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

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

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

• 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

• 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

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.

Courtesy Ben Catmull: