Dear old golden rule days are back, and kids, even your grandparents knew that comics are WAY more fun than homework. In that spirit we're offering 30% OFF our kid-friendly All Ages and Young Adult categories for one week only!

For younger kids, save on classics like Peanuts, Popeye, Prince Valiant, and, yes, Pogo, not to mention Dennis the Menace, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse! Our full range of Usagi Yojimbo books is marked down, including the deluxe box set. Plus our new bande desinee reprints and modern classics from Belgium & France, a bunch of other kid-friendly but still cutting-edge stuff, and much more!

For teens and sophisticated tweens we've got heroic biographies like 21 and King, nautical adventures like Isle of 100,000 Graves and Set to Sea, the smart fantasy of Castle Waiting, bittersweet and hilarious high school misfit tales like Ghost World, A Mess of Everything and Unlovable, a whole bunch of Zippy the Pinhead collections for the teen who loves offbeat humor — and that's just for starters! We've got dozens and dozens of titles to choose from in both categories, and of course they can all be enjoyed by adults of all ages as well.

Some of these books might not fit inside the ol' math book for surreptitious classroom smuggling but they'll all provide plenty of quality reading for kids and parents alike. This sale ends next Friday, September 9, 2011, so don't miss the final bell! And don't be afraid to ask us about age-appropriateness if you have any questions.

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago is now available to our mailorder customers with a signed bookplate at no extra charge! Supplies are limited and may run out without warning, so act with appropriate haste.

Wilfred signed these plates back in May when he was visiting Seattle and we promptly misplaced them (whoops), so if you ordered the book from us between May 4 and now, let us know and we'll be happy to send you one.

We constructed this 3D image of the Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 & 2 Box Set to show you how the books look in the slipcase. Below, a look at both sides (click for slightly larger versions):

Design for the series is by Jacob Covey. Stay tuned for more previews coming soon!

A new limited-edition giclee print of a reworked version of Mr. Natural #2 by Robert Crumb is now available from Wildwood Serigraphs.

And there appears to be a new (I think) installment of "Crumb on Others" where the man holds forth his candid opinions on various prominent figures in comics and popular culture, from his underground contemporaries to Charles Schulz, from Walt Disney to Walt Kelly, from The Beatles to Bettie Page. Must read!

At his Cats Without Dogs blog, Jason is posting rough sketches and brief notes on each of the stories in his upcoming book Athos in America. Above, "So Long, Mary Ann," followed by "The Brain That Wouldn't Virginia Woolf," with more to come. There's something else great on his blog that we're saving for later. (You've seen it already if you follow our Tumblr.)

Via our colleagues at AdHouse, it's the cover illustration for the 2011 SPX program guide by newly-minted Mome contributor Jim Rugg... and what's that making a cameo appearance? It's Tim Hensley's Wally Gropius being read by the girl in the foreground, who, if she's to scale with the book, is about 9 feet tall (without the boots).

Daniel Clowes has been awarded the very prestigious 2011 PEN Literary Award for Outstanding Body of Work in Graphic Literature. Congrats Dan, and well done PEN Awards judges.

"Hey kids! Get off my lawn!"

That loving portrait of the incomparable Tony Millionaire can be found in the collection Heroes & Villains, out now from Zero+ Publishing. In fact, photographers Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho captured quite a few of our beloved artists in this volume! Take a look:

Johnny Ryan

Gabrielle Bell

Anders Nilsen

A book release and signing party is going on tonight in L.A., and an exhibition of selected photographs with contact sheets and Polaroids will be on view! I can't wait to see more!

LAUNCH LA
Thursday, September 1st, 7-10 pm
125 East 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Thanks to everyone in the Washington DC area who came out for last week's slideshow talk with editor Warren Bernard for Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising! And thanks to the excellent Politics & Prose Bookstore for hosting this fun event!

The following pictures from the night are from photographer Bruce Guthrie -- you can check out even more pics at his website here!

If you weren't able to attend, don't fret! We've got an MP3 recording of Warren's presentation right here for you to enjoy -- just right-click-and-save:

• Warren Bernard at Politics & Prose, 8/25/11 [ 37.7 MB ]

And if you live here in Seattle, you won't wanna miss our Drawing Power exhibit, opening at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, September 10th. And we'll be joined for Warren for a slideshow ourselves on Saturday, September 24th, from 6:00 - 8:00 PM! 

But wait! There's more! Warren will be signing at the Fantagraphics table at SPX on September 10th and 11th.  We're lucky to get him to sit still for a couple of hours, because Warren is also the executive director of SPX!

Yup, he's a busy guy, that Warren, what with launching his book, gearing up for SPX and, oh yeah, announcing the SPX Collection with the Library of Congress... Come out and meet him this Fall, and ask him all about it!

Prince Valiant Vol. 4: 1943-1944
by Hal Foster

112-page full-color 10.25" x 14" hardcover • $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-455-9

Ships in: September 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

As this fourth volume begins, Prince Valiant, haunted by the lovely Aleta, seeks Merlin’s wise counsel. This brief episode segues into one of Hal Foster’s patented epics, “The Long Voyage to Thule,” which ran for seven straight months and featured Valiant’s return to his birthplace and reunion with his father. Of course, Foster’s astonishingly detailed and evocative depictions of Val’s home- land contribute greatly to this sprawling epic.

After a series of shorter adventures including “The Seductress,” “The Call of the Sea,” and “The Jealous Cripple,” Val finally decides he can stand it no more and sets out to find his long-lost love. Long-time fans know that his quest will eventually be successful, but Foster throws so many obstacles in the way of true love that the saga “The Winning of Aleta” would end up stretching a full year and a half, well into the next volume.

This volume also features the debut of Foster’s charming "The Mediæval Castle" strip, and an introductory essay by Foster scholar Brian M. Kane.

With stunning art reproduced directly from pristine printer’s proofs, Fantagraphics has introduced a new generation to Foster’s masterpiece, while providing long-time fans with the ultimate, definitive version of the strip.

Download and read a 12-page PDF excerpt which includes Brian Kane's Foreword and 9 strips (6.6 MB). Also, read editor Kim Thompson's Afterword from Vol. 1, detailing the production and restoration of these new editions, right here on our website.

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

Exclusive Savings: Order any combination of 2, 3, or all 4 volumes of Prince Valiant and save 20% off the combined cover prices! Click here to order a combination pack and choose your volumes.