Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web (Kerschbaum's back!):

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Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

And elsewhere:

The All-New Cartoon Boy Adventure Hour by John Kerschbaum at ACT-I-VATE:

Cochlea & Eustachia by Hans Rickheit:

Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit:

Humblug by Arnold Roth (3 new strips this week):

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim:

What's in the Backpack by Victor Kerlow:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Flavorwire's Emily Temple names Daniel Clowes's Ghost World one of "10 Disturbingly Brilliant Graphic Novels" (a list which includes many of the usual suspects along with some off-the-beaten-path selections): "This novel is a cult classic for a reason (and no, the reason is not Scarlett Johansson): its frank depiction of teenage life, especially in boring, suburban towns, and the awkwardness of growing up garnered an instant following, along with its cynical, hilarious protagonists. It is intensely strange, and yet somehow universal in its strangeness — because who doesn’t think their teen years were completely weird? We know ours were."

• Review: "Trondheim (as depicted by Trondheim) is a mass of neuroses and tics. He's full of self-doubt and more than a little bit of anger. But what sets him apart from oh-so-many other autographical cartoonists is that he's also devoted to his life and his art. You might say that [Approximate Continuum Comics] is a book about beating yourself up in service of self-exploration, which itself is in service of creating great stories." – John R. Platt, Graphic Novel Reporter

• Review: "[Congress of the Animals] is wordless and flows from scene to scene with dream logic, so it’s a quick read. Woodring’s inking is so fabulous that I’ve already reread it, and opened it to specific pages to stare at the varying weights he gives his lines. I particularly liked the textures of the wood walls in the background of the factory where Frank works and how they make the machines stand out from the background." – Gene Ambaum, The Unshelved Book Club

Fantagraphics resident genius Jim Woodring outdoes himself in the new annual edition of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror. Li'l Bart discovers a shopworn copy of "Harvest of Fear" — an E.C. knockoff in the tradition of Four Color Fear — at a yard sale and all hell breaks loose. Woodring works within the Simpsons canon while cleverly incorporating his own idiosyncratic sensibilities. In the story, our mischievous protagonist sets out to solve the mystery of the mid-century comic book and finds the last page is the missing piece. Spooky.

Excitement for our big art book Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is building, and in that spirit fan Mike Ewing took to Twitter to point out this great compilation of Davis's animated television commercials for various products, posted to YouTube by user "chiefzabu." Fun stuff! One stars Ruth Buzzi and to my ear it sounds like the great Frank Welker in the Lectric Shave one.

Explore a world of comics! Columbus Day is upon us and we're celebrating the spirit of discovery (never mind the centuries of pillaging, genocide and other atrocities). From now through next Friday, October 14, 2011, take at least 30% off comics and graphic novels by international creators! From manga to bandes desinées, classic to cutting-edge, if it's "furrin" it's on sale.

Our slogan is "Publisher of the World's Best Cartoonists Since 1976," and we mean it when we say THE WORLD. Beyond the U.S. and Canada our creators hail from such far-flung locales as Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

This sale includes work from European greats like Jacques Tardi, David B., Jason, Martí, Lorenzo Mattotti, Lewis Trondheim and Joost Swarte; beloved manga-ka Moto Hagio and Shimura Takako; overseas English-speakers like Dave McKean, Joe Daly, Roger Langridge and Carol Swain; many titles in our deluxe and European-flavored Ignatz Series; our new line of all-ages Franco-Belgian comics including R. Macherot and M. Tillieux; recent discoveries like Olivier Schrauwen and Mezzo & Pirus; and a whole mess more. There's never been a better time to discover some of the best comics the world has to offer!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Jeff Newelt names Leslie Stein's Eye of the Majestic Creature to Heeb Magazine's "Best of 5771: Comics" list, saying "What a treat discovering a new 'voice' that speaks to you as much as longtime favorites."

• Interview: Shannon Wheeler talks about Oil and Water in a Q&A with Portland Monthly: "Fishermen couldn’t fish, plants were dying, scientists didn’t know what the effects were, and tourism was crippled. In addition to the environmental damage, there was damage to people’s lives that is profound. We very much wanted to tell the human story."

