Past, present and future in today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Library Journal picks "Trina Robbins’s glam grab bag of Nell Brinkley serials," The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons from 1913–1940, as the best reprint on their Best Graphic Novels 2009 list

•List: Thanks to Zack Soto for naming West Coast Blues by Tardi & Manchette, Prison Pit: Book 1 by Johnny Ryan, and Pim & Francie by Al Columbia amongst his Favorite Books of 2009 (via)

• Review: "Imagine then what yesterday — or today's — right wingers would say about The Great Anti-War Cartoons... Sadly... what these cartoons have made us 'see' is how little things have changed 'round the planet, or within our species. ... And while being the spark for various brilliant cartoons over the decades doesn't justify the institutional addiction to war (or its always-looming threat), these cartoons can at least provide some solace. Or good fallout shelter reading." – Mark London Williams, The SF Site: Nexus Graphica

• Review: "Jaime Hernandez’s side of the Love and Rockets anthology may have started in a world of futuristic fantasy, but [The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.] is the volume where he finds his feet and hits a groove. ... Jaime’s illustration is beautiful and effortless. His characters mix a near perfect clear-line style with cartoonish expression, used with particular aplomb when emotions are running high. It’s a masterclass in comic illustration." – Grovel

• Review: "The illustrations [in Holy Moly] are so odd and random I burst out laughing at almost every page!" – Pop Culture Junkie

• Plug: Library Journal features May 2010's Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso in their inaugural Graphic Novels Prepub Alert: "A coming-of-age story about a young girl from a family caught between sides in a civil war, set in a world similar to ours but where people have artichoke leaves instead of hair. ... Its delicate, rather impish black-and-white line work comes from the creator of the subtle and poignant Squirrel Mother."

• Things to see: Stills from Lilli Carré's new animation in progress

• Things to see: Another great duck cover cover by Robert Goodin

• Things to see: Richard Sala posts scans of his 1990s illustrations for Seventeen and Sassy magazines etc.... Teen Girl Squad!

• Foreign Relations: Citizen reporter Mat Probasco of Allvoices approaches our own Jason T. Miles for expert analysis on the Hong Kong government's attempt to use comics to spur youth involvement

Paul Hornschemeier has posted a handful of panels from Forlorn Funnies Vol. 1, coming in November, over at his blog. Urine pants ahoy.

Yes, it's a parody/homage of The Believer, courtesy of editor Ben Schwartz, artist Drew Friedman, and designer Alexa Koenings. Drew provides more background and a larger image at his blog. The book is just off to press and should be out in April.

Paul Hornschemeier spills the beans on the first volume of the new book-format iteration of his one-man anthology series Forlorn Funnies, comprising serialized and standalone comics and prose stories. Head to Paul's blog for details on what's in the first volume, coming out from Fantagraphics this fall, as well as a look at the original art for the cover (the final version of which is seen above). He also posted a separate teaser showing a test panel from one of the stories. Exciting!

The Luc Besson adaptation of Jacques Tardi's ADELE BLANC-SEC movie, due this Spring, now has a teaser trailer which can be seen here:

No shots of Adele herself yet, but the bearded fellow in the final scene is Armand Fallières, whose name Jeopardy! champions (paging Ken Jennings!) will shout out, preceded with "Who is...?" — if the clue is "President of France from 1906-1913." Encouragingly, the scene is taken straight from the book. Will this be a movie adaptation of a classic comic that remains totally faithful to the original, without COUGH*Watchmen*COUGH embalming it?

I'm sure everyone is now thinking, "Gee, with that ADELE movie coming out, wouldn't this be a great time to re-release those ADELE books that Dark Horse and NBM released the first few volumes of back in the last century, although preferably with spiffed-up lettering and a brilliant new translation, in time to enjoy some of that movie P.R.?"

Why, it sure would.

The Previews website is featuring 8 interior pages from It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi, available at comic shops, bookstores and of course right here on our website this Spring.

Looky here, Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: On Random House's Suvudu blog, Dallas Middaugh selects 2008's Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw as #3 on the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2009: "This book came from out of nowhere to great critical acclaim, and it pushed young Mr. Shaw in the spotlight as one of the most exciting new cartoonists in the field. ... This haunting story of a dysfunctional family twists and turns and stuck with me long after I read it."

