Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "After hearing his name lauded for many years, Werewolves of Montpellier was my first excursion into the world of Jason, the renowned Norwegian-born artist known for mixing whimsical anthropomorphic characters with introspective and often quite heavy storylines. Now I understand what my friends have been raving about for years. Jason’s artwork is sparse and the story is a masterpiece in simplicity. ... At times heartbreakingly sad and laugh-out-loud funny, this story just feels like real life... but with werewolves. ... These characters are hopeless, hilarious, tragic and beautiful – probably a lot like you and your friends." – Chad Derdowski, Mania

• Review: "Norwegian cartoonist Jason's latest work [Werewolves of Montpellier] is an absolute gem, funny, sparse and poignant. A tale of a thief, his complicated love life, urban living and werewolves, this is a unique and entertaining work." – Ian Mayor

• Reviewer: Jason shares his thoughts on Bob le Flambeur

• Semi-review: "A bound galley of Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories arrived in yesterday's mail, and I'm halfway through it already. Hagio's art in some of these stories is absolutely beautiful to look at... I'm sure the finished book will be beautiful and expensive, but I sort of hope some girls find these stories as well, and get the same thrill I did." – Bridgid Alverson, Robot 6

• Interview: Lan D. Ho! has the world's shortest interview with Michael Kupperman

• Plug: PowellsBooks.Blog plugs Dame Darcy's Meat Cake

We just uploaded a mess of photos from recent Fantagraphics events to our Flickr page. In reverse chronological order, starting with last night's Dame Darcy exhibit opening and Meat Cake signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery:

Click here for more photos, including shots of all the artwork.

From June 5th, Esther Pearl Watson & Mark Todd's visit to the store for our holiday weenie roast (with grill-meister Larry Reid):

More photos here.

And lastly, on July 3rd, at an undisclosed location, the triumphant return of the Fantagraphics shooting outing:

Check out the Flickr group for more photos by Jim Blanchard & Adam Grano.

Come down and hang out with the enchanting Dame Darcy this Saturday, July 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. To celebrate the publication of her new MEAT CAKE anthology there will be an exhibition of her exquisite artwork, a musical performance, book signing, fortune telling, and doubtless a few surprises.

If you’re new to Dame Darcy’s singular neo-Victorian aesthetic you’re in for a treat. Longtime fans will enjoy an opportunity to experience her diverse talents in the intimate atmosphere of Fantagraphics colorful showroom, located at 1201 S. Vale Street at Airport Way S. just minutes from downtown Seattle. Phone 206.658.0110.

This event coincides with the lively Georgetown Art Attack featuring art, music and more at locations throughout the historic neighborhood. Don’t miss the vintage Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. Yee haw! See you all soon.

Periodic clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Set to Sea pages 104 and 105 from Drew Weing

• It's your all-new weekly installment of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• Lots of Kevin Huizenga updates: a new Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond strip, Fight or Run's Chopper at rest; and minicomic sketchbooks at New Construction (not to mention a peek at his new D&Q book)

• A heartbreaking "I, Anonymous " from Steven Weissman

• Sketches of sculptures by Aristide Maillol by John Hankiewicz

• A scene with power lines by Frank Santoro

• New crafts (including this vampire wedding cake topper) and photos from Portugal in Dame Darcy's latest blog update

"THEN, OUTA NOWHERE… Grunt. Shriek. Bash. Crash. Ook. Ook!"

• A new short short story from Gary Panter

• A luscious new story page and this week's Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane

• A 1967 Mexican cityscape by Jim Flora

• Debbie Drechsler sketches squirrels

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — I can just hear the funky theme song

• Noah Van Sciver is waiting on tenterhooks to hear if the story this page is from has been accepted for Mome (sorry Noah, I got no scoop)

• Quackers silliness here and here and Randy Gander raunchiness here and here from Josh Simmons & cohort

• From Renee French: photo, platform, tire swing, hair rock

• Steve Brodner's tribute to Sen. Robert Byrd

• Something new from a work in progress, an article for Il Post, and a video about the Mafia by Gipi

• Nate Neal, payin' the bills

• Two illustrations by Marco Corona for Internazionale

• Two new installments of Truth Serum by Jon Adams

Online Commentary & Diversions returns after a slow news day yesterday:

• Review: "Hensley’s clean art, drawn in a 1960s cartoon style (and complete with bright color pallete) is a bizarre mish-mash of the best in ‘60s teen book cartooning with the absurdity of an episode of The Monkees and the severity of indy comics. ...Hensley’s biting humor [is] either as spontaneous on the final page…or so well timed and planned that you don’t see it coming. In all honesty, I had trouble figuring Wally [Gropius] out — I expected a nostalgic pastiche with an edge, but what I got was an unpredictable and sometimes unsettling reading experience, literally not knowing what to expect from page to page. And that’s where Hensley excels, with a narrative sleight of hand, his seemingly innocent characters hiding more base and sinister motivations, using classic cartooning techniques to conceal a darker underbelly." – Christopher Irving, Graphic NYC

