FLOG! Entries tagged 'Ben Catmull'

Cover Uncovered: Ghosts and Ruins by Ben Catmull

mike

Ben Catmull's eerie new book is at the printer a little early for release in July or August (with a debut at Comic-Con in San Diego), bringing you some much-needed chills and goose pimples in the dog days of summer. The author introduces the book thusly:

"Welcome to Ghosts and Ruins, a compendium of old, forgotten haunted houses, their strange histories, and the experiences of those brave enough to visit. It is highly recommended that you read this book alone late at night in the dark far away from civilization, preferably during a power outage."

Get ready to explore "The Buried House," "The Disgusting Garden," "The Secluded House," "The Lighthouse," the "Labyrinth of Junk," and "The Crawling House"; meet "Drowned Shelley" (that's her below), "The Woman Outside the Window," "The Sculptor," and the "Lonely Old Spinster"; and learn the secrets of "Wandering Smoke," "The Order of the Shadowy Finger" (their HQ is on the cover), and "Hair and Earwigs."

Stay tuned for more spine-tingling sneak peeks in the coming weeks!

Fantagraphics Uncovers Your Nightmares with New Works from Julia Gfr�rer and Ben Catmull

TheJenVaughn

(not final cover)

The living will forever be obsessed with death and those who have started on that grand adventure before them. This Fall, Fantagraphics presents two books to capture the imagination and haunt each and every night by the young and talented Julia Gfrörer and Ben Catmull.

Black Is the Color
by Julia Gfrörer

September 2013

$9.99 Paperback • 72 pages
Black-and-white • 6" x 9"
ISBN: 978-1-60699-717-8

The push and pull, ebb and flow of the water calls out to all men. In this harrowing new graphic novella, Black Is the Color, Julia Gfrörer delicately hatches away this sailor-at-sea story until the reader drowns in imminent destruction. Gfrörer states, "Black Is the Color is my most ambitious single story comic to date, and I'm thrilled that Fantagraphics will be publishing it in a format that matches my vision for the work." Originally serialized at the Study Group web collective, Gfrörer's work is as seductive as the mermaids she draws beneath the waves.

(final cover may vary)

Ghosts and Ruins
by Ben Catmull

September 2013

$19.99 Hardcover • 88 pages
Black-and-white • 10.25" x 8.50"
ISBN: 978-1-60699-678-2

Continuing his expanding Fantagraphics catalog, Ben Catmull's chilling compendium of long-forgotten and still-occupied haunted houses joins his 2006 critically-acclaimed Monster Parade. "For Ghosts and Ruins I wanted to take my obsessions with ghost stories, abandoned architecture, and forgotten history and illustrated them with images full of shadows, atmosphere, and texture. I'm looking forward to see how people react to a book that approaches the horror genre not with adrenaline fueled sadism or tongue in cheek goofiness but with haunting meloncholy and a little deadpan humor," Catmull summarizes. This coffee-table sized collection is the perfect gift for the future ghost in your life, and fans of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton are sure to enjoy these sweeping landscapes that echo of loss, dilapidation and dread.

Coming September of 2013, make room on your bookshelf for Julia Gfrörer's Black is the Color and Ben Catmull's Ghosts and Ruins.

Fantagraphics at the 2011 Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival

janice

For the first time ever, Fantagraphics will be exhibiting at the Brooklyn Comics & Graphics Festival! Come visit us this Saturday, December 3rd from 12:00 - 9:00 PM for a wealth of debuts, artist appearances, and the great Gary Groth manning the table!

Gary will be joined by a truly all-star cast of artists for our first BCGF:

1PM: Josh Simmons
2PM: Kim Deitch
3PM: Dash Shaw
5PM: Jack Davis
6PM: Michael Kupperman
7PM: Al Columbia

And even more of our artists will be exhibiting at the show, including Gabrielle Bell, Ben Catmull, Charles Forsman, Drew Friedman, Sammy Harkham, Tom Kaczynski, John Kerschbaum, Victor Kerlow, Joseph Lambert, Mark Newgarden, Jesse Moynihan, Gary Panter, Zak Sally, Leslie Stein, and Jon Vermilyea... PHEW! Pick up their books from our table, and then seek these artists out at their own!

Bring a big bag, because you'll also wanna pick up our excellent debuts at the festival!

• Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture by Jack Davis
• 500 Portraits by Tony Millionaire

• Action! Mystery! Thrills! Great Comic Book Covers 1936-1945 edited by Greg Sadowski
• Jason Conquers America by Jason

Where can you find all this awesome? Fantagraphics will be in the downstairs section at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church [ 275 North 8th Street ], at tables 31 & 32:

And finally, make sure you don't miss our artists in these panels! These will all take place at Union Pool [ 484 Union Avenue # A ], and the panels are free and open to the public:

1:30 PM // JACK DAVIS Q+A

Legendary cartoonist Jack Davis made his mark producing horror and war stories for EC Comics, before finding his métier in satire as one of the original (and longest running) artists for MAD Magazine. As a prolific illustrator, Davis defined the caricatural style of the 1960s and 1970s—and beyond. In this rare public appearance, Davis will discuss his career with Fantagraphics co-publisher Gary Groth and illustrator Drew Friedman.

[ Jack Davis fans, please note: he will also be appearing on Friday, December 2nd at the opening of his exhibit at the Scott Eder Gallery! Don't miss it! ]

2:30 PM // GESTURAL AESTHETICS

As comics have evolved beyond their commercial roots toward more individualistic modes of expression, they have been infused with new influences from other fields of art including printmaking, collage and painting. Additionally, new printing technologies have permitted the reproduction of artwork that more closely shows the work of an artist’s hand. Austin English, Dunja Jankovic and Frank Santoro will discuss new aesthetics in comics with moderator Bill Kartalopoulos.

6:00 PM // THE LANGUAGE IN COMICS

The recent embrace of graphic novels by the publishing industry has led to misguided attempts to evaluate comics according to the standards and conventions of literary fiction. The writing in comics occupies a more peculiar place, with its own constraints and opportunities. John Porcellino, Gabrielle Bell, and David Sandlin will discuss the particular demands of writing within a visually-driven form in this conversation moderated by novelist Myla Goldberg.

So, get ready! And we'll see you in Brooklyn this Saturday!

Things to See: 5/16/11 Roundup

mike

Two weeks to catch up on!

• Percy Gloom changed his Facebook profile picture to this portrait I hadn't seen before

• Andrei Molotiu posted a big batch of sketchbook drawings to his blog

• A new image from Ben Catmull's current project

• Matthias Lehmann shares a few pieces from his current art show and some photos of the installation

• Dig Paul Hornschemeier's new logo for the Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death Ray) podcast/comedy show

• A newly-drawn splash page (along with the original version from 15 years ago) by Tim Lane for the upcoming 3rd issue of Happy Hour in America, along with some musings on craft

• Sergio Ponchione's Professor Hackensack returns to discuss matters scientifical in the new issue of Linus

• Kevin Huizenga's jaw-dropping comic from Kramer's Ergot 7 is now up at the newly-revived What Things Do; Kevin offers some notes and commentary on it at his New Construction blog; also, a possibly new Glenn Ganges glimpse

• A recent drawing by Renee French, who it should be noted seems to have moved her more extemporaneous sketches and photos over to her new Posterous blog

• A sneak peek of something by Josh Simmons

• Anders Nilsen is working on some collaborative paintings with Sonnenzimmer for an upcoming exhibit — more glimpses at Anders's blog, more info here

• Hey, I know those dogs! It's Robert Goodin's Idget & Toaster fending quite well for themselves in the zombie apocalypse in a panel from Rob's story in the banned-in-Canada anthology Black Eye

• Tony Millionaire posts Drinky Crow's first published appearance , from 1993

• Unexplained illustration by Johnny Ryan

• Nate Neal draws Hans Rickheit's Cochlea & Eustachia

• Eleanor Davis draws Aphasia from C.F.'s Powr Mastrs for the Picturebox fan forum — see the amazing hair salon mural she did with David Mack too

And more Things to See from the past week:

• At Jason's Cats Without Dogs blog, sketches, illustrations, movie reviews and a great series of posts on his cartooning heroes, some of which may surprise you

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spots on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• A new print by John Hankiewicz

• Artwork, dolls, prints, and hey, they're on sale in the latest Dame Darcy blog update

• Drew Friedman spotlights recent illustrations and pays tribute to some of his favorite fellow cartoonists at his blog

• Vintage Jim Flora artwork and illustrations at the Jim Flora blog

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• A recent current-event sketch by Steve Brodner

• A Mome outtake page and lots more drawings by Derek Van Gieson at his These Days I Remain blog

• New sketch, new illustration by Tom Kaczynski

• New Trubble Club!

Shakin' Up Stumptown 2011

janice

... And by that, I mean, I had three Burgerville Northwest Cherry Chocolate Milkshakes in the two days we were in Portland, Oregon for the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest. They even put espresso shots in my milkshakes. God bless Burgerville.

The calm before the Stumptown storm!

So, WOW! Thank you so much to everyone who came by our booth at Stumptown this year! Mike and I had a blast! Hate Annual #9 flew off the racks, with Jason's latest Isle of 100,000 Graves also selling out quickly.

We were thrilled to be joined by editor Patrick Rosenkranz. While we weren't able to make his panel on the underground comix movement, we could tell from the fans attending his signing that it must've went great! One fellow came by with a huge stack of Zap Comix in hand, including a rare copy of the first printing of #1!

Speaking of successful panels, T. Edward Bak had several of his attendees dropping by the booth, grabbing fistfuls of Momes! Here he is, showing some of his original artwork. Mike pointed out that you can always tell which issues of Mome T. Edward is in by looking for the black pages on the fore edge! (And yes, we had to consult Google to figure out what the sides of a book are called.)

Mome contributor Jeffrey Brown was signing with our booth neighbors Top Shelf, and leaned over for a chat with T Edward. Note: this happened on the next day from the other picture posted above; it's not like T Edward brought two sets of clothes. He's not Lady Gaga.

[Speaking of Jeffrey, here's one of my favorite overheard quotes of the weekend -- girl, on cellphone: "Hello? Mom, I gotta call you back. I'm standing in front of Jeffrey Brown."]

[My second favorite overheard quote of Stumptown comes from our own Customer Service Representative Ian Burns, who was trying to unload his leftovers from lunch: "It is really hard to give away meat in Portland."]

Speaking of Mome, we're always delighted to have the multi-talented Andrice Arp join us. Not only was she signing copies of Mome (including Volume 15, which features her cover art), but she also brought mini-paintings and a totally awesome flip-book she designed, inspired by the A-ha video for "Take On Me." Yeah, that's right.

And finally, editor Jacques Boyreau joined us, engaging customers with his collection Portable Grindhouse. Jacques is always great to talk movies with, and a former French film critic even stopped by to discuss cult classics! And who's that to the left in the pic above? Why it's Monster Parade artist Ben Catmull!

Ben had his own table this year at Stumptown, featuring his award-winning 2001 comic Paper Theater, and some freakin' insane letterpress prints, both of which you can acquire straight from the gentleman himself.

The biggest buzz of the weekend was over the move from the old location (The Lloyd Center) to the much-larger Oregon Convention Center. And yes, while I missed the windows and nearby park of The Lloyd Center, I've really only got one word: Burgerville.

You can check out lots more pics from our Stumptown adventures on the Fantagraphics Flickr page here. And the fun don't stop, as Mike and I are now gearing up for TCAF! Hope to see you there!

Announcing Our Stumptown 2011 Schedule!

janice

Join us this weekend for the 8th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon! It's their first year at the Oregon Convention Center, and we'll be there Saturday, April 16th and Sunday, April 17th, with some of our amazing artists and editors, and both new books and favorite titles. Marketing maestro Mike Baehr and I are looking forward to seeing everyone!

Get your hands on early copies of these Fantagraphics titles:

• Love From the Shadows by Gilbert Hernandez
• 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago
• Hate Annual #9 by Peter Bagge
• Isle of 100,000 Graves by Jason

And we've got an exciting signing schedule in store for you, with a couple of our acclaimed Mome artists, and a couple of our incredible editors:

Saturday, April 16th
1:00-2:00 PM          Patrick Rosenkranz
2:00-3:00 PM          T. Edward Bak
4:00-5:00 PM        Jacques Boyreau
5:00-6:00 PM          Andrice Arp

Sunday, April 17th
2:00-3:00 PM          Patrick Rosenkranz
4:00-5:00 PM          T. Edward Bak
5:00-6:00 PM          Andrice Arp

You can also get your books signed by artists Ben Catmull and Jeffrey Brown, who will be signing at different tables at the show, and swing by the Profanity Hill table to say hi to Fantagraphics' own Jason T. Miles!

And in celebration of the latest issue of Hate Annual, we'll be doing some fun giveaways, thanks to our friends at AmericaWare, who've just debuted a collection of Peter Bagge t-shirts! Just come by the Fantagraphics table for your chance to win a shirt featuring the loveable Lisa! You know you wanna be BAD!

(And if you live in Seattle, you can check out t-shirts from Bagge, Woodring, Wolverton and Blanchard at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery!)

Where can you find us at Stumptown? Why, at booth #304!

And while at Stumptown, be sure to take in some panels featuring Fantagraphics artists and staff!

Saturday, April 16th

11:00-11:45 PM // Process in the Periphery: Natural History and Narrative Explorations in the Biography of Georg Wilhelm Steller: A presentation of artist T Edward Bak's current work-in-progress with an examination of challenges in illustrated historical exposition. (Room A104)

12:00-12:45 PM // Sex, Drugs & Insurrection: The Underground Comix Movement: During the underground comix era artistic freedom was a non-negotiable starting point. Audacity, iconoclasm, and experimentation became the new standards for success. Comics this raw and explicit had never seen print before. This presentation is not for the young or squeamish. Presented by Patrick Rosenkranz (Room A106)

2:00-2:45 PM // Comics as Journalism: Mike Rosen, editor of Oil and Water, moderates a discussion about using comics as a form of journalism, tackling stories in ways that traditional prose journalism doesn't. Join Shannon Wheeler, Sarah Glidden, Matt Bors, and Steve Duin. (Room A105)

3:00-3:45 PM // How To Publicize Your Comic: Fantagraphics Director of Publicity & Promotions, Jacq Cohen, goes over the step-by-step process of creating a publicity plan for a comic and gives pointers on how to promote yourself and your book. (Room A104)

3:00-4:45 PM // Teaching Comics: College-level comics courses are a fairly new phenomenon, but the schools offering them have already met with great success. Join educators Brian Michael Bendis (PSU), Patrick Rosenkranz (PNCA), Trevor Dodge (CCC/PNCA), and Nicole Georges (IPRC) in a panel hosted by Dark Horse executive editor Diana Schutz (PCC) as they share their experiences in the comics classroom and bring you up to date on courses now available nationwide. (Room A106)

Sunday, April 17th

2:00-2:45 PM // Douglas Wolk: Page One: We'll look at some great opening pages of comics, and discuss how they instantly establish a look and feel for what comes after them (including some Fantagraphics titles!). Hosted by critic Douglas Wolk. (Room A104)

6:00-10:00 PM // Stumptown Comics Fest Afterparty: See the Stumptown Cartoonist Show, featuring artwork by Andrice Arp and many, many other artists, at Pony Club Gallery (625 NW Everett Street #105).

We'll see you there!

Things to See: 12/20/10 Roundup

mike

• A little holiday treat for Venture Bros. fans from Stephen DeStefano

• Here's just one piece of artwork that Ben Catmull has for sale — see his blog for more, plus details

• Page 1 of Kevin Huizenga's Fight or Run? #1 looks even better in mauve duotone

• Richard Sala has some nice photos of the Penguin Classics edition of Dickens's Great Expectations with his cover illustrations, plus an old Blab cover illo

• Lilli Carré presents the masthead illustrations she's done for The Believer's comics section, plus another illustration at her Kettle of Fish blog

• A Christmas comic and downloadable print-your-own gift tags from Laura Park

• Andrice Arp fabric pattern

And more Things to See from the past week:

• Early strips, illustrations, outtakes and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• A new print at John Hankiewicz's Clip Joint blog

• Sketches by Frank Santoro at the Cold Heat Comics blog

• Illustrations by Marco Corona at his Il Canguro Pugilatore blog

• Nature sketches with running commentary by Debbie Drechsler at her Just Around the Corner blog

• More sketches for Mark Kalesniko's forthcoming graphic novel Freeway (now up for pre-order!) at his blog

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest t-shirt design available in the Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop on his News and/or Head Lice blog

• A series of illustrations at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog

• Drawings, sketches, photos from Renee French

• Daily drawings and animation production artwork from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Sketches, portraits, caricatures & commentary by Steve Brodner

• An eyepopping 2006 portrait commission by Johnny Ryan (I'm underselling it)

Ben Catmull tells Tales at Comic Relief

mike

Ben Catmull reads from Monster Parade this Saturday evening at Comic Relief in Berkeley! More info here.

Ben Catmull letterpress prints

mike

Ben Catmull has produced a series of beautiful debossed letterpress prints, which are now available for sale on Etsy at very reasonable prices. Ben also told us at APE that he's working away on the eagerly-awaited Monster Parade #2.

Things to see: 8/31/10

mike

Periodic clips & strips, just under the wire (for the Pacific time zone anyway) — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• From Wilfred Santiago, a cartoon drawn for our 30th anniversary back in 2006

• A glimpse of Ben Catmull's current work in progress

• From Jason: A 1981 cartoon; a couple of cover illustrations; a Mjau Mjau back cover painting; and I think "T.W." is Tom Waits

• Steven Weissman's Truman Capote strip re-redux

• Richard Sala presents selections from his Comic Art Collective offerings, including Peculia pinups and this 1991 illustration

• The last page of Marco Corona's "briganti" story

• The latest installment of Tim Lane's Belligerent Piano

• Speaking of thieves: a detail of Jim Flora's The Big Bank Robbery, circa mid-1960s

• Lilli Carré presents a still from an animated loop drawing in progress; also, she announces that her short film Head Garden is part of a film program at Chicago's Lincoln Hall tomorrow/tonight (Sept. 1)

• The fifth installment of Gabrielle Bell's San Diego Comic-Con Comicumentary features her ex Michel Gondry, nudity, and awkwardness

• More AMC Pacer studies by Mark Kalesniko for Freeway

• Paul Hornschemeier's latest t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop

• A happy/sad Lewis comic by Laura Park

• From Renee French: mitt guy, a stage, the cover to something called Tag K

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary page 39

• "The Devil Doll" part 4 page 4 by Derek Van Gieson, plus another Moomin parody strip

• Tom Kaczynski draws comics scholar Isaac Cates, who returns the favor; Tom's also been writing a series of thought-provoking essays on comics on his Transatlantis blog, well worth reading

• As seen on Boing Boing, it's Jon Adams's cereal-mascot mashup; plus a new Truth Serum strip

Comics reading in Berkeley tomorrow

mike

This looks good — a comics reading featuring Ben Catmull & Renee French from the Fantagraphics stable alongside 4 other well-respected indie-comickers: Trevor Alixopulos, Rina Ayuyang, Josh Frankek & Lark Pien. Tomorrow evening, at Pegasus Books in Berkeley. Via Ben's blog.

Things to see: 3/3/10

mike

Your daily art blips:

• Kevin Huizenga ponders the philosophy of domestic architecture

• Part 8 of Steven Weissman's "This Already Happened" at What Things Do

• It was hard to pick just one of Paul Hornschemeier's three contributions to the Game Over 3 art show at GRSF to feature here

• Ben Catmull provides a status update and glimpse of the eagerly-awaited-by-me Monster Parade #2

• "Things to See" Prose Corner: A very short Twain & Einstein (& Oscar & Felix) story by Michael Kupperman

Daily OCD: 2/17/10

mike

Let's see what Online Commentary & Diversions are in store for us today:

• Review: "The Troublemakers is something of a titular understatement. These guys aren’t trouble, they’re a disaster waiting to happen. ... It’s an exquisite story. With the characters locked in a tussle of greed and deceit, Hernandez makes his writing craft look effortless. The script is low-key and natural, the characters three-dimensional and interesting." – Grovel

• Review: "...[T]here seemed to be something dangerous, something man was not meant to trifle with, something unnatural, in concentrating all that uncut hilarity in one place [in Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1]... At its basal level, Kupperman’s sense of humor starts with a susceptible contemporary sensibility driven into survival mode by the open floodgates of mass culture, a modern consciousness threatened by amusement and diversion. The strategic response is one of aggressive accretion, grasping at straws and flotsam and winding up with some very odd however buoyant accumulations." – Rich Kreiner, "Yearlong Best of the Year," The Comics Journal

• Review: "[The] Unclothed Man [in the 35th Century A.D.] is an interesting, if quirky, collection of the work of a cartoonist who is still getting stronger and more confident." – Andrew Wheeler, ComicMix

• Plug: The Gosh! Comics Blog says Chocolate Cheeks is "Steve Weissman at his most disgusting and delightful."

