Hey, want to get some holiday gift shopping out of the way early and make a big impact without breaking the bank? How about limited, signed edition books (some with exclusive prints) by some of the greatest comics creators around? How about HALF PRICE? That's right, get the following books at 50% off now through next Thursday, Nov. 8!

Conceptual Realism by Robert Williams — A catalog of the Fall 2009 solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the groundbreaking master of "lowbrow" art, with essays on each piece by the artist, sketches and other supplemental material. Hardcover edition with signed bookplate!

Hysteria in Remission by Robert Williams — This gorgeous volume collects the comics and illustrations of the seminal underground artist, much of it out of print for 25 years! Includes work done for Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, student cartoons and more rarities! Signed & numbered hardcover edition!

Hanging Out with the Dream King — The most intimate look yet into the life and mind of the best-selling author and creator of The Sandman. Over two dozen creators share their thoughts on working with Gaiman. Illustrated with many unpublished photos and comic pages! Hardcover signed by Neil Gaiman!

Jimbo in Purgatory by Gary Panter — This giant hardcover re-imagines Panter's cult hero as the protagonist in Dante's most famous work, with text remixed to include Biblical quotes and pop-culture snippets. An exquisite art object, and a brilliant literary game. With signed & numbered print!

Young GODS and Friends by Barry Windsor-Smith — Superficially resembling the 1960s The Mighty Thor, Young Gods is sexy, ribald, politically incorrect and funny, as three errant gods with mismatched goals and personalities seek fun across the universe. Signed hardcover edition!

 The newest Online Commentaries & Diversions:

•Interview (audio): NPR affliate 89.c KPCC interviewed both Significant Objects' editor Joshua Gleen and contributor Mark Frauenfelder (of BoingBoing and MAKE). Madeleine Brand says, "One's man trash is another man's treasure, especially if it comes with a really good story."

•Review: The Comics Journal shakes down Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons, edited by Kelly Gerald.

•Interview (video): Bill Moyers interviews on comics journalist Joe Sacco "I'm not interested in tears, I'm not even interested in sentimentality. But I am interested in telling peoples' stories who are repressed or are poor." Sacco and collaborator Chris Hedges will join Bill Moyers for a chat TONIGHT, Wednesday, July 25 at 2 PM ET. 

•Commentary: More insight on upcoming books from Fantagraphics as Bleeding Cool covered the SDCC Fantagraphics/D&Q panel. On Chris Wright's Black Lung:"The story was hard to follow, but that’s a good thing, because it sounds like the sort of surreal, go for broke, graphic storytelling that readers expect when they buy a Fantagraphics book. . . lyrical, anthropomorphic, violent and layered. Enough praise couldn’t be shed for this book. . ." On Ron Rege, Jr.'s Cartoon Utopia: "Beings from the future try to help us evolve, sending us messages, trying to show us what life can be like without “forced entertainment” (i.e. television). Drawn in an idiosyncratic, gorgeous, dense style. . ."

•Review: The Comics Journal locks their tractor beam onto Josh Simmon's collection called The Furry Trap. Brandon Soderberg says, "Josh Simmons’ work eschews the cheap thrills and glib cynicism of most horror comics. . .Simmons is a belligerent cartoonist, drawing without censure, adding a nervous energy to an ostensibly pleasant, bubbly style — like Gary Panter doing Where’s Waldo?, or Peanuts with all the existential despair laid completely bare. And he’s fully dedicated to simple, panel-to-panel pay-off, . . ."

•Plug: Summer art sales continue, this time with Johnny Ryan's A Famous Night (gig posters for concerts the never happened). Buy one for your walls and never have to entertain you in-laws at home again.

•Review: Comic Book Resources focuses on Barry Windsor-Smith's The Freebooters. While examining the first page, Greg Burgas said,"It’s amazing that Barry Windsor-Smith didn’t go blind drawing this page and the two that follows it, but luckily for readers, he managed to produce many beautiful pages after this. This is a fantastic way to begin this comic. . ."

