Everybody's getting excited for Free Comic Book Day tomorrow and to stoke your ardor even more we're pleased to present this loving real-life look at our Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse FCBD preview comic. Check out more previews and find participating comic shops at the FCBD website! (One place you're guaranteed to find it: Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle!)

You have hopefully read the first 3 issues of Zak Sally's astounding Ignatz Series comic Sammy the Mouse. Or maybe you've been "trade-waiting." Either way, you'll want to get in on the Kickstarter campaign for Zak's self-published, self-printed collection of those 3 issues. Yeah, we'd also like it if you buy the 3 issues from us. But this is the beauty of creators' rights and the DIY spirit! And you know that since the collection is coming straight from Zak it's going to be a beautiful product made with love. A twelve buck pledge gets you the book — jeez that's reasonable! — and there's spiffy pledge bonuses at the higher levels. The video above brings a god damn tear to my eye.

Hey, why don't you ask Zak all about it at TCAF?

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "This book in particular reprints a run where Mickey Mouse enters Pluto in a dog race and ends up getting mixed up with a banker who wants to foreclose on a friendly old couple, snooty society types, high-stakes gamblers and the mob. The mob, people. It's really great stuff, with a ton of adventure and action balanced out with the humor I was expecting, which really holds up even here in the next century, right down to the fun Vaudeville-style wordplay. I would've devoured this thing if I was a kid, and while it's ostensibly a teaser for the bigger reprint volumes -- which, at $30 for 300 pages are looking like an even better deal than I thought -- it's awesome for all ages." – Chris Sims, Comics Alliance

• Review: "Joe Daly's comics are an unequivocal delight. The second volume of his role playing/video game send-up and tribute, Dungeon Quest, is a visual feast from beginning to end. Of course, this feast may be mere junk food, but his sheer commitment to the adventurous reality that his characters encounter makes the reader care about the most ridiculous of scenarios.... While there are a number of alt-comics fantasy series being published these days (with Trondheim & Sfar's Dungeon the best), Daly's fusion of underground comics sensibilities with the blunt directness of the video game playing experience is unique and leaves the reader wanting more." – Rob Clough, High-Low

• Interview: At Under the Radar, Jeremy Nisen talks to Eye of the Majestic Creature creator Leslie Stein: "Right now I pretty much write out the comic like a movie script and then just attack the page. As I go along I change some of the dialogue or add different sequences I've thought of to enhance the story, like if there's something I draw in a background on a whim, I might like it and incorporate it into the story. This way it's exciting as I go along, and not just laborious drawing. As for the concept, it just pops into the old bean. Magic!"

• Plug: In a pre-TCAF Q&A at the National Post, comic artist Niki Smith talks about her most-anticipated comic of the year: "Wandering Son is debuting at TCAF (from Fantagraphics) and I absolutely cannot wait to add it to my collection and push it on everyone I know. It’s a wonderful story of gender and sexuality and growing up."

• Plug: "Fantagraphics is nice enough to offer another Jacques Tardi/Jean-Patrick Manchette joint, Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot... Bleak, existential French comics from the early 1980s? Yes, please!" – Greg Burgas, Comic Book Resources

• Plug: "The Hidden – The three magic words: New Richard Sala. Also, mental patients on the loose." – Michael May, Robot 6

This 42" x 36" Jim Woodring drawing, created with his giant pen at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, is being auctioned (along with other artworks) to benefit SKYDIVE, a local artist run center. (Via Marc Bell.)

Paul Hornschemeier hasn't even started his Life with Mr. Dangerous book tour and already he's hit a significant bump in the road, losing some key support at his other publisher. So now he's doing it DIY-style, raising funds via a sale in his online shop and just plain begging. He explains it all here. One of his tour stops is at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on June 18, so we definitely appreciate anything you can do!

Jason shares another uncolored page from his forthcoming book Athos in America, this time from the title story, at his blog. The French dialogue will be translated for our edition, of course. Basically, Athos is confused and overwhelmed by the noise, hustle and bustle, and strange food ("hot dog?") of New York City — the last line is "I feel old in New York."

Floyd Gottfredson, born on this day in 1905. I wish I could take credit for planning to post our Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 previews on this day specifically, but it was pure coincidence! Above, Gottfredson in 1930; below, in 1975.

A strong comics contingent was present at last weekend's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The L.A. Times Jacket Copy blog reports from the "World in a Frame: The Graphic Novel" panel with Daniel Clowes, Dash Shaw and Jim Woodring (above); Mark Kalesniko signed and met fans at the Hi De Ho Comics booth (below; more pics here); and no photos of Carol Tyler have turned up yet but she posted the sketch at bottom prior to her departure and relates a few non-festival experiences here (updated:) and more here. For more, Corey Blake also reports from the scene.

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

Ships in: May 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-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.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 19-page PDF excerpt (4.1 MB) which includes the full Table of Contents, David Gerstein's first chapter introduction, and 15 pages of strips!

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

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "It may seem hard to believe today, but Gottfredson’s strip was a fluid, rubber-limbed, sassy, slangy, breathless, seamless mix of absurdity and adventure. The proof is here. Fantagraphics intends to reprint the whole shooting match, and here in [Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse] Volume One are the first two years.... The various inkers and pencillers who worked on the strip are profiled, and intelligent remarks are made on the strip’s economic and cultural issues. We could only wish the reproduction on these dailies were larger; otherwise it’s pretty much an ideal volume. Rating: 9/10" – Michael Barrett, PopMatters

• Review: "...I am a complete sucker for history and particularly graphic biographies — especially when they are as innovative and imaginative as this superbly passionate and evocative account of the life of a groundbreaking sports star, quietly philanthropic humanitarian and culture-changing champion of ethnic equality.... Rather than a dry accounting of his life, author Wilfred Santiago’s tale skips forward and back, illustrated in a studied and fiercely expressionistic melange of styles which sketch in tone and mood, and feel the life of a true frontrunner and a very human hero.... Lusciously realised in sumptuous earth-tones and powerfully redolent of the spirit of Unjust Times A-Changin’, [21: The Story of Roberto Clemente] is a fabulous book for every fan of the medium and not simply lads and sports-fans." – Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

• Review (Video): The hosts of The Backroom Comics Podcast discuss Jacques Tardi's The Arctic Marauder (starts about 33:16): "It can't be denied that this is gorgeous, gorgeous comic... the artwork is incredible....[It's] incredible in its pacing, its artistry, its storytelling..." "It is an incredibly well-done book and the quality of it for the price — it's amazing, honestly.... Don't cheat yourself. Read the thing."

• Review (Audio): On The Savage Critics' Wait, What? podcast, cohost Graeme McMillan discusses Dave McKean's Celluloid (starts at 50:28): "Looking through it, I was like 'oh, this is really Dave McKean-y, but I don't really see it as porn' — until there was a part where I was like 'oh, yes it is.' There's actually a part where he manages to meld the two really, realy well, and in a way that I did not expect — from him, but also just in general. Like I was surprised to see it.... If you just like McKean, it's got some stunningly good work in there, and it's very much in keeping with a McKean-ness... so on that level, even if you have no interest in the story or the concept, just as a piece of McKean's work I think it's really worth seeing."

• Plug: "Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind and Beyond... is not a graphic novel, it's more of a gallery/ cultural history book but it's published by Fantagraphics (mostly a comics publisher). Fantagraphics was every bit as important to the sub-culture scene of Seattle in the '90s as Sub Pop Records was. This book traces the history of Grunge and the punk sub-culture of Seattle from the '70s through the '90s. Did I mention it comes with a DVD loaded with interviews from underground luminaries?" – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy