Periodic clips & strips — click for improved/additional viewing and possible artist commentary at the sources:

• Jason presents two cover illustrations: one for a biography of Henrik Ibsen, the other for a 1989 issue of a Norwegian fanzine (oh yeah, and the cover for his next Fanta collection What I Did is in there too)

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot and some sketchbook pages here and here

• A couple of witty recent entries on the Covered blog: Valerie Fletcher's version of The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 and Anthony Vukojevich's take on Eightball #2

• Dave Cooper gives a peek at a few of the 96 little drawings he's bringing on his West Coast book tour, with commentary

• An unpleasant new Jim Woodring panel

• The final part of Jordan Crane's "Chapter Two: Unraveling" at What Things Do

• A bit of Dungeon fan art by Drew Weing 

"Greetings, stranger of the future. If you are reading this, it means the written word has survived, that the world of tomorrow still exists, and that for some reason my ramblings are still considered worth reading. My name is Mark Twain, and I write these words to you in the good old days of August 2010."

• A prose story from Michael Kupperman: "From the Newly Discovered Second Autobiography of Mark Twain"

• Richard Sala presents a whole bunch of production, concept, and storyboard art from his animated serial "Invisible Hands" from MTV's Liquid Television, in 4 installments (so far) here here here and here, with commentary

• "Benemerenze di satana" by Marco Corona 

• A woodcut illustration of Cincinnati (1941), an uncompleted sketchbook drawing (circa 1950) and a magazine proposal sketch (1956), all at the Jim Flora blog (with commentary from Irwin Chusid)

• A black phoebe and some ground squirrels from Debbie Drechsler's nature sketchbook, with commentary

• It's part 8 of Gabrielle Bell's "San Diego Comic-Con Comicumentary"

• Noah Van Sciver's historical strip "Elijah Lovejoy November 7 1837" part 1 and part 2

• Laura Park gets anatomical with a how-to and a note to her doctor

• From Renee French: hairy girl, fly with stick, dog, Ikea roof, guys (photo), baby, rodents, thing roofs

• Dash Shaw's Daily Drawing nos. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20

• Recent Steve Brodner sketches, with commentary, of Dinesh d'Souza, cowardly Karl Rove, the corpse of Harry Truman giving Obama what-for, and Truman's bones revisited

• It looks like Kevin Huizenga is sending Glenn Ganges on some kind of Hardy Boys adventure or something

• I didn't know that Roger Langridge had done rejected cover comps for our Jules Feiffer novel reprints (one of which got canceled anyway)

• New sketchbook pages from Anders Nilsen 

• Hans Rickheit's Ectopiary page 43; Hans also has a song for you

• The cover to Derek Van Gieson's evocatively titled upcoming publication

• Tigers clustered and solo by Andrice Arp for an old Giant Robot art show

• From Wilfred Santiago, page 91 of 21, plus process images for pages 120 & 121, and a postcard illustration

• Two weeks worth of Tony Millionaire's Maakies

• Work in progress (presumably) by Joe Kimball

• Recent spot illos by Ray Fenwick for Cottage Life Magazine

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is pleased to present recent works by narrative artist Dave Cooper, with special guest Johnny Ryan on Saturday, October 9 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Both artists are celebrating the publication of new books with an art exhibition, reception and book signing.

Canadian artist Dave Cooper offers us a window into the wobbly dollhouse that is his mind's eye. The artist is touring the West Coast behind BENT, his latest monograph from Fantagraphics Books, which will debut at the event. The book gathers diverse imagery that is at once disturbing and alluring. Cooper has developed a passionate following with recent solo shows at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles and Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York in June. The exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore will feature 10 original drawings. Cooper will sign copies of BENT as well as previous Fantagraphics publications, including his famously misanthropic comic serial WEASEL and his recent story in the anthology MOME VOLUME 18.

The evening of October 9 also marks the triumphant return of subversive cartoonist Johnny Ryan to sign copies of the second volume of his amazing PRISON PIT series. This cacophonous tale of intergalactic bedlam continues the prolific artist's examination of social pandemonium originated in his popular ANGRY YOUTH COMIX (collected in 3 volumes from Fantagraphics Books.) Ryan will display a new series of colorful silkscreen prints and sign books during the reception.

Please join us to welcome these extraordinary artists to Seattle. This event coincides with the lively Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic neighborhood. Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) just minutes from downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

Listing Information

DAVE COOPER: BENT
JOHNNY RYAN: PRISON PIT

Saturday, October 9, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street, Seattle, WA 206.658.0110
Open Daily 11:30 - 8:00 PM, Sunday until 5:00 PM

A little fun with a sequence of images from Bent.

