We're burning the midnight oil to bring you your weekly webcomics update!

Jesus H. Christ! It's this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

...Elzie Crisler meets Rattledog in this week's strip from Steven Weissman's Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures...

...and more million dollar ideas, plus a trip to the comic shop, in our Monday-Friday Rocky strips by Martin Kellerman. Enjoy!

Late nite link blogging for your Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "You wanna talk about a gateway comic? How 'bout handing this sucker [Ganges #3] to anyone who's ever had trouble falling asleep? The whole thing is dedicated to nothing more or less than reproducing the mental and physical sensations of insomnia. Ironically it's Huizenga's most action-driven comic this side of Fight or Run or the video-game bits in Ganges #2. ... Combine it with one of the most effective uses yet of the Ignatz series' two-tone color palette--here a cool small-hours blue--and the experience is almost tactile, as though you're physically tunneling through the mysteries of your own mind." – Sean T. Collins [ed. note: I swear I'll have the issue up for presale on the website next week]

• Review: "No one is safe in Al Columbia’s world. Not the kittens (they get decapitated) nor the children (they get baked into pies) nor the bunnies (they carry scythes). Correspondingly, no one is innocent. Grandmothers are evil, grandfathers are greedy, and trees grow baby heads instead of apples and oranges. What a wonderful world it is. That’s not an entirely ironic evaluation of Pim & Francie, a collection of sketches, strips, stills and other valuable ephemera from the mind of Columbia (creator of the 1990s cult classic Biologic Show). The twisted narratives and characters are presented so deftly — with such humor and visual panache — that their wrongness becomes right; and thus is the singular charm of Al Columbia." – Molly Young, We Love You So

• Review/Profile: "Earlier this year, Fantagraphics gave readers the opportunity to encounter [Harvey] Kurtzman’s creative energy in complete form by reissuing a boxed collection of Humbug, his short-lived but monumental periodical that began publication in summer of 1957. It’s Humbug that functions as the spiritual father for magazines such as National Lampoon, Spy and The Onion, among many others, but there’s something invigorating about it because of its vantage point in the supposedly stodgy and bland 1950s. Coming out of that decade, Humbug really did break new ground." – John Mitchell, North Adams Transcript

• Review: "Even though Woodstock casts a large shadow on the cover of Fantagraphics’ The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974, it’s Peppermint Patty who should get star billing. Not to take anything away from Snoopy’s yellow-feathered avian sidekick – who does make several appearances through the hardcover tome – it’s just that Patty eventually gets the brunt of character development attention, while Woodstock exists as the perfect foil for Snoopy. ... Also of note is Schulz’s repeated use of standard gags (Lucy pulling the football from Charlie) along with a few new ones, including the consoling 'Poor, sweet baby.' Because of his tendency to keep running gags contained within a year’s span, it makes a trade collection work better than with most comic strips." – Christopher Irving, Graphic NYC

• Review: "What quickly becomes clear is that the graphic novel is a particularly apt form for inhabiting unconventional characters, and very few do this as well as The Squirrel Machine. Wielded skilfully, images are as expressive as words, and occasionally more so. Rickheit's drawings convey the boys' tortured feelings of persecution, elation and curiosity — as well as their uncouth creative urges — in a succinct and often gruesome way. Rickheit's frames vary from the cluttered to the stark, and his ability to pack detail into four square inches is rivalled only by his ingenious use of white space. ...The Squirrel Machine convinces anew that a picture is worth a thousand words." – Molly Young, Intelligent Life

• Interview: For Marvel.com, Sean T. Collins talks to Strange Tales contributor Tony Millionaire: "Just as you called, I was reading an old collection of THOR... It's funny: 'I say thee nay'? I didn't realize that was such a popular phrase."

• Interview: Peter Bagge recently appeared on The Marketplace of Ideas, a radio program hosted by Colin Marshall on KCSB 91.9 in Santa Barbara, California, to discuss Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me — you can stream or download the podcast of the program at Marshall's website (if it's not on the front page anymore, check the archive page)

• Plug: "I've recently enjoyed reading Prison Pit by Johnny Ryan... and The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book by Joe Daly." – Eric Haven (The Aviatrix), interviewed at Pixel Vision

• Things to see: KEVIN HUIZENGA PRISON PIT FAN ART (yes I'm shouting)

In a must-listen interview, Robin McConnell of the Inkstuds radio programme talks to our very own Kim Thompson about editing, translating, and publishing the works of Jacques Tardi in North America.

Emily Holt of the Seattle University Spectator introduces the school's newest faculty member: Peter Bagge, who will break out the leather elbow patches to teach a course on writing for comics this winter. Also revealed: Pete's newest comics project, a series of bio-comics about "independent and influential women from the early 20th century." Classic Pete quote: "I’ve never taught a whole college course before. I hope it works out, because my eyesight is starting to fail." (Photo: Clara Ganey, The Spectator)

This is the shortest Online Commentary & Diversions update in recent memory, and it's 100% old school:

• Interview: Harry Lee Green at Hairy Green Eyeball reproduces a vintage 1973 interview with Robert Crumb from Inside Comics #1

• Plug: A bit more Love and Rockets nostalgia from Mike Sterling — I love those panels too (who wouldn't?)

Blast from the past: On his blog, Kevin Nowlan shows the various stages of his artwork for the back cover of Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage #2 from 1995. Found via Bob on Facebook.

Online Commentary & Diversions? Yes:

• Review: "An abstract comic? What the hell is that? And more importantly, what’s the point of a comic if it doesn’t tell a story? These are the questions a book like Abstract Comics raises right off the bat. Thankfully, it also answers them. The anthology, edited by Andrei Molotiu, covers the time period of 1967-2009 and is in all respects a Serious (capital S) volume. ... Worth a look, for sure, and maybe more." – Molly Young, We Love You So

• Plug: Ulrich Scheele of artblog peeks at the "charming" and "wonderful" Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra

• Plug: "When it comes to creepy comics, Al Columbia isn't only a member — he's the president. And in Fantagraphics' Zero Zero #4, Columbia produced a short story called 'I Was Killing When Killing Wasn't Cool' that is so startling and nightmarish in its quiet elegance that it'll stick with you forever." – Rickey Purdin, Rowdy Schoolyard

• Plug: Some Love and Rockets nostalgia from California retailer/comics blogger Mike Sterling

• Commentary: At Comics Comics, Jeet Heer declares "It’s a good time to be a Nancy-boy."

• Interview: The Inkstuds radio program talks to Abstract Comics editor Andrei Molotiu, with musical selections by Andrei

• Things to see and buy: From the Robert Pollard camp, "New collages and price reductions on Bob art work for Rocktober. All collages from EAT 7 are avaliable." Available framed and unframed.

Mark yer calendar: Johnny Ryan & Marc Bell rock Family in LA in 2 weeks. Freebird!

Starts tomorrow!

October 8th to 10th... The James River Writers Festival

October 17th and 18th... The Alternative Press Expo

October 27th to 30th... The Center for Cartoon Studies

More details TBA.

Drew Friedman tackles the scandal that launched a thousand "Worldwide Pants" jokes for the New York Observer. See the full page on Drew's blog.