Oops! Due to an inventory SNAFU the 2005 Special Edition issue of The Comics Journal was mistakenly thought to be sold out and removed from our online catalog. But we still have a bunch of 'em! This oversized (12" x 12") humdinger includes features on masters of manga Hideshi Hino, Suehiro Maruo, Saseo Ono, Osamu Tezuka and Yoshihiro Tsuge;  three great writers on Vaughn Bodé; Bill Blackbeard on Milt Gross; a report from the Montreal comics scene; and a star-studded anthology comics section on the theme of "seduction" with comics from (deep breath): Rick Altergott, Ho Che Anderson, Andrice Arp, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Ariel Bordeaux, David Collier, Colleen Coover, Jeremy Eaton, Mary Fleener, Rick Geary, Bill Griffith, Matti Hagelberg, Richard Hahn, Leah Hayes, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Paul Hornschemeier, Igort, Gerald Jablonski, Ted Jouflas, Megan Kelso, Peter Kuper, Carol Lay, Lorna Miller, David Paleo, Arnold Roth, Michael Sloan, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, Carol Swain, and Ken Takahama, not to mention a back-cover illustration by Tony Millionaire! Why don't you have one already? Get it now!

I took no pictures at APE this year save for the one above, of my pal Dan Shahin in his homemade Rory Root t-shirt (with Root's face comprised of a mosaic of hundreds of comic book covers). If I was to only take one photo, this strikes me as a perfectly appropriate one, as APE always reminds me of Rory, and his memory loomed large over the show for me (I wore my old Comic Relief t-shirt on Saturday in my own small attempt to honor the big guy).

This was the first APE I've attended since Rory passed away in 2008, and it didn't feel the same without him. Rory was a champion of the small press, a man with an omnivorous appetitie for the medium who could always be counted on to take a chance on a self-published mini that many other retailers would likely never make shelf space for. Comic Relief was a mecca for fans of cartooning, and its presence at APE always struck me as a vital component in the physiology of the show; no matter how few copies of your book you sold on the floor over APE weekend, if it was good, you could count on Rory to buy a few at the end of Sunday and help you leave on a high note. 

Of course, APE was also missing another towering figure of the scene: Dylan Williams (who once worked at Comic Relief). Thankfully, Sparkplug Comics *was* there, honoring Dylan's memory in the one way I suspect he would approve: by selling and promoting good comics. 

With that in mind, and for fear of sounding a bit maudlin, it really did feel to me that this year's APE was defined by who wasn't there as much as who was. 

That said, my APE weekend was fun, and somehow a success despite the fact that attendance was invariably, adversely affected by gorgeous weather and a massive free concert in Golden Gate Park over the weekend. I enjoyed the company of many pals --  Richard Sala, Daniel & Erika Clowes, Adrian Tomine, Mario Hernandez, Jim Blanchard, J.R. Williams, Leslie Stein, John Pham, Terry Zwigoff, Martin Cendreda, Dan Nadel, Matthew Thurber, Renée French, Mark Kalesniko, Calvin Reid, Brett Warnock, Tom Devlin, Esther Pearl Watson, and many others -- and met a few new ones. That's all I could ask for, short of selling a ton of books, and things went well on that front. GANGES #4, POGO Vol. 1, OIL & WATER, MOME 22 and MARK TWAIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 were amongst the books that flew off the tables by the end of the weekend. 

I also came home with an entire suitcase full of books and minicomics, most of which I've only begun to wade thru and a roundup of which would require more time and effort than I'm willing to do right now.  But I'm especially keen to dive into Jesse Moynihan's FORMING and Matthew Thurber's 1-800-MICE, which seemed to my eyes to be the books of the show.

Rory and Dylan, we missed you. 

Trina Robbins signing at the Fantagraphics booth at San Diego Comic-Con 2009

I am personally so over-the-moon-excited about this weekend's event, and frankly, you should be, too! We are thrilled to present artist & women's comix "herstorian" Trina Robbins at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday, October 8!

The reception runs from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, and we'll be debuting our latest exhibit, showcasing The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley's Cartoons from 1913 - 1940. Trina will be leading a slideshow presentation of Brinkley's work that you do not want to miss, and she'll be signing copies of the book afterwards.

You can also catch Trina earlier that day, as she's a featured guest at Geek Girl Con, making its debut at Seattle Center this October 8th and 9th.

The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. Don't miss your chance to meet this legend of underground comix!

One man. One-hundred-and-one one-panel cartoons.

Our Oil & Water artist Shannon Wheeler presents just that, with an exhibition of his New Yorker artwork opening tonight at PCPA [ 1111 SW Broadway, Portland ]. How perfect is THAT street address?