Online Commentary & Diversions, back from the U.S. holiday:

• Gift Guides: Rob McMonigal of Panel Patter goes through our new mail-order catalog (about which more soon!) to pick out his holiday gift-giving recommendations; The Beat and The Comics Reporter both post guides to holiday gift books with several of our books mentioned

• Review: "Freakazoid producer Mitch Schauer's debut graphic novel Rip M.D. is a warm and spooky tale for monster kids of all ages. [...] Drawn and inked in pitch-perfect EC Comics monster style, Rip M.D. pushes every one of my monster-loving buttons. The writing is witty, the plot sprightly, and the monsters are the heroes I always knew them to be. What's not to like?" – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

• Review: "Beto’s contribution to the Igort-edited Ignatz line of international art-comic series, [New Tales of Old Palomar] present[s] a suite of stories from Palomar’s past. They fill in a few notable lacuane — where Tonantzin and Diana came from, what was up with the gang of kids we’d occasionally see who were a few years older than the Pipo/Heraclio group, how Chelo lost her eye. A lot of this turns out to be really fascinating... But to me it’s not what’s told that matters, but how it’s told. [...] Beautiful stuff." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "[Fire and Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics] is a good and valuable book, but one wonders what Bell could do with a better documented figure, if he can find an angle or provide insights not seen before. But enjoy it for what it is, a portrait and gallery of a talented, troubled artist whose work should be better known today." – Christopher Allen, Trouble with Comics

• Review: Andrea Ciolfi of Lo Spazio Blanco on the Italian edition of Locas in Love by Jaime Hernandez

• Plug: "...I’ve read a lot of books about weird films, but I’ve never seen one quite like Destroy All Movies: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film by Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly ($35, Fantagraphics). Printed in black-and-white and day-glo pink, the book catalogs virtually every single movie that ever featured a punk on-screen. I’m not just talking about the classics, like Rock ’N’ Roll High School and Repo Man, either. I’m talking about movies like Star Trek IV, which features a punk rocker in exactly one scene. And the book has an interview with the actor, too! Now that’s attention to detail." – Will Pfeifer, Rockford Register Star

• Plug: The Seattle Times travel section calls Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery a "hot shop" in Georgetown and says it's "heaven for fans of comics"

Norman Pettingill is the subject of a newly-opened art exhibit in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. From the announcement, as reported by NewsoftheNorth.Net: "Forty Pettingill drawings, now part of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center collection in Sheboygan, are on display or the first time in 15 years and will remain so until Jan. 16. More than 100 drawings from this renowned collection are featured in Norman Pettingill: Backwoods Humorist, a new hardcover book published by Fantagraphics." (Note that the JMKAC website seems to be down at press time.)

Chapter 10 of Kurt Wolfgang's serialized story "Nothing Eve" will run in Mome Vol. 22 (the Spring 2011 issue); Kurt presents the first two pages (1, 2) at the New Bodega blog.

The Comics Journal's Tom Crippen presents some samples of Gahan Wilson's National Lampoon strip "Nuts" (to be released in a complete collected edition by your pals here at Fantagraphics in the not-too-distant future).

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Drew Weing's slender, hand-sized debut graphic novel Set to Sea is a crosshatched masterpiece. [...] Weing draws in an elaborate, crosshatched style that's half Popeye, half Maakies, and it meshes brilliantly with the subject matter and the storytelling. Set to Sea is so lovely in places that I found myself exclaiming aloud -- it's got a naive-but-self-conscious grace that is impossible to describe and that few have ever mastered. This one is highly recommended." – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

• Review: "In the first and the second volume [of Mome] there are a lot of things to enjoy. Stories differ both in length (there are one-page strips, too) and in narrative technique. [...] In these two books there [is] a lot [that is] interesting and confusing, enjoyable and intriguing. Do not be a mome, read these first-rate collections of comics." – Ray Garraty, Endless Falls Up

• Review: Attentiondeficitdisorderly's Sean T. Collins looks at Gilbert Hernandez's half of Love and Rockets Vol. II #20 (as reprinted in the Luba hardcover) in his ongoing "Love and Rocktober" series: "At long last he returns to Venus, Petra’s daughter and one of the least damaged, most well-adjusted, most self-assured characters in the whole post-Palomar oeuvre. [...] It’s an uplifting note to end on after all this darkness."

• Plug: NPR's Glen Weldon recommends "Five Tomes to See You Through Your Turkey Coma": "In honor of the 25th anniversary of this classic all-ages 'funny animals' tale of Miyaomoto Usagi, a stoic samurai rabbit who roams 17th-century Japan, Fantagraphics has collected the first seven trades in a sumptuous 2-book, 1200-page hardcover edition [Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition]. Which, uh ... won't be out until December. Until then, you can pick up a couple volumes and get a taste of Sakai's masterful, action-packed, richly detailed storytelling, and see why it's become such a beloved series."

• Plug: "Mascots, [Ray] Fenwick's forthcoming follow-up [to Hall of Best Knowledge], is similarly a series of episodes told through inventive typography and absurd yet hilarious text. But integrating these elements with brightly colored paintings, the book depicts a more surreal, frenzied world that is strangely resonant with today's super speedy internet age." – Space 15 Twenty

• Reviewer: Dash Shaw on the Osamu Tezuka documentary Secrets of Creation at Comics Comics

It's time for a new episode of Yikes! animated adventures! Look at all those familiar names in the credits: Steven Weissman (creator), Martin Cendreda (animation), Johnny Ryan & Walt Holcombe (voices)... it's an explosion of talent and hilariousness!

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new title. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators are saying about our release this week, check out our previews at the link, and contact your local shop to confirm availability.

Special Exits
by Joyce Farmer

208-page black & white 8" x 10" hardcover • $26.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-381-1

Ordering Info & Previews

"A decade-plus in the making project by underground veteran Joyce Farmer; observations of the declining health of her father and stepmother, and Farmer’s own changing role in their lives. I know nothing more, but I’ll be eager to look further." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

"Joyce Farmer's fictionalized memoir of dealing with her parents' final years is incredibly powerful and sad; it's also got some fascinating stylistic ties to her underground work from the '70s (you can see where that kind of post-Binky Brown aesthetic has ultimately led her)." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance

"Joyce Farmer's new book about seeing to elderly parents. This book's appearance speaks well to comics' ability to rediscover certain voices and give their best work a publishing platform no matter when in life that best work comes. As long as there's some ability for a cartoonist to walk into a publisher with a big stack of page and walk out with a book contract, comics is going to be okay." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"...Special Exits [is] a new memoir by former underground cartoonist Joyce Farmer about how she came to take care of her ailing parents in their final years. Yes, there’s been quite a lot of those kind of books out lately, but Farmer’s an interesting talent (she famously founded Tits n Clits in the 70s as a response to the misogynism of the early undergrounds) and the book has been building a strong, steady buzz. I’m curious." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

"Having cared for both my parents as they grew old, I know that final journey can be sad but also marked with moments of humor, terror, and pathos. It looks like Joyce Farmer gets it, and her family is quirky enough to make for some good reading..." – Brigid Alverson, Robot 6

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "The second volume of Linda Medley's quirky Eisner-winning modern classic has finally arrived. [...] Castle Waiting is a warm yet bittersweet ramble through the margins of the fairy tale world. [...] Medley's distinctive black and white art is full of life, while her writing is as engaging if leisurely as ever." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "...[O]ne of the best and most under-covered of many under-covered comics of 2010 [is] Fantagraphics’ English-language edition of Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches. [...] Fascinatingly structured as a 20-page overture leading into an illustrated prose account of wartime experiences by the artist’s grandfather, and only then starting the work proper, a non-chronological barrage of soldiers’ experiences told in wide panels, three per page, unwavering, in contrast to the overture’s more dynamic usage of the page – everything in this book’s makeup draws attention to itself as a comic." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

• Review/Profile: "One day, the gods of all ART great and marvelous, finally will decide to roll out their lengthy gilded achievement banner listing cartoonists, illustrators and caricaturists... who have been creatively talented beyond the skills of mere mortal men and women. Without a doubt, near the top of this list of illustrious souls... will be the name... Drew Friedman. [...] With Too Soon? Drew Friedman has not only once again solidifies his stature as one the of the planet's funniest, most observant and skilled artists, I can add the often used, but in this case it's actually true, label of that of a living legend. [...] If I could give this book ten stars I would. If I could give this book whatever letter should come before the letter 'A' because it is better than an 'A' then I would give it not only that mysterious letter, but add around five or six pluses. Buy this book as a gift for yourself, your friends, loved ones, siblings, children, parents and grandparents." – Robert Jaz, Forces of Geek

• Profile: At the CCS Visiting Faulty blog recounts Carol Tyler's visit to the school last week: "When the fun was over, Tyler put on her Lois Lane Reporting Hat to deliver her scoop on herself. She started with a photo of her home, which boasts a bountiful garden out front. 'That isn’t yard work,' she said, 'What you’re looking at are scripts. If I can’t figure out a punchline, I’ll just rip up part of my lawn.'" (See photos on the CCS Flickr page.)

• Interview: It's the final installment of The Daily Cross Hatch's conversation with Jaime Hernandez: "I remember hoping — I remember that, when Gilbert and I were doing fanzine work for small publishers, some guy in his bedroom, he would say, 'we would like people to send their art,' and things like that. We just wanted to be published. We knew it wasn’t the big time, but it was just kind of fun to be out there, even on a small scale. Yet, at the same time, we did have stories to tell, and we were hoping that one day they would be published."

Gipi recounts the story behind this illustration, learning that he's not the first artist in Italy to have this idea recently.

An exciting announcement from Zak Sally and his La Mano 21 imprint: The Kim Deitch Files print portfolio nears completion and will make its debut at two opposite-coast events in December: the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival on Dec. 5 and the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 4th Anniversary celebration on Dec. 11, where Zak will also be performing a solo music set. Sez Zak:

"The Kim Deitch Files is a limited edition portfolio of the looseleaf 'story' pages which serve as Kim's sketchbook; it's where he works out the ideas for his comics. included in this folio are selections of the original story pages from many of Kim's major works (Alias The Cat, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams) as well as many of his other projects (Deitch's Pictorama, Southern Fried Fugitives), never before seen projects (the aborted Alice's Adventures Underground) and even a couple pretty jaw dropping life studies. they are exclusively in pencil, many in a fully rendered style that is both insanely gorgeous and (in their way) totally different than what you 'expect' from Kim's art. these pages have rarely been seen, and as individual pieces and as a look into the process of a master cartoonist...this is the real deal, folks."

More details and progress photos at the La Mano website. I can't wait to see this sucker in person!