District of Columbians! This Sunday Oct. 18 at 5 PM at Politics & Prose, Paul Karasik presents "The Fletcher Hanks Experience!" a multimedia extravaganza narrated by Fletcher Hanks, Jr.! Buy a copy of You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!, get it signed with a sketch, and get a free Fletcher Hanks coloring book (with a super cool cover by Mr. Charles Burns). More info here; RSVP on Facebook here.

Holy smokes, there's no shortage of Online Commentary & Diversions today:

• Review: "...Prison Pit... is nothing less than a continuous, no-holds barred, violent assault on the eyes. It is literally one god damned, bloody fight scene after another... The book's genius lies in Ryan's sheer nerve and imagination in setting up these battles; he constantly ups the ante in the most bizarre and inventive ways possible. ... Ryan's love of body functions goes into full gonzo mode here. ...you've got a book where body horror extends far beyond the repulsive into the truly sublime and inspired. ... Despite the gore, or perhaps, because of it, Prison Pit is a fantastic, accomplished work." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Review: "Page after page [of The Squirrel Machine] features one of the brothers traversing through some odd, off-kilter landscape, either out in the woods, or, more often, in their home. Between the floorboards and walls seem to exist an endless array of paths and rooms, each cluttered with an endless array of junk, machines and the occasional disturbing, inexplicable oddity. The end result resembles more of an old-style adventure video game than a comic. It's Myst, directed by David Cronenberg." – Chris Mautner, Robot 6 (same link as above)

• Review: "Perhaps what makes West Coast Blues so captivating is how well it highlights the similarities between film and comics, while simultaneously showcasing its own unique ability as a graphic novel to capture the noir aesthetic through word and image. ... Not unlike many noir films, West Coast Blues is replete with car chases, hit-men, drinking, guns, and the occasional salacious scene. All of this is set in Tardi’s straightforward drawing style which is a good fit for the almost matter-of-fact, unsentimental manner in which violence, sex, and life in general are met with during the course of the book." – Sara Cole, PopMatters

• Review: "Most comic strips today, especially those that are humor strips, often avoid topical subjects. Schulz embraced the topics of the era.  They may date the strip, but it never leaves them outdated. ... Schulz was also not afraid to carry on-going storylines for several days or in some cases, even a couple of weeks. ... [The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 ] also features all the favorite subjects like Linus’ annual wait for the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’s trip to Summer camp, and Sally’s letters to Santa Claus.  This is why Peanuts is the greatest strip ever!" – Tim Janson, Newsarama

• Review: "Jason seems to delight in building firm plots, only to swiftly tug them out of sync. The resulting offbeat dynamic is punctuated with deadpan verbal, narrative and graphic punch lines, which pin the stories down at the same time that they suggest grander meanings. 'Where am I?' asks a prisoner. 'I think I'll do some gardening,' says a murdered man. 'Which way?' a son asks his father in 'You Are Here' — the heartrending emotional core of the collection [Low Moon] — as they search for his mother on a barren planet. Each line and frame could mean nothing or could mean everything in this quiet, gripping book." – Becky Ferreira, The L Magazine

• Interview: Jason speaks frankly about Low Moon with Becky Ferreira of The L Magazine (different link than above): "Low Moon, the story, wasn't long enough for a book of its own, so I had to include some other stories to fill it out. They were just ideas for shorter stories I had lying around. There wasn't meant to be any thematic unity. Death, I guess, is a repeating theme. People die a lot."

• Interview: Tommy Hill of the Columbia Daily Spectator talks to The Comics Journal assistant editor Kristy Valenti about comics criticism and The Importance of Comics: "I teach my interns that nobody cares about them and their feelings and their dog when they were 8; while their experience and perspective is valuable, it’s just a jumping off point to get at bigger things."