• Events: Jessica Abel gives a talk at Marshall University in Huntington, WV on Thursday, Feb. 25 — bring your old Artbabes

• Pirates: Ben Catmull warns that Monster Parade has been reprinted without permission in Croatia

Things to see: 2/12/10

mike

Behold:

• 3 images from one of Ben Catmull's current projects

• Two spot illos for the Feb. issue of Linus by Sergio Ponchione

• The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog shares some Valentine's Day advice from Jack Cole & Shel Silverstein

• Groovy poster design by Jim Blanchard for his Missus's band The DTs' gig tomorrow night (head there after seeing Gahan Wilson at our store)

• Johnny Ryan's contribution to The Sinstones, an anthology minicomic of Flintstone gags

• An animated editorial cartoon by Steve Brodner (there's a cute dog)

• Dangit Laura Park, yer makin' me hungry with your noodle doodles

Things to see: 2/5/10

mike

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

Daily links: 3/30/09

mike

• Review: For Robot 6's "What Are You Reading?" column, guest contributor Kevin Church says of Sam's Strip, "It was either going to be the biggest success in the world or end within two years. Since it’s all collected in one volume now, you can likely work out how it went down."

• Review: Las Vegas Weekly gives Sam's Strip 4 stars: "How on earth did Sam's Strip... fail to set the funny pages on fire back in 1961...? The answer -- provided through this complete collection of 500 strips -- is that the time just wasn't right. Well, it's certainly right now."

• Review: Thought Balloonist Charles W. Hatfield examines Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw: "Shaw is very good and getting better... With Bottomless Belly Button he has pulled off something remarkable: a 700-plus page book that doesn't feel like a stunt but rather is perfectly proportioned, intimate, and subtle, a privileged entryway into a private world that nonetheless feels universal in its emotive resonance and applicability... Bottomless Belly Button has depths. It evokes the power of memory and the phenomenal richness of ordinary experience with the sort of Proustian precision of observation and recall that alternative comics have been chasing since Spiegelman."

• Review: The title of The Washington Post's Express Night Out review of The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 makes what is surely the first reference to Spin¨al Tap in a Peanuts review. From the review: "[These] volumes... are a spectacular tribute to Schulz's work... References to Bob Dylan's age aside (one strip mentions his 30th birthday — yikes!), Peanuts remains surprisingly fresh and timeless. Although Charles Schulz wrote these strips over 20 years ago, the ongoing popularity of the made-for-TV holiday specials... means that the Peanuts gang continue to remain relevant in popular culture. It would be a pity, however, to relegate Peanuts to special occasions only — Schulz's work should and can be enjoyed all year round."

• Review: Sacha Peet says "I finally read Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson the other day. I love it. The drawings are great, and the life of Tammy Pierce is enthralling."

• Preview: Rick Klaw got Blazing Combat in his mailbag; we suspect he'll have a review up soon

• History: Carnal Nation continues their look at the history of the Tijuana Bibles

• Events: See original pages from Ben Catmull's Monster Parade at the Heroes and Villains art show at Rock Paper Scissors in Oakland, opening this Friday April 3rd, 6-9 pm (via Ben's blog)

• Things to see: The most recent batch of sketchbook drawings & comics from Anders Nilsen

Daily links: 2/16/09

mike

• Review: The North Adams Transcript likes Beasts! Book 2 even more than Book 1

• Review: Rob Clough says Petey & Pussy by John Kerschbaum is the best humor-related publication of the year

• List: At Funnybook Babylon, "25 Things Pedro Loves about Comics" leads off with Steven Weissman 's Li'l Bloody

• Profile: 1979 Semi-Finalist names Eleanor Davis "Artist of the Week"

• Blurb: Richard Cowdry's been getting into Dash Shaw's Mome stories

• Blurb: The Scandy Factory previews our upcoming release of VHS box art, Portable Grindhouse

• Things to see: Ben Catmull has started a blog

• Things to see: New gag strips for Vice (on the theme of drugs) by Johnny Ryan

• WTF: Here is perhaps the most unexpected reference to Mark Newgarden ever to be seen

Friday Night Videos

mike

Ben Catmull: cartoonist, music video director (via Spurge).

Still Working from Ben Catmull on Vimeo.

Johnny Ryan sez on his blog: "Superfan Patrick O'Odonnell and friends have produced another cinematic masterpiece based on one of my comics. If you ever wondered what would happen if Stanley Kubrick fell out of the top floor of the World Trade Center and landed brain first into a pile of my comics, you'd probably get something like this." Behold.

Sketchbook #3

Eric

Courtesy Ben Catmull: