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!

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.

Howard Stern can't shut up about Drew Friedman! From yesterday's show. Starts after about 1:30 of setup. Nice mention of Al Jaffee too. (YouTube link.)

Thanks to The Daily Cartoonist for reporting this: CBS recently re-presented the 1999 60 Minutes segment on Sparky and Peanuts in commemoration of the strip's 60th anniversary, available to view online embedded above or in higher-def here.

ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO 2009 from chris anthony diaz on Vimeo.

From über-fan Chris Diaz comes this all-star montage of clips filmed at last year's Alternative Press Expo, just in time for this year's show! Among others you'll see Dash Shaw, Frank Santoro & Jon Vermilyea showing off Mome Vol. 16 at our table, Esther Pearl Watson & Mark Todd at their Funchicken setup, and our very own expo expert extraordinaire Janice Headley rocking her Jad Fair glasses.

We'll see you in San Francisco in a couple of days! Get all our APE info here.

Jim Flora doyen Irwin Chusid writes:

"JimFlora.com is offering an open edition fine art print entitled Night-Sky Moonswinger. The image of an overalls-clad boy on a rope swing strung from the moon originally appeared on the back dust jacket of Pishtosh Bullwash and Wimple, Flora's 12th children's book, published in 1972 by Atheneum."

As a lad I would have liked having this on my wall. Click on for more details and purchasing info.

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Love and Rocktober" continues with Sean T. Collins at Attentiondeficitdisorderly: "...[T]he comics in Penny Century look less dense and read that way, too. Maggie and Hopey seem to have settled down, somewhat — no longer careening from adventure to adventure or disaster to disaster, still involved in the lives and schemes of their eccentric friends but no longer completely swept up by them, still romantically (or at least sexually) entangled with one another but not to the all-or-nothing extremes of the past."

• Review: "Released at last, Blake Bell's biography [Fire & Water] devoted to Bill Everett... helps correct an injustice: Giving an author whose importance and personality are not recognized at their fair values a shot at the spotlight. [...] This is not a book that exhausts, by itself, Everett as a subject. But the book is moving (without falling into whining), documented and rich as Blake Bell restores a lot of truths about an author who did not 'merely' create Sub-Mariner and Daredevil." – Xavier Fournier, Comic Box [translated from French]

• Plug: "Wow, does this ever look good: Destroy All Movies!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film, coming soon from Fantagraphics. Somehow this book completely evaded my radar, which is unforgivable of me." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly