Flickr user Moonage Daydreamer has a few photos from the Art of Stan Sakai exhibit (from early 2009) that I hadn't seen before. The anecdote posted with this photo is typical Sakai, one of the truly gracious men of comics.

(click image to enlarge)

See part 1 for more info about the book.

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Like a Dog
By Zak Sally

One man’s heartfelt and irreverent record of his time on this rock, Zak Sally’s unflinchingly veracious book, Like a Dog, is both direct and oblique, which we find rather miraculous considering the messy and murky waters of human experience it manages to navigate. Like a Dog is among the few comic book testimonials burdened by the yen to understand and articulate the mundane and the magnificent. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself laughing and crying as you claw your way through each hard fought page!

Of all of Sally’s creative pursuits (including a career in music spanning 15+ years), Like a Dog is the one he’s been working a lifetime toward. This hardcover book collects the best of his acclaimed short stories from the past 15 years, created in between band tours and recording sessions, published in his Eisner-nominated self-published series Recidivist (the first 2 issues of which are reprinted here in their entirety) and in publications like Mome, The Drama, Your Flesh, Dirty Stories, and more.

Like a Dog spotlights Sally’s uncanny ability to create emotional havoc out of claustrophobic images, situations and dialogue. Stories like “Don’t Move,” “The War Back Home,” and “Two Idiot Brothers” share little in common on the surface but are united by Sally’s forbidding style, creating a sense of dread that permeates almost every page.

Sally also turns his eye towards nonfiction in Like a Dog, including “At the Scaffold,” the story of the imprisonment and trial of Fyodor Dostoyevsky for allegedly subversive behavior, and “The Man Who Killed Wally Wood,” a story about Sally’s brush with a former publisher of the legendary comic artist (who, contrary to the title of this strip, took his own life after a long battle with alcoholism). It also includes two collaborations: “Dread,” written by NEA Fellowship recipient, Edgar Award finalist, and O. Henry Award winning author Brian Evenson (Altmann’s Tongue); and "River Deep, Mountain High," co-created with fellow cartoonist Chris Cilla.

Like a Dog also includes extensive “liner notes” by the artist, previously unpublished material, an introduction by John Porcellino (King Cat), and other surprises.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 10-page PDF excerpt (2.3 MB).

134-page color/b&w 7" x 10.5" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-165-7
Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

We are pleased to debut a brand new weekly strip in this week's webcomics update:

The House of No by Mome contributor Derek Van Gieson! These are Derek's rejected New Yorker cartoons, and we'll be adding a new one every week. We'll leave it up to you to guess why they were turned down — for our money, they're pretty damn funny.

And in our veteran strips:

All-y all-y in-come-free! It's this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...and the Zip-a-Toned adventures of Barack H. Obama continue in this week's strip from Steven Weissman!

Happy day-before-Halloween — lots of treats in today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Bookmark: And I thought I was thorough! Hats off to Love and Rockets fan blog Love & Maggie, your one stop for comprehensive L&R/Hernandez Bros. link gathering, commentary and more (hat tip to Mike Sterling)

• Profile: Newcity's Beatrice Smigasiewicz talks to Paul Hornschemeier about the conclusion of his Mome serial "Life with Mr. Dangerous" and other topics: “People are routinely surprised to find that in person I joke around all the time and am obsessed with comedy: they think that I must walk around in a constant fog of philosophical conundrums and Weltschmerz.”

• Things to see: It's getting to be time for Giant Robot's annual Post-It Show, with artists such as Johnny Ryan and Tim Hensley revealing their entries

• Things to see: Speaking of Tim, I want this to be a real thing so badly I can feel the flocking on my fingertips

• Things to see: Speaking of Johnny, he reveals that the final (sniff) issue of Nickelodeon magazine includes a strip written by him and drawn by Hector Mumbly (Dave Cooper) — !

• Things to see: At the Jim Flora blog, outtakes from The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora

• ???: Can anyone translate this page for us? It's photos of Thomas Ott seemingly leading some kind of comics workshop, but beyond that I haven't a clue

• Contest: Create a text-only comic, submit it to Doctor Popular, and you could win a copy of Abstract Comics

• Staff: Oh snap! Our own Jason T. Miles is now blogging at Comics Comics. Holy crap that guy can write

• Crass Google pandering: Sasha Gray tells AOL's Asylum that she likes Ghost World (via AOL's Comics Alliance)

The lovely and talented Dame Darcy will be gracing the fair city of Seattle for the Seattle International Cabaret Festival. Come enjoy music, a reading of Meat Cake, cabaret, and short films. Details follow, and check Dame Darcy's blog for all her latest news.

Can Can Presents Seattle International Cabaret Festival
Dame Darcy featured at Pensione Nichols (a Victorian Bed and Breakfast where we are doing parlour shows) 1923 1st Ave. downtown Near Pike Place market. These shows are early in the evening because the Cabaret shows are later at a selection of Related Venues.

"Poe's Peculiar Parlour" shows will begin at 7p.m. with Tarot and tea... followed by film, literature and live musical performances! Victorian Parlour style... dress up reccommended but not neccesary.

Saturday Nov 14th
Vinsantos (SF)
hosted by: Diva Le Deviant
6:00 Dame Darcy Films & Book Signing Meat Cake (Fantagraphics Books)
Book reading and More!
7:00 Palm reading at by Dame Darcy
short film by Miss Oblivious

Sunday Nov 15th
6:30 Lonesome Shack (Seattle)
8:00 Death By Doll (music): Dame Darcy's ElectRococo/ VamPirate band
Maureen O' donnell (author of "Scar Flowers")
short surprise film screenings

And, yes, that gag is on page 666 of our stupifying collection of the master cartoonist's Playboy work.

(click image to enlarge)

See part 1 for more info about the book.

Monte Schulz will be participating in a real-time tweetchat today, hosted by LitChat from 4PM-5PM EST. Follow Monte on Twitter, or use tweetchat and the "#LitChat" hashtag.