• Review: "...[W]hat really defines Billy Hazelnuts [and the Crazy Bird] is a genuine sense of excitement on the part of the author, as though, like the daughters he’ll eventually read the book to, Millionaire seems eager to discover what sort of adventures await his hero on the next page. ... Billy Hazelnuts is dark and weird and funny and strangely warm — it’s a book you wish you could have discovered at a much younger age. Thankfully, it’s pretty fun as an adult, too." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Plugs: "This gorgeous softcover collection of Dame Darcy's Meat Cake comic series is a thick slice of delicious Victorian romantic, horror, humor with just a hint of Southern gothic. ... So beautifully drawn and entertaining, Werewolves of Montpellier should make members of Team Jacob consider changing their name to Team Jason." – Benn Ray (Atomic Books), Largehearted Boy

• Interview: At The Comics Journal, Marc Librescu continues his talk with Gahan Wilson: "A lot of the reasons that [today’s] horror movies are so not entertaining or not much fun, and leave you with a very yuck taste, is that they’re brutal. And I think they’re brutal because the people who are making them are brutalized, basically, putting it right smack down there on the table. And they’re kind of a little fuggy, and that’s not good for an artist."

Multifaceted cartoonist, musician, performance artist, fortune teller and neo-Victorian culture maven Dame Darcy appears at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on July 10 to celebrate the publication of MEAT CAKE, a collection of stories from the first decade of her popular comic book series of the same name. The event features an exhibition of Dame Darcy's original comic art and other creations, an enchanting music recital and a fortune telling session with each book signed.

MEAT CAKE is like a peek into an imaginative, deranged dollhouse filled with fractured fairy tales. An expanded version of the long out-of-print hardcover book, this new paperback assembles the very best of Darcy's work from the first 11 issues of the beloved comic (including "Hungry Is the Heart," the legendary collaboration with Watchmen creator Alan Moore). According to the New York Times, "Darcy's comics are aesthetic manifestos... Darcy is a star. Meat Cake will prevail, as luxury takes over America. And the world beyond." The Los Angeles Times observes, "[Darcy] has created a childlike, otherworldly realm, a land that hovers in the twilight space between the whimsical and the macabre. Ghosts and goblins, foul-tempered stepmothers, lovesick mermaids and charmed forests are all rendered in Darcy's distinctive hand, loose and flowing lines reminiscent of the work of Edward Gorey."

Dame Darcy's appearance on Saturday, July 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring challenging visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic industrial arts corridor. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery 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.

Listing Information

Dame Darcy's MEAT CAKE

Art exhibition, book signing and performance

Saturday, July 10, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Exhibition continues through September 8, 2010

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, WA 98108
Phone 206.658.0110
Open Daily 11:30 - 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

Hokey smokes, hope you've been saving your nickels because we've got 5, count 'em 5, brand new books slated to hit comic shops this week! Read on for more info and to see what the other new-comics-day bloggers are saying [now edited to add Tom Spurgeon].

Artichoke Tales
by Megan Kelso

232-page monochrome 6.75" x 8.25" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-344-6

"I absolutely loved this Megan Kelso graphic novel — a kind of anthropological/fictional-historical fantasy/love story thing involving a fractured culture of people with artichoke leaves for hair — and I'm not afraid to say so." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance

"Getting back to much-awaited new projects, here’s Megan Kelso’s 232-page intergenerational fantasy, excerpted/anticipated here and there, depicting struggle and serenity among the fleshily vulnerable artichoke folk. ...Kelso’s visual style remains appealing as ever." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

"Megan Kelso (The Squirrel Mother) returns with her most ambitious work to date..." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"Fantagraphics reminds us that they’re more than just awesome, Matt Thorn-curated manga with Megan Kelso’s Artichoke Tales. ... This is Kelso’s first long-form effort, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with that length of narrative." – David Welsh, The Manga Curmudgeon

"I'm still digesting this, the oddest book I've read all year." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird
by Tony Millionaire

104-page black & white 6.5" x 9" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-56097-917-3

"Tony Millionaire’s sequel to his excellent 2006 Billy Hazelnuts, a gorgeous evocation of sprawling, daydreamy adventure strip narratives pairing gritty-but-whimsical hardcases with not-too-sweet innocents. Here we find grumpy homunculus Billy adjusting poorly to helping out with animals on the farm, only to set off on a mission to reunite a baby owl with its mother. It looks really funny and beautiful." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

