Here's a great resource I hadn't come across before: The Acme Novelty Archive, a slightly obsessive and quite nicely designed repository of the work of Chris Ware, compiled and presented by Adam Kempa.

Pick up the latest issue of Rue Morgue Magazine for an exclusive print-only 5-page feature by April Snellings on Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s, which provides historical context, quotes from editor Greg Sadowski and comics historian Peter Normanton, and of course lots of lurid and grisly images from the book: "The full-colour volume reprints more than three dozen of the very best non-EC [horror] titles... Some of these stories pack a punch even by today's jaded standards."

We've uploaded over 100 photos from the 2010 Bumbershoot festival to our Flickr page, including views of the entire Counterculture Comix exhibit, Jim Woodring's appearance in the "MeTube" program, and Tony Millionaire's unforgettable talk. You can view the photos a few different ways, including a slideshow; even though it's a bit of a pain to navigate I recommend browsing the photos manually, choosing "view all sizes" for each and selecting to view the exhibit photos at original size for the greatest detail. Below, just a few highlights:

Local TV celeb John Keister poses with his 1984 portrait by Lynda Barry.

Jim queues up a mind-bending video.

Tony demonstrates how to get arrested.

In response to my previous Flog post Eric plopped the new issue of the Oxford American onto my desk yesterday morning and not only does it include comics and illustrations by Drew Weing and Josh Simmons as previously reported, it also has Dame Darcy, Michael Kupperman, Eric Haven, Josh Neufeld, Jeremy Tinder and other, less-familiar talents. Let's hear it for comics in lit mags!

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Publishers Weekly's Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald run down some "Graphic Novels as Gifts" suggestions, including Norman Pettingill: Backwoods Humorist ("A wooden cover introduces the amazing outsider art of Pettingill, who crafted detailed postcards of wildlife and rustic humor") and A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio ("Haunting stories of longing, memory, and love from the legendary manga-ka who changed the face of Japanese comics").

• Review: "When experienced animators turn to creating comics or illustrating children’s books, I usually find the results successful and quite satisfying. That’s certainly the case with animator Mitch Schauer (Angry Beavers) and his first graphic novel, RIP M.D. (from Fantagraphics). [...] RIP M.D. would make an amazing 2D animated feature — if Hollywood were still making those. For now, graphic novels such as this are a great outlet for ambitious creators with ample imaginations. Check it out." – Jerry Beck, Cartoon Brew

• Review: "Temperance is a fascinating comic. Malkasian gives us an odd, fairy-tale-esque world where we must accept unreal things so that she can make her points. [...]  Malkasian does a fine job of grounding the tale of Blessedbowl in a real-world concern while still making sure it’s fantastical enough so a sentient wooden doll doesn’t seem too out of place. Malkasian’s art is tremendous, as well. [...] Temperance is a fascinating book to read, and while it’s not difficult to figure out, it does raise some important questions about society and what people do to live in one. Malkasian has a lot on her mind, and it’s impressive that she manages to get her real-world concerns into this fable without becoming preachy. [...]  It’s a very thoughtful comic, and I encourage you to check it out." – Greg Burgas, Comic Book Resources

• Interview: Robot 6's Tim O'Shea talks to Jason about Werewolves of Montpellier and other topics: "I’ve done boy meets girl and one of them dies in the end several times, so yes, I was a bit afraid of starting to repeat myself. But I think Werewolves is sufficiently different. It’s a platonic relationship between the two characters for one thing, and none of them dies in the end."

• Interview: At About.com: Manga, Deb Aoki presents a transcription of Moto Hagio's panel appearances at Comic-Con (with translator Matt Thorn) and conducts her own Q&A with the creator of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories: "Well, when I was a child, I used to read manga and cry myself. I had similar reactions watching movies and reading comics. Basically, I'm just expressing my own feelings like that. So it was with my own parents, and for a lot of people of that generation, who said that manga is just for small children, it's very simplistic. But from my point of view, manga is just one medium like movies and novels; it can be just as deep and just as moving."

• Interview: io9's Cyriaque Lamar, who brilliantly sums up Prison Pit: Book 2 as "not unlike Masters of the Universe...if Masters of the Universe was a hentai that starred Gwar," talks to its creator Johnny Ryan: "I wanted to do a book about monster-men beating the shit out of each other. That's my main idea, that's all it's about. There's no real subtext to it. It's about the fighting."

• Interview: Thomas Papadimitropoulos of Comicdom catches up with Bill Griffith on the latest Zippy the Pinhead developments (the intro is in Greek but the interview is presented in English): "I keep trying to surprise myself with the daily Zippy strip. Zippy’s 'discovery' of his hometown, 'Dingburg,' where everyone is a pinhead like him, has taken the strip in a new direction for the last few years. It’s still a lot of fun for me to explore all the different pinhead personalities in Dingburg."

