Steven Weissman announces on his blog:

Awesome! It's only 99¢! Buy it!

With our ongoing warehouse move, we're in a spring cleaning mood, and have decided to raid the archives are start selling some uniquities from the office, warehouse and even the personal collection of Gary Groth. First up, a lovely war comics page from the 1950s/1960s by the late Jerry Grandenetti:

For the full eBay listing, go HERE. Can anyone identify the exact comic this page comes from? If so, email us at fbicomix at fantagraphics dot com and we'll be very grateful. 

UPDATE: ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT TO BID! 

What I Did
by Jason

272-page black & white/duotone 6.5" x 8.75" hardcover • $24.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-414-6

Ships in: November 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

A matching volume to 2009’s Almost Silent, What I Did collects three of Jason’s acclaimed 1990s graphic novels into a handsome, definitive omnibus format.

"Hey, Wait...," which was the first of Jason's books to be translated to English, tells the story of two childhood friends. A dreadful event midway through the story changes their lives forever, and the story becomes the summary of lives lived, wasted, and lost. Jason's sparse dialogue, dark wit, and supremely bold use of "jump-cuts" from one scene to the next make "Hey, Wait..." a surprising and engaging debut.

"Sshhhh!" is one of Jason’s virtuoso silent performances, the cradle-to-grave life of one of his bird-headed characters. A sharp suite of short tales, ranging from funny to terrifying to surreal to touching, all told entirely in pantomime. Jason's clean, deadpan art style hides a wealth of emotion and human complexity, leavened with a wicked wit.

And the one Jason fans have been waiting for is the long-out-of-print "The Iron Wagon," an ingenious, atypically (for Jason) talky murder mystery set in early-20th-century Norway, adapted from a classic Norwegian novel by Stein Riverton — albeit starring Jason’s patented blank-eyed animal-headed characters and told in moody two-color panels.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 23-page PDF excerpt (864 KB) with pages from each story.

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

Bonus Savings: Order What I Did together with its companion volume Almost Silent and save 20%! Click here to order.

(Click to enlarge)

This "Handy Fantagraphics Map/Staff Field Guide" was created by Chi-Wen Lee and Andrew Davis to help future interns: it dates roughly back to the third week of October, where it originated over a bubble tea-fueled discussion about Lucky in Love, how awesome the Fantagraphics people are, the awesomeness of Seattle, the mysterious stairway that leads to the upstairs apartment, how hard it is to remember everyone's names, and Pinocchio with a gun. Yes, in that order. 

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "I enjoyed Tardi’s art, which made me feel as though I was visiting 1911 Paris. [...] The stories are dense and packed with outrageous events, providing a sense of adventure. The recaps, as characters explain what’s going on to each other, were both a help... and a satire, reinforcing just how much Tardi is playing with the conventions of the genre and layering event upon event, a kitchen-sink approach to plotting that keeps the reader interested in a world that seems so sedate but where anything can happen. [... The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Vol. 1] is fun, but with the knowing remove of self-awareness and satire." – Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading

• Review: "Some of the conversations are amusing and the awkward silences of real life relationships are nicely portrayed by silent panels and the characters body language. The eight panel grids are the same on every page but that's not a bad thing. [Werewolves of Montpellier] is not the kind of tale that calls for spectacular graphics." – Eamonn Murphy, SF Crowsnest

• Review: "Set to Sea by Drew Weing... is about 150 pages long, but only has one illustration per page. It is always a good illustration, and this story of a would-be writer who’s shanghaied into being a pirate is great fun. Weing’s art is cartoony, but that helps lessen the violence of ship to ship battles with boarding parties hacking at each other with cutlasses. Weing is a young cartoonist to watch." – Mike Rhode, Washington City Paper

• Review: "...[T]he most recent installment in the annual [Love and Rockets] series features a couple of moments that are as technically brilliant and as profoundly moving as anything the series has seen in the past. It’s not easy to get to that level of emotion without collapsing under the weight of your own portentousness, but the Hernandez brothers have managed it." – Bob Temuka, The Tearoom of Despair [Spoiler warning!]

• Review: "As soon as I finished reading the new Love and Rockets, I could only think about how much I want to read further. Definitely it will be some time before the next issue and possibly when it is released I'll admit that it is worth waiting every day, but fortunately for the moment I can always go back to previous work by the brothers Hernandez, and read their latest project again and again." – Aristedes Kotsis, Comicdom (translated from Greek)

• Review: "I know I just got finished explaining that biology is destiny in the Palomar stories. But what struck me upon rereading the material collected in this volume, dominated by the titular story of a serial killer’s stay in the town, is the power of ideas. Not emotional or sexual drives, even, like the web of lust and unrequited love surround Luba’s mother Maria in the suite of stories that forms the second half of the collection, but actual honest-to-god ideas. [...] If Heartbreak Soup showed us Gilbert the literary comics stylist, Human Diastrophism shows us Gilbert the mindfucker — the Gilbert who’s still with us today." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly (a continuation of the "Love and Rocktober" series)

• Interview (audio): Guest co-host Dan Zettwoch gets in on the Carol Tyler interview action in the new episode of The Comix Claptrap podcast — two of my faves together!