• List: At Comic Book Galaxy, Marc Sobel counts down "The 15 Best Back Issues I Read Last Year," including Birdland by Gilbert Hernandez ("vastly underappreciated") and the entire run of Hate by Peter Bagge ("This series gets better with age")

• Review: "Dreams are probably the second most popular subject for autobiographical comics, however distantly they lag behind the events of waking life. But no one, to my knowledge, has attempted to create comics arising from the hypnagogic netherworld that lies between the sleeping and the wakeful states. Until now. Or maybe not. It’s hard to say precisely, which is what gives Kevin Huizenga’s Ganges #3 so much of its unique charm." – Rich Kreiner, The Comics Journal

• Review: "What the hell is going on here? What is this book, anyway? ...[Pim and Francie] is like the inexplicable artifact of a deranged mind... Columbia has a flair for the grotesque, which, when mixed with such cute cartooniness reminiscent of old-school Disney, makes for an especially creepy juxtaposition. ... It's a cascade of horror, page after page of mostly-unfinished nastiness, enough to stick in the mind and cause nightmares for weeks." – Matthew J. Brady

• Review: "At long last, a handsome, two-volume, slipcased set [of Humbug] brings back into print a pivotal, neglected portion of the oeuvre of Harvey Kurtzman and that of a cadre of gifted pranksters bent on smart satire." – Rich Kreiner, The Comics Journal

• Review: "With a new exhibition currently on view at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Chelsea and his remarkable inclusion in the 2010 Whitney Biennial, Robert Williams seems more than ever the most likely candidate to represent the ways that late decadent American culture will be remembered by history. ... This is a late career artist at the top of his game, a shamefully overdue entry into still meaningful discourse of what art can be when it refuses to play by the rules, a monster of the imagination whose time has finally come." – Carlo McCormick, artnet

• Review: "Portable Grindhouse celebrates the sleazy kick of killing time in a slightly crappy video rental store, minus the inevitable arguments about what to rent or the possibility of your VCR eating the tape." – Dave Howlett, Living Between Wednesdays

• Plug: Robot 6's Chris Mautner is reading his stack of Comics Journal back issues "starting with #291, which features interviews with Tim Sale and Josh Simmons, as well as a great critical thinkpiece by Gary Groth on Ralph Steadman and Hunter S. Thompson. That alone was worth the cover price."

• Plugs: Some fun and appreciated name-drops from Tom Neely and Charles Bernstein in the 5th part of The Beat's year-end survey of comics pros

• Plug: The AAUGH Blog helpfully reminds its readers that you can get slipcases for your loose volumes of The Complete Peanuts direct from us

• Plug/Coming Attractions: Comic Book Resources' Greg Burgas comments on the January issue of Previews (our listings from which can be seen here): "Jacques Tardi's It Was the War of the Trenches, from Fantagraphics on page 256, sounds keen. It's a World War I book, so I'm sure it will be utterly depressing, but it still sounds worthwhile!"

• Interview: The final part of Brian Heater's interview with C. Tyler at The Daily Cross Hatch: "To me, it’s underground, and there’s other people who think, 'no way, it’s Mad Magazine.' Everyone has their place where it starts. There’s people now who say, 'Kramer’s Ergot is when it started for me.' Everyone has their place when they jumped off the diving board, into the pool of comics. The fact is, it’s continual."

• Profile: Gurldoggie takes a quick look at Joe Sacco in advance of his appearance in Seattle this week

• Events: The Covered blog celebrates its 1st anniversary and announces an art show at Secret Headquarters in L.A. in March

• Things to see: From Kevin Huizenga, "Postcard from Fielder" part 6 and Ganges 3 cover thumbnails

• Things to see: From Hans Rickheit, Ectopiary page 6 and something extra on his blog

• Things to see: At her blog, Gabrielle Bell presents her story from Mome Vol. 7 (reformatted vertically)

• Things to see: Marco Corona reimagines a Crumb page for an exhibit at Angoulême

The advance copies of the King Special Edition came into the office recently. They look SO killer. Eric put them on our shelf, and now everybody who walks by stops to gawk at the awesomeness. I consider this a true WIN for designer Adam Grano.

And, people say that the book is dying. Well, take that eBook readers. This is not only an amazing piece of nonfiction comics, but also a beautiful art object.

I dare anyone to pick out King Special Edition and not marvel at its beauty. Just try it. I triple dog dare you. Yeah, that's right. What are you going to do now, Chump?

Don't miss an opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the great books you'll be reading later this year at the FANTAGRAPHICS 2010 PREVIEW event this Saturday, January 9 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle.

On display will be work from Fantagraphics favorites like Peter Bagge (HATE ANNUAL #8), Tony Millionaire (BILLY HAZELNUTS AND THE CRAZY BIRD), Jim Woodring (WEATHERCRAFT), Jason (WEREWOLVES OF MONTPELLIER), Michael Kupperman (TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #6), Richard Sala (THE HIDDEN), and Gilbert Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS NEW STORIES #3), as well as new offerings from masters like Jacques Tardi and Carol Tyler and relative newcomers like Joe Daly and Nate Neal, among many others. 2010 promises more of the amazingly diverse yet cohesive line of compelling comics you've come to expect from Fantagraphics Books. See for yourself this Saturday.

The opening from 6:00 to 9:00 PM coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations at several locations throughout the historic neighborhood. For details and a map visit www.georgetownartattack.com.

Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) only minutes south of downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.