For Salon's "Saved by Pop Culture" series of personal essays, Salon editor Adele Melander-Dayton writes "How Ghost World Made Me Brave":

"[Enid] might be miserable, sometimes, but she's still capable of seeing the world on her own terms, marveling at the strangeness of what she sees. Still, most of Enid's responses to being young and in pain are not 'healthy.' She doesn't throw herself with manic dedication into stage-managing the high school production of South Pacific, volunteer for wilderness trail maintenance, take up knitting, or see a shrink, all things I tried during my senior year in efforts to distract myself. But Enid did teach me that it's OK to live with a little darkness. I didn't feel like being nice, or pretending that everything was cool, and neither did Enid."

Read the rest here.

As Lisa Simpson said, "I really identified with the girls in Ghost World. They made me feel like I wasn't so alone."

It's been a while since we featured a fan tattoo here, and here's a good one: a somewhat-faded old-school Lloyd Llewellyn, surrounded by a more recent banner that reads "Commemorating 15 Years Of This Tattoo." That may be the first meta-tattoo I've ever seen. Thanks to Joe Garden, who works behind the scenes at The Onion, for sending this in.

nadel | clowes from chris anthony diaz on Vimeo.

Our biggest Bay Area booster Chris Diaz has passed along this video for us to share with you: the Daniel Clowes spotlight panel at last year's Alternative Press Expo, with host/inquisitor Dan Nadel. It's an epic Dan-à-Dan! Chris has some more great clips up on his Vimeo page too. Thanks Chris!

Bay Area collector and über-fan Chris Diaz, whose efforts we've featured here in the past (and who we see regularly at APE), has started a Tumblr blog called The Shed to share his photo portraits (like the one of Dan Clowes above) and videos from comics and cinema events as well as original art and other items from his collection (like the commissioned Steven Weissman piece below). It's all great stuff to see.

A strong comics contingent was present at last weekend's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The L.A. Times Jacket Copy blog reports from the "World in a Frame: The Graphic Novel" panel with Daniel Clowes, Dash Shaw and Jim Woodring (above); Mark Kalesniko signed and met fans at the Hi De Ho Comics booth (below; more pics here); and no photos of Carol Tyler have turned up yet but she posted the sketch at bottom prior to her departure and relates a few non-festival experiences here (updated:) and more here. For more, Corey Blake also reports from the scene.

Aha! An image of an uncut sheet of Daniel Clowes "Stinckers" stickers available at Meltdown Comics in L.A. and more info about 'em at the Stinckers blog!

UPDATE: How to buy an uncut sheet!

Details are slightly sketchy at this time, but there appears to be a new "Stinckers" (those vinyl stickers that Steven Weissman & Mats?! do) design or series of designs by Daniel Clowes for Meltdown Comics in L.A. Get down there and buy some — they're sure to go fast!

* Other People's Publications
** Yeah, You Know Me. 

It's sub-titled "A Love Story," but somehow Mister Wonderful still managed to depress the heck outta me. Such is the power of the one and only Daniel Clowes!

Mister Wonderful was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine back in 2007-8, and it was such an exhilirating weekly ride, that I'm glad someone collected it into a nice little hardbound book, complete with extra bonus material.

If you didn't read the online strips a few years ago (I can't even imagine...), the "Mister Wonderful" in question is Marshall, an unemployed divorcé, who's been fixed up with Natalie, a woman with some romantic baggage of her own.

I don't wanna give away the ending for anyone who didn't read it on the NYT website (Really? You didn't?? Sorry, I just...), but somehow, the open-ended conclusion just left me feeling bummed out. I guess we're meant to feel hope for this budding couple, but c'mon... This is Dan Clowes we're talking about.

Mister Wonderful, and tons of other Clowes titles and accessories, are currently in stock at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street in Seattle's Georgetown district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone: (206) 658-0110. See you there!

Hey, moneybags! A couple of original Daniel Clowes pages from David Boring are up for auction at Heritage. Links & info at the Daniel Clowes blog.

We hinted at it before and now it's been revealed at danielclowes.com: the comic book prop cover illustration by Daniel Clowes used in the recent film Paul. Vigilant Clowes fans will note some references in the details. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing the interiors of this comic existed.