Daniel Clowes provides cover illustrations (and, presumably, yet-to-be-revealed interior art) for two upcoming (early 2011) Criterion Collection releases: The Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor, both directed by Samuel Fuller. (Via Chris Mautner.)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "The Sanctuary is a powerful story, telling of the timeless conflict between learning and ignorance.  Nate Neal provides readers with an insightful look at the tension in a community when the balance is challenged by new thinking.  In short, The Sanctuary is a very promising debut, and probably one of the best new comics of the year." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Review: "In Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s, editors John Benson and Greg Sadowski and publisher Fantagraphics drive a stake into the notion that EC was the only game in town. [...] There are enough goofy and ghoulish vignettes to satisfy the most bloodthirsty readers... I spent several evenings skipping through the book and reading stories that happened to catch my eye (and drag it down the hall, yuck, yuck), and I was impressed by the economics of storytelling. [...] It’s such a packed package that it may very well last through next October, unless rightfully gobbled up after midnight, long after the trick-or-treaters have retreated to their safe havens. Thankfully, these zombies of old can now lurk atop bedside tables and in four color — the next bite only a page away." – Alex Carr, Omnivoracious

• Review: "A movie guide should make you want to watch movies, and none has ever made me want to watch as many as Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film. [...] In addition to being wildly informative, the writing is entertaining as all hell. All of the contributors are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their topic. This is the kind of book that you’ll keep on your coffee table and pick up for a few minutes here and there, and every time you do, you’ll find something amazing. [...] Destroy All Movies!!! is as hyperactive, eclectic, and punk rock as the films it commemorates. [...] But even as spastic and irreverent as it can be, this is also a serious, respectful examination of an overlooked piece of film culture. [...] BUY THIS BOOK. You won’t regret it." – Brent McKnight, BeyondHollywood.com

• Plug: "For the budding or seasoned cult movie fan in your life, Destroy All Movies!!! by Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly is the picture perfect present." – Tara O'Donnell, living read girl

• Review: Sean T. Collins's "Love and Rocktober" series at Attentiondeficitdisorderly rolls on with Ghost of Hoppers: "Jaime Hernandez has long displayed an infrequently utilized but alarming alacrity for horror. [...] At first I struggled with why Jaime would choose this particular storyline--Maggie Realizes She's All Grown Up, basically--to delve deeper than ever into this aspect of the Locas world. I mean, this thing becomes a horror comic toward the end, easily the most sustained such work in the whole Locas oeuvre. What does any of it have to do with the misadventures of Maggie, the story's protagonist? But then it clicked..."

Jeezum crow! Colin Batty's fully-modeled renderings of some of Basil Wolverton's most infamous cartoon grotesques add a whole new dimension of GYAAAAH. Believe me, the one above is one of the least horrifying. (Via Bleeding Cool.)

Oh nuts, I'm about to start today's Online Commentary & Diversions and noticed I never published yesterday's in my APE prep frenzy. Here it is:

• Review: "Rip M.D. is near perfect. ...[T]he art is fantastic; with original and distinct designs that border realistic and cartoony, with the best qualities of both carrying a jovial wit, which never balking on making the subject matter truly scary. And the story by Mitch Schauer is told in a clear and concise manner, taking on a sort of fairy tale tone in the beginning that sort of fades by the end. The book on the whole is kid-like in tone, but told with sophistication that one used to see in old Loony Tunes." – Mark L. Miller, Ain't It Cool News

• Review: "Rip M.D. is very sweet all-ages graphic novel... For those... looking for something to share with the family, Rip is an excellent choice. The writer, Mitch Schauer, is clearly a fan of classic monsters and has really had some fun with these characters. The real gem in Rip M.D. is the artwork. Beautiful, beautiful panels that you may want to tear out of the book and put up on your walls. [...] And the colors in this book are just stunning. This is a book that warrants some extra time to just enjoy each page. [...] Ultimately, this is a book that anyone can read and enjoy that would also make an excellent gift to a young reader as a Halloween treat. Score: ★★★★★" – Stephanie Shamblin G, Comic Monsters