Bent
by Dave Cooper

80-page full-color 10.25" x 9" hardcover • $22.99
ISBN: 978-1-60699-378-1

Ships in: October 2010 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now

Fine artist Dave Cooper offers us a window into the wobbly dollhouse that is his mind’s eye. The work in Bent gathers a diverse mix of imagery that is also strangely focussed in its single-mindedness. This work has found a devoted and passionate following with visitors to Cooper’s solo gallery shows in Los Angeles and New York in recent years.

Cooper continues to obsess and fixate over his bizarre procession of milky figures as they crawl and wriggle into hidden meadows, jungles and cities. Everything in this world seems to be undulating and overripe — the multi-coloured Jell-O vegetation, the billowing clouds, and the twitching, agitated women, whether thin like sinewy rubber, or fat and bursting with doughy flesh.

The characters in Cooper’s work have been likened to a dog chasing its tail. Or maybe it’s as though they’re like someone on drugs who can stare at their own hand for 20 minutes; either way, these girls are hypnotized by wriggling around on the ground, twisting in on themselves, walking on their hands, squeezing and chewing one another. It may sound hellish, but to the demons, hell must seem like heaven. So maybe Cooper’s landscapes are more like a weird kind of utopia where all those insane facial expressions and physical contortions are more an experession of elation or giddiness.

This monograph collects Cooper’s finest, most revealing paintings, ink drawings, pencil sketches, and photographs from the past five years, many of which enjoy homes in the collections of influential collectors and some of Hollywood’s elite. Among this esteemed crowd is the great auteur, Oscar-nominated Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, the upcoming Hobbit movies [maybe]), who provides an enthusiastic introduction for Bent.

Download an EXCLUSIVE 8-page PDF excerpt (2.1 MB).

Video & Photo Slideshow Preview (view in new window):

Bonus Savings: To celebrate the release of his latest book, for a limited time all in-stock Dave Cooper backlist titles are 1/3 off!

Here's the official announcement for the book signing in San Francisco, just part of Dave's West Coast book tour this fall:

The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Dave Cooper on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 as he celebrates the release of his new book, Bent, published by Fantagraphics Books. Please join Cooper at 7:00pm for a brief discussion of his career in the Cartoon Art Museum’s galleries, followed by a signing in the museum’s bookstore. Copies of Bent will be available for purchase onsite. Please call 415.227.8666, ext. 310 to reserve a copy.

More info here.

Make plans to visit Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle this fall to catch up with the country's most challenging cartoonists, artists and writers. The coming weeks feature the some of the finest in the field.

This Saturday, September 11 finds Carol Tyler at the space for an art opening and book signing. On Saturday, October 9 we welcome the incomparable Dave Cooper for an exhibition of original art and book signing, joined by special guest Johnny Ryan. Saturday, October 30 features the triumphant return of Seattle native Charles Burns for a spooky Halloween reception celebrating his new book X'ed Out. Punk rock prevails on Saturday, November 13 as Zack Carlson signs copies of Destroy All Movies!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film. And mark your calendars for Saturday, December 11 for Fantagraphics Bookstore's festive fourth anniversary gala — always one of the best bashes of the holiday season.

Don't miss any of these exciting appearances at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street in the heart of Seattle's historic Georgetown industrial arts district. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110. See you all soon.

We just updated the announcement of Dave Cooper's Fall 2010 West Coast tour with the finalized cover for his new upcoming collection Bent, and we thought we'd pop it up here at the top of Flog too. (The one we showed you before was a temporary preliminary version.)

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS PRESENTS...

DAVE COOPER
GETS BENT

THE 2010 WEST COAST TOUR

Featuring the premiere of Dave Cooper's new book of paintings, BENT, from Fantagraphics Books.   

THURSDAY, SEPT. 30, 7-9PM
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90232

OCTOBER 1-3
Babytattooville
Riverside, CA

TUESDAY, OCT. 5, 7-9PM
Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

THURSDAY, OCT. 7, 6-9PM
Lucky's Comics
3972 Main Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada

SATURDAY, OCT. 9, 6-9PM
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St.
Seattle, WA 98108

SUNDAY, OCT. 10, 5-7PM
Cosmic Monkey Comics
5335 Northeast Sandy Boulevard
Portland, OR 97213

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Exploration, thankfully, is precisely what Weathercraft is all about. Woodring’s latest graphic novel is a deep exploration of Unifactor, through looking glasses, behind tears in the world’s fabric, under sea and into space, this time all experienced through the beady eyes of Frank’s principle antagonist, Manhog." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Interview: At Newsarama, Michael C. Lorah discusses Weathercraft with Jim Woodring: "This is Manhog’s book. He’s a more interesting character than Frank in a lot of ways. He’s deep, whereas Frank is bottomless."