• Commentary: "'Frank in the Ruse Garden,' like all the Frank stories, like most of Jim Woodring’s work, is one hundred percent unadulterated Uncanny. Like Jim Woodring saw fever dreams we’d forgotten ages ago, and put them down on paper to remind us. [...] The Unifactor is an animistic world of spirits and strange forces. Time and again, Frank comes in contact with numinous wonders, and fail to rise to the occasion. Frank comes upon a field of floating souls, and grabs one to use as a flying horse. Frank dives into a well ringed with eyes, and emerges mutated and warped. Frank wanders into the House of the Dead wearing a party hat, and it’s, like, awkward." – Wesley Osam, Super Doomed Planet

• Plug: "How could it be Halloween without some horror comics? I’ve been enjoying Four Color Fear, ed. Greg Sadowski, an anthology of ‘50s horror comics from publishers other than EC. I’m only a couple of stories in and, while none have actually scared me, the oversized, full-color book looks to be a wonderful primer on horror-comics history." – guest columnist Sam Costello, Robot 6

Letters of Note reproduces a 1977 letter from Charles M. Schulz thoughtfully (natch) responding to a question from a young fan. (Via The Comics Reporter.)

Tony serenades Boston, 1989, with an appearance by the late Billy Ruane. (Via the Maakies website.) There's a lot of great stuff on YouTube if you search for Tony Millionaire.

This post has been in progress for nearly a month now... with so much to catch up on, I'll just be highlighting a few selected items and then giving you links to the regularly-updated stuff. As always, click for better viewing and possible commentary at the sources.

• At The Hooded Utilitarian, Ng Suat Tong reports on some recent Jaime Hernandez original art sales, with lots and lots of images

• At Not Quite Clobberin', a scan of a seldom-seen 1997 autobio strip by Jaime Hernandez

• Doc Shaner posted a bunch of Popeye art on his Tumblr last week, including this amazing "Sgt. Popeye's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by Stephen DeStefano

• Shucks, it's an illustrated love letter from 1916 from E.C. Segar to his wife-to-be Myrtle, at Letters of Note (via The Comics Reporter)

• Jason reveals the cover art for the French edition of Isle of 100,000 Graves (L'Île aux 100 000 Morts); plus early strips, illustrations, outtakes and film reviews at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• A new comic for Vice by Johnny Ryan

• Bob Fingerman's They Live poster for an art show at Maxwell's in Hoboken

• Three from Covered: Mome contributor Jon Adams does Yosemite Sam #2; Tom Pappalardo does Acme Novelty Library #1; and Dyna Moe does Tales Designed to Thrizzle #3. Also see Jon's latest Truth Serum strips

• Two from Repaneled: Matthew Allison takes on Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit and Steven Weissman gets in on the fun; also catch up on Steven's latest "I, Anonymous" spots and sketches on his Chewing Gum in Church blog and more on his Flickr page

• Eleanor Davis's letterpress print for The Cloudy Collection; plus her latest sketches, works in progress and other illustrations at her We Be Ouija blog

• Dig Gary Panter's logo design for his multimedia "band" Devin Gary & Ross

• A two-page all-ages horror story by Richard Sala

• A new war-story page by Tim Lane, with interesting background info; plus recent installments of his ongoing Belligerent Piano strip at his Jackie Noname blog

• At Gabrielle Bell's Lucky blog, the concluding installments of her "San Diego Comic-Con Comicumentary" (which Anthony Vukojevich interprets at Repaneled) and some "embarrassing older work"

• Paul Hornschemeier's weekly t-shirt designs at his News and/or Head Lice blog

• Noah Van Sciver's "Blue Wilson" and lots more drawings, strips and news on his blog

• "The King & The Beast" is a 2006 comic by Ray Fenwick

• New installments of the latest Simon & Jack (& Rosalyn!) story by Jordan Crane at What Things Do

And please catch up on the last few weeks worth of the following:

• Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch; more Kevin at The Balloonist and New Construction

• Matthias Lehmann's Bloc-Notes blog and stunning new originals for sale

• Sketchbook drawings at John Hankiewicz's Clip Joint blog

• Drawings, paintings, collages and other images by Frank Santoro at the Cold Heat Comics blog

• Artwork, dolls, fashions, other handicrafts and spells from Dame Darcy

• Artwork & illustrations from Émile Bravo

• Illustrations & sketches at Marco Corona's Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• Vintage Jim Flora illustrations & artwork (plus merch) at the Jim Flora blog

• Nature sketches with running commentary by Debbie Drechsler at her Just Around the Corner blog

• Lots of sketches for Mark Kalesniko's forthcoming graphic novel Freeway (just sent to the printer!) and drawings of women wearing things at his blog

• Comics, illustrations and news from Sergio Ponchione at his Mondobliquo blog

• Laura Park continues to add artwork to her Flickr page

• The latest Josh Simmons sketches, panels and updates at The Furry Trap and The White Rhinoceros and (with Wendy Chin) The Randy Gander and Quackers 

• An entire month's worth of drawings, sketches, photos and jewelry (!) from Renee French

• Animated drawings and Eyeworks Animation Festival updates from Lilli Carré at her Kettle of Fish blog

• Dash Shaw's daily drawings at The Ruined Cast blog

• Sketchbook drawings and comics by Sophie Crumb at her blog

• Caricatures, a new Need to Know video, and commentary on current events by Steve Brodner

• Sketchbook comics etc. by Anders Nilsen at The Monologuist

• More pages from Hans Rickheit's graphic novel in progress Ectopiary, plus other material and commentary at his Squirrel Machine blog

• Pages and panels by Derek Van Gieson at his These Days I Remain blog

• The latest Maakies strips and other updates from Tony Millionaire

• Drawings and works in progress by Joe Kimball on his Flickr page