• Interview: At Marvel.com, Sean T. Collins talks to Frank Santoro about his match-made-in-heaven Silver Surfer story for Marvel's Strange Tales II: "I thought of this as my try-out for Marvel. I didn't take this as a chance to do a funny mini comic kinda thing. This was my shot! Was I ever gonna get another one? I'm gonna try to knock it out of the park! That was my thinking."

• Interview: At Pikaland, Melanie Maddison has an extensive chat with Lilli Carré: "My book The Lagoon, which is very mood-driven, took me about 3 years to finish, because I had a lot of starts and stops when working on it. This was partially due to still being in school and working at that time, but also because it was hard to always be in the right mindset to work on such a moody piece and figure out the trajectory of the story."

• Plug: "The inimitable Drew Friedman has a new hardcover book out of his incredible celebrity portraits and caricatures drawn over the last 15 years... Our pals at Fantagraphics published the handsome hardcover, titled Too Soon?: Famous/Infamous Faces 1995-2010." – David Pescovitz, Boing Boing

• Plug: "A new Love and Rockets is out. It apparently contains one of the best Jaime Hernandez stories ever, which makes me shiver with excitement. In celebration, I photographed and uploaded my current favorite Jamie Hernandez story ever 'Penny Century.'" – Will Hines [Ed. note: Reproducing so much of the story is a little borderline, but what the hey.]

• Analysis: Love & Maggie continue their series of detailed, annotated rundowns of their Top 10 Issues of The Comics Journal with the third part of their examination of issue #71

You can see Howard Stern's blurb for Drew Friedman's Too Soon? right there on the front cover, and this morning Howard plugged the book on his Sirius satellite radio show, captured on video and posted to Facebook by Liz Belmont. The upshot: "Very good. Love that guy. ... I think Drew Friedman's my favorite artist. ... I still to this day don't know how he draws like that. It's fabulous."

Update: Now it's on YouTube and embedded below!

Question, video, and answer ("NOTHING.") courtesy Ben Schwartz.

Your cautionary tale of the day, from the New York Times.

Speaking of Rusty, if you're in NYC, don't miss Chris Ware's art show opening this Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Adam Baumgold Gallery. 

Right Thing the Wrong Way: The Story of Highwater Books

October 1st-October 24th

Opening Reception October 1st 6-9pm

Fourth Wall Project
132 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02215

For seven years (and one miscounted eighth anniversary party) Highwater Books was snobby, high-concept, iconoclastic, poorly-business modeled publishing company that ran itself into the ground. Highwater published books late, promised them and never published them at all and even withheld its books from distributors on principle. The company asked its artists to fold mini-comics and stand behind convention tables and sell their wares to a public that did not know what to make of them. It hatched plans, plots and schemes, and it may have been the most important comic publisher of the early part of the century. Over those seven or so years, Highwater elevated the concept of design in the comics world; It emphasized independent and DIY attitudes in an increasingly corporate society, and it published some of the most important artists in comics. In October, Fourth Wall Project celebrates Highwater and a selection of its artists with a group art exhibition: Right Thing the Wrong Way: The Story of Highwater Books.

Starting with the opening party on October 1st and on view for three weeks, Right Thing the Wrong Way will display new and archival works by the artists central to Highwater Books: Brian Ralph, Greg Cook, Jef Czekaj, Jordan Crane, Kurt Wolfgang, Marc Bell, Megan Kelso, and Ron Rege. Along with the artists work, there will be an installation celebrating the strange history of the company. The organizers (TD Sidell, Emily Arkin, Brooke Corey, Jef Czekaj, and Greg Cook) will construct a mini-museum within the gallery, displaying ephemera (both finished and unfinished), half formed concept pieces, and plain old junk that made Highwater special. In lieu of a traditional catalog the organizers, in conjunction with Bodega Distribution, have put together an oral history of the company that will manifest in a short-run publication (natch!) for the show. Compiled and edited by Highwater artist and Phoenix art critic Greg Cook, the oral history will act as a companion to the show with the artists and "employees" of Highwater telling the story themselves.

Drew Friedman will be signing TOO SOON? at the Ocean County Library outdoor Book Fest in New Jersey on Sat., Sept. 25th -- along with John Lennon's former lover May Pang and the editors of THE ONION, among many others!

Saturday, Sept. 25, 11 - 3PM

Ocean County Library Toms River Branch

101 Washington St., Toms River, NJ 08753