• Review: "Fantagraphics has done the world the great service of reprinting Basil Wolverton's Culture Corner... [T]hese strips will delight any Wolverton fan with their characteristic doggerel, gratuitous violence, and slapstick humor that pokes fun at the American self-improvement genre. ... [T]he Fantagraphics edition is well worth the price: it's a handsomely bound item, augmented with the sketches and a nice essay by Wolverton's son." – Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

• Review: "Foster’s humorous, quick-moving stories charge relentlessly forward. ... Whether Val is plotting a way to upend a larger force or enjoying good times with old friends, Foster’s twist-laden narrative comes across with a casual warmth, as if telling of merry adventures around a campfire. Similarly, Foster’s detailed renderings enforce the earthy grounding of Prince Valiant and his cohorts. ... The artistry, the witty and creative plot twists, and the evocative and charming characters all make for a truly timeless, and utterly enjoyable adventure comic strip experience. Any reader who appreciates the innocent high adventure of yore needs to get on board with Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant." - Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Interview: Mark L. Miller of Ain't It Cool News discusses Werewolves of Montpellier with Jason: "The opening concept, the guy who dresses up as a werewolf and then is chased by real werewolves, I had in my mind a long time. I thought it was a fun, silly concept. But something was missing. It was only when I got the idea to mix it with an Audrey Hepburn movie that the story really took off."

• Interview in the future: Matt Thorn wants to know what you'd like him to ask Moto Hagio at her spotlight panel at Comic-Con 

• Plug: The Urban Outfitters Blog features Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso, saying "marvel at Kelso's visual and narrative smarts."

• Scene: Juxtapoz has more photos from the Dave Cooper exhibit opening at Jonathan LeVine Gallery

Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "This graphic memoir chronicles the author’s struggle with the aging of her father and stepmother. The subject matter isn’t pretty. Still, [Special Exits] is intriguing, well-written and thought-provoking."  – Nick Smith, ICv2

• Reviews: The new episode of Easy Rider, the radio show for "rock, punk rock, country, power pop, garage and comics" from Radio PFM out of Arras in northern France, features Billy Hazelnuts and the Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane, and Hate Annual #8 by Peter Bagge among their Comics of the Week

• Review: "You have to be a real expert in Jason-character physiognomy to even be able to tell that the lonely expat main character in Werewolves of Montpellier is sometimes wearing a werewolf mask. After all, the guy's an anthropomorphized dog at the best of times. In the end, that ends up being the gag. You're not some uniquely unlovable monster, you're just a guy with problems, like anyone else..." – Sean T. Collins, Attentiondeficitdisorderly

• Review: "I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the Peanuts comic strip. I grew up on the old paperback collections and it was always a great day when my mom bought me a new one. Now, thanks to Fantagraphics, the entire run of Peanuts is available to fans in their beautiful, year-by-year collections of Charles Schulz’ masterful and hilarious comic strip. This collection puts us into the years of 1975 - 1976 and includes all of the daily and Sunday strips for the period. ... Thank you Fantagraphics! Grade A" – Tim Janson, Mania

• Review: "The most recent issue is probably the strongest [Hate] Annual to date, 36 pages of concentrated hilarity, including the longest Buddy Bradley story in quite some time. Just as impressive are his one-page strips about scientists from Discover Magazine..." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal

• Analysis: "For the first time, this hapless figure, this half-man, half-animal is a picture of heroism and nobility, his metamorphosis achieved not through cosmic dances or tops but by cruelties inflicted on him by that creature of many masks and tricks, Whim. Earlier in Weathercraft , an infernal creature plucked from the pig-man’s gullet sanctions enlightenment. He who once resembled the demons surrounding the decapitated Ravana becomes whole and fully clothed, now cognizant of his true nature." – Ng Suat Tong, The Hooded Utilitarian

• Interview: From last Friday, Chris Mautner's revealing conversation with Tim Hensley at Robot 6: "Sometimes it's infuriating to read about a bunch of attractive saccharine pupils in the suburbs. Maybe [Archie] could add a brain damaged character. Maybe Moose, but more likely he never learned to read — have they already done that? Somewhere off-panel there's a convalescent hospital with all the rejects in it. But I wasn't attempting a Dark Knight makeover where everyone has stubble and never prevaricates."

• Scene: Arrested Motion reports from the opening of Dave Cooper's Mangle exhibit at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, with copious photos