Jules Feiffer and Chris Ware appear at the Chicago Humanities Festival at the Francis W. Parker School on Friday, Nov. 7. From 1-2 PM, Feiffer presents a lecture on "Depression-Era Humor": More info here. And from 4:30-6:00, Feiffer and Ware appear on a panel titled "The Not-So-Funny Situation of Alternative Comix" alongside Lynda Barry, Matt Groening and moderator Michael Miner of The Chicago Reader: More info here.

Online Commentary & Diversions is back! This is a catch-up post so it's a honker:

• Best-of List: Sandy Bilus of I Love Rob Liefeld belatedly compiles the critics' 2008 end of year best-of lists and semi-scientifically determines that Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button was the #1 comic of 2008, with Ganges #2 by Kevin Huizenga at #6. Also on the Top 100 list, in descending order: Love and Rockets: New Stories #1, The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez, The Lagoon by Lilli Carré, Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin, the year's issues of Mome, Sammy the Mouse #2 by Zak Sally, Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane, Popeye Vol. 3 by E.C. Segar, Interiorae #3 by Gabriella Giandelli, Petey & Pussy by John Kerschbaum, Angry Youth Comix #14 by Johnny Ryan, and Deitch's Pictorama by the Deitch brothers. (We also compiled the lists into our own handy shopping guide of 2008 Critics' Picks.)

• Review: "It's a surprisingly rare thing to find the great comic artist who can not only draw with poetry and beauty, but write like a demon as well. In this lavish scrapbook of uncollected ads, posters, covers, ephemera and one-offs [All and Sundry], [Paul] Hornschemeier's skills are nearly as verbal as they are visual, his art encompassing many different styles, from richly layered classical surrealism to densely structured and primary color-heavy McSweeney's-style illustrations. But taken together, the work exhibits an instantly recognizable and distinctive panache. The depth of his art truly comes to life in the melancholic squibs of text and short fictions studding this collection. For all his talents, Hornschemeier is a working artist who clearly takes on all kinds of assignments, from bookstore ads and bookmarks to a quirky little piece on Anderson Cooper commissioned by CNN. Perhaps the intrusion of the journeyman keeps an exquisite volume like this so rewarding and yet grounded." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• Review: "What I liked [in Abstract Comics], I liked for more than just the strips themselves--I liked them for the proof they offer that comics really is still a Wild West medium in which one's bliss can be followed even beyond the boundaries of what many or even most readers would care to define as 'comics.' That an entire deluxe hardcover collection of such comics now exists is, I think, one of the great triumphs for the medium in a decade full to bursting with them." – Sean T. Collins

• Review: "Hallelujah... for Michael Kupperman! He returns with his second collection, Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1, which brings under one cover the first four issues of the same-named comic. And comic it sure as hell is. I'm not entirely certain when I've read anything that made me laugh out loud as often as this volume, with the possible exception of Kupperman's debut Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Caberet. Women who've given birth to multiple children and older readers are advised to secure some kind of adult diaper." – Late Reviews and Latest Obsessions

• Review: "The only problem with Love and Rockets: New Stories is that it's an annual. Volume 2 was, well, fabulous. ... Both Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez are in full form in this volume. Lucky us." – Ace Bauer

• Review: "Willie & Joe is an extraordinarily compiled and presented tribute to Bill Mauldin, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist who chronicled life in the U.S. Army from 1940 to 1945. The set is bound in army green canvas and typeset in the font of an old manual typewriter, the kind an army clerk might have used during the Second World War. The collection is a sensory delight, pleasing to touch and beautiful to see. ... There are many scholarly works written on the topic of World War II, and those books can teach us a lot about the war, but anyone who wants to feel what American soldiers felt during the Second World War should seek out Willie & Joe. ... For the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, for the man who was once America’s most celebrated enlisted man, Willie & Joe is a fitting, and wonderful, tribute." – David Mitchell, BiblioBuffet

• Review: "[Prison Pit Book 1 by Johnny Ryan is an] over-the-top, ultra-violent, gross-out,  juvenile, yet fun and hilarious book... The dialogue that does exist retains his comic sense of disjunction and fights are as demented as you’d expect. This is not a jokey book, but his humor is retained in subtle ways—if you can envision subtle Johnny Ryan humor. ... This is just a balls-out, funny, sicko, good time. My only complaint with Prison Pit is how quickly the story ends, but hopefully the subtitle (Book One) is a promise and not a joke." – Lincoln Michel, The Faster Times [Ed. note: Book Two is in progress and due next year.]

• Review: "Longtime [Richard] Sala readers will recognize some familiar tropes right away [in Delphine]: strange surroundings, shady characters who seem to hold malevolent secrets. And Sala's art is familiar as well, but taken to a new level — lovely watercolors on the covers and moody washes on the gray interiors. The creamy paper that's typical of the Ignatz releases lends additional otherworldly, othertimely atmosphere to the story. And the logo itself is so good it deserved to be used for a long-running series. But it's the story that departs from Sala's work in some major ways... so resonant and unsettling that... it has to rank as one of Sala's major works." – Christopher Allen, Comic Book Galaxy

• Plug: "Reading [The Complete Peanuts 1971-72 and 1973-74] in one fell swoop, I've kind of come to the conclusion that this period is really the apex of Schulz's career. ...he was never as consistently hilarious or as poignant as he was in the early to mid-70s. If you're only buying two volumes of this series, it should be these two." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Plug: "This just in! Steve Ditko book to be awesome: Seriously, just look at this thing. Wow." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

• Plug: Wunderkammer, the blog of Portuguese shop Ghoulgear, recommends Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra as a "beautiful book" of "stunning works"

• Profile: Dan Taylor of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat catches up with Monte Schulz on his book tour for This Side of Jordan: "'It’s weird doing this,' Schulz said by phone from Nevada City during a break between book shop dates. 'It makes me nervous, at every single stop. I just realized I’m not a very public person.'"

