Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "There's lots to love in the latest gleeful offering from the pen of BUST's genius cartoonist-in-residence Esther Pearl Watson. ...[T]he sturdily bound, sparkly cover encloses lavish, whole-page panels that allow for lingering close-up absorption of Watson's creation, which lovingly combines gross-out comic-book camp with bittersweet teenage nostalgia. [...] Bursting with late-80s pop-cultural references and buoyed by the exuberance of Watson's flamboyant heroine, Unlovable, Vol. 2 is an irresistibly hilarious, tenderly drawn treat for your inner teen." – Renate Robertson, BUST

• Coming Attractions: Robot 6's Michael May looks ahead to November: "The Littlest Pirate King – ...I really need to find out how you tell a kids’ story about cursed pirates with a death wish and the malevolent God who prevents them from achieving their goal."

• Roundtable: The Comics Journal's roundtable on The Best American Comics Criticism wraps up with responses from Noah Berlatsky and the book's editor, Ben Schwartz

Bring on the Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Only the Cinema's Ed Howard begins counting down The Best Comics of the Decade: part 2 includes Black Hole by Charles Burns at #36 ("Few books do a better job of capturing the fear, and the excitement, of nascent desire and adolescent longing, as these diseased teens are driven mad by hormones and embarrassment"), Epileptic and Babel by David B. at #30 ("With his elegant style, dominated by striking blacks and contrasts, he invents numerous metaphors and visualizations for his brother's disease, treating the fight against the disease as a physical, mortal conflict"), Chimera #1 by Lorenzo Mattotti at #29 ("a rare pleasure from this elusive artist... a powerful work"), and The Squirrel Mother by Megan Kelso at #26 ("Kelso's work can be devastating in the way she pares down the excess to get at the essence of a particular moment or situation").

• Review: "…[A] fascinating treasure trove of an anthology... In addition to work by greats like Artie Romero, Rick Geary, and Mary Fleener, and 50 or so others, [Newave!] serves as the history of a movement." – Publishers Weekly

• Review: "Taken as a book that records a history, it’s pretty awesome. ... Newave! does include essays about minicomics and interviews with some of the creators. These are fun and provide a great look at how all of this came about." – Eden Miller, Comicsgirl (via Wow Cool)

• Review: "[Newave!] is really cool. ... It's great to see the kind of passion that was going on... when there was this explosion where people just wanted to do comics because they had a passion for drawing, for telling stories...  It's just a book full of passionate comics... I definitely recommend checking it out..." – Steampunk Willy's Mad Comix Ride - The Comic Book Podcast (via Wow Cool)

• Review: "[I Killed Adolf] Hitler mixes elements of classic time travel science fiction fare with personal melodrama and a strange sense of humor that's unlike anything else in comics today. ... Jason pulls off some nice storytelling tricks when you aren't looking. ... The pacing of his story is refreshing, never getting bogged down, never moving too fast." – Augie De Blieck Jr., Comic Book Resources

• Review: "Culled from the latest Fantagraphics anthology of comics, edited by Glenn Head, this engaging survey runs the gamut of style and story. ...  Even if most of the show is black-and-white, the collection confirms that some of today's most vigorous art comes from the hands of cartoonists." – Robert Shuster, The Village Voice, on the Hotwire Comics #3 art show at Scott Eder Gallery

• Interview: At Fatally Yours, Sarah Jahier has an enlightening Q&A with Dame Darcy: "My Dad is an artist, so is my uncle, brother, and a lot of my family. We are related to John Wilkes Booth and many of the guys in my family look like him (like a handsome villain). I [attribute] a lot of my family’s talent and good looks to Booth but also the craziness." I did not know that! (via The Beat)

• Profile: At Comix 411, Tom Mason profiles E.C. Segar's Popeye protegé, Bud Sagendorf

• Profile: This 2007 Brisbane Times profile of Jim Woodring popped up in my Google news alerts for some reason — why not give it another look?

As you know, the final issue of Delphine by Richard Sala, #4, and Sergio Ponchione's third issue of Grotesque, have just been released (and will be proudly displayed at this week's Comic-Con). Also just released is a new, second printing of Lorenzo Mattotti's stunning Chimera #1, which has been out of print for many months; if you didn't catch it the first time around, now's your chance.

This coming week Kevin Huizenga will be delivering the hotly-anticipated Ganges #3, featuring insomnia and cops. Expect this one to be released just in time to premiere at SPX in late September, and then show up in stores in late October/early November. Here is a preview!

(click to enlarge)

Next up, likely to be released toward the end of the year, is a double whammy of Niger #3 by Leila Marzocchi (check out the cover of this wild ecological fable), and the fourth and concluding installment of Ponchione's Grotesque (with another standalone story). Then Spring 2010 will, if everything goes well, see the release of the fourth issue of Igort's cartoonist-graphic-novel-a-clef Baobab; the fourth (and concluding) issue of Gabriella Giandelli's hard-to-pronounce magical apartment building story Interiorae; and the third issue of Zak Sally's otherworldly picaresque Sammy the Mouse.

Missing in action at this point, alas, are new issues of the Gipi series Wish You Were Here and Marti 's Calvario Hills, as both cartoonists are focusing on other work at this time, but we're keeping our fingers crossed there will be a new issue of David B.'s Babel sometime in 2010.

Of course, if you've missed picking up any of these issues in the past (including the already concluded three-issue series New Tales of Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez, Reflections by Marco Corona, and Insomnia by Matt Broersma), remember, any comic you haven't read yet is a new comic...

The comics blogosphere does not rest for Super Bowl weekend:

• List: Brick Weekly has 4 "Top 10 Comics of 2008" lists on which Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw and The Portable Frank by Jim Woodring appear multiple times

• List: The Comics Reporter asked readers to "Name Five Favorite Single-Issue Alternative/Independent Comic Books" and lots of folks chose Fantagraphics stuff

• Review: Fictions looks at Maggie the Mechanic by Jaime Hernandez

• Review: Rob Clough says Where Demented Wented: The Art and Comics of Rory Hayes is "a stunning retrospective that seems remarkably fresh today"

• Blurb: USA Today Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson names Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable the "Best thing I read" last week; she's also reading the current issue of The Comics Journal

• Analysis: At Blog Flume, Ken Parille examines Schulz's use of varied settings in some early Peanuts strips

• Interview: Watch this episode of Canapé, from NYC cable channel CUNY, for a segment on David B. 's recent stop in NYC

• Interview: Robot 6 talks to Lilli Carré about The Lagoon

• Interview: Newsarama talks to our latest Mome signing, Noah Van Sciver

• Events: Sacha Peet is excited for Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable art show and book signing at our storefront this Saturday, and so should you be

• Things to see: At Liberation.fr, here's what appears to be a promotional video for a French edition of Eightball by Daniel Clowes

• Things to see: Another new story page from Tim Lane

• Things to see: More "Doodle Dump" and rock sketches from Tom Kaczynski

• Interview: The Inkstuds radio programme talks to Beasts-master Jacob Covey

• Interview: Newsarama asks David B. about his latest book Nocturnal Conspiracies and his work in Mome (with answers in both the original French and translated English -- nice touch)

• Review: Newsarama posts the latest rave for Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

• Preview: The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log takes a sneak peek at Carol Swain and Bruce Paley's comics memoir Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock 'N' Roll Life, which we've currently got on our schedule for August this year

• Things to see: The New York Times presents an animated ode to the Bowery by Gary Leib

• Things to see: This Animal Collective video that's blowing up the internets features animation by Jon Vermilyea

• Things to see: Johnny Ryan illustrates the cover of the current Las Vegas Weekly

• Things to see: The latest batch of sketchbook scans from Anders Nilsen

Regular edition!

• The Washington Post names Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw one of the 6 "Best Comics of 2008"

• The Wall Street Journal profiles David B.

• Our own Kim Thompson provides some Eurocomics commentary in a letter to The Comics Reporter

• Look for Paul Hornschemeier's "Bearsly Windinski" in the next issue of Time Out Chicago, and the German edition of The Three Paradoxes not quite as soon

EDIT: Oops, I jumped the gun -- this isn't quite in stock yet, but will be soon.  We're still taking pre-orders for it, though.

Nocturnal Conspiracies
By David B.

The best-selling author of Epileptic and Babel, and a member of Europe's leading new generation of comics artists, invites us to share in nineteen explorative and most imaginative dreams he has experienced. Strange, scary, beautiful, funny and with an inner logic all their own, these are tales of the inner psyche, rendered in his exquisite neo-clear line style supplemented with a cool second color (much like his Mome work). Published by NBM ComicsLit.

128-page two-color 6" x 9" softcover • $14.95
Add to Cart • Read More...

Aspects of Mel's Hole
By Various Artists

This gorgeous hardbound book is the exhibition catalog for a group art show at Grand Central Art Center in Fullerton, California, inspired by the paranormal land phenomenon known as "Mel's Hole," as heard on Art Bell's radio program. Includes work by David B. and Gary Panter among dozens of others. Published by Grand Central Press. Click "Read More" below for more details on the exhibition and a complete listing of contributing artists and writers.

146-page full-color 10" x 12" hardcover • $39.95
Add to Cart • Read More...

• Mark Evanier calls Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert by Bill Schelly "one of the best books of its kind"

• Inkstuds puts the microphone to John Pham

• Mishka blurbs Beasts! Book 2, calling it "A great gift for yourself or somebody else just as weird"

• A new Jimbo minicomic by Gary Panter? Yes

• du9 interviews Tori Miki (en Français; Google translation - via the Icarus blog)

• 2theadvocate.com reports on David B.'s recent visit to Louisiana (via The Beat)

The Beguiling presents…

The internationally acclaimed graphic novelists.

Saturday November 15th, 7PM-9PM (doors at 6:30)
At Rocco’s Plum Tomato, Plum Room
585 Bloor Street West, at Markham Street

FREE TO ATTEND

Presented in association with The Italian Cultural Institute,
The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States,
and the French Consulate of Toronto.

TORONTO, Ontario – The Beguiling is proud to present an exclusive engagement with two of the most acclaimed graphic novelists in the world, right here in Toronto! David B., author of the award-winning graphic memoir Epileptic, and Igort, author of the new series Baobab and the publisher of the international Ignatz graphic novel line, will visit Toronto on the evening of Saturday, November 15th, 2008, in support of their new projects.

“We’re very fortunate to have two graphic novelists from overseas come through Toronto,” says Peter Birkemoe, owner of The Beguiling. “Igort’s graphic novels and his work with the Ignatz line are changing the face of comics publishing world-wide… Ignatz is comics’ most innovative publishing model, and one of its most accessible. And David B. is just a phenomenal talent, and his Epileptic is being taught at the University of Toronto this year.”

An Evening with David B. and Igort will include a multimedia presentation of the authors’ works, and an on-stage discussion and a question and answer session. Following the presentation the authors will be available to sign their books.

A wide selection of work from both David B. and Igort will be available for sale at the event courtesy of The Beguiling. The evening will also see the official English-language debut of David B.’s newest book, Nocturnal Conspiracies, from NBM Publishing.

The Beguiling
601 Markham Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M6G 2L7
416-533-9168