Congratulations to Jordan Crane, who took home two bricks last night at the 2009 Ignatz Awards at SPX: Outstanding Comic for Uptight #3 and Outstanding Series for Uptight. Outstanding! Several sites have the complete list of winners — we'll link to The Daily Cross Hatch since they have video of the ceremony. And don't forget, all of our 2009 Ignatz Award nominees are still on sale for 15% off!

Friday PM is webcomics time!

Thus begins a lifelong journey in this week's Blecky Yuckerella strip by Johnny Ryan....

Back to the color! Back to the gags! Back to the standalone strips from Steven Weissman's Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures! This week coins a phrase that I might have to incorporate into my vocabulary....

Breakups, Bruce Lee, and two extra-big strips in our Monday-Friday Rocky strips by Martin Kellerman. Enjoy!

First Online Commentary & Diversions post from my shiny new computer:

• Profile: "Published in 1982, the [Hernandez] brothers’ Love and Rockets #1 is considered to mark a creative resurgence in comics, and for good reason. From the beginning the Bros. produced work that was subversive and masterfully crafted, combining the punk ethos with their own crisp intelligence." – Molly Young, We Love You So (the official blog of the Where the Wild Things Are movie — !!!)

• Review: "...Jaime [Hernandez]... confirm[s] my beliefs in the heights of his cartooning powers as he delivers the finale to a raucous, yet still quite moving, tale of female superheroes [in Love and Rockets: New Stories #2].... I'd follow him to the gates of hell at this point. With the brothers still working at such a high level of quality after over 25 years, anything they do is worthy of attention and analysis. I don't think I'll ever tire of experiencing their work." – Matthew J. Brady

• Interview: At Marvel.com, Sean T. Collins's series of interviews with Strange Tales contributors continues with R. Kikuo Johnson: "And I also felt like out of the entire Marvel U., Alicia Masters as a young artist, living and struggling after college, was the character I could put the most autobio into. I think the fact that she's a blind artist is hilarious. She's just a hilarious character."

• Things to see: At his blog, Steven Weissman says a fond farewell to Nick Magazine

• Things to see: Photos of the gala all-star Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror signing and exhibit at Family in L.A.

• Things to see: How about a great big batch of Hernandez Bros. rarities? (Via multiple sources)

Washingtonians, don't forget Tony Millionaire is in Puyallup tonight (we can only hope he goes to the Puyallup Fair in that getup) and Seattle tomorrow night with Chris Onstad. (Details here.) Here they are at Powell's Books in Portland OR on Wednesday. Photo courtesy Tugboat Press.

Heads up, it's today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "West Coast Blues is an adaptation of a 70s crime novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette (Le Petit Bleu de la Côte Ouest), and it is a reminder of how good they did paranoid crime thrillers in the 70s. It is also a reminder of how good Tardi has done comics for forty years. ...Tardi's remarkable energy and range as a visual storyteller... will have you gobbling this book up in one gigantic gulp and then going back to appreciate the details and the nuance." – Jared Gardner, Guttergeek

• Reviews/Preview: The Abstract Comics blog has links to several reviews of the anthology from around the world (and their translations), plus a video preview of the book which accompanies one of the reviews

• Profile: For the AIGA website, Michael Dooley casts a spotlight on Harvey Kurtzman: "Either directly or indirectly, he’s had an effect on everything and everybody: from Saturday Night Live to The Daily Show, from the Zucker brothers to the Wayans brothers, from National Lampoon to The Onion, and from John Kricfalusi to Matt Groening."

• Events: John Hankiewicz is having an exhibit of his prints right now at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL

• Things to see: Hypebeast has images of all the Jaime Hernandez Stussy t-shirts which I couldn't find yesterday (via The Beat)

• Contest: Also via The Beat: enter the Peanuts look-alike contest!

Ted Stearn has launched a new, improved version of his website and it's chock full of comics, examples of his animation and illustration work, samples from his sketchbook (such as the above), news, info, and things you can buy from him. Swell!

Online Commentary & Diversions, short but sweet:

• Plug: "Fantagraphics Books is now reissuing the first two years of Prince Valiant in the rich original colors — the pages are reproduced from Foster’s own engraver’s proofs. Every panel packs a one-two punch. A witch named Horrit once prophesied that Val would 'never know contentment,' but fans of the strip will find it here." – Cullen Murphy, Vanity Fair

• Review: "There hasn't been a bad time to be a fan of Los Bros Hernandez since they started making comics almost 30 years ago, but it's sure a good time to be a fan now.... [I]t's clear that the brothers are both still full of stories, and here [in Love and Rockets: New Stories] they take advantage of the new format to try out a number of new ideas, with a high rate of success. Looking forward to 2010." – Christopher Allen, Comic Book Galaxy

• Profile: At Graphic NYC, Christopher Irving enjoys a nice long chat with Gahan Wilson: "Circus freaks were also a big influence. My father used to take me to the circus, and though I loved circuses, what I really wanted to see was the sideshow. I dug the sideshow."

• Events/things to buy: Find out what's new with Dame Darcy — includes teacups and a lecture at Pacific Northwest College of Art

Via Facebook:

"Jim Woodring has finally finished drawing WEATHERCRAFT, a sprawling Manhog epic chock full of torture, tyranny, enlightenment and amnesia, and will celebrate by bringing a carton of Devil Dogs (the confection, not the wurst) to Cafe Racer tonight. Come on down!"

Weathercraft is scheduled to come out Spring '10. Photo by Mary Woodring.

One of our most-requested items is Love and Rockets t-shirts... we continue to disappoint on that front, but Stüssy fills in the gap with some Jaime Hernandez t-shirts in their new Fall line — plus they've got a spiffy video interview with Jaime up right now (sorry no direct permalink — their site is totally Flash-ified). Hat tip to Martin Wong of Giant Robot, who adds that "Locas [is] a must for the library of anyone who likes indie comics, punk rock, or well-told fiction."

Attention NYC Thrizzle fans: next Monday, Sept. 28, this happens, with Michael Kupperman (click for larger version):