• Interview: At Marvel.com, Sean T. Collins' series of chats with Strange Tales contributors continues with Stan Sakai talking about the creation of Samurai Hulk: "Actually, I tried to make it as much of a parallel to the modern Hulk as possible. Such as his name-he is referred to as Sashimono, which means 'banner.' It's a samurai banner. And obviously there's no gamma rays, so he's cursed into turning into the Hulk by a witch called Gama, which is Japanese for 'toad' — she kinda looks like a toad." Oh man I can't wait for that.

• History: Steve Duin at The Oregonian digs up a nugget: Gary Groth on the 50th anniversary of Superman in Amazing Heroes, 1988: "My only interest in Superman, marginal at that, stems from his continuing presence as a symbol of banality and infantilism in the history of the American comic book." And it goes on!

• Events: Gabrielle Bell, Kim Deitch, Hope Larson and Anders Nilsen will be on a comics panel discussion at the University of Richmond next Sunday, Oct. 25 — here's the Facebook invitation

• Things to see: Leon Beyond on mnemonics, by Kevin Huizenga

• Things to see: Michael Kupperman's The Mannister, come to life!

• Things to see: Paul Hornschemeier's illustrations for James Kennedy's in-progress novel The Magnificent Moots (via Paul's blog)

• Things to buy: Commission yourself a cute portrait by Steven Weissman

• Oddity/thing to buy: The R. Crumb snowboarding jacket, as revealed by Robot 6

• Random quote of the day: "Guido Crepax: popular enough to have an entire half-shelf in the Fantagraphics library, circa mid-1990s; not popular enough to have his books stolen by the interns." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Portlanders! Catch Beto & Xaime this weekend as part of the Wonder Woman Day benefit festivities, which include a signing, door prizes and a silent art auction where you can bid on the above WW art from the Bros. Details below from the official Wonder Woman Day website, where there is loads more information:

WONDER WOMAN DAY IV - PORTLAND
Sunday, October 25, 2009 -- 12noon-6pm -- FREE
Excalibur Comics, 2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon
A part of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

An ALL AGES benefit and celebration for Domestic Violence shelters and Crisis Line!
Raphael House of Portland -- Bradley Angle -- Portland Womens Crisis Line

It's an all-star comics hootenanny this Thursday celebrating the release of this year's Charles Burns-edited, Michael Kupperman-covered volume of The Best American Comics. Lifted from PR:

featuring series editors
Jessica Abel and Matt Madden

and contributors
Gary Panter
Michael Kupperman
Gabrielle Bell
Jillian Tamaki
David Sandlin
Ben Katchor

Thursday, October 22, 7–9PM
powerHouse Arena · 37 Main Street (corner of Water & Main St) · DUMBO, Brooklyn

Come celebrate the release of this essential volume of the year’s best American comics at The powerHouse Arena. Series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden will join the authors for a discussion, readings, slide shows, signings and more.

Holy cramoly. This piece by Al Columbia appears in Diamond Comics and is presented by Floating World at Arthur Magazine, where is there a larger version to pore over.

Speaking of previews, industry site ICv2 has an exclusive 5-page preview (a complete story) from Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1, coming from us next month.

Publishers Weekly presents an exclusive 11-page preview from Like a Dog, our forthcoming collection of comics from Zak Sally. Go have a look-see.

Thanks to everybody who came out to see us at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco this weekend! As always we loved meeting fans and hanging out with our pals and colleagues. This year's gold star goes to Frank Santoro, who provided us with our best photo ops and cheerfully helped us out packing up at the end of the show. We can't wait to read your Comics Comics post about the ninja comics you bought, Frank!

Frank flexes the muscles he'd later use packing boxes, while Dash Shaw and Jon Vermilyea look on. Note the early, un-dustjacketed copies of Dash's The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.

Frank, Jon and Jon.

John Pham signing one of the last remaining copies of con debut/sell-out Sublife Vol. 2. That's Leigh Walton of Top Shelf's Tintin sketchbook under John's left arm there.

We sold out of Andrice Arp and T. Edward Bak's issues of Mome before their signing times, so we gave them the day off. Also, get better soon to Renee French, who had to cancel her APE-pearance (sorry, it's late) due to illness.

We have a few additional shots of both APE days over in our Flickr set, including video of Dash painting, so check 'em out if you get a chance.

Hi from San Francisco!

Janice puts the finishing touches on our table setup

Looky all them books. Spot the debuts!

Frank Santoro & Jon Vermilyea, ready to ROCK (and sign issues of Mome)!

T. Edward Bak & Dash Shaw

Lilli Carré took a break from signing her newest book at the Little Otsu table to visit with John Pham and check out Sublife Vol. 2

It might already be Saturday where you are, but we don't want you to miss your Friday webcomics update!

I don't think the folks at Cryptomundo could ever have imagined the events of this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...it's something completely different (no Yikes!) in this week's strip from Steven Weissman ("Chapter 1 of my new Graphic Novel, ha ha" says Steven)...

...and careers, jealousy and bad dancing are topics of our Monday-Friday Rocky strips by Martin Kellerman. Enjoy!