• Review: "Most of [The Best American Comics Criticism] is enjoyable and smart, with pieces suitable for the relative comics neophyte, graphic novel enthusiast or fan of old strips from the heyday of newspapers." – Christopher Allen, Trouble With Comics

• Interview: Squee! talks to Carol Tyler about You'll Never Know in an interview which will run in edited form in the new issue of Ghettoblaster Magazine: "Hardest thing I've ever taken on. So much to juggle: the storyline, the art. The mechanics of making a comic page/book. Oy! I've been at this for four years and I'm still not done! I love it, though. I've had to wrap my life around getting pages done. [...] It's an epic struggle, although worth it a thousand times over."

• Interview (audio): Inkstuds host Robin McConnell chatted with fellow Canadian Dave Cooper while Dave was in Vancouver on his West Coast book tour

• Interview (audio): Guest host Lark Pien talks to Megan Kelso on the new episode of The Comix Claptrap podcast; also, Josh Frankel talks about Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 (hope he's nice; we haven't had time to listen yet)

• Coming Attractions: MTV Geek's David Paggi previews Jason's Isle of 100,000 Graves, coming next Spring

We're on our way to the Alternative Press Expo this weekend in San Francisco and we decided at the last minute to bring display-only copies of a few of our upcoming releases with us for lucky fans to peruse:

Unfortunately they won't be for sale at the show (and they're not available for pre-order here on our site just yet) but at least they'll be there for the looking!

We are sorry to announce that several experts have confirmed that what we thought was a sketchbook of early versions of several years' worth of Krazy Kat strips created by George Herriman — and had planned to publish as such — is almost certainly the work of a very intense (perhaps contemporary with Herriman?) fan who diligently, even maniacally, copied each new strip into his sketchbook over a period of three years.

The telltale signs of this became apparent only when we had a chance to take a closer look at high-resolution scans made as part of the pre-press process, signs which made evident some flaws and quirks in the drawings that rendered its authenticity highly dubious.

I want to emphasize that the owner of the sketchbook was quite convinced as to the authenticity of this object, and the late thumbs-down from the experts came as a rude shock to him as well. No deceit was intended on anyone's part: Our delight at what we thought we'd found overruled the skepticism we should've wielded at an earlier date.

We will be sending refunds to the handful of Herriman fans who'd pre-ordered and prepaid this book, and we apologize to anyone who got their hopes up. At least we figured it out before actually going to press on the thing.

On the other side of the Herriman coin... (see next blog entry below)

Thank you, Chris Ware.

This, the penultimate KRAZY + IGNATZ Sundays volume (covering 1919-1921), will be available in February 2011. We should be able to wrap up the series with the 1922-1924 volume by the end of that year, leaving us free to focus on... the dailies!

In all the APE excitement we nearly overlooked PIX: The Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo, also happening this weekend and featuring special guests Kevin Huizenga and Frank Santoro, among others. Looks like a good time — there's been a welcome proliferation of these regional shows lately, it seems.

Eeeeuuughh! Jim Blanchard, who along with J.R. Williams will be our table-neighbors at the Alternative Press Expo this weekend in San Francisco (as usual), put together his own version of the show poster.

Eyeworks Festival 2010 trailer from Lilli Carré on Vimeo.

Lilli Carré writes:

"I'm organizing a new experimental animation festival called Eyeworks
with Alexander Stewart, and we're very excited to announce the
details! It will be a mix of abstract animation and unconventional
character animation, shown on 16mm film and video. It's taking place
November 6th in Chicago, at 247 S. State Street at the DePaul CDM
Theatre."

To paraphrase Tom Spurgeon, if I were in Chicago, I would totally go to that. Trailer above; more info and programming details here.