Another two-day Online Commentary & Diversions (running a little off schedule, sorry):

• Review: "Hollywood is probably the most likely to misrepresent any culture, but their casting of punks as Neolithic, abusive, drug addicts with candy-colored hair and an inexplicable amount of chains is far too amusing to turn away from. [Destroy All Movies!!!] editors Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly seem to have noticed this trend, and their commentary about each of these films borders on hilarious at several points. [...] In the end, you get both a compendium of thoughtful ruminations on punk culture and a hilarious collection of movie missteps..." – Thorin Klosowski, Denver Westword

• Review: "[Jason] is without immediate peer, and perhaps the closest I can get to him is Jim Jarmusch, the indie film director... Werewolves of Montpellier is less about the grand sweep of its pseudo-horror set-up (which is utterly demolished by a delicious final page denouement), and more about its mundane aspects, which resonate further than the book's forty-odd pages. ★★★★ [out of 5]" – Michael Leader, Den of Geek

• Review: ‎"...Blake Bell has crafted an excellent look at one of comics' most underappreciated creators: compelling, well paced and entertaining. [...] Bell kept Fire & Water moving at an excellent pace, never dwelling too long on any details but giving us Everett's life in relation to his comic career. And that's the key: Bell is a comic fan and knows his audience is as well so that's the focus. [...] While the tale of Everett's life held my attention the art is the real star. Covering everything from early doodles to his last published page we get to see thirty plus years of material. [...] The fit and finish for Fire & Water is exceptional. A heavy matt paper is used that really shows off the material and gives it an almost period feel. The size is perfect for admiring the art and is easy to read; a new perfect package. I can't get enough of the dust jacket image and its design is stunning: a real eye catcher. At $40 it's a great value." – Scott VanderPloeg, Comic Book Daily

• Review: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky's story-by-story examination of Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories moves on to "Iguana Girl"

• Review: Sean T. Collins's "Love and Rocktober" review series at Attentiondeficitdisorderly moves on to Gilbert Hernandez's oeuvre, starting with Heartbreak Soup: "Whether in terms of family, sexuality, physicality, or deformity, biology is destiny for the people of Palomar... And although biology is obviously among Beto's primary concerns, destiny is the operative word. I don't think the Palomarians have the ability to escape the way the Locas do. Not all of them need to escape, mind you — there's a lot of really warm and adorable and hilarious and awesome stuff going down in Palomar — but whatever walks alongside them in their lives is gonna walk alongside them till the very end."

• List: At Robot 6, guest contributor Van Jensen names Josh Simmons's House as one of his "six favorite horror comics & movies" (and, by reduction, one of his three favorite horror comics): "Simmons uses no words through the entire story, but his real accomplishment is utilizing the design of the pages to deliver an increasingly claustrophobic, disorienting and terrifying story."

• Plug: At Robot 6, Sean T. Collins highlights our duo of creepy all-ages releases, David B.'s The Littlest Pirate King and Stéphane Blanquet's Toys in the Basement

• Interview: The Daily Cross Hatch's Brian Heater concludes his 3-part chat with Drew Weing: "What’s funny is, I’ve got Google Alerts for my name, so if somebody says it on the Internet, I show up like Beetlejuice. I click on it, like, 'ooh, this guy just dissed me.'" [Hi, Drew.]

• Analysis: At Comics Comics, Timothy Hodler compares the reproduction/restoration style of Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s with another, similar book which also came out recently, also noting that "Greg Sadowski’s [text] is preferable by a wide margin." (There's plenty of discussion in the comments, and from Alan David Doane at Comic Book Galaxy.)

The previews for Marvel's Strange Tales II #2 are popping up all over the place. The Beat has Jaime Hernandez's lovelorn Space Phantom, while Robot 6 features Paul Hornschemeier's battling doppelgänger Colossi.

Robot 6 shares an exclusive 7-page sneak peek at The Littlest Pirate King, the new all-ages undead-pirates-meet-baby story from David B.!

At top, left to right, Rip M.D. creative team Mike Vosburg (inker), Mitch Schauer (creator) and Justin Yamaguchi and Michael Lessa (color) at the Borders in Glendale CA last Friday. Those eyeball cupcakes look good. See many more photos (including adorable costumed kids) in this Facebook album. The final stop of the Rip M.D. Southern California mini-tour is this Saturday at 3 PM at the Long Beach Comic Con!

Our warehouse manager and poet-in-residence Nico Vassilakis would like to share this recent blog post by Matt Madden examining seemingly (or actually) incongruous juxtapositions of text and image in comics, using the work of Chris Ware, Ben Katchor, and, of primary interest to Nico, practitioner/progenitor of the Flarf school of poetry Gary Sullivan (seen above) as examples. Thought-provoking stuff!

Visitors to the Charles Burns appearance this Saturday evening at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery are in for a treat. Eye candy! While supplies last, we'll have free copies of Stéphane Blanquet's fabulous full color TOYS IN THE BASEMENT mini-comic, which includes a 2-page preview of THE LITTLEST PIRATE KING by David B. For indie music buffs we have a limited quantity of the scary 5-song "Haunted Fang Castle" CD by the sensational Spits, including an illustrated booklet by J. J. Rudisill. And our friends from Frontier Records dropped by with a stack of cool full-color vinyl stickers by Jaime Hernandez commemorating 30 years of pleasurable punk rock. [Hit the Frontier link above for a better look at Jaime's illustration – Ed.]

If that's not enough, with each purchase we'll be giving away free copies of Richard Sala's EVIL EYE comic book. All this and Charles Burns! A Halloween to remember.

Designed by Jordan. Artwork by (top to bottom) Jordan, Johnny, Jon and Lisa. Signed by the artists and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. Available online here and at Secret Headquarters in L.A. starting tomorrow. Info via Johnny's blog.

Elvis Costello's new album National Ransom, featuring cover art by Tony Millionaire, is currently streaming for a limited time on the Colbert Nation website, which means that Tony's artwork appeared on the closing segment of Tuesday's episode of The Colbert Report! (Thanks to Jacob for the screen grab.) Hey Stephen, get Tony on your show — you won't be sorry! Here's a better look at the cover art:

You don't want to miss this: Charles Burns returns to his native Seattle this Saturday, October 30 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM for a festive reception commemorating the publication of his amazing new graphic novel X'ed Out.

In addition to an exhibition of rare posters and prints spanning Burns' illustrious career, we'll be celebrating the artist's lasting Seattle legacy with a display of his seminal work for Sub Pop records, as well as his early contributions to Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine.

Start your Saturday night at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery to welcome Charles Burns back home. The evening features a brief slide talk, ambient screening of Burns' scary animated movie "Fear(s) of the Dark," spooky tunes by DJ Russ Fallout, complimentary beverages, and collectible Halloween comix treats. Costumes optional. All ages. Free! 1201 S. Vale Street in the heart of Georgetown. Phone 206.658.0110.

Ivan Brunetti's cover for this year's Halloween issue of The New Yorker, brought to us by The Ephemerist as usual (via Forbidden Planet International). So many great details.