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions (running late due to Emerald City ComiCon prep!):

• List: Library Journal's Martha Cornog recommends Unlovable: The Complete Collection by Esther Pearl Watson as one of her "Graphic Novels for Women's History Month": "A cringe-worthy classic of high school malaise, reportedly based on a real girl's diary found in a Las Vegas bathroom in 1995. Like a Wimpy Kid older sister but more poignant and painful, this features jagged, unpretty art capturing the diarist's inner chaos. For Lynda Barry fans craving a new read and professionals seeking an unvarnished glimpse of female adolescence."

• List: Chris Arrant of Robot 6 includes R. Kikuo Johnson and Barry Windsor-Smith on his list of "Comic creators I wish would return to comics"

• Plug: At The New York Times, Mark Dery examines the resurgence in interest in Edward Gorey and works in a nice mention of our book: "The market for Gorey books and merchandise buoys indie publishers like... Fantagraphics, which is releasing a third edition of The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, a portrait by the novelist and longtime Gorey friend Alexander Theroux."

• Plug (or something): Something about Peanuts on the Savage Critics' Wait, What? podcast? We haven't had time to listen, but the image made us take notice

Barry Windsor-Smith fans, we are pleased to share the following announcement with you:

Windsor-Smith Studio is pleased to announce the publication of

POETRY

A stunningly colored work printed by the giclée process, making the reproduction as beautiful as the original painting.

This signed and numbered limited edition of 375, in a deluxe, foil stamped presentation folder, features a 20" x 12 3/8" image on 22" x 15" UltraSmooth heavy 100% cotton rag, acid free & pH buffered paper.

The price is $135, including insured shipping.

POETRY is available from Glimmer Graphics, at their web site:
http://www.glimmergraphicsprints.com/Poetry.html

Feast your eyes — follow links for larger/complete versions:

• A portrait of Fantagraphics' own Ambassador of Awesomeness, Janice Headley, drawn by Jaime Hernandez at APE 2008 (on the back of Daniel Clowes's name card), finally scanned

• "This is only the first panel. There are literally hundreds more to follow..." Oh Jim Woodring, you had me at "This" (click for full version)

• Ben Catmull has constructed a miniature of a stone hut

• Two from Dash Shaw: the cover of his new zine Sundance, top (hmm, I wonder if it has anything to do with this), and "Volunteer in Closet"

• Comic Book Resources presents a nice, juicy 5-page sample of Adastra in Africa by Barry Windsor-Smith and discusses the origin of the book as part of their series of posts on "Comic Book Legends"

• Look forward to Laura Park's entries to Picture Book Report, where a variety of artists will be posting illustrations inspired by their favorite books — looks like there's going to be a lot of great stuff, gonna bookmark that site

The year's penultimate Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Comic Book Resources begins their countdown of the Top 100 Comics of 2009. At #82, "Because I Love You So Much" by Nikoline Wedelin: "Found in the pages of the recent anthology of Danish comics, From Wonderland with Love, this collection of strips about a mother who discovers that her daughter is being sexually abused by her dad is one of the most harrowing and utterly stunning stories about a difficult subject matter I've ever read and easily equal to the works of, say, Phoebe Gloeckner or Debbie Dreschler." (Chris Mautner)

• List: The Brazilian editions of The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 and Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button have been voted among As melhores HQs de 2009 (The Best Comics of 2009) by a panel of critics at O Globo (via The Comics Reporter)

• List: Robin McConnell of Inkstuds re-posts his Best of 2009 and Best of the 2000s lists previously run at The Daily Cross Hatch

• List: Comicdom continues their Top 100 of the 00s with Black Hole by Charles Burns at #2: "I start, taking for granted that with Black Hole, Burns played the blues of the pelvis with unparalleled mastery."

• Review: "...[A] love letter to 70s exploitation movies. Beto being Beto, there’s a depth of visual symbolism and complexity of character that provides an emotional structure to the narrative not seen in the source material that inspired these stories. ...Elmore Leonard meets Roger Corman. ... There’s a wonderful luridness to the story that Hernandez revels in... The Troublemakers... shows the artist at the height of his powers, capable of crafting characters with surprising depth even in the basest of genre stories." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Review: Chris McLaren gives his impressions after reading the first book of the "marvelous" Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons

• Plug: Paul Constant of The Stranger picks up on our report of the recent Fletcher Hanks discovery and says "If you haven't read I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! and its sister volume You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, you're in for a treat."

• Plugs: At Comics212, Chris Butcher comments on our spread in the December Previews: "Wow, some good stuff this month."

• Interview: Comics Alliance talks to Mome and The Comics Journal contributor Noah Van Sciver

• Interview: Comic Book Galaxy's Alan David Doane presents an exactly-decade-old chat with Barry Windsor-Smith, conducted on the occasion of the release of OPUS Vol. 1: "I mean, if I'd really wanted to sell it, I could have called it 'Tits Galore' or something like that." (I pulled the goofiest quote, but really, it's a substantive read.)

• Tribute: Steve Brodner mourns David Levine

• Things to see: This week's Seattle Weekly boasts illustrations from Jeremy Eaton and Pat Moriarity

Your midweek Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "It’s probably not fair to expect Hernandez to issue another creative virtuoso like Palomar, but in the pages of Luba, he comes closer than might be expected. ... Although Luba doesn’t hit as hard as Palomar, it remains a compelling portrait of family in all its messy glory.  Alternately sexy and vulgar, beautiful and mean, optimistic and intolerant, Luba and her family encompass all the ugliness and amazement that comes with being part of the human entity." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Profile: "Cartoonist Bill Mauldin was a genius at bringing the experiences of World War II home to the moms and dads, kids, wives or girlfriends of the GIs on the front lines in a very human way. ... To my knowledge, none of our wars since has produced a chronicler anywhere near the greatness of Mauldin." – Wesley G. Hughes, San Bernadino County Sun (via Newsarama)

• Video: A massive Peanuts ice sculpture depicting A Charlie Brown Christmas is being constructed in Nashville; The Daily Cartoonist has the PR and a promo video featuring members of the Schulz family

• Industry: Our own Eric Reynolds takes part in a roundtable on the topic of "Comics in the Age of Digital Piracy" at Graphic Novel Reporter

• Editorial: At his website, Barry Windsor-Smith writes eloquently in support of health care reform in the United States

Comics writer Alan David Doane, oft-linked in our "Daily OCD" posts, has a new E-book compiling a decade's worth of his interviews with comics notables such as Peter Bagge, Charles Burns, Colleen Coover, Renee French, Roberta Gregory, Paul Hornschemeier, Johnny Ryan, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Dirk Deppey (not to mention a slew of non-Fantagraphics folks too). You can download the book, aptly titled Conversations with ADD, for free at the Comic Book Galaxy website.

I didn't find any links yesterday, so there was no update (in case you were wondering). Today, however:

• Review: Beyond Race Magazine says that Deitch's Pictorama by the brothers Deitch is "entertaining, as well as a unique way to read comics"

• Review: Sean T. Collins presents his review of Mome Vol. 4 that originally ran in The Comics Journal in 2006

• Review: The Groovy Age of Horror examines the psychology of Fletcher Hanks and I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! (link via Sean T. Collins)

• Blurb: Thanks to Mike Lynch for hyping Humbug

• Things to see: Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents a whole bunch of vintage Barry Windsor-Smith art

• Things to see (and buy): A new blog of drawings for sale by Matthias Lehmann

• Things to see (and buy): Johnny Ryan drew a new strip to promote his Angry Youth Comix dolls from Span of Sunset