Here's your first glimpse at the final cover art for the new collection of Dame Darcy's Meatcake, coming 'round about May or so. Stay tuned for more details.

Your periodic roundup of visual stimuli, still in its embryonic stages:

• Stephen DeStefano shares some concepts and developmental sketches for his forthcoming Fantagraphics graphic novel Lucky in Love

• Two Cups by John Hankiewicz

• Charlie Yup and pals from Jim Flora's rarest children's book (about which more info at the link)

• The Humanzee by Olivier Schrauwen

• Steve Brodner draws Howard Zinn in this video... straight to marker, no pencils, while talking... amazing (more on Zinn on Steve's blog)

• Don't forget Renee French posts new art every day

Congratulations to Joe Daly, whose Dungeon Quest: Book 1 (already published by our friends at L'Association in France and coming this Spring from Fantagraphics) received the Prix special du Jury at the Festival International de la Bande Desinée d'Angoulême over the weekend. See The Comics Reporter (or any number of other sites) for the complete list of prize winners.

Robert Goodin gives us a lovely two-page glimpse of "The Spiritual Crisis of Carl Jung," a 24-page story to appear in Mome Vol. 19 or 20, later this year.

Squint no more! (Plus I got the issue number right this time.) The new issue of Tales Designed to Thrizzle comes out in May!

UPDATE: Michael Kupperman lets us know that this is not the finished version, so some changes may be made between now and when it goes to press.

Blake Bell is plowing ahead with his forthcoming, highly-anticipated book Fire & Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics (preliminary cover art shown above subject to change), and you can track his progress on his Bill Everett Facebook page. In this update, he outlines the contents of each chapter and gives a general idea of what to expect in the book, which is on track for a September release.

Michael Kupperman is featured on Desktops of the Stars — look closely for what appears to be a teeny tiny icon of what might possibly be the cover to Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5 of course I meant #6 (enlarged above).

Tim Lane's posted another page from his next book, Folktales, on his blog. That's a heck of a splash page — click through for the whole thing.

A quick Online Commentary & Diversions update to close out the week:

• List: Popmatters names Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box one of The Best of Books 2009: Non-Fiction: "This awesome picture book... [is] filled with a delightfully odd array of vintage video covers... VHS cassettes may be treated like toxic waste in the age of the Blu-ray, but Portable Grindhouse offers that micro minority who still remain faithful to their trusty VCR a long overdue reprieve." – Ronald Hart

• Review: "Half the fun of [The Troublemakers] is trying to figure out just who is getting conned the worst? I zipped through this fun read, filled with backstabbing, double-crosses, and the spectacular art of Gilbert Hernandez. There is enough sex, violence, and treachery for any fan of pulp fiction. ... This offshoot of the Love and Rockets series is too much fun to miss." – Joseph Jay Franco, Bookrastination

• Plug: The Geeks of Doom flip through January's issue of Previews: "The next item I’ll definitely be picking up is It Was the War in the Trenches [by Jacques Tardi] from Fantagraphics. You know how I said before that I’m a fan of military history; well this book will scratch that same itch. This book takes a look at World War I from the eyes of the soldiers in the trenches. I’m very excited to read this one."

• Profile: Meathaus spotlights the work of Ray Fenwick

• Things to see: This is cute, though I'm not sure whether Sparky would approve (via Boing Boing)