First a bit of related happy news: Peter Kuper's "Ceci n'est pas une comic" (which Peter generously allowed us to host here following its various print appearances) was selected for inclusion in Best American Comics 2010, edited by Neil Gaiman.

This week we're pleased to bring you a sexy & romantic Flog-exclusive unpublished 5-page story by Dame Darcy, a hilarious new strip by Stephen DeStefano which will run for the next 11 weeks, and our usual weekly visit with the President from Steven Weissman:

"The Tunnel of Love" by Dame Darcy (permanent link):

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Monday's Strip by Stephen DeStefano (view larger)

Originally run as an experiment on Stephen's blog starting in 2008, Monday's Strip is re-presented here starting with this fine how-do-you-do, seen here in color for the first time.

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

Success! Thanks to everybody who pledged toward actualizing Jim Woodring's amazing project; we look forward to bringing you progress updates on this:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "For the most part, Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s might be viewed as a graphic/comic aficionado’s plaything, but there are lots of material that a social historian should find relevant. [...] Editors John Benson and Greg Sadowski have done extensive research to collate the best of EC’s competitors... and have diligently digitally restored the art to reflect the standards of that era. [...] By the way, I found the images hilarious. Yup." – Robert Birnbaum, The Morning News

• Review: "A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, the Fantagraphics collection of short stories from across Moto Hagio’s career, is one of those books that spoils you. It’s so lovingly conceived and beautifully produced, and the material it contains is so strong that it’s hard not to envision who might be next to receive this generous treatment. Hagio, one of the founders of modern shôjo manga and great contemporary manga in general, certainly deserves as much of a gracious spotlight as publishers are able to provide. [...] It’s also vibrant reading." – David Welsh, The Manga Curmudgeon (He's also giving away a copy — click for details.)

• Plugs: "There’s a nice pile of interesting things from Fantagraphics this week. Firstly there’s A Drunken Dream & Other Stories by the legendary Moto Hagio, whose acclaimed shōjo (girls’ comics) are seeing print in English for the very first time. There are ten stories in this collection which spans an entire career of work (Hagio’s been at it for over 40 years) along with an interview and a foreword by underground comix icon Trina Robbins. [...] Grotesque #4 is the final chapter of Sergio Ponchione’s bizarre masterpiece, Interiorae #4 is the final glimpse you’ll get into the lives of everyone in the apartment building, but Niger #3 is not the end and nor is Sammy the Mouse #3. Handsome books. And they always smell nice." – The Gosh! Comics Blog

Jim Woodring explains the engineering behind his proposed giant pen nib, with the above diagram. There's still a few hours to donate!

TIME.com's Techland brings you an exclusive 7-page preview of Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History by George Chieffet & Stephen DeStefano, on sale now here and at finer comic shops nationwide!

Visitors to the "Counterculture Comix" exhibition at Bumbershoot in Seattle this weekend will get a preview of the latest installment of Hooked on Comix. Director David P. Moore will attend all three days of the festival and screen clips from the new volume, featuring Fantagraphics favorites Dame Darcy and Tony Millionaire [seen below together at Comic-Con - Ed.], who will be at Bumbershoot on Monday.

The show features continuous screenings of classic early volumes of Hooked on Comix. The exhibition celebrates Seattle's legacy of alternative comix awesomeness. It's free on Friday, and the holiday weekend includes giants of pop music (Bob Dylan, Courtney Love, Neko Case, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, etc.), as well as contemporary film, lit, visual arts, and more.

After whetting your comix appetite at the Bumbershoot exhibition, drop by our store to stock up on reading material and the last viewing of Dame Darcy's delightful show of original artwork. Open Friday and Saturday until 8:00 PM, Sunday 11:30 to 5:00 PM. The store will be closed on Monday for Labor Day. Mark your calendars for the Carol Tyler event the following Saturday, September 11.

I shot a photo & video preview of the 2009 first softcover edition of Charles Burns's Skin Deep last summer, but never had time to upload it, and it slipped through the cracks for many months — until now! You get to ogle this amazing book and I finally get to cross it off my to-do list. Click here if the embedded player isn't visible below or to enlarge it in a new window (recommended).

The often provocative, always entertaining Georgetown Art Attack returns on Saturday, September 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. This celebration of Georgetown's creative arts corridor includes colorful business enterprises as well as private art studios that open to the public during this monthly event.

Among the many attractions: The 7th annual "Beer Bust" breast cancer fundraiser at Smarty Pants, featuring entertainment by the Spoils, the Tom Price Desert Classic, and a Georgetown neighborhood bartender Olympics, with all proceeds benefiting Gilda's Club Seattle; Equinox Studios, with the largest concentration of artists and artisans in the Georgetown area will be open with over 30 sculptors, painters, musicians, blacksmiths, and heavy metal craftsmen presenting their wares; panoramic landscape photographer Adria Pontious at Calamity Jane's; a Cinema Party at the Georgetown Trailer Park with art, film, treats, tunes & trailers; graffiti artist Kevin "Sensei 23" Sullivan at The Stables as well as an entry in a beer label competition at adjoining Full Throttle Bottles; the NAUTILUS Studio presents the strange, dark and beautiful assemblage art of Corey Urlacher; Cartoonist Carol Tyler's "You'll Never Know" exhibition and book launch party at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery; live music outside Georgetown Music Store; works by Mark Tedin, Kyle Abernethy, Julie Baroh and Michael Hoppe at Krab Jab Studio; and much more.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack is a promotion of the Georgetown Merchants Association (GMA.) For more information contact Larry Reid or GMA chair Sara Aruguete. For a Georgetown Art Attack site map see: www.georgetownartattack.com. Trailer Park Cinema information can be found at www.trailerparkcinema.com.

Ghost World just recently went into its 17th softcover printing, so we thought we'd take the opportunity to create one of our world-famous video & photo preview slideshows for our most famous graphic novel and — why not? — offer it for 17% off for a limited time!

Ghost World
by Daniel Clowes

17th Softcover Edition, 2010
80-page duotone 7" x 10" softcover • $11.95 $9.92 for a limited time
ISBN: 978-1-56097-427-7

Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

Ghost World has become a cultural and generational touchstone, and continues to enthrall and inspire readers over a decade after its original release as a graphic novel. Originally serialized in the pages of the seminal comic book Eightball throughout the mid-1990s, this quasi-autobiographical story (the name of one of the protagonists is famously an anagram of the author's name) follows the adventures of two teenage girls, Enid and Becky, two best friends facing the prospect of growing up, and more importantly, apart. Daniel Clowes is one of the most respected cartoonists of his generation, and Ghost World is his magnum opus. Adapted into a major motion picture directed by Terry Zwigoff (director of the acclaimed documentary Crumb), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. This graphic novel is a must for any self-respecting comics fan's library.

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Lucky in Love Book 1: A Poor Man's History
Script by George Chieffet; art by Stephen DeStefano

120-page monochrome 6.5" x 8.5" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-354-5

Ordering Info & Previews

This book is available with a signed bookplate as a FREE premium! The bookplate has been uniquely designed for this book, and each bookplate is printed on acid-free cardstock and hand-signed by the author. (Click here for more books available with signed bookplates.) Please select your preference above before adding the item to your shopping cart. Note: Signature plates are VERY limited in quantity and available only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

“I was fifteen in 1942, and I was five foot three, which is the tallest I ever was. I had jet black hair and a smile as big as day.”

Readers and moviegoers have read and seen many growing-up-in-the-bigcity- then-being-drafted-into-World-War-II tales, both real and fictional, but none with the visual pizzazz and feisty humor of Lucky in Love.

Co-created by George L. Chieffet (script) and veteran cartoonist and animator Stephen DeStefano (plot and art), Lucky in Love is almost the flipside to dramatic works on the same theme such as Alan’s War and You’ll Never Know. Elegantly drawn in a supremely confident, lively, cartoony black-and-white style that recalls Milt Gross as well as classic Disney animation and comics, Lucky in Love is a unique coming-of-age story that follows its lovable eponymous hero Lucky Testatuda from his rascally teen years in Hoboken, New Jersey’s Little Italy to his induction into the air force and subsequent wartime experiences.

Lucky in Love shows what happens when a feisty young man merges his erotic fantasies with 1940s film myths: Moving from the ’40s to present day (from which an aged, present-day Lucky looks back on his life), the book contrasts Lucky’s vivid fantasy life with the darker reality of World War II (including a masterful set-piece sequence that echoes Harvey Kurtzman’s classic EC war comics) as well as his first fumbling, cash-on-the-barrelhead sexual experiences. Ultimately the poignant discoveries Lucky makes on his way to adulthood bestow upon him a very different kind of heroism than that of which he had dreamed...

The second and concluding volume, Lucky in Love: Lucky for Life will be released in 2013.

“We’re all lucky when Stephen DeStefano draws comics. With scriptwriter George Chieffet, he’s produced his sharpest, most poignant work. DeStefano’s agile cartooning evokes the seeming simplicity of an earlier time, yet Lucky reads like the story that was really going on behind the heroism and glamour of the ‘golden age’ strips.” — David Mazzucchelli

Download an EXCLUSIVE 8-page PDF excerpt (414 KB) of the book's Prologue.