Scheduled to arrive in comic shops across the U.S. today, a few of our most eagerly-anticipated titles of the year:

• The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 (Vol. 10) by Charles M. Schulz
• Ghost World: Special Edition by Daniel Clowes
• Sublife Vol. 1 by John Pham

As usual, you can read up on the books and check out our multimedia previews before you make the trip to your shop of choice by clicking the links above.

Two can play at this game. (Created without Tim's permission, but somehow I don't think he'll mind.)

I don't know why, but watching a video review of a book you put together is infinitely more dread-inducing than a print review. But I guess we got off pretty easy with this week's Comic Book Haters video podcast.  I'm not sure there's anything more entertaining than listening to three guys with thick Jersey accents trying to make sense of something they're not very familiar with. I'm actually quite grateful to the Haters for giving MOME a shot, because it's clearly not in their wheelhouse, per se, and it would have been easy for them to choose something else to review. But they didn't, and hey, they kind of liked it. Thanks, guys!

I just scored the first six (correction) five issues of BIG FUN magazine and am mystified that it's taken me over two years to discover this noble endeavor. Publisher Mark Schwartz has produced six impressive collections of classic adventure comics by Roy Crane, Noel Sickles, Warren Tufts, and others. My personal favorites are a bunch of advertising strips for oral hygiene products by Frank Robbins. The reproductions are all choice and the paper and production impressive. The two most recent "issues" (they're really full-on trade paperbacks) were done print-on-demand, but if you like the Crane/Sickles/Tufts school of cartooning, these are really must-haves. Learn more, and order, HERE. 

Popeye v4.

Really, weren't you sold on this one just from the kickass poster above?Hot damn.

Anyway, the show opens on Sept 26th, 7-9PM and goes through Nov. 9th. For more info, visit:

Subterranean Books
6275 Delmar Blvd
St Louis, MO 63130

Here's a review of Abandoned Cars from PRINT magazine:

Forget about Marvel's Secret Invasion or DC's Final Crisis. The real comic book event of the summer comes in the unassuming guise of a hardcover collection of illustrated short stories. Abandoned Cars (Fantagraphics) is the breathtaking debut book by St. Louis writer/illustrator Tim Lane. Lane drew on a number of inspirations-everything from "pre-Comics Code" comics like Will Eisner's The Spirit to Bruce Springsteen's concept album Nebraska to inform this collection of atmospheric tales about the human condition. "Over technique, over stylization, more important than anything else is emotional impact," he says. This isn't to say that the book lacks either technique or style, but that for all its visual dazzle, there's an emotional tug, sometimes sympathy, sometimes revulsion. Refreshingly, the book isn't slavishly devoted to genre or to its inherent comic book-ness (no tights or monsters). So why not just write a straight-up short story collection? "The stories I like to tell are conducive to comics," he says. The book signals the arrival of a major new voice on the American literary landscape, with or without the illustrations.  

BUDDY DOES VANCOUVER! 

Speaking of Word on the Street, you British Columbians won't want to miss Vancouver's graphic novel component to Word on the Street: Lucky's Comics is sponsoring Peter Bagge's appearance at Word on the Street!

Come on by the Vancouver Public Library and meet Peter Bagge on September 28 between 1:00pm and 4:00pm.

If you're in Toronto this weekend, don't miss the Word on the Street Festival, where super duper comic shop the Beguiling will be actively involved, including sponsoring these two events with Ray Fenwick, author of Hall of Best Knowledge.

Saturday September 27, 5PM, 2 hours
Ojingogo & Pohadky & Hall of Best Knowledge Book Party!
Featuring Matthew Forsythe, and Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek, and Ray Fenwick!
The Central, 603 Markham Street (next to The Beguiling)

This is a release party for two new Drawn & Quarterly books as well as an official Toronto book event for Hall of Best Knowledge, at a bar next to The Beguiling. Each author will be giving a 10-20 minute presentation from their work. A signing period with all four authors will follow. 

Sunday September 28, 3:30PM, 45 minutes
Hall of Best Knowledge @ Word on The Street
Queen's Park Circle (Avenue Rd. south of Bloor, Comics & Graphic Novels Tent)

Fenwick will be giving a 45-minute presentation, talking about the making of Hall of Best Knowledge and other works, followed by a Q&A.

Our wonderful printer of the Popeye series, Print Vision, just sent me this photo of our 3rd volume to confirm that the diecut aligns correctly. This should be in stores in November.

Thank you Fantagraphics for letting me use such a ridiculous sequence on the Wimpy cover. (Next year: Sea Hag/Goon.)