Read it! (Bryan and Zack are here visiting our office right now, incidentally.)

Michael Kupperman just announced on the Twitter that he'll be doing the monologues at the NYC Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre's "ASSSSCAT 3000" improv comedy show this weekend! Comedy nerds know, this is a pretty big deal! More info and admission details here.

In association with the "That's Novel!" exhibit at London Print Studio, the Comica Festival presents an evening with Ho Che Anderson next Monday, November 14. Announcement taken from here follows below:

The African-Canadian author Ho Che Anderson makes a rare visit to London to discuss the genesis and success of King, his graphic biography of Martin Luther King Jr, and his wide-ranging adult graphic novels from I Want To Be Your Dog to Scream Queen. Hosted by comic artist Paul Peart-Smith and George Nelson, co-curators of last year’s Black Powers comic art exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library, London.

Tickets: £4 - Booking Required
Where: London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Road, London W10
When: Monday, November 15, 2010 - 6.30pm to 8pm

Click here for advance tickets.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: Howard Stern just can't shut up about Drew Friedman: "Drew Friedman's drawings should sell for at least 300 billion dollars compared to Andy Warhol." From yesterday's show. Thanks Howard! (YouTube link.)

At The Beat, Heidi MacDonald says "On the occasion of Veterans Day, what better book to preview than the extraordinary Lucky in Love by George Chieffet and Stephen DeStefano." Agreed! Check out an exclusive 7-page excerpt of the book over there.

This is a scan of the cover painting by Steven Martinez for Gilbert Hernandez's March 2011 original graphic novel Love from the Shadows (part of the "Fritz films" series), before being formatted for the cover, having the title treatment applied, etc. (If you saw a different version of the cover on The Comics Reporter yesterday, that was the preliminary version. The final cover design is still in the works.)

If, as I did, you don't know who Steven Martinez is, let Kim Thompson school you: "The brother of graphic designer/Tarantino pal Gerald Martinez (who developed the Big Kahuna burger logo for Pulp Fiction among other things), he painted the portrait of Marsellus Wallace's wife Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) that hangs in their house and which Vincent Vega (John Travolta) scrutinizes while he waits for Mia to come down." Talk about some pulp cred!

And hey, here's some further Pulp Fiction trivia from Kim: "Did you know Sid Haig was offered the role of Marsellus Wallace and passed on it? Did you know Steve Buscemi was offered the role of 'Is there a sign outside that says dead nigger storage' Jimmie (ultimately played by Tarantino himself) and had to pass on it because of scheduling conflicts?" No, I did not know that.

Not comics, but a lot of us Seattlites will miss him greatly. 

Photo from the Fantagraphics Warehouse we just moved out of, located a few blocks south of Safeco Field.

Free fun! Celebrate the ronin rabbit and the impending release of Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition by putting some gorgeous Stan Sakai artwork (and design elements based on Jacob Covey's stellar book design) on your desktop. Just click on the size that matches your monitor resolution and the image will open in a new window; if you're on a PC, right-click the image and select "Set As Background"; if you're on a Mac, control+click and select "Set As Desktop Background." (We don't know what the procedure is for iPhones, but if you have one, you probably do, right?) For lots more wallpaper selections, find recent ones here and older ones here.

800 x 600 | 1024 x 768 | 1152 x 864 | 1280 x 960 | 1280 x 800 | 1280 x 720 | iPhone

Look what just turned up: a handful of copies of the first hardcover edition of The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 11: Mr. Natural Committed to a Mental Institution! This means that we now have all 3 editions of this volume in stock and available to order: the original hardcover, the deluxe signed hardcover, and the 2008 softcover reprint. Quantities are very limited so act fast if you want it.