• Plugs: In his Washington Post review of David Small's Stitches, Michael Sims places Daniel Clowes's Ghost World and Megan Kelso's The Squirrel Mother on "the list of powerful works of art in this versatile medium"

• Plug: "You Are There...: More beautiful Jacques Tardi, a seminal work in comics for adults in the French-language market and a first-paragraph mention work for both Tardi and writer Jean-Claude Forest." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

• Plug: "[You Are There] is a strange, wordy, spicy satire, seeing a man struggle to live on the walls surrounding land stolen from him; maybe it's best to see for yourself." - Joe McCulloch, Jog - The Blog (read the rest of his blurb for some interesting background info on the book)

• Events: At his blog, Hans Rickheit reports back from his Squirrel Machine book tour

• History: At Bleeding Cool, Warren Ellis examines the place of Gil Kane's Blackmark in comics history

Unofficial Gary Groth History Week continues, this time at ComicAttack.net, where Ken Meyer Jr. looks back at Gary's pre-Fantagraphics Fantastic Fanzine, specifically issue #10, with lots of background and commentary from Gary and a PDF download of the full issue. Looks like Ken will be looking at more issues of FF in the future, too, so we'll be sure to alert you when that happens.

Jonas Seaman was there at the Johnny Ryan Prison Pit opening/signing/performance and contacted us to share his large and impressive set of photos from the event. Amazing stuff, Jonas, thanks!

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Where has Joe Daly been hiding? ... The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book... brings us... a tasty blend of cleanly detailed art straight out of Herge, hipster stoner humor and a couple of mysteries that work just as well in Cape Town as they would in the Los Angeles of Robert Towne's Chinatown or Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer stories." – John Mesjak, my3books

• Review: At Robot 6, Tom Bondurant gives his impressions partway through The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book: "So far I've gotten through the relatively-short first story, 'The Leaky Cello Case,' and found it to be nice and laid-back, if a little talky. ...Daly's style is quite appealing, and his use of color really brings his panels to life."

• Review: "[Kevin] Huizenga uses cartoon language to diagram the fuzzy chaos of mental insomnia with absolute clarity and precision [in Ganges #3]. He’s also really made the Ignatz format his own, with stunning use of limited color." – Bill Kartalopoulos, Robot 6 (same link as above)

• Plug: Kevin Schulke gives a quick overview of The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974

• Events: At ICAF, University of British Columbia professor Toph Marshall will discuss "Presocratic Philosophy and Hornschemeier's The Three Paradoxes" — more info at Paul's blog

• Events: Lilli Carré will debut a new animated short at the Citizen Jane Film Festival in Columbia, MO this weekend — more info at Lilli's blog

In a testament to the strip's artistic durability and lasting influence, The Complete Peanuts continued its domination of the Best Domestic Reprint Project category at the Harvey Awards, with the 1967-1968 and 1969-1970 volumes taking home the series's 4th award in 5 years this past weekend at the ceremony at Baltimore Comic-Con. It is our continuing honor to be able to bring these books to you. The Beat has the full list of winners.

Paul Hornschemeier points out on his blog that the McSweeney's-edited More Things Like This is out; this collection of drawn-and-written humor includes Paul, Anders Nilsen, and Jeffrey Brown along with the likes of "Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Vonnegut, Edward Gorey, Henry Darger, David Mamet, David Byrne, Basquiat, Leonard Cohen, Robert Crumb, and too many others to list," as Paul puts it. Wowza.

Your must-read link of the day: at Comics Comics, Jeet Heer presents a scan of a 1972 Washington Post profile of 17-year-old Gary Groth. Plus ça change: Gary still types with two fingers, and still forgets to close the door. (Also: evidence that the cliché of using sound effects in comics-story headlines dates back at least 37 years.)

Left: Ajax Wood IS Ardent Vein IS Cannibal Fuckface. Right: man of the hour Johnny Ryan. Saturday night will definitely go down as one of the most memorable events in the history of Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery thanks to Ardent Vein's incredible performance/reading of Chapter 1 of Johnny's Prison Pit Book 1. If you weren't one of the lucky people who witnessed it in person, behold, we've put it on YouTube in two parts!

Lots more photos in our Flickr set here.

Fifty years ago today Gene Deitch arrived in Prague for a "temporary" gig that stretched into five decades (thanks to the intervention of true love). The English-language weekly The Prague Post caught up with Gene this week to get the story as the anniversary approached. (Photo: Walter Novak/The Prague Post)