"Maakies cartoonist Tony Millionaire's 'all-ages' sequel to Billy Hazelnuts, and by 'all-ages' he apparently means that it's the kind of grotesque slapstick farce that could potentially entertain small children while creeping the living heck out of their parents..." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance

"What's MY PICK OF THE WEEK? The Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird hardcover by the one and only Tony Millionaire. ... In the Billy Hazelnuts all-ages series, Millionaire spins the yarn of Billy, a garbage-homunculus, and the family who loves him. In this installment, the bizarre Billy must return a baby owl to the woods. Rampant weirdness ensues." – Cyriaque Lamar, io9

"Prolific Maakies cartoonist and Sock Monkey creator Tony Millionaire’s long-awaited second Billy Hazelnuts graphic novel finally arrives." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"The release of a new Tony Millionaire stand-alone book is an overall world good." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

The Book of Mr. Natural (Hardcover Ed.)
by Robert Crumb

128-page black & white 8.25" x 10.75" hardcover • $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-352-1

"Finally(!), here’s a new 128-page hardcover edition of Fantagraphics’ 1995 compilation of assorted Robert Crumb shorts starring the famous lil’ bearded guy." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

 "Fantagraphics is having a pretty damn huge week (and there’s a couple more swell-looking books below)." [Yep!] – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"This is one of the better Christmas-gift books Fantagraphics ever made... A kind of Crumb-primer, or Crumb for people who might want to get at him from a more standard comics stories standpoint." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Meat Cake
by Dame Darcy

240-page black & white/duotone 7" x 10.25" softcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-346-0

 "...includes the best of comics creator, character and all-around renaissance woman Dame Darcy’s first decade of Meat Cake comics..." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"No, stay in your chair, this close-to-last-of-the-classic-one-artist-anthology-comic-books isn’t going bookshelf for good – it’s an expanded 240-page softcover reissue of Fantagraphics’ 2003 (200-page) hardcover collection of the best of Dame Darcy’s comical fictions and stitched-up Victoriana, with guest writer Alan Moore popping in for a later story..." – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

"This collection of Dame Darcy's twisted fairy tale saga was out-of-print and gets a much deserved resurrection, replete with her collaboration with Alan Moore." – Cyriaque Lamar, io9

"Dame Darcy is the canary in the cage as alt-comics makes its way through the catacombs of modern comics publishing. As long as she has a publishing presence, something must going at least semi-okay." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Temperance
by Cathy Malkasian

240-page two-color 8" x 10" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-323-1

"I read it a few weeks ago, and it’s easily one of the best comics works I’ve experienced so far this year. It’s an extremely ambitious story set in a fantasy world that explores the various ways in which war and fear can tear people apart while knitting communities together. It’s occasionally touching, occasionally scary, always thrilling and remarkably complex. I hope to review it in this space sometime soon, but I’d like to give it another read or two before I attempt doing so. In the mean time, allow me to at least wholeheartedly recommend it." – J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

"...Percy Gloom was perfectly dedicated to its metaphors of human caution as aggravated by society and religion. This new 240-page work promises a similarly-conceived world, this time as built by an amnesiac war veteran forever alert to obscure but surely dire threats. Surely!" – Joe McCulloch, Comics Comics

"Russ Manning Award winner Cathy Malkasian's new graphic novel is a sprawling, splendidly grotesque-looking fable about the kinds of lies that preserve patriarchy and perpetuate war, set in and around a city called Blessedbowl whose inhabitants believe that they're afloat on a sea of fire and at war with evil forces from outside, neither of which are true. It's worth a look for sure." – Douglas Wolk, Comics Alliance

"I'm looking forward to this one because a) I know absolutely nothing about it, and b) I went into the cartoonist's previous book Percy Gloom with every expectation I'd hate it until my legs fell off from the acidic bile collected in them from my hating of it, but ended up super-charmed by like page eight." – Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

Still not convinced? Check out our previews and excerpts for each book at their respective links above and judge for yourself. As always, we recommend confirming availability with your local shop before toddling on down.

Just arrived in our warehouse and ready to ship:

Meat Cake
by Dame Darcy

240-page black & white/duotone 7" x 10.25" softcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-346-0

Add to Cart • More Info & Previews

For a limited time, receive a FREE issue of the Meat Cake comic when you order the collection! Choose from issues 14, 16 or 17 (15 is sold out) when placing your order.

COLLECTING THE BEST STORIES FROM THE FIRST DECADE OF MEAT CAKE COMICS

Dame Darcy is one of the most beguiling presences on the comics scene — musician, actress, cable TV star, fortune teller, dollmaker, and last but not least, cartoonist to the core — and has been bewitching readers for over 15 years with her neo-Victorian horror/humor/romance comic Meat Cake. Alternating between one-off (often cruelly tragic) fairy tales and ongoing romps starring her eclectic cast of characters, including Effluvia the Mermaid, the roguish roué Wax Wolf, Igpay the Pig-Latin pig, Stregapez (a women who speaks by dispensing Pez-like tablets through a bloody hole in her throat), the mischievous Siamese twins Hindrance and Perfidia, Scampi the Selfish Shellfish, the stalwart Friend the Girl, and the blonde bombshell Richard Dirt, all delineated in her inimitable luxurious scrawl, Meat Cake is like a peek into the most creative, deranged dollhouse you ever saw. Meat Cake is an expanded reprint of the out of print hardcover with more stories assembling the very best of Darcy’s work (including “Hungry Is the Heart,” the legendary collaboration with Watchmen’s Alan Moore) from the first 11 issues of the beloved comic.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 20-page PDF excerpt featuring all the highlights of issue 4 (3.5 MB), PLUS a 6-page PDF including the Table of Contents, Foreword by Margaret Cho, Introduction by Dame Darcy, and "An Interview with the Meat Cake Characters" (1.4 MB), PLUS 4 pages of "Paper Doll Fun" (1.6 MB) that you can print, color & cut out without ruining your book!

"[Darcy] has created a childlike, otherworldly realm, a land that hovers in the twilight space between the whimsical and the macabre. Ghosts and goblins, foul-tempered stepmothers, lovesick mermaids and charmed forests are all rendered in Darcy's distinctive hand, loose and flowing lines reminiscent of the work of Edward Gorey." – Los Angeles Times

"Darcy's comics are aesthetic manifestos… Darcy is a star. Mark my words. Meat Cake will prevail, as luxury takes over America. And the world beyond." — The New York Times

"I think she's exquisite, let's put it that way. I wish I knew her in high school." — Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)

Clips & strips from the last few days — click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Michael Kupperman's cover art for the book Why Not a Spider Monkey Jesus? by A.G. Pasquella

• Gilbert Hernandez fanzine art from 1981 as unearthed by Frank Santoro at Comics Comics

• ComicsAlliance presents selections from the 1991 Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special

• From Jim Woodring, Frank, Fran and the skullfruit

• Leon explores the mystery of Poffo's Hat in this Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga

• Another 1975 flashback from Bob Fingerman

• This week's "I, Anonymous" and one two three four Post-It Show previews from Steven Weissman

• New artwork for sale, Portugal tour diary and more in Dame Darcy 's latest blog update

• On the Jim Flora Art Blog, a circa 1940 woodcut depicting fishing in New Orleans (guess those days are over, thanks BP) and a commemoration of Pete Jolly's birthday

• Recent nature sketches by Debbie Drechsler: Narrowleaf onion, ground squirrels, a blue-bellied lizard, and Ithuriel's spear

• Four new screenprints by Lilli Carré — these and other products of her residency at Spudnik Press will be on display this Thursday, June 10, 2010, 6-7:30pm: more info here

• Several recent sketches by Mark Kalesniko

• It's your all-new weekly installment of "Cartoon Boy" from John Kerschbaum

• I believe this is last week's Maakies by Tony Millionaire

• Sergio Ponchione contributed this illustrated recipe to an anarchist cookbook, it seems (and also drew Linda Lovelace)

• Speaking of illustrated recipes, here's one from Laura Park

• It's Paul Hornschemeier's new weekly t-shirt design for his Forlorn Funnies Shirt Shop — another classic

• From Josh Simmons & co., the latest Quackers & Randy Gander hijinks 

• From Renee French, this thing, this guy, this thing, this photo, this thing, and this guy

• Steve Brodner takes on the Gulf oil disaster in this segment from PBS's Need to Know, with commentary and two more disaster-related sketches on his blog

• Anders Nilsen posts photos of his recent "button installation" for Ogilvy & Mather's lobby, along with time-lapse video of its creation

• Page 27 of Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary

• Derek Van Gieson presents "The Cycle of Love"

• From Ray Fenwick, a comics illustration for an article in the Globe and Mail

Daily clips & strips -- click for improved/additional viewing at the sources:

• Dash Shaw reveals a page from his Spider-Man story for Marvel's Strange Tales 2

• "Cat on the News," a new lithograph by John Hankiewicz

• Dame Darcy's portraits of Pee Wee Herman & friends (above) and Clara Bow, plus a new doll and more in her latest blog update

• The new installment of Tim Lane's Belligerent Piano, plus an explanatory introduction

• New Debbie Drechsler nature sketches here, here and here

• Another Gilbert Hernandez t-shirt design for Stussy, as discovered by Love & Maggie

• "Girl in a Grey and Magenta Dress" by Mark Kalesniko

• I am once again rendered helpless by Renee French