-shipped map, enlists the dubious help of a shipful of pirates, sets out to find the island, and her long-lost dad.

Little does she realize that the Isle comes by its ominous name honestly, as the location of a secret school for executioners and torturers, where apple-cheeked youngsters are taught the finer points of extracting information from prisoners… and then putting an end to their lives in a wide variety of gruesome ways. And they’ve reached the point in their studies where theory should ideally give way to practice, so an influx of uninvited visitors comes as a blessing to the faculty.

And yes, this story is a comedy. Albeit a dark one.

For the first time in his career, Jason has enlisted a writer: Fabien Vehlmann. (Vehlmann has written a number of graphic novels for the French and American markets, including an installment of the legendary Spirou series and the three-volume Green Manor continuity, of which two volumes have been released in English.) Vehlmann has managed to interiorize Jason’s deadpan style and wit perfectly, creating a uniquely smooth and successful collaboration.

Also, just reprinted and back in stock:

Why Are You Doing This?
by Jason

48-page full-color 7.25" x 10.25" softcover • $12.95 $9.71
ISBN: 978-1-56097-655-4

Jason's first full-color book, from 2005. In this deadpan, Hitchcock-meets-Jarmusch thriller, a moody twenty-something wallowing in post-breakup depression finds himself drawn into a paranoid's worst nightmare after his best friend is murdered and the blame is pinned on him.

I Killed Adolf Hitler
by Jason

48-page full-color 7.25" x 10.25" softcover • $12.95 $9.71
ISBN: 978-1-56097-655-4

2008 Eisner Award winner for Best U.S. Edition of International Material. A hitman is hired to travel back in time to kill Hitler in 1939... but things go very wrong. Hitler escapes to the present, leaving the killer stranded in the past. This surprising thriller unfolds with Jason's wickedly dry humor.

Exclusive Savings: The above two books, and all of Jason's other full-color backlist books, are 25% off for the rest of the month! Browse all Jason books here.

Daily OCD: 5/25/11

mike

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Like Saturday morning cartoons, Yeah! was about a kind of science fiction that embraced weirdo aliens rather than science fact. From alt-comix came characters that were outcasts, lived on the margins of society, or had outsider personalities. Instead of being offensive and edgy, this unusual comic book series was imaginative and inventive. ...[I]t was an all-ages gem, and I’m glad that it's back..." – Leroy Douresseaux, I Reads You

• Review: "How does Peter Bagge stay so good after all these years? Hate Annual #9 was as good as any of the previous issues of Hate (possibly better?). I guess that's why he's one of the all time greats. He just stays good year after year, issue after issue. This latest offering involving Buddy and his wife Lisa and son Harold visiting Lisa's parents in Seattle was hilarious, awkward and sublime! It's a hell of an issue and I want to see what happens next..." – P.D. Houston, Renderwrx Productions

• Review: "I was not familiar with Leila Marzocchi's work before [Niger #3], so the subtlety and nuance of her scratchy dark art entranced me right away. It's spooky yet tame enough to remind me of top notch children's book style illustration.... The art is so lovely [that] even when I wasn't sure what exactly was happening story wise, the work on the page was enough to keep me involved." – P.D. Houston, Renderwrx Productions

• Commentary: At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins comments on fellow CBR columnist Chris Mautner's interview with Celluloid creator Dave McKean

• Coming Attractions: In the latest "Graphic Novel Prepub Alert" from Library Journal, Martha Cornog spotlights a bunch of our upcoming Fall releases:

Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture: A Career Retrospective: "Boomer veterans of Mad magazine will remember Davis's exuberant caricatures, windows into the 1950s and 1960s. Davis also worked extensively on horror, war, and Western titles for EC Comics and other publishers, and his mangier version of the Crypt-Keeper became the character's portrait. Known as a super-fast worker, Davis turned out a huge amount of work, and this collection brings together a variety of comics and commercial art from every stage of his checkered career."

Oil & Water by Steve Duin & Shannon Wheeler: "In 2010, Duin and Wheeler joined a group from Oregon touring the environs of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. And, it appears, theirs is the first graphic novel reportage on the devastating BP blowout.... You will buy this."

The Hidden by Richard Sala: "Classic setup: a bunch of strangers stranded in a diner during a snowstorm, with a killer on the loose outside. And just for extra fun, maybe a global catastrophe in the works.... Clean line color drawings with a tongue-in-cheek feel."

Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 by Michael Kupperman: "The recent publication of Twain's real autobiography sets the stage for mocking the master of mockery, who surely would have chortled at the homage. This Twain tells of hunting the Yeti ('Come out here and face me, you snow-covered coward!'), meeting the Six Million Dollar Man, having a love affair with Mamie Eisenhower ('Boy oh boy, this lady was one hot dish'), and accidentally becoming involved in X-rated films. Proceed at your own risk!"

• Plug: "From his musings on Hamlet to his thoughts on the TV show Married..with Children, Alexander Theroux covers pop culture, literature, and high art while he takes us on a rambling tour of this tiny Baltic country. Theroux examines Estonia’s language and customs in order to get a larger view of a land which holds a population of less than two million. As he states, 'Seeing Estonia — disrobing her — was my focus.'" – Kathleen Massara, Flavorpill "10 Most Anticipated Summer Reads"

• Plug: "...[T]he [Paul] Nelson bio [Everything Is an Afterthought], I have to say, is completely amazing, one of the half dozen greatest music books I’ve ever read..." – Scott Woods, rockcritics.com