Drew Friedman and a few other cartoonists explain their caricatures of the VP candidates over at the NY Times.

Poster by Tim Silbaugh.  

Time for a new installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 32-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. In this week's episode: a brief solemn moment. (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)

In anticipation of Halloween, Playboy presents a gallery of classic cartoons by Gahan Wilson, along with a handful of interview features.

They also spill the beans on Fantagraphics' upcoming collection of every cartoon Wilson ever published in Playboy, a 3-volume hardcover slipcased set due next October, in time for Halloween 2009! Yow! (Having been a fan of Wilson's work since I was a little kid reading Matthew Looney books, I personally can't wait for this set!)

The Internet weighs in on our books this week:

• The Times names Daddy's Girl by Debbie Drechsler and Funeral of the Heart by Leah Hayes two of "the summer's best graphic novels"

• NPR.org reviews and excerpts Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw; Sean T. Collins calls BBB "a deeply pleasurable, and rewarding, read"

• Sean T. Collins also digs into Mome Vol. 12

• Chris Allen reviews Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell

• Jeff Lester thinks Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 is so nice, he reviews it twice: once for The Savage Critics, once for io9; plus more reviews from The Star Clipper Blog and Marc Singer; Rocketship also gives it a quick plug

• Our favorite fictional comic shop clerk recommends several of our new releases (though her page count for The Portable Frank is missing a zero)

• If you can read Greek, maybe you can tell us what Back to Mono is saying about Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Daniel Clowes

• Speaking of Clowes, Amazon's Omnivoracious blog gives the rundown on Ghost World: Special Edition

And in other links: 

• Mome artist Tim Hensley discovers Comic Life

• Here's a great poster by Tim Lane

• The Comics Reporter interviews John Pham

• Back to School with Johnny Ryan! Plus, how 'bout some Angry Youth Comix-based fan art? (links NSFW, as if it needs saying)

• Stephen DeStefano has a tale of meeting Ditko

• Found via Delicious: Annotations of The Complete Peanuts on WikiBooks

• Noah Berlatsky has contrary opinions about Kim Deitch, particularly his cover for The Comics Journal #292

• The New York Times looks at the "R. Crumb's Underground" exhibit in its current incarnation at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art

• I'm not sure what this is all about, but there's a lovely picture of Jimbo in Purgatory with a couple of other oversized comics books

• Photographer Seth Kushner takes a spooky portrait of Michael Kupperman

• For her column at comiXology, The Comics Journal assistant editor Kristy Valenti runs down the Ivan Brunetti/Dan Clowes/Adrian Tomine panel at Bumbershoot

• The Oregonian talks about Crumb and the undergrounds with Rebel Visions author Patrick Rosenkranz

• Ger Apeldoorn has scans of a vintage profile of and cartoons by Hank Ketcham

• Bob Levin has a funny anecdote about interviewing S. Clay Wilson for the next issue (#293) of The Comics Journal

As a reminder, you can keep up with these links in real time on our Delicious page and RSS feed, or by adding us to your Delicious network.

Mome contributor Andrice Arp has an art show opening at Secret Headquarters in L.A. on Friday Sept. 19. More info here.

Jeremy Eaton is selling two dozen gouache drawings (including those seen above) in a one-night only studio show/sale, Sept. 13, 6-9 p.m. The same work will be available online at the same time (go to Comic Book Collective), but those in attendance at the opening get a special "locals only" price.

His studio is at 521 NW 43rd St., Seattle, WA 98107 (north side storefront of the big blue building at the junction of 6th Ave. NW & 43rd, just across from Hale's Brewery, on Leary Ave.).

Seattlites best know Eaton as the illustrator of The Stranger's I Love Television column, as well as the editorial cartoonist for the Beacon Hill News. Comic fans know him best for a slew of Fantagraphics releases over the last decade and a half.

Patrick Rosenkranz, comix historian and the author of the comprehensive tome Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975, will give a lecture about R. Crumb's work and the trangressive movement that it helped define, at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia next Wednesday, Sept. 17. The lecture is in conjunction with "R. Crumb's Underground," which opened last Friday and continues through Dec. 7 at the Institute of Contemporary Art (118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia) after previous stints in Seattle and California.

Rosenkranz will also appear at Robin's Bookstore in Center City at noon on Sept. 17th.