Look, it's a teeny weeny Jaime Hernandez drawing of Santa Claus at the beginning of the new Bob Dylan video "Must Be Santa"! (Embedding is disabled, so click to watch.) Jaime sez: "Not a bad song either."

A Johnny Ryan superfan named Andrea stitched up the cuddliest little slorge you ever did see, with removable fecid and everything:

More info and photos at Johnny's blog. If we can get Ardent Vein to re-don the C.F. outfit for a Book 2 performance next year, we might have to commission one of these.

Now available for preview and pre-order following its buzzed-about blockbuster debut at APE: The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw. This nifty hardcover volume compiles Shaw's storyboards, backgrounds, production art etc. for his IFC.com animated short of the same name alongside his acclaimed Mome short stories and more, all wrapped in a clever animation cel-inspired clear acetate overlay dustjacket. Download an exclusive PDF excerpt with the first 5 pages of 2 stories (10 pages total) right here. This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime in the next few weeks and in stores approximately 4 weeks after that (subject to change).

View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

A few quick hits of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Hornschemeier obviously draws a lot of inspiration from Chris Ware, especially in terms of color scheme and alternating between naturalistic and iconic styles. There's a different level of emotional impact in his comics, however, a certain distance that reminds me more of what Daniel Clowes or Art Spiegelman do in their work. ... All and Sundry is less about the work itself and more about the artist as worker." – Rob Clough

• Review: "...Zak Sally's collection of his Recidivist material and other works [Like a Dog] was positively pugillistic in nature. Of course, the battle Sally was fighting was with himself and his place in the world, both as an artist and a person. ... The extended endnotes written by Sally were one of the most bracing but inspiring pieces of writing I've ever seen by an artist on their own work. It's a statement of purpose not just as an artist, but as a human being." – Rob Clough

• Review: "I recently bought [Sergio Ponchione's] Grotesque #2-3, which contained a two-part story, 'Cryptic City.' ... It’s a noir mystery crushed into a surrealistic adventure, and the two work together excellently under Ponchione’s imagination. ... It’s hard to ignore Ponchione’s gorgeous art in Grotesque #2-3, which is certainly part of their charm. ... At this point, I’m not sure what I’m hoping for more; additional issues of Grotesque, or other works from Ponchione translated into English. (Regardless, I’m running out and buying Grotesque #1 as soon as possible.) This is a beautifully off-kilter comic. Definitely check it out." – Greg McElhatton, Read About Comics

• Analysis: Love & Maggie revisits the Sophia Loren-Luba connection

• Events: Banalization has an MP3 of Paul Hornschemeier reading one of his prose short stories from All and Sundry at Wholly Craft in Columbus OH on his current book tour with Jay Ryan

• Things to see: The new Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond strip by Kevin Huizenga features one of my favorite jokes from the strip so far

• Things to see: I want Johnny Ryan's latest strip for Vice to keep going for 30 more pages

Bagge fans will want to scamper on over to the Vertigo blog for the first sneak peek at his forthcoming original graphic novel Other Lives.

A new weekly batch of online strips? It's your lucky day!

Looking for the bright side of global warming in this week's The House of No by Derek Van Gieson...

...that is a cool trick in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and a footnoted installment of Barack H. Obama funnies in this week's strip from Steven Weissman!

Online Commentary & Diversions with a hockey mask:

• Review: "[Jacques] Boyreau’s new art book, Portable Grindhouse, is more than a stunning collection of VHS box art. Anyone with a sense of nostalgia for cruising the shelves at the local Video Depot will recognize old favorites alongside more than a few bizarre rarities within its pages, and if you don’t feel a sense of loss over the current state of DVD box art, you just don’t have any feelings. ... Like the VHS boxes of old, Boyreau’s introductory essay is less a history of the VHS format and the culture of the rental business than it is a heady evocation of how exciting it was when it first arrived. ...[A] book as lovingly edited as this could only have been put together by someone whose appreciation for these objects is matched by a real love of cinema." – Matthew Caron, Vol. 1 Brooklyn

• Review: "...West Coast Blues... is... a tightly-plotted little crime noir, just the sort of thing that today's discerning comic book readers seem to be interested in... It's noir by way of existential hell, which, let's face it is very French. This is... an admirable book, tightly plotted and full of great cartooning moments. ...You Are There is a heavily dense and convoluted book... presented with a decidedly absurdist and surreal air. ... You Are There constantly skirts the edge of comedy — it knows the language and does the dance — but never becomes the outright farce it so clearly and consistently hints at evolving into. ... Whatever flaws these two books might posses, they and Tardi remain too interesting and rich to be easily dismissed." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Interview: Martha's Vineyard Magazine's Karla Araujo has a Q&A with Jules Feiffer ("Success is nothing to sneeze at, but failure has many possibilities"), followed by an excerpt from Feiffer's upcoming memoir Backing Into Forward

• Reviewer: Laura Warholic author Alexander Theroux's latest book review for The Wall Street Journal tackles the posthumous Nabokov novel The Original of Laura

Not to over-push Portable Grindhouse today, but jeez, how could I pass up the occasion?

Now available for preview and pre-order, one of our most avidly anticipated books of the year: Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box by Jacques Boyreau. This lovingly assembled tribute to a bygone era compiles some of the supertrashiest, most eye-searing home video art and packaging of the VHS era, with an essay by Boyreau describing how the format altered pop culture forever, all slyly packaged in a facsimile VHS-style slipcase. Download an exclusive PDF excerpt of seven of the most glorious spreads right here. This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship sometime later this month and in stores approximately 4 weeks after that (subject to change).

View a photo & video slideshow preview of the book embedded here. Click here if it is not visible, and/or to view it larger in a new window (recommended).

Looks like the Strand Bookstore has been busily updating their YouTube page over the past week or so; among the recent uploads are a reading by smilin' Michael Kupperman from August 18, 2009 (playlist link) and Paul Karasik presenting The Fletcher Hanks Experience on September 16, 2009 (playlist link). Looks like they have embedding disabled so hit those links for all the fun.